Album Review

Did you know that Cobra Verde released a new album late last year? If this November release passed under your radar you certainly aren’t alone. It seems that many of the band’s fans were quite surprised to hear that the group had a new disc out as well.

And I’m not talking a new record like 2005’s Copycat Killers – a sporadic collection of oddball covers. No, I’m talking about one along the lines of 2003’s fantastic Easy Listening. A powerhouse juggernaut of ace songwriting and driving guitars which suggests that “Cleveland Rocks” may in fact hold more truth than even Ian Hunter imagined.

For those unfamiliar with the band here is a brief career re-cap. The group formed out of the ashes of another Ohio favorite, Death Of Samantha, in the early 1990’s. Singer John Petkovic has been the only mainstay of the band from the original group which, as the band members grew older, became quite a revolving line-up. The band garnered their greatest initial recognition when Guided By Voices leader Robert Pollard enlisted the band as his new backing unit for the recording of 1997’s Mag Earwig. The collaboration would prove short-lived as tensions between band members and Pollard reached a boiling point while touring the album. Pollard ditched everyone except guitarist Doug Gillard. Petkovic then continued on with Cobra Verde who have gone on to release four full-lengths since 1999.

The bummer is that Haven’t Slept All Year doesn’t come close to topping Easy Listening. It’s a fun record, which hops all over the place genre-wise, but the diversity cuts down on the powerhouse anthems that made the prior album so memorable. Like most quality bands, I’m sure that Cobra Verde possesses a fear of becoming too pigeon-holed, hence the eccentric output. Plus, it’s obvious that this band is made up of a crew of seasoned musicians with excellent tastes in a wide variety of music (see the covers album for further proof.)

Experimentation is a good thing, but too much experimentation can prove disastrous. For a more timely example look at the last My Morning Jacket album, Evil Urges. Whereas Z switched up their game with great success, the experimentation runs amok on Evil Urges, resulting in the band losing its identity.

So one must tread the waters of experimentation with caution, and it appears that on Haven’t Slept All Year Cobra Verde has ventured too far into the deep end. Sure there are still some ace tunes, most notably the tasty rocker “Riot In the FoodCourt” (perhaps a sequel to Easy Listening’s “Riot Industry”) but for the most part the disc just seems unfocused. Songs sway from straight-forward power-pop (“Wildweed”) to spoken-word jazz (“Wasted Again”) to 80’s synth-pop (“Something About The Bedroom” and parts of “Run Away”) to bluegrass hoedowns (Free Ride”). The gentle acoustic number with the falsetto vocals, “Together Alone,” sounds like a Flight Of The Conchords cover.

The title of this disc reflects the insomnia that Petkovic suffered from while treating his ailing mother during 2007. And while the wild mood swings of the songs would seem fitting for an individual suffering from a year long lack of sleep, it is notable that the entire album was in the can pre-crisis. So perhaps a Cobra Verde album actually crafted during a period of sleepless nights would be completely linear? We may never know since it sounds like Petkovic is once again sleeping tight.

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