The Bottom Line An average album, Fashion Nugget provides some sophomoric humor mixed with many kinds of music. The overall impression. Average.
Full Review
Want occasional entertainment? Check out Cake.
That statement pretty much sums up how I feel about the quirky Californian band. Aside from the laughs, Cake manages to put together some musically adventuresome and lyrically inventive tracks. It is their trademark of sorts…the key of the band’s sometimes success. But, as all listeners know it’s never quite enough just to entertain…there should be some meat to the product. This is where Cake falls flat at times.
Since the band formed in 1994, they’ve released four albums. None of them has felt particularly complete or the tiniest bit visionary. Although, the blending of genres—something the Cake does wonderfully—continues to be the most notable aspect of the otherwise strange and sometimes lackluster music.
Cake released their first album, Motorcade of Generosity in 1994. But, it wasn’t until their sophomore effort that listeners really began to tune in to the band’s strange blend of lounge, rock, funk, punk, alternative, and hip-hop. Fashion Nugget dropped into stereos in 1996. It was a strangely compelling album although at times it seemed rather sophomoric and rather lewd with references to sex scattered throughout the entire disc. No big deal to me, but the shallow humor does tend to get old after a while and I find myself skipping the same tracks time and time again.
Five brave souls make up Cake. John McCrea provides the flatly wry vocals, Greg Brown is on guitar, Vincent Di Fiore adds the occasional trumpet, Victor Damiani keeps the groove going on the bass, and Todd Roper pushes the songs along on his drums. None of the talents in the band is particularly notable aside from the unconventional use of Di Fiore’s horn throughout most tracks. Of the fourteen tracks on Fashion Nugget it seems that half are pretty good while half are easily skipped.
Strange as it might seem for such a bizarre album, Fashion Nugget actually has gone platinum. I would bet that most of that success is as a result of the two cover tracks on the album that first introduced Cake to the world. One is a truly magnificent remake while the other becomes annoying after a while on repeat (and, mind you, I don’t suggest trying that at home.
As the major hit from the album, The Distance provided fewer laughs than the majority of the other tracks. The beat is heavy handed and McCrea’s vocals are enthusiastic yet understated. Of the songs I remember from around 1996 and 1997, this is one of the most different sounding. But, liking this track does not necessarily mean you’ll enjoy those other songs written by Cake.
I Will Survive, the disco classic performed by Gloria Gaynor, also fell prey to Cake. This time, the resulting version isn’t nearly as pleasing on the ears (although quite a few people did enjoy the track at the time). At first listen, the band has done something very different with the track in blending in their mixed up sound. At second listen, it seems that Cake is making fun of the song and of disco (not that I have a problem with that either). Finally, with subsequent listens the song becomes dry and repetitive.
But these two tracks are really the exception to the band’s overall feel and sound. Their usual mix could be described as a cross between Pavement, They Might Be Giants and Bloodhound Gang. Mix these three bands up and you’ve got Cake. As I’ve already mentioned, sex is a theme in many of the band’s songs. You couldn’t possibly mistake the connotations in Stickshifts and Safetybelts as being anything but sexual if you actually listen to the lyrics and ignore the catchy beats.
The hollow vocals, drums, and muffled keyboard that begin the album on Frank Sinatra are promising. The song is representative of the album as a whole aside from those tracks that are utterly impossible to listen to. Here’s a sample of the nicely flowing yet surprisingly nonsensical lyrics:
While Frank Sinatra sings "Stormy Weather"
The flies and spiders get along together
Cobwebs fall on an old skipping record
And so continues the first half of the album…Both Open Book and Daria are decent tracks, but when it comes to Race Car Ya-Yas I’m not nearly as impressed. Once again, Cake sounds repetitive and ultimately uninteresting. Not repulsive per se, but certainly not attractive. With McCrea’s monotonous vocals and the strange imagery the track just doesn’t sound well planned. Fortunately, it’s very short.
Friend Is A Four Letter World and Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps are two of three final tracks even worthy of a mention. It seems that in Friend Is A Four Letter Word McCrea is a bit disillusioned with friendships. That fact is obvious with the title, but compounded with the depressing instruments and wailing trumpet it’s easy to get swept up. Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps combines humor and a strange Latin sound to create an uncertain mood. There’s no mystery as to the emotion behind the song…it’s simply about validating a woman’s love. McCrea wants to know for certain if she loves him. Cliché, yes. Creative, Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps.
The rest of the album is relatively lackluster. From It’s Coming Down through the exceptionally boring Sad Songs and Waltzes there’s only one bright spot. Italian Leather Sofa is upbeat and one of the most universally appealing tracks of the entire album.
Overall, I can see some good and bad things about Fashion Nugget. First of all Cake takes very little seriously…most of all sex and relationships. Cake also has creative take on music with the strange mixes of genres. But, what sinks this album on a whole is that each song sounds so much like the next. And, unless an artist or band is truly talented and diverse an album can’t come close to perfection. Since half of these songs are at least okay and half are pretty bland, I suppose Fashion Nugget is simply average. I’ve got to recommend it to fans of quirky alternative, but aside from that Cake is probably unappealing to most people.
Track Listing:
1. Frank Sinatra
2. The Distance
3. Friend is a Four Letter World
4. Open Book
5. Daria
6. Race Car Ya-Yas
7. I Will Survive
8. Stickshifts and Safetybelts
9. Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps
10. It’s Coming Down
11. Nugget
12. She’ll Come Back To Me
13. Italian Leather Sofa
14. Sad Songs and Waltzes
_______________________________
Post Fashion Nugget:
Cake attempted to follow up the success of their second album with 1998’s aptly titled Prolonging The Magic. The album did decently, but was unable to match the commercial success of their previous effort. Prolonging The Magic did provide a laugh or two especially with Never There and Sheep Go To Heaven.
Most recently (2001 to be exact), Cake released their first major label album Comfort Eagle. The album has to date made a tiny impact on the charts on the wings of Short Skirt/Long Jacket and it’s strangely shot accompanying video (also worth a laugh or two).
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