Cake: Pressure Chief
I picked up Cake's Pressure Chief this weekend. I am really enjoying it. You may have heard some of it as the song "No Phone" is getting air play. The sound is just like the rest of the previous albums, for good or bad.
It opens with the song Wheels which is a very catchy song and I would not be surprised if it was the second single from the album. Catchy or not, it is about a bad relationship. “So I had a plane to take me to a place so far away from you / Eventually we began to see that we could be completely free / And I could get away from you / And you could get away from me / And we could live each separately in our cities in the sun”
No Phone has a good beat and lyrics-“ No phone No phone I just want to be alone today “-everyone needs a break now and then, right? Especially if one is having a relationship problem.
Take It All Away laments about him realizing that it will never work with a relationship he has. “Go! Take your economy car and your suitcase; take your psycho little dolls; take it all away.”
Dime is a funny song about life from a dime’s perspective.
Carbon Monoxide is a popish little ditty protesting smoggy air.
The next song is an interesting cover of Bread’s The Guitar Man. A good version I think, although I have not heard the original in a very long time.
Waiting is an odd song about not being now but always looking for the next thing. “So we think that we're important / And we think that we make sense / And we think there's something better / on the other side of this fence.”
She’ll Hang the Baskets is a strange song that makes me think of relationships, beginning with lots of hope but ending is disappointment: “She'll hang the baskets on the walls / But I've seen it all before heard the slamming of the door / Come summer come fall come winter / There'll be baskets on the floor.”
End of the Movie is another odd, but typical Cake song. “People you hate will get their hooks into you / They'll pull you down / You'll frown / They'll tar you and drag you through town / But you still don't like to leave before the end of the movie.” I still have not figured out what this is about…if it is actually about something. IF anyone has heard it and has ideas, let me know.
Palm of Your Hand, another song about relationships. “How can you say the future is at your command? / How can you say the forever is in the palm of yuor hand?”
The last song, Tougher That It Is, ends with a comment many have said about relationships “Some people like to make life a little tougher than it is”.
It seems someone within Cake (probably John McCrea) has had a bad relationship or two and they have ended up in the lyrics of these songs. It is not your typical breakup album, but that should be expected with Cake. They continue their signature sound, trumpet, odd lyrics and offbeat singing. If you like Cake, you’ll probably like this album, I know I do.