Review: Lisa Loeb: Cake and Pie and Hello Lisa

Cake and Pie and Hello Lisa are often treated as if they are the same record. Lisa even mentions that Hello Lisa is a re-release of Cake and Pie in the line notes in her greatest hits record. They almost are. The two records only have a few unique tracks between the two, and were both released in the same year, 2002. I’m not entirely sure as to exactly why, but from what I understand, Cake and Pie wasn’t being promoted, and not selling like the label expected it to, so apparently, Lisa hopped labels and re-branded it as Hello Lisa making minor changes and additions.

The Tracks that appear on both records are identical to one another, in that they are the exact same versions, the exact same takes of the songs. There was originally an EP for Hello Lisa released that only had the new songs on it, but it seems to be so rare that I can’t even find any information about it.

As always Lisa’s lyric and vocal work is top notch. These two records really punch it up with the rock aspects of Lisa’s songwriting, too. They have fewer strings and less prevalent acoustics. You can tell as you listen to Lisa’s catalog that she continues to become more and more electric and straight rock; these records continue to support that fact.

They are both very good records. Each one has a little something that the other one doesn’t. The track lists are almost identical, though. In fact, if you aren’t a serious collector, since the EP either was never made, or is simply that rare, I may recommend skipping Hello Lisa in favor of Cake and Pie, and just download the additional tracks from the former. It’s similar to The Purple Tape if you own Tails and Firecracker. However in this case, the songs that appear on The Purple Tape are at least different versions of those that appear on the other two records.

Track List-Cake and Pie:

1. The Way it Really Is
2. Bring Me Up
3. Underdog
4. Everyday
5. Someone You Should Know
6. Drops Me Down
7. We Could Still Belong Together*
8. Kick Start*
9. You Don’t Know Me
10. Payback
11. Too Fast Driving*
12. She’s Falling Apart*

Track List-HelloLisa:

1. Did That*
2. Underdog
3. You Don’t Know Me
4. Drops Me Down
5. The Way It Really Is
6. Bring Me Up
7. What Am I Supposed To Say*
8. Everyday
9. Someone You Should Know
10. Payback
11. Take Me Back*

*Unique track