Pressure Chief is the fifth studio album by American band Cake, released on October 5, 2004 (pushed back from its original August release date). It was produced by the band and recorded in a converted house in Sacramento. Lead single "No Phone" peaked at No. 13 on the U.S. BillboardModern Rock Tracks chart. Second single "Carbon Monoxide" garnered some airplay but failed to crack the Modern Rock Tracks top 40. The album was the band's second and final with Columbia Records.
Release
The songs "She'll Hang the Baskets" and "Tougher Than It Is" were both originally written for Cake's 1998 album Prolonging the Magic. A bonus disc, Extra Value, was included in limited pre-orders of Pressure Chief.
On its opening week, Pressure Chief sold about 46,000 copies, debuting and peaking at number 17 on the Billboard 200. However, it fell to No. 55 the following week. By the next month, the album had only sold 91,478 copies.
According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Pressure Chief received "mixed or average reviews" based on a weighted average score of 52 out of 100 from 8 critic scores.
In a review for AllMusic, Johnny Loftus wrote: "Pressure Chief marks Cake's tenth year with a set of sardonic, engaging alternative pop that shows the Sacramento band's economical sound unwilted after all these years." He also added that the song "No Phone" declaims "the encroachment of technology". Matt Weir of Tiny Mix Tapes gave a three-and-a-half stars out of five, calling the release the "weakest effort" by the band.
