Mike Doughty

After Soul Coughing disbanded, Mike Doughty struck out on his own as a truly solo act, playing stripped down acoustic songs, touring steadily, and selling homemade CD-Rs of an evocative solo debut (Skittish) from the stage at his shows. Since then, the quirky frontman-turned-troubadour has gradually moved back to a full band sound, but without sounding much like Soul Coughing (aside from his trademark nasal vocal - which one uncharitable wag once compared to Popeye).

Golden Delicious seldom benefits from all its generic rock band accoutrements. There’s a lot going on during songs like "Nectarine (part one)"—tinkling keys, some funky bass, assorted video game effects—but it seldom adds up to much. Like too much of the album, it’s serviceable for head-nodding background music, but feels too lightweight for concentrated or repeat listens. He's deftly escaped Soul Coughing's shadow, but now, with apparently more resources at his disposal, fails to recapture the emotional depth of his earlier solo work.

Still, Doughty reliably lands some solid hooks and memorable lines, starting with "I Just Want The Girl In The Blue Dress To Keep On Dancing," a song that should certainly keep the hipster girls dancing at his shows. His habit of foregoing words in favor of "na-na-na"-style sing-a-longs feels a little lazy after a while, but works to nice effect on this track. "Put It Down" plays the same card; a tad overcrowded, it's still fun and good-spirited, while "I Got The Drop On You" slows it down and showcases Doughty's moodier side. As inoffensive as it is insubstantial, the album won't blow you over but does provide a cool musical breeze. —Adam McKibbin
02.28.08

On 2005's Haughty Melodic, Mike Doughty took steps to move away from his purely acoustic solo material, bringing in piano and horns to fill out his sound. Golden Delicious stretches even further into radio-friendly adult alternative, and in fact little resembles the singer's earlier work. "27 Jennifers," which was originally found on the 2003 EP Rockity Roll, is revisited here, with added electric guitars and a swirling keyboard solo that might have come straight out of 1986, and the song ends up being one of the better ones on the album. Elsewhere, many of the melodies and arrangements are similar (the first two tracks, for example, "Fort Hood" and "I Just Want the Girl in the Blue Dress to Keep on Dancing," are nearly identical, except the former's chorus chooses to borrow from Galt MacDermot's "Let the Sunshine In," while the latter riffs on "The Little Drummer Boy"), but there are still moments on Golden Delicious that show what Doughty is capable of. For example, he holds back on the production and instrumentation and lets his acoustic guitar chords and voice take over in the darker "I Got the Drop on You," which references his Soul Coughing days while still coming across as an original. And while "More Bacon Than the Pan Can Handle" is intended as a nod to his love of hip-hop and sampling but is pure kitsch instead, there are other songs -- the aforementioned "I Got the Drop on You," the Death Cabby "Wednesday (No Se Apoye)," even "I Wrote a Song About Your Car" -- that successfully demonstrate Doughty's abilities. ~ Marisa Brown, All Music Guide