January 2004

Compilation Review, Splendid Magazine
By Mike Meginnis
splendidezine.com

VARIOUS ARTISTS
CST
These are Centre Street Tracks
13 songs

...The tune that finally hooked me was The Cautions' "Coffee Shop Girl". If you were utterly determined to show your hipster chops, you could probably dismiss this track as a cliché (it's a lighthearted, gently self deprecatory tune about unrequited love for a lovely coffee shop girl, so I guess you'd have a point). You could also condemn its more or less straightforward power pop sound if you wanted. But the singer's irresistible, incredibly confident delivery left me with no doubt that The Cautions are going somewhere good, and made me want to buy their full-length. It takes something admirable (and adorable) to belt out "If she knew that I thought she was a hottie / Would she still give me / That free biscotti" so shamelessly.

- Mike Meginnis