It’s always bittersweet when I
review the last album in my collect from a particular band, because it means I
won’t be reviewing them again until they release something new. This next band
hasn’t released anything since 2011 so I might be waiting a while.
Disc 1099 is… Motorcade of Generosity
Artist: Cake
Year of Release: 1994
What’s up with the Cover? Cake love their one colour covers,
and here’s the one that started them all. It looks like a collection of people
you’d see at a wedding. Assuming there was a live band, that is. Is it just me
or is the trumpet player overdoing it a bit? Just calm down and play hits from
the eighties, buddy.
How I Came To Know It: Sheila introduced me to Cake
originally around 1999/2000, and this was just us digging into their back
catalogue. We’ve had this record for a long time – at least since the early
oughts.
How It Stacks Up: We have seven Cake albums which is all of
them. I had saved spot #3 for “Motorcade of Generosity” but it didn’t live up
to the hype so I’m dropping it down to fourth, behind “Prolonging the Magic”. Since
this is my last Cake review, here is a full recap:
- Comfort
Eagle: 4 stars (reviewed at
Disc 1044)
- Fashion
Nugget: 4 stars
(reviewed at Disc 781)
- Prolonging
the Magic: 3 stars (reviewed
at Disc 101)
- Motorcade
of Generosity: 3 stars
(reviewed right here)
- Pressure
Chief: 3 stars (reviewed at
Disc 431)
- Showroom
of Compassion: 3 stars
(reviewed at Disc 666)
- B-Sides and Rarities: 3 stars
(reviewed at Disc 865)
Ratings: 3 stars
Nowadays Cake would just be another indie rock band
but coming out in 1994, “Motorcade of Generosity” seems innovative and ahead of
its time.
The signature sound of Cake is already being formed:
a combination of quirky but emotionally honest lyrics, garage rock edge and
funky guitar and trumpet riffs. It is a combination that I don’t recall anyone
else doing back in the mid-nineties, an era where most bands trying to make it
big were trying to invent some bastardized child of grunge. What’s a good verb
for that? Temple piloting? Creeding?
Anyway, against this backdrop came a slick bunch of
musicians with immaculate timing to drop some grooves that were equally good
for dancing or sinking into the couch with your friends and complaining about
the sad state of music (it is never that sad, by the way – just look harder).
I find this album uneven, with songs like “Comanche” and “Up So Close” and a few others emotionally detached and obsessed
with their own cleverness, but others like “Jolene”
and “Haze of Love” visceral, with
just the right amount of sad. Fortunately the good outweighs the bad.
Unlike most records the true gold on “Motorcade of
Generosity” comes near the end of the record. My favourite song is “Rock ‘N’ Roll Lifestyle” even though it
is basically sending up people like me, who are obsessed with music and concerts.
Some of these aging rockers go to such lengths as to blog about it. How very
self-absorbed such people must be. Best stanza from the song:
“Now tickets to
concerts and drinking at clubs,
Sometimes for music that you haven't even heard of.
And how much did you pay for your rock 'n' roll t-shirt
That proves you were there,
That you heard of them first?”
Sometimes for music that you haven't even heard of.
And how much did you pay for your rock 'n' roll t-shirt
That proves you were there,
That you heard of them first?”
Guilty as charged – mostly. I don’t randomly go to
any show, and I only get a t-shirt if I like the design but the point is made. Later
the song admonishes that “excess ain’t
rebellion” which with all these damn CDs in my collection rings harsh, but
fair. If you didn’t want me to buy all your stuff, Cake, then you shouldn’t
have made such catchy music.
“I Bombed
Korea” is a song about PTSD that creates a juxtaposition between a funky
guitar riff and troubling lyrics like:
“Red flowers
bursting down below us.
Those people didn't even know us.”
Those people didn't even know us.”
And then from a worn out soldier recalling wartime
horrors, Cake switches to “Mr. Mastodon
Farm” a song about our need for closure and connection. In it, a man sits
watching birds falls past his window, filled with the irresistible urge to get
up and look, just to make sure they are safely flying away before they hit the
ground. The song is equally funky, even as it instills a lurking sense of
anxiety.
These two songs are when “Motorcade of Generosity”
is at its best; mixing reassuring grooves laced with discomfort and
uncertainty. You can just dance around, or you can be brave and pay attention
to the underlying themes.
The album mixes very sparse (dare I say cheap?)
production with slick arrangements, and the bright sharp sound on later records
still seems far away. This lends a rawness to the songs, but it also annoyed me
because it was recorded too low, and the lack of crispness made my ear have to
strain to hear individual instruments.
And while the record can feel unfinished and
haphazard in places, the high points more than make up for it. In 1994 Cake’s
sound was still forming, but they were already pushing boundaries, and already plenty
good.
Best
tracks: Jolene,
Haze of Love, Rock ‘N’ Roll Lifestyle, I Bombed Korea, Mr. Mastodon Farm
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