Fashion Nugget

This album is filled with mood swings as it is mixed with passive songs like "The Distance," hopeful and almost upbeat songs like "Frank Sinatra," and somber tunes like "Friend Is A Four Letter Word." A great album that displays the greatness of CAKE.

Contrary to the idiotic iTunes album review, Fashion Nugget can be listened to in huge doses. In fact, I've been unable to stop listening to it. The simple fact is that Cake have both great talent and a great sense of humor, and it shows throughout the entire album. I recommend this album highly, and I know it will consume others the way it has consumed me.

This album is one of the best of Cake. Besides the well known songs such as "The Distance" and "Frank Sinatra" there are awesome songs such as "Daria" and "Perhaps" Never gets old.

Me love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cake is PRICELESS!

ridiculous review. the distance is okay, but frank sinatra and nugget are great.

I completely disagree with iTunes' review. I've just returned to this album after 10 years and it holds up surprisingly well. Frank Sinatra is a great opener - just a cool, funkdified tune that introduces the listener to the style of the band and the rest of the album. Each song is fun, catchy, melodic, and interesting. Not a weak song on here. You know what you're getting with Cake - quirky, staccato rhythms, catchy hooks, and lyrics that are mostly about cars (but sometimes about girls). Yeah, they may not push the boundaries aurally or lyrically, but they're a good, cool band, and this is their best album.

Every song on this album has its merits. Obviously, "The Distance" and "Frank Sinatra" rank high on everyone's lists. However, many of the other songs are worth notice. The bizarre "Open Book" is appealing in its odd harmonies and disjointedness. "Daria" gets my vote for the strangest lyric of the album: "[I won't be] smoothed over like milk, silk, a bedspread, or a quilt, icing on a cake, or a serene transluscent lake." "It's Coming Down" is both cynical and humorous regarding a breakup, saying "She's gone and she's wearing your red sweater." Although much credit has been given to the bassist (who definitely deserves it), the lead guitarist makes this album work. Every song, even ones without a guitar solo, the guitar plays a vital role, often adding biting riffs to otherwise innocuous songs. Listen to "Stickshifts and Safetybelts," "Italian Leather Sofa," or "Nugget." This is really the only Cake album anyone needs to buy. Quite different from Motorcade of Generosity or Prolonging the Magic, Fashion Nugget is Cake's quintessential work that is sure to remain a classic.

Didn't like a single song, what the heck is a race car ya-ya?!?

The writer of the review is Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic Guide. This guy knows what he's talking about. Cake is absolutely an aquired taste. I used to listen to this album all the time and praise it right up there with Sgt. Peppers and Dark Side of the Moon...WHEN I WAS 12! This is a pretty good album. The bonafide hit that came out at just the right time (The Distance) is obviously the best track on the album, and Cake at it's most accessible. However, that's about where the accessiblity ends. Two minute trumpet solos and lyrics that make about as much sense as anything Scott Weiland's ever written tend to alienate casual listeners, and truly good music has universal appeal. This album has the potential to make die-hard fans out of many (and it did), but you really have to dig to find anything memorable beyond their breakthrough single. To their hardcore fanbase, however, they have catered very well to over the years (a la Pressure Chief) and this is without a doubt the greatest Cake album. Any true fan should have no problem reciting Nugget or humming along to Stickshifts and Safetybelts and will always add the f-bomb to I Will Survive, regardless of who's singing it.