Surprisingly enough, last time I looked up the word \u201csardonic\u201d in the dictionary, Cake frontman John McCrea\u2019s photo was not there waiting.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not for lack of trying, though, as McCrea has spent the better part of 20 years now chronicling the twisted lives and perspectives of the motley horde of sneaky, snarky poseurs and pseudo-hipsters who have populated his songs since Cake first made the scene in 1994.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Showroom Of Compassion<\/i> again features McCrea\u2019s trademark \u201cis he or isn\u2019t he smirking\u201d deadpan speak-singing over the spacious yet often-unpredictable arrangements assembled by bandmembers McCrea, Vincent DiFiore (trumpet\/keys), Xan McCurdy (guitar) and Gabriel Nelson (bass), with a cast of thousands sitting in on drums (actually, four).<\/p>\n
While Cake\u2019s vibe and execution haven\u2019t changed much over the years, McCrea has been doing more actual singing over the past couple of outings, a trend that continues here.\u00a0 That said, there\u2019s precious little else here to distinguish Showroom<\/i> from the group\u2019s previous work, and while it at least feels a bit looser and rangier than 2004\u2019s largely paint-by-numbers Pressure Chief<\/i>, it doesn\u2019t deliver anywhere near the zingy charge of the best moments on Fashion Nugget<\/i> (1996) and Comfort Eagle <\/i>(2001).<\/p>\n
It\u2019s true that the greedy corporate welfare artists celebrating their \u201cFederal Funding\u201d in the jamming opener are amusing in a typically ironic\/acidic way\u2014and let\u2019s face it, who else but McCrea would think to write a song on this particular topic\u2014but the track’s impact doesn’t really live up to the amount of energy poured into it.<\/p>\n
This disconnect persists on \u201cLong Time,\u201d whose dense, bounding arrangement is contradicted by a thoroughly bummed-out lyric (\u201cIt\u2019s been a long time since I\u2019ve seen your smiling face \/ It\u2019s been a long time since I\u2019ve seen a sunny day\u201d). Other critics have suggested Cake is more or less a one-trick pony, with McCrea\u2019s droll deadpan humor and the band\u2019s unusual instrumental lineup and approach being its only notable assets.\u00a0 I resisted that conclusion while enjoying their first four discs, but with 2004\u2019s Pressure Chief<\/i> and now Showroom<\/i>, the signs are unmistakable.\u00a0 When McCrea\u2019s unusual perspective and characters engage, they’re a blast\u2014but when they fail to, the novelty of the arrangements is not enough to carry the songs.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, we get not enough of the former and too much of the latter the rest of the way.\u00a0 \u201cGot To Move\u201d and \u201cWhat\u2019s Now Is Now\u201d are dull, sing-songy MOR wastes of the band\u2019s considerable talents. \u00a0\u201cMustache Man (Wasted)\u201d restores hope by bringing the funk and featuring an actual hook, though the energy again feels undercut by a moribund lyric whose apparent punchline is \u201cI have wasted so much time.\u201d\u00a0 Perhaps the weirdest moment comes when the boys title a meandering, piano-based mid-album instrumental interlude \u201cTeenage Pregnancy.\u201d\u00a0 Um, really?<\/p>\n
\u201cSick Of You\u201d is the highlight here, a rant against boredom in all its dimensions that manages to execute a deft mash-up of the riffs from \u201cTicket To Ride\u201d and \u201cShe\u2019s So Cold\u201d within its first 17 seconds. \u00a0Every trick in the considerable Cake bag of them gets thrown in before the end of this cut\u2014distorted guitar riffs, mid-song breakdowns, shouted background vocals, processed raps and vibraslaps\u2014making the end result feel slightly overstuffed, but nonetheless an entertaining ride.<\/p>\n
\u201cEasy To Crash\u201d gives more weight to guitar and drums than the standard Cake template, but to little real end as the lyric again fails to engage.\u00a0 \u201cBound Away\u201d is a bit of a novelty, a loose country-rock lament about heading out on tour; it\u2019s one of the most straight-up songs Cake has ever done, and a successful one at that.\u00a0 Down the stretch, \u201cThe Winter\u201d starts out as a piano-driven ballad before developing into a mid-tempo ode to the gloom of wintertime\u2014not exactly uplifting, but another interesting departure.<\/p>\n
McCrea and company close out with \u201cItalian Guy,\u201d a brief little observational vignette over one of the oddest arrangements the group has ever employed, leading with strings and supporting with guitar, synth and jazz percussion.\u00a0 It’s an interesting left turn, an experiment that at least shows range, even if it fails to really ignite.<\/p>\n
In the end, it’s not enough to make up for the weaknesses of this album.\u00a0 The punchlines just don\u2019t have the old edge and snap, and the hooks aren\u2019t nearly as plentiful.\u00a0 Some Cake is definitely better than none, but in the end, Showroom Of Compassion<\/i> feels more like a full disc of lukewarm album tracks than the highlight-studded full-lengths of yore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":30550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8216],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-42220","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-cake","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42220"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}