Hard as it may be to throw together a good covers album – lest we forget the recent debacle of Puddle of Mudd’s unholy, mind-meltingly awful Re:(disc)overed – it’s difficult to argue that, at least within the realm of rock music, bands that perform in the pop-punk style have the best shot at album-length success. It’s a hard balance to strike – you have to fight the right tonal balance between sincerity and irony, never veering too far in either direction, […]
Posts tagged "Cake"
Chart Stalker 1/27/11: A Semblance of Order…Temporarily
After Cake took the #1 spot last week by selling practically nothing, the album charts look a bit healthier this week. It took six albums, but The Decemberists have officially broken through to the mainstream, scoring the week’s #1 album with The King is Dead. The indie favorites scan an impressive 94,000 copies of their third major label effort-easily 2011’s best sales week so far. It’s also more than half of the cumulative sales of the band’s last album, Hazards […]
Chart Stalker!: It’s Britney, Bitch!
Welcome to another week of “how low can you go” on the Billboard album charts. Cake’s Showroom of Compassion takes the #1 spot with a paltry 44,000 units sold. It’s the California band’s first chart-topper, and a notable achievement considering their six year absence, however, scoring a #1 album with a number that’s half if not a third the number of the average #1 album is somewhat dubious. Cake scores one of four debuts in this week’s Top 20. Kentucky […]
250 Words or Less: Cake’s “Showroom of Compassion”
What? You were expecting Cake to open up a new bag of tricks when their schtick has remained almost exactly the same for a decade and a half? Fat chance. Although they’ve gone nearly seven years without releasing new material, the Bay Area band keeps things the same as they ever were with their latest album, Showroom of Compassion. Lead singer John McCrea’s vocals are still as dry as the desert, the lyrics are still a bit off-kilter, and the […]
New Release Report 1/11/11: Let ’em Eat Cake
After a couple weeks of slumber, the music industry is slowly wiping the sleep from their eyes and getting back into the business of releasing records. No major, major names releasing anything today (or for the remainder of January, quite honestly), but definitely a title or two that might pique your interest. You wouldn’t be off-base if you called Cake a one-note band. But damn it, do they play the SHIT out of that one note. Even though you pretty […]
The Viewfinder: Cake’s “Sick of You”
I was so psyched that Cake had come out with a new single that it never even occurred to me that a video would follow! “Sick of You” continues the San Francisco band’s long string of visually quirky offerings. From John McCrea’s rapidly changing headgear to the random explosions to the dancing rabbits, this video’s definitely good for a couple of chuckles. The song’s pretty damn good, too. I’m not sure how possible it is to be more excited about […]
I Will Never “Get Sick” of Cake!!
Cake may be kind of a one-note band, but damn it, that one note is glorious!! John McCrea and his boys have been away for far too long, but they’ve been in the limelight lately thanks to the magic of licensing. “Short Skirt/Long Jacket” has been given a new life via those iPod ads, and just like that, Cake is back with their first single in six years, called “Sick of You”. All of the elements of classic Cake are […]
