Fashion Nugget

Solid fun, but maybe not list worthy

I liked "The Distance" at the time, but this album outstayed its welcome after when it was over. It's telling that the best songs here are covers, even if they're struck through with that annoying irony.

Grew up with CAKE, known CAKE for years, and they have some great songs still, no matter how much they seem to be viewed as a fad by modern standards. However, they really aren't more than just "alright" most of the time, and I'd take Comfort Eagle anyday. Still, alright is alright. 3.5

Cake are a strange band, musically they're kind of a mix of RHCP and Wilco, but have a tone of "We could try but we don't want to" with their lazy style of talk-singing. Knowing what I know of Cake beforehand I was fully expecting to find this album irritating, which it is, but it's in equal parts funny too. Counterintuitively, the songs that give the album it's greatest identity are the classic cover songs; For example I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor, their lazy style is offensive to the legacy of a great song at first, but after a while it's becomes pretty funny. The Distance is a classic that needs no introduction, it's easy to make fun of but it rocks hard.

I feel like I might bump this up to a 4 in future, I felt like the album had too many duds but it sort of won me over by the end of its runtime.

Should it be in the main list: Honestly I'm going to say yes, musically they're not that outstanding but the way they present themselves adds a unique flair. Closest thing I can think of to Cake is Sonic Youth, and I'm sure they'll be fine with just 4 albums in the list instead of 5.

Top 3 songs: Frank Sinatra, The Distance, Nugget

Stickshifts and Safetybelts is a sleeper hit for me. The Distance is still the best song by a mile. Italian Leather Sofa is also a good one.

He’s going the distance! He’s going for speed! This album freaking rules and deserves to be on the official list. It’s so catchy and unique.

ihan hauska valtavirrasta poikkeava levy, mut ei ihan sytytä kumminkaan. 3/5

CAKE might be the worst band I've ever seen play live, but this album is good.

Given that "The Distance" is one of my all-time favourite songs, I recall struggling with this album at the time of its release, something never quite clicked for me. Re-listening today, (nearly 30 years later), I appreciated it so much more, it's a great album! 4.5

Little bit like if Beck had a little brother who learned to play the trumpet instead of getting really into audio engineering

There's a lot of CAKE-alikes out there, but the original is one of the few cases where that lazy vocal affectation works for the thing rather than against it. The trick is that most of CAKE's lyrics are impressionistic blather, rather than the zingers that their imitators tend to go for.

One of the first albums I (allegedly) torrented - but one I have not listened to in 20+ years. So weird, and such a fun listen, that I was glad to put that right.

Enjoyed this one, never heard them before I don’t think but obviously recognised the covers. I liked their take on the songs. One I’ll hopefully come back to.