Sunday, January 23, 2011
Cake
Album: “Showroom of Compassion” (Upbeat Records)
Grade: A
Alternative rock has always seemed a bit vague as a classification for a band such as Cake. Now, alternative energy — that’s an apt label to slap on them.
Recorded at their own studio in southern California, Cake’s first offering in seven years, “Showroom of Compassion,” is another dash of the band’s idiosyncratic rock.
Rock it may be, but it also boasts a little bit of hip-hop, some funk and blues, country, and a dash of folk and jazz — and of course vocalist John McRea’s slacker-poet metaphors and monotone delivery.
“Federal Funding” kicks things off with a gloomy midtempo grind, “What’s Now is Now” has a funky start-and-stop bass line, and the doom-filled “Mustache Man [Wasted]” relates a random hookup gone wrong through some hysterical imagery.
Cake isn’t branching out or breaking their mold on “Showroom of Compassion,” but with so many styles seamlessly mingling through virtually every track, who’s complaining? Alternative rock? Hardly.
— John Kosik, Associated Press
The Script
Album: “Science & Faith” (Epic Records)
Grade: C
The Script’s sophomore album, “Science & Faith,” is full of songs about a man experiencing the ups and downs of love: She’s into me, she hates me, she’s leaving me, she left me, she won’t leave me — and then some.
The 10-track set is loud and sounds stadium-ready, with standout tunes such as “Dead Man Walking,” the drunk-dialer “Nothing,” and “If You Ever Come Back,” a song about waiting for your lover’s return. Frontman Danny O’Donoghue seems comfortable spilling his feelings on the disc, which includes guitarist Mark Sheehan and drummer Glen Power.
But “Science & Faith” isn’t perfect. The issue is that the songs sound too similar throughout, mainly because the arrangements don’t vary enough and each track has a formulaic approach. It gets somewhat old, and at times, you want the Ireland-based band to switch it up a bit.
— Mesfin Fekadu, Associated Press
GREGG ALLMAN
Album: “Low Country Blues” (Rounder)
Grade: A
The veteran Southern rocker’s voice sounds strong, limber and decades younger than his 63 years in this masterful, blues-rooted outing for which he’s joined by T Bone Burnett and the producer’s mojo-wielding band of players.
Allman takes on numbers by Sleepy John Estes, Skip James, Muddy Waters and other blues greats, serving up haunting, often harrowing, music. He clearly knows the territory well.
— Randy Lewis, Los Angeles Times
THE DECEMBERISTS
Album: “The King Is Dead” (Capitol)
Grade: C
On 2009’s “The Hazards of Love,” Colin Meloy and his merry band of hucksters created a medieval rock opera. “The King Is Dead” takes the opposite tack, exploring rustic Americana. You can take the man out of the opera but you can’t take the opera out of the man.
Much of “The King Is Dead” sounds like the wunderkind in theater class earnestly laboring through an Arthur Miller monologue when all he wants to do is stand up and trill at the top of his lungs.
— Margaret Wappler, Los Angeles Times
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