Irresistible Bliss

, Soul Coughing

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 9, 1996)
• Original Release Date: July 9, 1996
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Warner Bros / Wea
• ASIN: B000002N56
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #28,247 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Super Bon Bon

2. Soft Serve

3. White Girl

4. Soundtrack to Mary

5. Lazybones

6. 4 Out of 5

7. Paint

8. Disseminated

9. Collapse

10. Sleepless

11. Idiot Kings

12. How Many Cans?

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

For a group that exudes so much intelligence and sophistication, Soul Coughing make incredibly intuitive music. The New York foursome gets pinned for its downtown neo-beat poetry shtick, but even M. Doughty, the group's acid-tongued lyricist, will tell you it's really all about the vibe, not the verse: the true leaders are the guys bringing up the rear. Sebastian Steinberg's loping upright bass and Yuval Gabay's precision drums, which form a live hip-hop/jazz-rock base, make Soul Coughing's second album, Irresistible Bliss, even sharper and more rhythmically confident than their 1994 debut, Ruby Vroom. Inverting George Clinton's maxim, Soul Coughing's operating principle seems to be "Free your ass and your mind will follow." As on Ruby Vroom, Doughty's vocals (increasingly dynamic) and Mark De Gli Antoni's keyboard sampler (increasingly focused) form the icing on Irresistible Bliss's groove-filled cake. But like the bass and drums, the voice and sampler work on a subconscious level. Neither conveys concrete meaning so much as it regurgitates data. Like a television set that plays down the hall while you drift off to sleep, Soul Coughing transmit repeated and recontextualized cliches as if they were information-age mantras, and collide those with door squeaks, elephant sounds, and Raymond Scott cartoon music to form a blanket of pop-cultural white noise. If Irresistible Bliss is less referentially hip-hop and (therefore) more song-oriented than the previous album, it's just as enthusiastically geometric--not to mention funky. Or, to transpose Clinton again: Who says a rock band can't play funk?--Roni Sarig

Product Description

Japanese Re-issue features a Bonus CD-SINGLE that features Re-mixes of Super Bon Bon, plus Three Live Tracks, and the Japanese Pressing of the Album Irresistable Bliss featuring Two Exclusive Bonus Tracks.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I wish there were six stars, November 21, 1999

By	ChefBum "chefbum" (Fremont,, CA United States) - See all my reviews

I only wish I could give it six stars. Actually, I received this CD as a gift for Christmas one year, and it sat on my shelf for a year before I listened to it again one more time before I was going to trade it in. Yes, Soul Coughing are not what they seem to be for the uninitiated. If you want to catch Soul Catching at their peak, get Irresistable Bliss! If you're used to straightforward, simple rock 'n' roll, these guys will take some getting used to. But once you catch Soul Coughing Fever, you can't stop listening! The rhythms and how they are put together serve as a solid foundation for the music. That, and some of the funniest, catchy, but cryptic lyrics, make these guys SPECIAL. Sure, I think that their first effort, Ruby Vroom, was even funnier, with really sharp, hilarious wit brilliantly served up by the vocalist Mark Dougherty. It was a wonderfully campy effort, with just enough of the feel of an indie, underground effort. The sonics, and tighter, boppier jazzy sound of Irresistable Bliss, however, make it the musically superior record. Even the polished El Oso (their most recent release) falls short of Irresistable Bliss in my humble opinion. That, and it's the least funny of the three... Soul Coughing is special, more of a phenomenon than an artist, group, or bunch of guys with instruments. At their best, they can seamlessly blend intelligent, catchy lyrics with intelligent, catchy music in a manner and combination that can only be called sublime. I can't think of anyone quite like them. And to think that I almost missed out. If you want to catch Soul Coughing at their peak, you need to listen to Irresistable Bliss!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great album by one of the best bands of the past 20 years, May 8, 2000

By	sc_demandred (Irvine, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This album was one that gave me hope for contemporary music. I first heard of Soul Coughing through a giveaway cassette a few years back. It had "Super Bon-Bon" and "Soundtrack to Mary" on it, and those two songs were the first ones I'd heard in years that made me sit up and wonder "Wow, who the hell are they? " A year later, "Irresistable Bliss" hit my CD deck and rarely left it.

Soul Coughing was a band chock full of the rarest talent I have ever seen. Doughty's writing is glib yet powerful, emotional yet aloof, and constantly cryptic and captivating. The sound of Sebastian Steinberg's upright bass blends beautifully with Yuval Gabay's offbeat drumming and Mark De Gli Antoni's arful sample work.

"Super Bon-Bon" is the leadoff booty-shaker, the song that shot SC into the mainstream. My personal favorite track is "Lazybones", a simply beautiful song in all senses. There's not a bad song on this album, but the best ones are "Soft Serve", "Sleepless", "The Idiot Kings", "How Many Cans" and "Collapse". Each song is rife with originality, verve, wit and overall artistry.

This was the first Soul Coughing CD I bought, and it was the one that hooked me in and dug into my brain. I would be hard-pressed to say that any of their three albums are the "best" album, as they are all amazing and captivating in different ways. Ruby Vroom is more playful, Irresistable Bliss is more poppy and bass-y, and El Oso is beat-driven and funky. All are outstanding.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still Sounds As Frech As Ever, May 26, 2000

By	C. Burgess "chico_bkny" (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This CD is four years old, but it is STILL in heavy rotation in my CD player. Why? Because it still sounds as fresh and innovative as it did back then. With the first couple of listens, you won't be sure quite what to make of this group. The music is, in turn, rocking, rollicking, soulful and witty. I was not blown away initially, which I now blame on my own inability at the time to process the brillinace of this work (the same reaction I had to Radiohead). Now, I can't get enough of it.

The funk, rock and punk influences on Soul Coughing are immediately evident, but closer examination revelas traces of classic folk music and bluegrass. You will also be blown away by the lyrics, not just in their intelligence, but also in the wordplay.

It's difficult to name a favorite song from the album, because I firmly believe it should be listened to in its entirety. In stark contrast to much of the pop music being recorded today, this CD is more than just a collection of unrelated songs; it is a coherent story. That said, "4 Out Of 5," "Super Bon Bon," "Soundtrack to Mary" and "Disseminated" stand out as extraordinary songs.

Finally, it's nice to see that the Slash record label is still capable of finding and producing good artists. This was the original label of The Violent Femmes, The Germs, Los Lobos, The Blasters and others. Glad to see they haven't lost their touch since the acquisition by Warner Bros.