Skittish | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 2000 | |||
Recorded | July 5, 1996 | |||
Genre | Rock | |||
Length | 32:17 | |||
Label | (self-released) | |||
Producer | Kramer | |||
Mike Doughty chronology | ||||
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Skittish is an album released in 2000 by Mike Doughty, founder of the alternative rock band Soul Coughing, and is his first solo effort. It was recorded in a single day, on July 5 1996, with indie rock producer Kramer and mixed the following day. A number of the songs on the album had been intended as Soul Coughing songs, but were rejected by other band members for the album Irresistible Bliss . The CD was first released with a limited run of 200, which was signed by the artist and contained a written “Fake Word” on the track list. This limited CD was an online purchase directly from Mike Doughty.
Though Kramer developed some of the songs in Doughty's absence, with strings and organ, the disc is mostly a stark affair. Doughty's riffs—often using a guitar rhythm Doughty calls the "gangadank"—punctuate emotional lyrics on songs such as "The Only Answer" and "The Pink Life". However, Soul Coughing's label Warner Bros. chose to reject the songs, due to the fact that they sounded radically different to those created by Soul Coughing.
The album was not officially released, but different versions of the tracks, which sometimes included extra instruments as experimental mixes, were made available on Napster as The Skittish Sessions. Following Doughty's departure from Soul Coughing in 2000, he began touring solo and was surprised to discover that audiences were already familiar with the songs. As a result, he decided to produce white label versions of the CD himself and sell them at gigs, managing to sell 20,000 copies, mostly by hand at the front of the stage after shows.
Skittish finally got an official release in 2004 as part of the double album Skittish / Rockity Roll, which also includes Doughty's electro EP Rockity Roll .
All songs written and performed by Mike Doughty unless otherwise noted.
All songs are different from the versions on the released Skittish.
tracks with * indicate that they are unreleased tracks that were not featured on Skittish. However, "Laundrytown" and "I Failed to Use It" were later remastered and released on Skittish / Rockity Roll.
The Righteous Brothers are an American musical duo originally formed by Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield but now comprising Medley and Bucky Heard. Medley formed the group with Hatfield in 1963. They had first performed together in 1962 in the Los Angeles area as part of a five-member group called the Paramours, and adopted the name The Righteous Brothers when they became a duo. Their most active recording period was in the 1960s and '70s, and, after several years inactive as a duo, Hatfield and Medley reunited in 1981 and continued to perform until Hatfield's death in 2003. The term "blue-eyed soul" is thought to have first been coined by Philadelphia radio DJ Georgie Woods in 1964 when describing the duo's music.
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