Comfort Eagle (2001)

Comfort Eagle is the fourth studio album by American alternative rock band Cake. It was released on July 24, 2001, on Columbia Records, their first with the company.

Release

In its opening week, Comfort Eagle sold about 72,000 copies, debuting at number 13 on the Billboard 200. By 2002, the album had sold 408,000 copies. On February 2, 2003, it was certified gold by the RIAA for shipments of half a million copies.

The album's lead single was "Short Skirt/Long Jacket." The band asked fans to vote for the album's second single via their website, with the album's title track "Comfort Eagle" being the eventual winner, but its release as a single was canceled after the September 11 attacks. The band wrote: "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."

Critical reception

According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Comfort Eagle received "generally favorable reviews" based on a weighted average score of 70 out of 100 from 12 critic scores.

Personnel

Cake

John McCrea – lead vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, keyboards, bass, drum programming, percussion

• Vince DiFiore – trumpet, keyboards, backing vocals
• Xan McCurdy – electric guitar, percussion, backing vocals
• Gabriel Nelson – bass guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
• Todd Roper – drums, percussion, Moog synthesizer, backing vocals
• Guest musician

Tyler Pope – keyboards, electric guitar ("Opera Singer", "Short Skirt/Long Jacket", "Arco Arena")

• Production
• Cake – production, arrangements, mixing
• Kirt Shearer – mixing
• David Cole – mixing
• Craig Long – mixing
• Gabriel Shepard – mixing
• Don C. Taylor – mastering

In other media

An instrumental version of "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" was used as the opening theme to Chuck.