Another great disappointment in music for me was Mike Doughty's Golden Delicious out this year. I am not sure what happened here. I think maybe he has a record contract that required him to put out a new disk even if he wasn't ready. This is the worst work I have heard from him.
I have followed him since a co-worker at a coffee shop introduced me to Soul Coughing. Doughty's was the lead singer. I have so far followed him since then. I have made it out to Brooklyn to see him solo and without a record contract. He would sell his CDs from a backpack after the show for $10 each. and stuff was great.
Much of the tracks on this new album sounds like reworking of older material from his solo career or Soul Coughing days. Other songs are actually from EP's that he sold from that backpack. These EPs have been released commercially since his record contract came to be.
Still all is not lost. Doughty has a very East Village feel. This , of course , where he has lived for many years. His music has a the shape of some of those dirty lonely streets. "I got the drop on you" has a eerily intensity that drops the mood of work down, and is the first good songs after many bad tracks.
This musical direction charts a direction of New York City rarely leaves itself. The East Village is so far removed from the rest of the city that it is hard to find yourself there if you have no business there, and the residents make you feel it. For most people it is like going into another world, but it is in fact a deeper layer of New York city with an undercurrent of sadness for some reason that I never could figure out. At same time it is rich in every way. You can here this here, but I would suggest "Skiddish" for that, which his best work.
There are three songs worth checking out:
I got the drop on you
Nectaring
Book of Love
Mike Doughty does a beautiful cover of the Magnetic Field's classic "Book of Love" in his live show. He recorded it and it is available on the itunes version of Golden Delicious. Either version is a must download.
You also might want to check out my friend Scott's review of Golden Delicious here.
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