After five mostly successful studio albums, the time seemed ripe in 2007 for a cash-in "Best Of" from irony-heavy pop/rockers Cake. But instead of a typical romp through the band's catalog highlights, frontman John McCrea and company gathered this set of "rarities." While there are some interesting and hard to find sides here, this is a far too brief 12-track, 40-minute compilation. There are virtually no liner notes nor any indication of what year the songs were recorded, or in the case of the B-sides, what the A-side was, which is an unforgivable omission for a historical overview of this type. Everything screams quickie, from the haphazard track sequencing, to the lack of information in the pamphlet and the lackluster graphics. If this is indeed made for die-hard Cake fans, and who else would even pick it up? It's a shoddy, short set that doesn't show respect for the group's dedicated followers, of whom there are many. A full ten minutes of the album's already meager running time is dedicated to two versions of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs," with the opening one a studio recording, and the unlisted final cut a live performance. While both are interesting angles on a song that appears to be outside even Cake's eclectic scope, they are similar enough that the repetition only pads the disc's slim contents. McCrea exposes his love of country with respectful run-throughs of Kenny Rogers & the First Edition's hit arrangement of "Ruby Don't Take Your Love to Town" and Buck Owens' "Excuse Me, I Think I've Got a Heartache" that don't add anything interesting to the classic versions. Much better is Cake's take on Barry White's "Never Gonna Give You Up," which twists the tune through McCrea's built-in sarcasm resulting in the album's most attention-grabbing performance. The spoken word "Thrills" is a cool and strange oddity that gives trumpet player Vince DiFore a chance to solo. Live recordings, although ones without any crowd sounds including applause, of "Short Skirt, Long Jacket" and "It's Coming Down" aren't substantially different than the originals. A smarmy, unfunny "Strangers in the Night" sounds like it was done as a goof in rehearsals, and the short instrumental "Conroy" appears to be cooked up in McCrea's home studio in a few minutes when he was bored. There isn't much of interest for devoted Cake followers and nothing for newcomers, who are advised to avoid this in lieu of the band's first few releases. The better selections would have made logical additions to a hits assemblage, but this is a disappointing odds and sods product for the longtime fans it is clearly geared to attract.
>>>>1) I think **Cake** is (are) under appreciated as interpreters of others' work. They reimagine **War Pigs** not too differently, but instead of sludge we get a crystallized sound and a bass that's nervous and edgy creating a tension not found in **Sabbath's** version.>>>>2) I wonder why I can open my DVD player from across the room using my remote? >>>>3) REM's new cd disappoints only in so fa
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Cake's upcomming release, "B-Sides and Rarities"(Upbeat Records) is a compilation of tracks that fell between the cracks. The album features covers of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs," Barry White's "Never, Never Gonna Give You Up" (below) and other and more. April 20 - Winona, MN / Winona State April 21 - Concordia, MN / Concordia College April 27 - Knoxville, TN / University of Tennessee April 28 -...
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From CMJ.com:CAKE Has Theirs, Eats It TooNineties alternative-scene survivors CAKE is gearing up for the release of their first compilation album, B-Sides And Rarities, which is set to appear August 14 via their very own imprint, Upbeat. Previously signed to Columbia—who released their last two LPs—the band decided to opt out of their contract and go it on their own, with two additional record
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I've liked these cats for a long while now, so I'm biased fo sho. But I have to admit to getting a huge kick out of this album. There's something about a slightly nerd rock crew like Cake covering Barry White that makes me giggle. Scratch and sniff liner notes are cool too. They note that they were made from recycled paper and vegetable dye, which is cool, but it would have been nicer to do...
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Yehaw! Yah, you betcha! Went in today for my second rabies shot! Not so bad. Just one shot in the arm, not the 2 additional ones in the ass.Yesterday when bat extraction expert #2 came by the apt. - he found no bat in the cracks between the window molding and wall... hmmmm. .. I haven't seen the bat in the apt. - so where the f*ck did he go? I haven't heard him in the wall either. So - I'm thin...
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My step father is dying. Some of the people in my life are aware of the fact. Most of you don't know. He has about 1 week left. But hope is eternal and he keeps pushing back the boundaries of when he should die and has us all thinking he can live on forever even though it is bound to happen that he will falter and leave us.It is a sad time. Often I look at him and I am left without words, I don...
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 "B-Sides and Rarities")
