Additional personnel: Greg Vincent (pedal steel guitar).

Recorded at Pus Cavern and Paradise Studios, Sacramento, California.

Personnel: John McCrea (vocals, acoustic guitar, organ); Greg Brown (electric guitar, organ); Vince Di Fiore (trumpet, percussion); Victor Damiani (bass guitar); Todd Roper (drums, percussion).

Recording information: Crest Theatre (09/1996/12/1996); KROQ (09/1996/12/1996); Pus Cavern And Paradise Studios, Sacramento, CA (09/1996/12/1996).

Photographer: Larry Hulst.

Arranger: Cake.

FASHION NUGGET is a smorgasboard of an album, with elements of country, lounge, classic rock, Merseybeat, R&B and funk, and Cake plays it all with a large dose of humor and irony. Employing funky bass lines, scratchy guitars, a trumpet that is part Dean Martin and part "Macarena," and squelched, distanced vocals that sound like they're coming from a deserted AM radio station, the California band traverses the history of American popular music as if in an endless search for found objects for its postmodern jokes. Seemingly silly lyrics about Frank Sinatra, race cars and Italian leather sofas form a sardonic commentary on middle Americana. Cake pulls off this cultural experiment with a significant amount of poise, making an entertaining and fun record that also contains a serious critical undercurrent.