keepers 1
keeper avg .077
The signature Cake elements, the twangy retro-guitars, touches of hip-hop, and the goofy back-up vocals are present for most of the album. Unfortunately so are some stupid, stupid lyrics by McCrea, such as in "Do You Sleep". In verse 1 the implications (for your fingers) are obvious:
do they (your fingers) tremble on the edge of the bed
or do you fold them neatly by your head
do they clench like claws against your own skin
when you're living your day all over again
But in verse 2 your hand is really Thing from the Addams Family, because apparently your fingers have some adventures:
do they play guitar in a latin bar
are they strangers or lovers, do they drive your car
And in the bridge Zues and Hera show up for no reason whatsoever, though now we know that McCrea was conscious for 5 minutes of Ancient Lit, so there's that.
I know I'm overthinking it, but this is hardly the only song that doesn't even know what it is.
"Satan Is My Motor" is an amusing phrase, but the narrator seems mixed up as to if he's a conveyance or a person. I don't know anyone who is both.
"Sheep Go To Heaven" was amusing and had a memorable video on MTV, so I never thought about it past its sing-along title. The verses are all garden variety depression:
I don't wanna go to Sunset Strip,
I don't wanna feel the emptyness,
Old marquees with stupid band names
and all of a sudden things are so bad everyone dies:
The grave digger puts on the forceps,
The stonemason does all the work,
The barber can give you a haircut,
The carpenter can take you out to lunch,
I never heard of a carpenter preparing for a funeral - caskets come from factories this century, but who cares, cuz:
Sheep go to Heaven,
Goats go to Hell
No segue I can see between the mild malaise and the going to heaven or hell that results, but it's stream of consciousness, man, and when you're high I suppose it all makes sense.
"Guitar" doesn't attempt anything fancy, but spreading one who-cares question over a whole 40-second chorus is just fucking lazy:
If I Threw my guitar Out the window So far down
Would I Start to regret it Or would I smile And watch it slowly fall?
Seriously, it takes maybe 6 seconds to recite that.
Fortunately, a handful of songs aren't total garbage. Big single "Never There"****, with quirky hooks and amusing interplay between McCrea and the backing singers, is a worthy successor to "The Distance". "Mexico" works well as a simple country ballad, and "Walk On By" and "Let Me Go" are catchy light rock. Problem is the less-ambitious songs are kinda boring, so if it's between go big and fail or go home, I don't know what to tell ya.
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