The Cat Empire- The Cat Empire

This is The Cat Empire's highly successful debut album, which was released in 2003. However, the band had been around for many years beforehand, so it's not really a "debut album" in the traditional sense.

Time for a rant! Remember Sony's Copy Control(TM)? Years later, it's still a raw nerve as I remember the pain of trying to rip this album (which I paid for) onto my Sony Minidisk player so I could listen to it on the bus. Shame, Sony, shame!

Sorry, I'm not getting down from my soap box just yet... the recording quality for this album isn't great, often sounding woofly or messy. But the bigger issue for critical listening is that some songs are more like medleys in that there's a lot of great musical ideas but they're often barely stitched together. For example, Hard to Explain, Days Like These, The Chariot, Hello and The Rhythm jump all over the place and the transitions aren't exactly smooth. However, it's a bit of a moot point, as the CD isn't designed for critical listening. It's party music, chock-a-block with catchy sections in a fast-moving feelgood theme.

There are also songs that stick to the plan though. The Lost Song remains on track as a great soft-reggae ballad with a brilliant horn melody. Similarly, The Crowd finds a simple groove and elegantly builds up throughout the songs, and All That Talking adds an Arabian-jazz feel to the huge range of styles covered by the band. A nice, gentle way to end the party.

My favourite song on the album is The Wine Song, because it is eastern European folk/gypsy music on speed... and I love a good polka! As the song reaches its climax, the frantic organ solo is sublime.  

The Chariot is another highlight. It is a bit disjointed, but each section is catchy and the gypsy-ska style makes for a carefree party atmosphere.

The irreverent combination of ska and turntable scratching to give One Four Five a kind of "mad professor" feel. Beanie follows a similar recipe, but I think its lyrics are uninspired and it feels like too few musical ideas painfully stretched into a full-length song. Sorry!

Before I go, deciding what tag to use for this blog post is an impossible task! How to pigeonhole such an eclectic collection? ... Who cares! It's gypsy-ska-jazz-pop-polka-latin, and probably a few more. Most importantly, it's fun.

Favourite songs

How to Explain, The Lost Song, The Chariot, One Four Five, The Rhythm, The Wine Song, Nothing, The Crowd, All That Talking

Worthwhile?

Yes, it's wonderfully unique. And quite bonkers.