Feeling like I had been dropped into the late 1980’s with a static VHS tape and Juliette Lewis, I began watching Cage The Elephant’s new video for “Take It Or Leave It” and while jotting down my stream of consciousness, I hit an unsettling speed bump. The band’s first two albums Cage The Elephant and Thank You, Happy Birthday featuring the hit tracks “Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked” and “Shake Me Down”, respectively, were dynamic records. Those two tracks in particular had staying power and identified themselves as the group’s sound, which I always thought to be unabridged garage rock.
Cage The Elephant’s single “Take It Or Leave It”, lifted from their third album Melophobia, takes a page from the vogue direction towards downtempo funk. Perhaps it’s just me, but I miss grittiness. I miss popular rock music as unabashed to mess, chaos, and experimentation. Such was the case with the recent release of Hamilton Leithauser’s (of The Walkmen fame) “Alexandra”. The track is catchy as hell, but it sounds like every other veteran artist’s newest project. Daft Punk exploded the trend last year with their juggernaut album Random Access Memories which was followed by Pharrell William’s G I R L and Bruno Mars’ Unorthodox Jukebox. Even the video for “Take It Or Leave It” is pulled from “Get Lucky” with muted fluorescent lights and a waft of Soul Train. I’m all for a group evolving their sound with time, but the video for “Take It Or Leave It” has made me nostalgic for music past.