The Cat Empire's third album, Cities, was released in 2006.
And it's an album that is all over the shop (although that's probably situation normal for a Cat Empire album...), not least because the great high-impact instrumental opener Jungle is buried down at track 8 of the album.
The actual opening tracks (Cities and Boogaloo) don't really do it for me. Perhaps it's because soul music isn't my cup of tea, nonetheless I find them a bit emotionally detached. However the chorus of Cities is quite catchy and its abrupt ending is a novelty.
While I'm in ranting mode, Siente has a fantastic bridge but the song is too chaotic. Similarly, there are song great sections in Motion, but as a song its very disjointed. Funk, motown and waltzes aren't my thing, hence my disinterest in Side to Side and Waltz. Also, the lyrics in many of the songs are pretty banal. Speaking of the lyrics, their recording quality... hmmmm... it's another victim falling victim to that stupid "distorted vocals" effect. Very disappointing.
In general though, this album sounds very good; they did a fine job balancing all the instruments in the mix whilst retaining excellent character for each of them.
Song For the Day also suffers pretty banal lyrics, but it's ska, so I'll forgive most sins! And such a fantastic ska groove, too. Down at the 303 is the opposite situation in my opinion: thoughtful lyrics but quite a twee song musically.
Song for Elias is a very nice jazz ballad, with great vocals (no distortion effects on this track). The horn line might be *cough* recycled from The Lost Song off their debut album, but it remains an excellent song and provides great contrast to the album.
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