Paper Tigers

Caesars | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 26, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Astralwerks
• ASIN: B00080Z6U6
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #144,827 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This is the second stateside album by this workmanlike Swedish power pop garage act. People who don’t use TiVo to skip through the adverts have already heard the best song on the album, "Jerk It Out," from that iPod Shuffle commercial. That tune’s been tacked on here even though it’s 3 years old, and it’s easy to see why it was resuscitated as it blows away its neighbors on this CD. Organ-driven, tight and cool, "Jerk" is the kind of song you just want to dance around a crowded room filled with cute people all dressed up like mods and ready to party. The lyrics are daft, but they’re young, and it’s just rock music, right? Not all the new tunes pale in comparison to "Jerk it Out," however. "Your Time Is Near" is a really good, suggesting collaboration between the Concretes and the Brian Jonestown Massacre, while "We Got To Leave" judiciously uses handclaps. In the end, however, this band does seem more like another trendy, sort-of retro, kind-of garage rockist group. --Mike McGonigal

Product Description

Caesars, Paper Tigers

Features the "Jerk It Out" as heard in the iPod Shuffle commercial. Hailed by Blender magazine for making music "as hot as a kiln," the Caesaers new album is richly layered power pop with a sound that melds the summer of ‘65 electric beat instrumentation with a 2005 wide-eyed urgency.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Such Special Freaks., July 28, 2005

By 

Jason Stein (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Paper Tigers (Audio CD)

Apparently around for the last eight years, Caesars have remained a hidden Swedish secret until now. Caesars Palace in their native country, but Caesars here due to the Las Vegas casino's right to the name, this band revives The Beatles, The Kinks, The Who, The Zombies, The Byrds, Badfinger and The Bay City Rollers all mixed into a great alternative pop confection. While "Jerk It Out", a song from an earlier album, is strategically placed to capitalize on its recent inclusion in an I-pod commercial, the rest of the album is just as strong.

In fact, this is the first band in a long while that I have heard that captures a free-for-all fun sound much like Smash Mouth did with "Walking On The Sun" back in 1997. The lyrics here are filled with great traditional themes of alienation, isolation, desperation and desolation. The album opens with a great one-two punch with "Spirit" and "It's Not The Fall That Hurts", both of which could be hits. "Jerk It Out" is a great get up and dance track while the title track is a melodic ode of losers hoping for a second chance. "Your Time Is Near" captures an almost Mamas and Papas "California Dreaming" vibe, and the cd ends with more potential hits with "Winter Song", "We Got To Leave", "Soulchaser" and "Good And Gone". The band utilizes unusual instruments such as the farfisa, philicorda and yttling piano reminiscent of Del Shannon's hit "Runaway".

All of this adds up to a near perfect cd that sets itself apart almost entirely from the rest of today's music. As of my review, I see only ten other reviews here which is disheartening, but perhaps this band will still catch on in America. Check them out!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get Down With The Caesars, August 2, 2005

By 

Django "DJ" (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paper Tigers (Audio CD)

This is not a heavy piece of work - i.e. Wilco or Radiohead or anything along those lines - and I mean no aspersion in saying so. There is a time for brooding, for sorrow, for walking around your empty, post-party apartment on a morbid partial patrol, shaking the discarded bottles for tasty dregs. The Caesars are not the band to provide the soundtrack for these moments; the Caesars are the band for the party.

As a rock record, Paper Tigers is uncommonly funky, which is maybe why it can withstand with so many plays. Even the ubiquitous "Jerk It Out" single wears well. The hook is so irresistible, and so weirdly timeless, along the lines of "Dirty Water" or some other garage rock classic. There's a lot more here, though - "Soulchaser", "We Got To Leave," etc. - all of it catchy and effortless in the same way, but never going soft, never losing the rock edge.

From a lyrical standpoint, I admit that they're not doing rocket science ("it's not the fall that hurts/it's when you hit the ground"), but I don't think they claim to be.

For fans of Fountains of Wayne, OK Go, Hot Hot Heat, and other finely crafted, hook-heavy rock, the Caesars should an appealing new option.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Album - Well Worth The Money!, January 8, 2006

By 

Sparky (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paper Tigers (Audio CD)

Caesar's Palace, The Caesars, The Twelve Caesars - they're all the same group. They go by different names depending on location - Twelve Caesars in most of Scandinavia, The Caesars in North America, and Caesar's Palace in Sweden, most of europe, and the rest of the world.

They currently have five albums:
39 Minutes of Bliss (as The Caesars)
Paper Tigers (as The Caesars)
Youth Is Wasted On The Young (as The Twelve Caesars)
Cherry Kicks (as Caesar's Palace)
Love For The Streets (as Caesar's Palace)

I hope this helps clarify some things.

I give EVERY SINGLE ALBUM five out of five stars - great vocals, great leads, great base, great melodies, great everything. If you like rock, don't pass this up.