Sounding like a suburban, melodic white-funk-injected version of King Missile's performance art/standup comedy, "The Distance" became a novelty hit in the fall of 1996, sending Cake's second album, Fashion Nugget, to platinum status.
Certainly, "The Distance" was the only reason Fashion Nugget went platinum, because the remainder of the album is too collegiate and arcane for mainstream music tastes.
It isn't because it's obscure or intellectual -- it's because the band is smirking.
An "ironic" cover of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" is the key to the album, sending the signal that Cake consider themselves above everyone else, and nothing is too insignificant to make fun of.
And that wouldn't necessarily have been a problem if they had the wit or musical skills that would make their music either funny or listenable.
Instead, they wallow in sophomoric jokes that rely on self-consciously elaborate wordplay.
Occasionally, their blend of collegiate musical styles -- funk, hip-hop, alternative rock -- makes the music easy to digest in small doses, such as "The Distance," but it isn't varied enough to prevent the album from becoming tedious when played straight through.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Frank SinatraJohn McCrea | Cake | Play | 04:01 | 9 MB | 21 MB |
| 2 | The DistanceG. Brown, Greg Brown | Cake | Play | 03:00 | 6 MB | 20 MB |
| 3 | Friend Is a Four Letter WordJohn McCrea | Cake | Play | 03:22 | 7 MB | 20 MB |
| 4 | Open BookJohn McCrea | Cake | Play | 03:44 | 8 MB | 21 MB |
| 5 | DariaJohn McCrea | Cake | Play | 03:44 | 8 MB | 23 MB |
| 6 | Race Car Ya-YasVictor Damiani, John McCrea, Todd Roper | Cake | Play | 01:21 | 3 MB | 8 MB |
| 7 | I Will SurviveDino Fekaris, Freddie Perren | Cake | Play | 05:10 | 11 MB | 34 MB |
| 8 | Stickshifts and SafetybeltsJohn McCrea | Cake | Play | 02:09 | 4 MB | 12 MB |
| 9 | Perhaps, Perhaps, PerhapsJoe Davis, Osvaldo Farrés | Cake | Play | 02:24 | 5 MB | 14 MB |
| 10 | It's Coming DownJohn McCrea | Cake | Play | 03:44 | 8 MB | 22 MB |
| 11 | NuggetVictor Damiani, John McCrea, Todd Roper | Cake | Play | 03:58 | 9 MB | 26 MB |
| 12 | She'll Come Back to MeJohn McCrea | Cake | Play | 02:25 | 5 MB | 15 MB |
| 13 | Italian Leather SofaJohn McCrea | Cake | Play | 05:52 | 13 MB | 36 MB |
| 14 | Sad Songs and WaltzesWillie Nelson | Cake | Play | 03:15 | 7 MB | 16 MB |
| 48 mins | 110 MB | |||||
| 48 mins | 293 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | G. Brown | Composer |
| 2 | Greg Brown | Composer, Guitar (Electric), Organ |
| 3 | Cake | Arranger, Primary Artist, Producer |
| 4 | Victor Damiani | Composer, Guitar (Bass) |
| 5 | Joe Davis | Composer |
| 6 | Vince Di Fiore | Percussion, Trumpet |
| 7 | Osvaldo Farrés | Composer |
| 8 | Dino Fekaris | Composer |
| 9 | Larry Hulst | Photography |
| 10 | Joe Johnston | Engineer |
| 11 | Mark Kornweibel | Design |
| 12 | Craig Long | Engineer |
| 13 | Audrey Marie | Design |
| 14 | John McCrea | Composer, Design, Guitar (Acoustic), Organ, Vocals |
| 15 | Willie Nelson | Composer |
| 16 | Freddie Perren | Composer |
| 17 | Scott Reams | Assistant Engineer |
| 18 | Todd Roper | Composer, Drums, Percussion |
| 19 | Kirt Shearer | Engineer |
| 20 | Don C. Tyler | Mastering |
| 21 | Greg Vincent | Pedal Steel |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |