The Inside Pulse:
Cesar Vidal – Guitars & Vocals
Nino Keller – Drums & Vocals
David Lindquist – Bass Guitar
Joakim Ahlund – Guitar
The Caesars, formerly known as 12 Caesars and Caesars Palace, are the Swedish band best known for the tune, “Jerk It Out,” which was featured prominently in the advertising campaign for iPod Shuffle. Sadly, that song is wrapped with 11 other ditties and shipped off to stores without regard for the ramifications on future generations? Will children from the year 2106 stumble upon this musical artifact and wonder why two decent singles were packaged among all the nonsense? Was the electric organ REALLY brought back to prominence? If so, I missed the memo.
What the Caesars bring to the table with Paper Tigers is a mediocre and disjointed effort that my mother would have loved as a teenager. It’s unimaginative and does some things well, but tries to do too much. There are gallons of flat, 70s power pop mixed with British Invasion-stylings and no discernable direction. Despite the catchy hooks and crunching guitars, the Zombies, Animals, even Herman’s Hermits, produced similar music 40 years ago with much more pleasant results.
Positives: “Jerk It Out,” “It’s Not The Fall That Hurts” and “Out There” showed what the Caesars could sound like at their best. The other 10 songs just disappoint by comparison.
Negatives: Swedes should not attempt a revival of the British Invasion . There is no life to this album, just 13 dissimilar songs wrapped in plastic with the hopes of cashing in on Apple’s slick marketing.
Cross-breed: Sounds like a watered-down Who mated with the Byrds and some Doors-type organ work.
Reason to buy: You bought an iPod Shuffle because of “Jerk It Out” and it’s infectious power pop. You are a teenage version of my mother.