Caesars - Paper
Tigers
By Brutus Travis Maximus
A Scandinavian band, with an Italian name,
playing British Pop/Garage. Sounds about as appetizing as Swedish
Meatballs Alfredo with a side of fish and chips, right? Well, put
away your Pepto, things are not as bad as they seem. Admittedly I
came to the Caesars with some skepticism, songs that hit big in commercials
don’t usually get me in the mood to buy. The Caesars’ song, “Jerk
it Out”, impossible to miss in the endless iPod commercials assaulting
your television, is such a song, and despite being included on several
other releases by the band, shows up again here. Add to that the
fact that Caesars have been touted as another in the wave of Garage revival
bands, and you have a whole lot of hype sitting on the shoulders of these
young Swedes. Surprisingly enough, Caesars overcome the trendiness
that should, by all rights, have sunk them in my opinion and deliver a
very listenable, if unexceptional, album.
Far from the disco Hell of Abba or the
church-burning, brain-eating, Satanic Metal pandered by many of their countrymen,
“Paper Tigers”, the new release by the Caesars, is a delicate album, infused
with pop sensibilities and just barely folky British Invasion aesthetics.
Scandinavian rock fans fear not, however, Caesars won’t damage Mayhem’s
homeland’s reputation for evil too much. Singer Cesar Vidal’s unassuming
bleat fits nicely on top of the basic guitar-bass-drums rock and roll that
the rest of the band churns out.
It’s not high art, but the organ-drenched
tunes have a way of working themselves into your head. “Throwaway”
even adds an interesting guitar solo to the proceedings. There is
airiness to the music that lends itself to the British Pop-Rock that began
to emerge in the seventies. ”Winter Song” could have come straight from
an early Moody Blues record. Perhaps it’s the mellotron, or the amount
of space in the recording, but the strings and guitar work well together
and create an atmosphere in complete contrast to the hit-making nature
of “Jerk it Out” (present here, it should be noted, in an extended remix).
The Caesars haven’t completely abandoned
the garage either, although this album is much slicker than previous efforts.
More upbeat numbers like “We Got to Leave” are closer to bands like the
Mooney Suzuki than some would care to admit and there are hints of Elvis
Costello, without the stellar songwriting, lurking around the corners.
“Paper Tigers” won’t make my top
ten for the year. In fact, after I finish this review, I may never
play it again, but there are a lot of people who would. This music
is a return to simple Pop music. Not the overproduced, over marketed, sugar-coated,
waste of air time that gets tagged as Pop music now. Not Pop as in
Popular, more like Pop as in bubblegum. It’s more like a Del Shannon
record than a Britney Spears record, in short. Generous use of echo
and the aforementioned organ and mellotron give the Caesars a decidedly
retro sound affected by a modern ethos. The record is impeccably
produced, and even if it does border on the goofy at times, “Paper Tigers”
works on enough levels to place it miles ahead of other commercial-doomed
bands like Wiseguys.
Caesars are a band that knows who they
are. With more technology and without Keith Richards, the Rolling
Stones could have ended up sounding like this. The Caesars defiantly
don’t have the staying power of Keith Richards or cockroaches for that
matter, but they may survive long enough to get another record out in the
States. I just hope they don’t run into any of the guys from Mayhem
in a dark alley.
CD Info
Caesars
- Paper Tigers
Label: Astralwerks
Rating:  
Tracks:
1. Spirit
2. It's Not The Fall That Hurts
3. Out There
4. Jerk It Out
5. May The Rain
6. My Heart Is Breaking Down
7. Paper Tigers
8. Your Time Is Near
9. Throwaway
10. Winter SOng
11. We Got To Leave
12. Soul Chaser
13. Good And Gone
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