Part of the reason I decided to start this blog was so that I could expose myself to more recent music. Since this band has been getting a lot of airplay lately, I decided to listen to their 2009 debut (interestingly enough the album was actually released ten months earlier in the UK). The first track is a noisy, high-energy rocker. Lead singer Matt Shultz spits out his vocals with attitude, however, upon closer inspection the lyrics seem somewhat trite and rather unimpressive. Still, this music could be enjoyable under the right circumstances. Two is James Brown, and is quite similar in style to the first one. Again, the lyrics are average at best (though not from lack of effort). This band does have an ability to write high-energy songs with somewhat catchy hooks. At times they almost sound like a lesser version of Franz Ferdinand. Track three, probably the band’s best known song, is “Ain’t no Rest for the Wicked.” The first time I heard this song, it’s vocal rhythm and slide guitar reminded me of the Beck’s hit “Loser.” Though the songs are too similar, it’s an enjoyable track nonetheless. As the saying goes, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it (or in this case, if it sounded good in ’93, it’ll still sound good 15 years later).
Four is more of the bland, generic rock that is quickly becoming a hallmark of this album. As this track continues, however, it does start to become more intriguing. In fact, towards the end, it actually starts to go somewhere. Track five sounds like a sub par attempt to mimic the Chili Peppers. I get the feeling that this band genuinely tries to be deep, lyrically as well as musically. Sometimes they almost get there; but, unfortunately, a lot of times they don’t. The sixth song is “Back Against the Wall.” As I listen to the mind-numbingly simple chorus, I hear a group that can’t wait to get back into the same (safe) groove. I don’t know if I would go as far as to say this song is boring, but it is certainly inoffensive. At least there’s a retro guitar sound to provide something of interest. Track seven is more of the same. At this point, the songs are starting to blend together into one, consistent groove. With lines like, “Here we stand at this fork in the road”, the lyrics haven’t gotten any better either. The only saving grace for this indistinguishable track is its brevity. Judas is a better song with the band continuing to straddle the line of mediocrity; at brief points rising above it and at others falling below. I did enjoy the throwback nature of this song as well.
Track nine is a welcome surprise. Titled “Back Stabbin’ Betty”, this track proves that when Cage the Elephant are at their best, they are capable of writing decent music. Ten unfortunately, is a return to their same, monotonous groove. If anything, the music is at least slightly better than the lyrics. Eleven is the last track and proves to be a decent closing number. It is a bit more raucous in nature providing a free-jam feel to the finale of the album. In general, the songs range from pedestrian to B minus level rock. There are about three to four tracks on this album that are worth listening to again. The rest, however, are not. One thing this band does not lack however, is energy and, to a lesser extent, attitude. This makes me curious to see if they might be a decent live band. Some groups have a charisma that can never be entirely captured in the studio and this could be one of them. This recording however, is one that struggles to rise above mediocrity.
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