Maybe it’s Mark McGrath’s frosted tips. Maybe it’s the tight and boxy drum production. Maybe it’s the smooth acoustic guitar. Hell, maybe it’s just simply the album cover art. But no matter what it is, there is no escaping that Sugar Ray’s 14:59 sounds exactly like a wet hot summer afternoon in the late 90’s.
As soon as I flipped on this album and heard the acoustic guitar kick off the intro to “Every Morning” I blacked out and woke up wearing JNCO jeans, pooka shells, cargo pants, and a belt with woven fabric that for some godforsaken reason hangs halfway down to my knees.
Most men would be embarrassed in this situation– I felt triumphant. 14:59 is a 90’s album through and through, and I wouldn’t change a goddamn thing about it.
As an aside– the album title 14:59 is a cheeky reference to the “15 minutes of fame” Sugar Ray experienced after their hit single “Fly” from 1997’s Floored went to the top of the charts. The media tagged them as one-hit wonders ahead of this album’s release (a fate they obviously avoided after 14:59 went quadruple platinum).
Standout Songs: “Every Morning”, “Personal Space Invader”, “Someday”, “Even Though”
