#551 The Best Album of 2001, Round 2 Match #98: Low vs. Cake
Hey folks!
Today’s Best Album of 2001 match is:
#16 Low, THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE
vs.
#17 Cake, COMFORT EAGLE
To vote, follow this link to the Google Form. You will need a Google login to vote. If you can’t or won’t have one, let me know ASAP (either through this newsletter, my email [[email protected]] or on the Best Album Brackets Bluesky account) and I’ll see what I can do.
We have one Designated Cheerleader today, it’s for COMFORT EAGLE, and it’s from @kevinalexander.bsky.social. Take it away, Kevin!
Having to force-rank Cake albums would be rough sledding. These parlor games are always fun, but is it possible to just do a six-way tie? If you like a little bit of theremin with your rock, you’re in luck. Maybe a bit of quasi-rapping laced with droll wit? Want some horns and a little git box with choruses purpose-built for singing along while stuck in traffic? I’ve got good news!
Comfort Eagle is the band’s 4th record, and the short version is it’s more of the same. And hey, if it ain’t broke, why fix it? The NorCal band knows what it’s got and isn’t interested in lowball offers.
What they have are tracks oozing with deceptively catchy riffs and songs that transport you to a sun-baked world of short skirts/long jackets where everyone calls you “dude.” Speaking of which, most people will recognize “Short Skirt/Long Jacket,” which had a decent run on the charts and still gets played to this day.
What people might not know is that the band held a (then novel) online vote to pick which track would go second. The title track won, but after 9/11, the band decided to switch to “Love You Madly” stating “Due to unforeseen changes in national media, CAKE must now change its upcoming single from ‘Comfort Eagle’ to ‘Love You Madly.’ We apologize to those of you who voted for the latter, but due to its airplane, corporate, and Middle Eastern references, ‘Comfort Eagle’ has been deemed inappropriate for today’s emotional climate.”
Fair enough. Fall of ’01 was a weird space to be in. Love You Madly is catchy, but not as much as Comfort Eagle. But we’re talking a game of inches here; everything on this record is catchy. If you only know “Short Skirt/Long Jacket,” consider this a sign to check out the rest of the record—it’s so much more than the one song.
On the title track, Cake says they are building [you] a religion. Consider me converted.
Thank you, Kevin!
Click here to see the current results for the entire tournament, and click here to see the current results for the prediction bracket contest.
Yesterday, #1 Wilco, YANKEE HOTEL FOXTROT defeated #32 Mary J. Blige, NO MORE DRAMA, 152-82-2.
Thanks,
Kent
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