Supposedly their attempt to make a smugness- and irony-free album, Cake's third release does hold back the barbs a bit more than usual.
And the strain shows.
In these guys' hands, love songs without smirks and pop tunes straight up come out forced.
So, they often fall back into familiar territory: postmodern takes on postmodern life.
Flipping between earnest alt-rock rhythms and jittery, funky jazz that somehow manages to whitewash both styles, Prolonging the Magic works best when Cake lay on the irony extra heavy, or when they make their sober ambitions mesh slightly with the type of smart-ass pop they've based a career on (like the formulaic "Never There").
At least they seem to realize their place in the alt-rock universe as a novelty band with chops, counteracting the genre's overwhelming seriousness with a light dose of heavy-handed yuks.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Satan Is My MotorJohn McCrea, Gabriel Nelson, Tyler Pope | Cake | Play | 03:12 | 7 MB | 22 MB |
| 2 | MexicoJohn McCrea | Cake | Play | 03:26 | 7 MB | 21 MB |
| 3 | Never ThereJohn McCrea | Cake | Play | 02:44 | 6 MB | 15 MB |
| 4 | GuitarJohn McCrea | Cake | Play | 03:40 | 8 MB | 24 MB |
| 5 | You Turn the ScrewsJohn McCrea | Cake | Play | 04:00 | 9 MB | 26 MB |
| 6 | Walk on ByJohn McCrea | Cake | Play | 03:46 | 8 MB | 24 MB |
| 7 | Sheep Go to HeavenJohn McCrea | Cake | Play | 03:48 | 8 MB | 25 MB |
| 8 | When You SleepJohn McCrea | Cake | Play | 03:58 | 9 MB | 24 MB |
| 9 | Hem of Your GarmentJohn McCrea | Cake | Play | 03:35 | 8 MB | 21 MB |
| 10 | Alpha Beta Parking LotJohn McCrea | Cake | Play | 03:30 | 8 MB | 23 MB |
| 11 | Let Me GoJim Campilongo, John McCrea | Cake | Play | 03:29 | 8 MB | 23 MB |
| 12 | Cool Blue ReasonJohn McCrea | Cake | Play | 03:27 | 7 MB | 21 MB |
| 13 | Where Would I Be | Cake | Play | 03:53 | 8 MB | 22 MB |
| 46 mins | 106 MB | |||||
| 46 mins | 297 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jay Bowman | Engineer |
| 2 | Greg Brown | Arranger |
| 3 | Cake | Arranger, Primary Artist |
| 4 | Jim Campilongo | Arranger, Composer, Guest Artist, Guitar (Electric) |
| 5 | Vince Di Fiore | Trumpet |
| 6 | Keara Fallon | Design |
| 7 | Joe Johnston | Engineer |
| 8 | Craig Long | Engineer, Mixing |
| 9 | John McCrea | Composer, Design, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Moog Synthesizer, Organ, Producer, Vocals |
| 10 | Xan McCurdy | Guitar (Electric) |
| 11 | Rusty Miller | Guitar (Electric) |
| 12 | Mark Needham | Engineer, Mixing, Percussion |
| 13 | Gabriel Nelson | Composer, Guitar (Bass), Guitar (Electric), Mandolin, Piano |
| 14 | Dee Palmer | Keyboards |
| 15 | Tyler Pope | Arranger, Composer, Guitar (Electric) |
| 16 | Chuck Prophet | Arranger, Guest Artist, Guitar (Electric) |
| 17 | Scott Reams | Engineer |
| 18 | Todd Roper | Drums, Percussion, Vocals (Background) |
| 19 | Rafael Serrano | Engineer |
| 20 | Kirt Shearer | Engineer, Mixing |
| 21 | Gabriel Shepard | Engineer |
| 22 | Don C. Tyler | Mastering |
| 23 | Greg Vincent | Pedal Steel |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |