Cake - Prolonging The Magic (1998)

I don't suppose Cake has a big following here in the U.K. but if my guess is true then we're surely missing out on a lot. For those who were on a different planet in 1996 or were too fixated on Euro'96 footie songs and never heard the infectious "The Distance", then you're sure not to know the music that is Cake. Well if I were to summarise the sound of Cake in one just one song, it would be their famous cover of Gloria Gaynor's immortal break-up anthem "I Will Survive". Groovy, edgy, clever and refreshing, that'd be how I'll always think of the work of these five very ordinary guys from Sacramento, USA.

Cake is a band unlike any other because they never fit neatly into any genre. First you have to come to terms with the singing style of frontman who speaks on the song rather than sing. Then you'll have to appreciate blaring trumpets and jazz horns in a rock song. Then you'd have to appreciate the diversity of content, which goes from life to love and sometimes even witty social commentary. I don't think there is a glaringly weak track in the album as other reviewers note, only that this is just a different sound. When Alanis Morissette first took over the world with "Jagged Little Pill" we thought the devil in her will never sleep but today she's churning out one slow song after another. It's probably the same with Cake although I insist they maintain their defiant alternative feel throughout the entire album.

In a sense, "Prolonging The Magic" can somewhat be viewed as a telling concession on the part of the band that they're past the glory that was "Fashion Nugget". The opening track "Satan Is My Motor" already sets the mood to something more gentler and mellow compared to the feistier, raunchier riffs with which you'd normally associate Cake. Some say that the leaving of a key member just before this effort contributed to this. Throughout the album I got a melancholic feel, especially with such romantic tracks like "Mexico", "Let Me Go" and "Walk On By". Now I quite like ballad-like songs and it's a big plus for me as a Cake fan to hear a softer side. However the fan who buys this wanting 14 tracks which all sound like "I Will Survive" would be disappointed. What you get here are songs like "Never There" and "Hem Of Your Garment", bass-heavy with raw lyrics but not quite dynamic in the radio-friendly way. The highlight of this album for me is definitely "Sheep Go To Heaven", a swinging song with lyrics I can't quite decipher still although I suspect it's a hedonistic critique on the mainstream goals of life. The music video of this didn't help either, being a cartoon with a bloke who goes mad and massacres a church!

The lyrical prowess of Cake is ever evident in all the tracks. In the adorably lazy "Mexico" you can hear "I had a match but she had a lighter / I had a flame but she had a fire / I was bright but she was much brighter / I was high but she was the sky" -now that's just genius! On to the band's rants on the music industry, in "You Turn The Screws" you can hear "You twist the knife then go home to kiss your wife / A bigger better slice is what you like / You kick the sand, you get the upper hand / You sell it to Japan, it's natural". What more can I say about the charming fluidity of Cake?

In a nutshell, this album is a must for Cake fans because it represents the varied sounds of the band. For the uninitiated however, "Prolonging The Magic" is not as good a place to start as compared to earlier, more representative works. Having said that, mellower pop fans might just love this.

My parting words? Long may the magic be prolonged.

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Word Of The Wolf today is castigate \KAS-tuh-gayt\,

transitive verb:
To punish severely; also, to chastise verbally; to rebuke; to criticize severely.

"The suspect vocals of artistes like Prince and the lead singer of Coldplay continue to escape castigation as James Blunt's 'You're Beautiful' is the number one single in the U.K. at the moment."
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Castigate comes from Latin castigare, "to purify, to correct, to punish," from castus, "pure." Synonyms: punish, chastise, rebuke, reprove, reprimand.