''Cut the Cake'' is the third album released by

Average White Band The Average White Band (also known as AWB) are a Scottish funk and R&B band that had a series of soul and disco hits between 1974 and 1980. They are best known for their million-selling instrumental track " Pick Up the Pieces", and their album ...

, released in 1975. This album's hit

title track A title track is a song that has the same name as the album or film in which it appears. In the Korean music industry, the term is used to describe a promoted song on an album, akin to a single, regardless of the song's title. Title track may al ...

reached #10 on the ''Billboard'' pop singles chart. It was dedicated to "our friend and brother

Robbie McIntosh Robbie McIntosh (born 25 October 1957) is an English guitarist. McIntosh is well known as a session guitarist and member of The Pretenders from 1982 until 1987. In 1988 he began doing session guitar work for Paul McCartney joining his band fu ...

Recording notes

The follow-up album to the immensely successful '' AWB'' in 1974, recording was plagued by creative and artistic differences, with several members of the band walking out of the studio on three occasions. One point of conflict was the band's mourning for original

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

, who died of a heroin overdose in 1974. Producer

Arif Mardin Arif Mardin (March 15, 1932 – June 25, 2006) was a Turkish-American music producer, who worked with hundreds of artists across many different styles of music, including jazz, rock, soul, disco and country. He worked at Atlantic Records for ov ...

considered pulling the plug on the project due to this tension but ultimately persevered and oversaw its completion.

Track listing

;Side A: #" Cut the Cake" (Average White Band, Gorrie, McIntosh) – 4:07 #"

School Boy Crush "School Boy Crush" is a song from Average White Band's 1975 album, '' Cut the Cake''. It has been heavily sampled in hip hop, rap and R&B songs such as:. #" Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg" by TLC #" Wanna B Where U R (Thisizzaluvsong)" by Floetry #"Watch M ...

" (Average White Band, Stuart, Ferrone, Gorrie) – 4:58 #"It's A Mystery" (Stuart, Average White Band, McIntosh) – 3:34 #"Groovin' the Night Away" (Average White Band, Stuart) – 3:42 #" If I Ever Lose This Heaven" (

Leon Ware Leon Ware (February 16, 1940 – February 23, 2017) was an American songwriter, producer, composer, and singer. Besides a solo career as a performer, Ware was best known for producing hits for other artists including Michael Jackson, Quincy ...

Pam Sawyer Pamela Joan Sawyer (born 1938) is a British songwriter/lyricist, who started writing songs in the mid-1960s and whose credits as a co-writer at Motown included " Love Child", " If I Were Your Woman", "My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left ...

) – 5:00 ;Side B: #"Why" (Ball, Stuart, Gorrie) – 3:57 #"High Flyin' Woman" (Average White Band, McIntyre, Gorrie) – 3:47 #"Cloudy" (Stuart, Gorrie) – 4:18 #"How Sweet Can You Get" (Ball, Stuart, Gorrie) – 3:57 #"When They Bring Down the Curtain" (Gorrie, Ball) – 4:42

Personnel

;Average White Band *

Alan Gorrie Alan Edward Gorrie (born 19 July 1946 in Perth) is a Scottish bassist, guitarist, keyboardist and singer. He is a founding member of the Average White Band and remains one of two original members in the group's current line-up (Onnie McIntyre bei ...

– vocals,

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

on "Cut the Cake" and "School Boy Crush" *

Hamish Stuart James Hamish Stuart (born 8 October 1949) is a British guitarist, bassist, singer, composer and record producer. He was an original member of the Average White Band. Biography Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Stuart attended Queens Park School in ...

– vocals, guitar, bass on "Cut the Cake" and "School Boy Crush" * Roger Ball – keyboards, synthesizer,

alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: ''altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruses by ...

and

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass. It is the lowest-pitched saxophone in common use - the bass, contra ...

s, arranger (Dundee horns) * Malcolm Duncan –

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

*Onnie McIntyre – guitar, backing vocals *

Steve Ferrone Steve Ferrone (born 25 April 1950) is an English drummer. He is known as a member of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers from 1994 to 2017, replacing original drummer Stan Lynch, and as part of the "classic lineup" of the Average Whi ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

with: *

Ray Barretto Raymundo "Ray" Barretto Pagán (April 29, 1929 – February 17, 2006) was an American percussionist and bandleader of Puerto Rican descent. Throughout his career as a percussionist, he played a wide variety of Latin music styles, as well as Lati ...

–

congas The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest) ...

on "It's a Mystery" and "When They Bring Down the Curtain" ;Technical *

Gene Paul Gene William Paul (born August 20, 1944) is an American audio recording / mixing / mastering engineer, producer and musician. He was an engineer at Atlantic Recording Studios during their famed 1960s–80s period and is currently the chief mas ...

- engineer, recording *Neal Schwartz, Peter Granet - additional recording *Bob Defrin - art direction *Vincent Topazio - cover illustration

Charts

Singles

References

External links

Average White Band-Cut The Cake at Discogs
{{Authority control 1975 albums Average White Band albums Albums produced by Arif Mardin Atlantic Records albums