Cake
"Comfort Eagle"
2001 Columbia Records
4 of 5 Stars
Cake produces one of the most unmistakable sounds in all of rock music.
Combining even-tempo percussion, virtuosic bass riffs, a lightly growling guitar and a peppering of trumpet, Cake embodies the essence of the word "original."
Yet across its four major label albums, Cake's sound has changed very little, making it difficult to distinguish between songs released seven years ago on their debut, "Motorcade of Generosity," and those released last week on "Comfort Eagle."
But consistency is one of Cake's strongest qualities. Each album is consistently irresistible and, like "Ghostbusters," once one turns on a Cake album, it is torture to turn it off.
"Comfort Eagle" flows with precision - each song is followed by a perfect compliment.
"Short Skirt/Long Jacket," the album's catchy fast single, celebrates superficial love. But that message is counteracted by the playfully giddy "Love You Madly" whose drive and bounce make me want to run out and fall into a high school love affair all over again.
The album's opener, "Opera Singer," highlights John McCrea's ability to write tongue-in-cheek humor to match his lazy lounge-singer type vocals. It's McCrea's voice that holds every Cake song together, but Gabriel Nelson's erratic yet subdued bass playing is the creamy center that makes "Comfort Eagle" addictive.
But my experience with Cake's albums in the past also has been much like a high school love affair: a heavy crush that wears thin a couple of weeks later. "Comfort Eagle" most likely will suffer the same fate. It is a temporary album; one filled with outstanding, but not long-lasting, disco-funk-lounge-pop-rock songs.
But just like young love, the experience of "Comfort Eagle" is definitely worth the trip.
Copyright Daily Nebraskan Online
