Irresistible Bliss

Irresistible Bliss
Studio album by Soul Coughing
Released July 9, 1996
Recorded 1995
Genre Alternative rock, noise pop [1]
Length 45:19
Label Slash / Warner Bros. Records
Producer David Kahne, Soul Coughing, Steve Fisk
Soul Coughing chronology
Ruby Vroom
(1994)
Irresistible Bliss
(1996)
El Oso
(1998)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [2]
Pitchfork Media (7.0/10)[3]

Irresistible Bliss was Soul Coughing's second album, released in 1996 (see 1996 in music). The band initially planned for Tchad Blake, producer of their first album, Ruby Vroom, to produce the album, but the death of a family member in a car accident caused Blake to take a hiatus. Over the objections of his bandmates and his record label, Slash Records/Warner Bros., frontman Mike Doughty (then billed as "M. Doughty") hired producer David Kahne (Fishbone, The Bangles, Sublime, Tony Bennett, Sugar Ray, The Strokes); he was intent on following up the wild sonics of Ruby Vroom with a tightly-wound, trembly, New Wave inspired record.

The tracking, at Manhattan's Power Station recording studio, was complete in eleven days, and Doughty was jubilant at the results. Doughty tapped Steve Fisk to produce the tune "Unmarked Helicopters" for the X Files soundtrack Songs in the Key of X.

All of Irresistible Bliss' songs were produced by Kahne, except tracks 2 and 6 (by Fisk) and track 12 by the band themselves.[4] The mixing process split the tracks between three mixers: Kahne, Chris Shaw, and Ruby producer Tchad Blake, who intervened when bass player Sebastian Steinberg briefly quit the band.

Irresistible Bliss yielded a hit single for Soul Coughing, "Super Bon Bon." "Soft Serve" and "Soundtrack to Mary" also received some selective radio airplay.

Contents

Track listing

All songs by Doughty/Soul Coughing.

  1. "Super Bon Bon" – 3:31
  2. "Soft Serve" – 3:12
  3. "White Girl" – 2:37
  4. "Soundtrack to Mary" – 3:06
  5. "Lazybones" – 4:48
  6. "4 Out of 5" – 3:12
  7. "Paint" – 2:55
  8. "Disseminated" – 2:41
  9. "Collapse" – 3:06
  10. "Sleepless" – 4:50
  11. "The Idiot Kings" – 3:57
  12. "How Many Cans?" – 4:24
  13. "Lemon Lime" (Japanese Release Bonus Track)
  14. "Blow My Only" (Japanese Release Bonus Track)

Additional CD with Japanese Release

  1. "Super Bon Bon (Propellorheads Mezzanine Remix)"
  2. "Mr. Bitterness (live)"
  3. "White Girl (live)"
  4. "Lazybones (live)"
  5. "Super Bon Bon (Kick Dub Mix)"

Video Games

Super Bon Bon gained national attention because of its use in the soundtrack to the video game Gran Turismo 2.

Personnel

References