Gobble, Gobble

IF THIS CURIOUSLY SCHIZOID debut album is any indication, the Nervous Eaters better keep an eye on their audience. If the group--one of the mainstays of Boston's rock scene over the past few years--displayed its previously undisclosed ersatz California mellow side at a grungy hard-core punk joint, the switchblades might fly. But if the Eaters showed up at a junior high school prom and started bashing out their traditional no-holds-barred lust-ridden ear-splitting cacaphony, the result would be right out of Carrie.

Led by vocalist-guitarist-lyricist Steve Cataldo and his evilly piercing stare, the Eaters have produced a surprising but not unpleasant mixture of music to dance to and music to read Ec 10 by. The album--it's the one with teeth-marks on the cover--contains 12 cuts: five, such as the aptly titled "Get Stuffed," are straight, cut-and-slash rock and roll. Most of the rest are gentle, inoffensive love-melodies that would bring smiles to grandma as she makes Minuteman Lemonade for granddad on the porch, and tears from heart-struck pre-pubescents. These are girl songs--from "Walkout," which concerns the obvious, to "By Yourself" (Well, you'll never let her go/'cause you kiss and love her so/A man ought to know/Or he'll soon be by himself), to the anti-drug "Last Chance";

. . .You still depend on LSD

But I hit the sky too many times

You still depend on quaaludes

But I forgot what was on my mind

I need your love. . .

The best-known of the Eaters' rock repertoire, "Loretta," loses just a bit in the translation from live to vinyl, but still rouses, as does "Hooked," which features some fine guitar work by Cataldc and this ever-inspiring vision of true love:

. . .And when we run,

Yes, we run together

When we walk,

We walk together

When we love together

And when we come,

--crescendo, please--

We come together, together waaaahhh

DESPITE THE ABOVE, the Eaters, seeking to widen their appeal, have sanitized at least one of their songs. "My pants are soaking wet," Cataldo sings, from the "Girl Next Door." But while he still "sits and waits all day for her to walk his way," she is no longer explicitly invited to "sit down on my face," as was the case when the Eaters sang at The Rat; instead, Cataldo merely reminds us that he longs for "another taste" of said girl. While not in itself a major issue, this could signify a disturbing trend.

For reasons like this, some Eaters fans may be getting indigestion, chewing on their first release to find some unexpected ingredients. Are the Eaters going mass market? Can disco be far? Cataldo--who is backed by rhythm guitarist Jonathan Paley, drummer Jeff Wilkinson and bassist Robb Skeen--said in a recent interview that the smorgasbord quality of Nervous Eaters came from the inclusion of songs the group put together before it gained a following for reliable hard-rock.

With their first album, the Eaters have shown diversity--in addition to competence and an ability to produce solid, danceable rock that will keep a room full. Worth watching as well as listening to, the Eaters's next album may give us a better indication where they are heading. In the meantime the Eaters fans--as well as the rocking munchers themselves--remain nervous about the futures.