Irresistible Bliss

Infobox Album |
Name = Irresistible Bliss
Type = Album
Artist = Soul Coughing


Released = July 9, 1996
Recorded = 1995
Genre = Alternative rock
Length = 45:19
Label = Slash / Warner Bros. Records
Producer = David Kahne, Soul Coughing, Steve Fisk
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|3|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:ob861vfozzpa~T10 link]
*Pitchfork Media (7.0/10) [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/21907-irresistible-bliss?artist_title=21907-irresistible-bliss link] |
Last album = "Ruby Vroom"
(1994)
This album = "Irresistible Bliss"
(1996)
Next album = "El Oso"
(1998)

"Irresistible Bliss" was Soul Coughing's 1996 (see 1996 in music) second album. 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 to grieve. 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, 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 #2 & 6 (by Fisk) and #12 by the band themselves. cite web
url=http://www.kollecta.com/Collector_Item/CD_(compact_disc_/_music)/Compact_Disc/Irresistible+Bliss/359349.htm
title=Irresistible Bliss credits/track listing
accessdate=2008-05-24] 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."

Track listing

All songs by Doughty/Soul Coughing.

#"Super Bon Bon" – 3:31
#"Soft Serve" – 3:12
#"White Girl" – 2:37
#"Soundtrack to Mary" – 3:06
#"Lazybones" – 4:48
#"4 Out of 5" – 3:12
#"Paint" – 2:55
#"Disseminated" – 2:41
#"Collapse" – 3:06
#"Sleepless" – 4:50
#"The Idiot Kings" – 3:57
#"How Many Cans?" – 4:24

Personnel

*Mike Doughty (then billed as "M. Doughty") – Vocals, guitar
*Mark de Gli Antoni – keyboard, sampler, vocals
*Sebastian Steinberg – double bass, fiddle
*Yuval Gabay – drums, vocals

References