na: cake
Joe will be taking on the full-bore new arrivals post shortly, but I wanted to hop out to highlight Cake’s Motorcade of Generosity, a longtime favorite of mine — Sean, the drummer of my dad’s Southern rock band Rock Bottom, gave me a copy in 1995 — that just hit the site. I’m sure most of you have some reaction to Cake based on “The Distance” and “Short Skirt” (I’m generally pro the former, anti the latter), but that’s no reason to overlook Motorcade, a genuinely weird little record that, as I detail in my review, came at a weird time in radio rock: just a couple years later and we woulda seen them on tours with Squirrel Nut Zippers. (Who, incidentally, I also like, as does Joe.) Anyway, if I were hearing this album for the first time now I honestly dunno how I’d feel about it, but I was super excited to see it come in yesterday. Give it a spin and see if it fits you.
PS: Yesterday our pals Crystal Stilts got a nice Pitchfork blurb! Congratulations, guys!
Yay! While not my first Cake album, it is by far my favorite. “Jolene” is (in my world) the best Cake song ever - and (again, in my world) the best song every written for a Jolene. Love the loud and quiet movements, I love the “cream rinse and tobacco smoke” line and how it breaks down into a groovy, passionate free-for-all at the end with the grunting and yelling.
“Mr. Mastadon Farm” is my second favorite Cake tune. I dig the little vignettes it paints. Doesn’t necessarily make a whole lot of sense, but the chill, story-telling vibe punctuated with a power drill(?) totally does it for me.