Comfort Eagle

The word interesting seems to be overused as a euphemism for many things these days, but if I had to use one word to describe the California band CAKE’s sound it would be exactly that, interesting, in the true sense of the word. I love these guys. Their song construction, lyrics, themes and sound all hold your interest. Their repertoire is all over the place and they are not afraid to do covers of a range of artists’ songs from Doris Day to Gloria Gaynor (NOT on this album, on another one by the name of Fashion Nugget) but I thought I would mention it to show you how wacky and cool this band is.

Their lyrics can only be described as stream-of-consciousness missives that for some reason seem to make sense and are completely in tune with the songs they are performing, even if you don’t always know exactly what they mean. Lead singer John McCrea’s delivery of these lyrics is deadpan, but weirdly musical and engaging. Classified under Alternative Rock, this 2001 release was CAKE’s fourth full length album and their first release on Columbia Records. It is a mixture of rock, pop and funk which is just plain fun to listen to. The track Short Skirt/Long Jacket was a success on alternative radio stations and given their penchant for weird lyrics just happens to mention Citibank. What’s that all about? Other favorites of mine on this album are Commissioning a Symphony in C, the title track Comfort Eagle, Meanwhile Rick James… and Long Line of Cars.

Here is Short Skirt/Long Jacket.