''Chocolate Chip Cookies'' is an album by
Canadian
Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
folk rock
Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...
band
Leslie Spit Treeo
Leslie Spit Treeo were a Canadian folk-rock band in the 1980s and 1990s. The band took its name from the Leslie Street Spit area of Toronto Harbour."Leslie Spit Treeo still true to street-busking roots". ''Toronto Star'', May 11, 1990.
History
Th ...
, released in 1996.
It is subtitled "A Rock & Roll Adventure".
The band intended to make "the mother of all concept albums."
It contains a cover of
Bob Snider
Bob Snider is a Canadian singer/songwriter.
Snider grew up in Toronto and later moved to Bear River, Nova Scotia, Canada. Upon returning to Toronto in the 1980s, he befriended Bob Wiseman and other songwriters in the Toronto open stages at Fat ...
's "Ancient Eyes".
[ The band promoted the album by embarking on a full tour of Canada.
]
Release
A double album, ''Chocolate Chip Cookies'' was originally released in a unique paper bag
A paper bag is a bag made of paper, usually kraft paper. Paper bags can be made either with virgin or recycled fibres to meet customers' demands. Paper bags are commonly used as shopping bag, shopping carrier bags and for packaging of some co ...
package similar to a cookie
A cookie is a sweet biscuit with high sugar and fat content. Cookie dough is softer than that used for other types of biscuit, and they are cooked longer at lower temperatures. The dough typically contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of ...
bag, with labelling that resembled the design of a Chips Ahoy!
Chips Ahoy! is an American chocolate chip cookie brand, baked and marketed by Nabisco, a subsidiary of Mondelez International, that debuted in 1963. Chips Ahoy! cookies are available in different variations such as, original, reduced-fat, chunk ...
bag.Nabisco
Nabisco (, abbreviated from the earlier name National Biscuit Company) is an American manufacturer of cookies and snacks headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey. The company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Mondelēz International.
Nabisco' ...
threatened the band with a copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...
infringement lawsuit, and in response, the band recalled all unsold copies of the album, held a bonfire
A bonfire is a large and controlled outdoor fire, used for waste disposal or as part of a religious feast, such as Saint John's Eve.
Etymology
The earliest attestations date to the late 15th century, with the Catholicon Anglicum spelling i ...
in Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
's High Park
High Park is a municipal park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. High Park is a mixed recreational and natural park, with sporting facilities, cultural facilities, educational facilities, gardens, playgrounds and a zoo. One-third of the park remains ...
to burn the cookie bag packages, and rereleased the album in a conventional jewel case
Optical disc packaging is the packaging that accompanies CDs, DVDs, and other formats of optical discs. Most packaging is rigid or semi-rigid and designed to protect the media from scratches and other types of exposure damage.
Jewel case
A ...
.
Critical reception
The ''Times Colonist
The ''Times Colonist'' is an English-language daily newspaper in Victoria, British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific ...
'' stated: "Those seeking ''Mellon Collie''-type angst in their sprawling, double disc epics will take solace in 'Average Joe's rallying chorus cry of 'Life sucks!' and ballad 'Book of Rejection's assertion that 'self- esteem may be over-rated/You're going nowhere without some hatred."[
]AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
wrote that "the whole, interspersed with Chipmunks-speed spoken-word snippets that more or less advance (or confuse) the narrative, is worthy of Frank Zappa's wry genius in its combination of self-mockery and pinpoint satire."
Track listing
Disc One
# Warning
# Overture/Second
# Nebulous
# Bad Omen
# Happily Ever After Again
# Average Joe
# Falling Down Again
# Book of Rejection
# The Single
# Can't Stop
# Talking
# Bus to Nowhere
# Chocolate Chip Cookies
# Too You
# Hell or Heaven
# Bystander
# Mole
# Moth to a Flame
# All Is Not Lost
# Stuck in the Middle of a Song
# Outro/Disappear
Disc Two
# Oh Canada
# Still Talking
# Roly Poly
# Soup Line
# All on Myself
# Ancient Eyes
# Pirates
# Lonely Only
# How Much Is That Doggie
# It's a Dog's Life
# Warthogs Can Fly
# People
# Moderation
# A Way In
# The Single (Dance Remix)
# So Close Yet So Far
# UFO
# Cathy
# Sheila
# Serendipity
# Hold Strong
References
{{Authority control
1996 albums
Leslie Spit Treeo albums