Pressure Chief

Last updated

Pressure Chief
Cake Pressure Chief.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedOctober 5, 2004
Genre
Length36:16
Label Columbia
Producer Cake
Cake chronology
Comfort Eagle
(2001)
Pressure Chief
(2004)
B-Sides and Rarities
(2007)
Singles from Pressure Chief
  1. "No Phone"
    Released: August 24, 2004
  2. "Carbon Monoxide"
    Released: 2004

Pressure Chief is the fifth studio album by American band Cake. It was released on October 5, 2004, pushed back from its original August release date. It was produced by the band and recorded in a converted house in Sacramento. The lead single, "No Phone" peaked at No. 13 on the U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. [1] The second single "Carbon Monoxide" garnered some airplay but failed to crack the Modern Rock Tracks top 40. The album was the band's second and last record under Columbia Records.

Contents

Release

The songs "She'll Hang the Baskets" and "Tougher Than It Is" were both originally written for Cake's 1998 record Prolonging the Magic . A bonus disc, Extra Value, was included in limited pre-orders of Pressure Chief.

On its opening week, Pressure Chief sold about 46,000 copies, debuting and peaking at number 17 on the Billboard 200. [2] However, it fell to No. 55 the following week. By the next month, the album had only sold 91,478 copies. [3]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic 52/100 [4]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [5]
Blender Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [4]
musicOMH favorable [6]
Mojo Star full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [4]
Paste favorable [7]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [8]
SputnikmusicStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [9]
Stylus Magazine B− [10]
Tiny Mix Tapes Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [11]

Pressure Chief was met with "mixed or average" reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an average score of 52 based on 8 reviews. [4]

In a review for AllMusic, Johnny Loftus wrote: "Pressure Chief marks Cake's tenth year with a set of sardonic, engaging alternative pop that shows the Sacramento band's economical sound unwilted after all these years." [5] Matt Weir of Tiny Mix Tapes gave a three-and-a-half stars out of five, calling the release the "weakest effort" by the band." According to AllMusic, the song "No Phone" declaims "the encroachment of technology". [11] [12]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Wheels" John McCrea, Carlos Forster3:18
2."No Phone"McCrea, Xan McCurdy 3:52
3."Take It All Away"McCrea, Forster, Garth Klippert3:58
4."Dime"McCrea3:37
5."Carbon Monoxide"McCrea3:10
6."The Guitar Man" David Gates 3:54
7."Waiting"McCrea, Vince DiFiore 3:56
8."She'll Hang the Baskets"McCrea2:43
9."End of the Movie"McCrea1:50
10."Palm of Your Hand"McCrea2:57
11."Tougher Than It Is"McCrea, Gabriel Nelson 3:00
Japan bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
12."Carbon Monoxide" (Karaoke Version)3:10
13."No Phone" (Karaoke Version)3:10
14."Wheels" (Karaoke Version)3:17
15."Take It All Away" (Karaoke Version)3:57

Personnel

Cake
Additional musicians
Additional personnel

Charts

Chart performance for Pressure Chief
Chart (2004)Peak
position
French Albums (SNEP) [13] 79
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [14] 95
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [15] 44
US Billboard 200 [16] 17
US Top Album Sales (Billboard) [17] 17

Singles – Billboard (United States)

YearSingleChartPosition
2004"No Phone"Modern Rock Tracks13

Television performances

Appearances in other media

References

  1. "Cake chart search". Billboard. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
  2. Grein, Paul (January 19, 2011). "Week Ending Jan. 16, 2011: Albums: Even Lower". Yahoo! News . Retrieved January 19, 2011.
  3. "Sludge Scans for November 2004 | Metal Sludge". September 5, 2014. Archived from the original on September 5, 2014. Retrieved February 17, 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Critic Reviews for Pressure Chief". Metacritic . Retrieved April 10, 2021.
  5. 1 2 Loftus, Johnny (October 5, 2004). "Pressure Chief – Cake". AllMusic . Retrieved April 10, 2021.
  6. Welsh, David. "Cake – Pressure Chief | album reviews". musicOMH. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
  7. "Cake – Pressure Chief :: Music :: Reviews :: Paste". Paste . October 1, 2004. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
  8. Hoard, Christian (October 28, 2004). "Cake: Pressure Chief : Music Reviews". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on August 19, 2006. Retrieved July 29, 2012.
  9. "Sputnikmusic Review". Sputnikmusic. October 3, 2005. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
  10. Ross, R. S. (October 5, 2004). "Cake – Pressure Chief – Review". Stylus Magazine. Archived from the original on November 10, 2004. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
  11. 1 2 Weir, Matt. "Cake – Pressure Chief". Tiny Mix Tapes . Retrieved July 29, 2012.
  12. Loftus, Johnny. "Pressure Chief - Cake". Allmusic. RhythmOne. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
  13. "Lescharts.com – Cake – Pressure Chief". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
  14. "Offiziellecharts.de – Cake – Pressure Chief" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
  15. "Swisscharts.com – Cake – Pressure Chief". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
  16. "Cake Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
  17. "Cake Chart History (Top Album Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved April 10, 2021.