B SIDES & RARITIES

Cake: Vince Di Fiore, John McCrea, Gabriel Nelson, Xan McCurdy. Personnel: John McCrea (vocals, acoustic guitar); Tyler Pope (guitar, keyboards); Xan McCurdy (electric guitar, background vocals); Vince Di Fiore (trumpet, keyboards); Gabriel Nelson (keyboards, bass guitar, background vocals); Todd Roper, Pete McNeal, Paulo Baldi (drums). Additional personnel: Greg Brown (guitar); Victor Damiani (bass guitar); Todd Roper, Tyler Pope, Pete McNeal, Paulo Baldi. Audio Mixers: Cake; Patrick Olguin. Arranger: Cake. In a way, a B-sides collection is the perfect vehicle for Cake, a band whose wry, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink aesthetic seems to approach music through the back door. That aesthetic is on display, in all its quirky fun, on B-SIDE AND RARITIES, which finds the alt-rockers taking on a array of covers including Black Sabbath's "War Pigs," Kenny Rogers's "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town," and Barry White's "Never, Never Gonna Give You Up." Cake's appeal was always rooted in their ability to be smart, accomplished, and zany at the same time, and B-SIDES AND RARITIES delivers that combo in spades.

• Genre: Pop
• Format: CD
• Released: 10/02/2007