2/22/2008
By: Scott Rader
Mike Doughty gained a slight cult following when he fronted the acoustic/folk/jazz/hip-hop group Soul Coughing. They were gloriously weird, and with their awesome single "Circles" cemented themselves as one of the best pop groups around. But Doughty grew tired of the band and in love with heroin. Bam! No more Soul Coughing.
Doughty kicked the habit. And came back strong as a solo artist. Mixing his off-beat wordplay, off-center, but melodic voice, and easy going beats and pianos, he re-cemented himself as an artist to stay on top of.
With Golden Delicious he keeps that spirit alive. It's an album that's quirky and strange, but very easy to listen to. And his penchant for "Bah Buh Bahs" make it easy to sing-along to. Really, that's all we need these days. His version, however, makes us all feel a little less naughty for wanting that. It's not uber-happy tweener stuff. It's not ultra-slutty seductress bait. It's the adult version.
"More Bacon Than the Pan Can Handle" doesn't belong, because like bacon it's just excess fat, only not tasty. The same goes with "I Got the Drop on You," which wants to be too quirky. He lives better in a world like "Fort Hood" and "27 Jennifers." But the real notion that Doughty may live on the ears of listeners long into the future is the elegiac "Wednesday (Contra La Puerta.)"
