ARTIST: Cake
TITLE: Fashion Nugget
YEAR RELEASED: 1996
CHART ACTION: #36 US, #1 Heatseekers, #53 UK
SINGLES: The Distance (#4 Alternative, #38 Mainstream, #22 UK), I Will Survive (#28 Alternative, #29 UK), Frank Sinatra, Friend Is a Four Letter Word
OTHER SONGS YOU MAY KNOW: None I bet
LINEUP: John McCrea, Greg Brown, Vince DiFiore, Victor Damiani, Todd Roper
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: Clever alt-rock band gets a decent-sized radio hit that has outlasted the band and album.
SOME WORDS, PHRASES AND CLAUSES ABOUT THIS RECORD: Alt rock, with a little mariachi, and a lot of smarmy sass, Cake’s second album became a sensation on the alternative scene thanks to “The Distance” – one of the few original songs not written or co-written by John McCrea. Funny how that works!
“The Distance” has outlived the band, being used for all kinds of media since its release. That overwhelms the band and the album a bit, and there’s enough other material that’s decent enough that it’s not a hit-plus-filler situation, though just a few tracks reach the level of “The Distance.”
The covers seem a bit forced, though. I don’t enjoy this as much as their debut. I think their schtick is easy to figure out, to be honest.
NOTES & MINUTIAE: They change the lyrics to “I Will Survive” and it gained a Parental Advisory sticker.
IS THERE A DELUXE VERSION: No
GRADE: B: It’ll take you back to 1996, and that’s both good, and bad.