Mike Doughty

After disappearing from the music scene following the demise of Soul Coughing, Mike Doughty rebuilt his career from the bottom up. He spent the next five years playing live and selling copies of his CDs from cardboard boxes until he was finally noticed by, of all people, Dave Matthews, who invited him to join his label. Golden Delicious doesn’t see Doughty messing around too much with a formula that has been successful for him, and that might be part of the problem. The record uses the same template for every song, creating an album where the tracks blend together into a bland mess. The songs that do stand out do so for the wrong reasons — "27 Jennifers” is an inferior re-recording of an old song, while "More Bacon Than The Pan Can Handle” is just plain bad, unless it’s meant as a joke. Despite little moments that serve as a reminder of what Doughty is capable of, Golden Delicious is a huge disappointment. Hopefully it’s something that can be swept under the carpet by the time his next record appears.