Cake; Fashion Nugget

It's taken me a while to decide what album deserves the first review on this blog. My first thought was an album from The Strokes. Then I thought about something really old, like the Beatles or maybe something by Elvis. Then I decided that my first review would be a cd that changed my life. Fashion Nugget, by Cake.

Released: Sept 1996
Label: Capricorn Records
Producer: Cake

How did this album change my life? Lemme tell you. In 96 I was a sophomore in high school and being in a town near Sacramento (stomping grounds for Cake) Fashion Nugget got a lot of air play. The biggest single on the album was, by far, "The Distance", but it also had a great re-make of "I Will Survive" which I personally loved.

Cake was playing a show in Sac to promote the new album, their second, and I got permission from the parental units to go with my friend. It was amazing. We got there early and stood in the front-center the entire time. We sang along to all the songs and it seemed to end way too soon.

My pubescent adoration aside, this album is exactly what Cake is all about. Beautifully simple songs with bitting lyrics and John Mcrea's half sung, half spoken lyrics. The song "Daria" stands out to me as a great example of the writing style of John Mcrea: Fun, rhymy lyrics that have just enough stab-in-the-back-ness to make the song great. One of my favorite things about Cake is their ability to successfully fuse indie-alternative and country music. "She'll Come Back to Me" starts with a gorgeous steel-guitar riff and "Sad Songs and Waltzes" is straight up "My woman just left me and now all I have is my guitar and my dog" country!

So in the end, there is a reason why I have every Cake album. It's simply great music and Fashion Nugget got it all started for me. In fact, they are still going strong and just released their 6th album titled "Showroom of Compasion". It's great as well.



Ok, for those of you out there reading this the plan is to post a review every week or so. I am also planning on having a few writers because frankly, even I don't really like my opinions that much. If you have any review requests just let me (and hopefully us) know in your comments. Thanks! And don't for get to follow this Blog. PEACE!