Showroom of Compassion

Background

Near the beginning of recording, John McCrea and other members of the band stated that their new album would sound very different from their previous materials. In an interview with the Sacramento News, McCrea revealed that the music on the album would range from "aggressive rock songs" to "weird pseudoclassical compositions". In addition, McCrea allowed piano on the LP, which he had never done because he thought it sounded "too classy". He also said this is the first time he has allowed reverb, which he thought too many bands used to sound "grandiose".

Recording and release

During the first sessions, Cake released a statement that revealed that the band would convert the electrical components in their studio so that it would work solely on solar power. Panels were installed by Borrego Solar and all of Showroom of Compassion was recorded using the new system. Subsequently, the album was recorded solely on solar energy in Cake's refitted studio, rechristened "Upbeat Studio."

The band also offered a limited autographed version of the album for pre-sale.

The album was released in Australia in May 2011 through Inertia Music.

Cake works with Callicore Studio in 2011, and releases an animated music video for the song "Long Time".

Packaging

The design for Showroom of Compassion marks a slight stylistic departure from previous Cake releases. The cover features a shaded, framed image (of a tiger attacking a person) instead of the band's usual flat-color printed imagery. The design for the album is credited to Aesthetic Apparatus. In keeping with the band's environmental activism, the album insert notes that the material used to make the album was "100% recycled paper stock and vegetable dyes." The physical release of Showroom of Compassion was packaged with a temporary bee tattoo, which the band asked fans to take pictures of and post online.

Critical reception

Showroom of Compassion was generally well received by music critics. Metacritic, a review aggregator website, gave the album an average score of 72 out of 100 from 17 reviews, which indicates "generally favourable reviews". Many critics complimented the band for sticking to their unique style. Mark Deming from Allmusic writes, "Willful eccentricity is something that demands a certain degree of commitment [...] So Cake are to be commended for sticking to their oddball guns for close to 20 years." Brett Singer from The A.V. Club maintained that "[The album] isn’t a huge departure from what Cake boss John McCrea and company have done before.... But as with your favorite dessert, there’s nothing wrong with another helping."

Commercial performance

Showroom of Compassion has been a commercial success. Domestically, the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, the Top Alternative Albums, Independent Albums, and the Rock Albums charts. On the Billboard 200, the album moved 44,000 copies, making it the lowest-selling number-one album since Billboard began using Nielsen SoundScan to track unit sales, until Amos Lee's Mission Bell set the record two weeks later. Despite it being the band's first top ten album, the album sold considerably fewer copies than previous albums that had debuted at lower positions. Despite this setback, the members of Cake enthusiastically thanked their fans for the success of the album. In its second week it fell from #1 to #25, selling another 15,000 after a decline of 67%. As of 2017, it is the fifth largest fall from #1; at the time it was the largest drop since 2006's Light Grenades by Incubus. In Canada, the album debuted at #15.

Personnel

Additional musicians