''Congratulations I'm Sorry'' (typeset as ''Congratulations...I'm Sorry'') is the third studio album by the American

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band

Gin Blossoms Gin Blossoms is an American alternative rock band formed in 1987 in Tempe, Arizona, Tempe, Arizona. They rose to prominence following the 1992 release of their first major label album, ''New Miserable Experience'', and the first single released ...

, and the follow-up

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

to the successful 1992 release ''

New Miserable Experience ''New Miserable Experience'' is the second studio album by alternative rock band Gin Blossoms, released on August 4, 1992. The album was released to little fanfare and relatively lackluster reviews. However, nearly a year after its release the l ...

'', released in 1996 by

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

. The album was named in reference to the success of 1992's ''New Miserable Experience'', followed closely by the suicide of the former band member

Doug Hopkins Douglas Owen Hopkins (April 11, 1961 – December 5, 1993) was an American musician and songwriter. He co-founded Gin Blossoms, a popular modern rock band of the early 1990s, with Richard Taylor. He was the band's lead guitarist and a princ ...

in 1993. Reaction to ''Congratulations I'm Sorry'' was mixed, with some critics feeling that the music lay too close to the sound of the previous album. One common complaint was that most versions of the album lacked the successful 1995 single "

Til I Hear It from You "Til I Hear It from You" is a song by the Gin Blossoms that was released as the lead single from the soundtrack to the film '' Empire Records'' in July 1995. It topped the Canadian ''RPM'' Top Singles chart for six weeks, rose to number eight in ...

", from the ''

Empire Records ''Empire Records'' is a 1995 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Allan Moyle, starring Anthony LaPaglia, Maxwell Caulfield, Debi Mazar, Rory Cochrane, Johnny Whitworth, Robin Tunney, Renée Zellweger, and Liv Tyler. The fil ...

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

; however, some editions of the album did contain the track as its final. The album's title, according to the lead singer Robin Wilson, came from the response band members usually received from people who both wanted to congratulate the band for the success of ''New Miserable Experience'', while then offering apologies for their friend and former band member Doug Hopkins. The album eventually reached platinum status.

Track listing

# "Day Job" ( Scott Johnson,

Bill Leen Bill Leen (born March 1, 1962) is an American musician from Tempe, Arizona. He is the bass player of the band Gin Blossoms, which he co-founded in 1987 with his longtime friend Doug Hopkins. Leen graduated from McClintock High School in Tempe, ...

, Phillip Rhodes,

Jesse Valenzuela Jesse Valenzuela (born May 22, 1962) is an American rock musician and singer who is perhaps best known as a member of the alternative rock band Gin Blossoms. Valenzuela was originally the vocalist in Gin Blossoms when the band first formed in ...

, Robin Wilson) – 3:51 # "Highwire" (Wilson) – 2:24 # " Follow You Down" (Johnson, Leen, Rhodes, Valenzuela, Wilson) – 4:30 # "Not Only Numb" (Rhodes, Wilson) – 3:06 # "

As Long as It Matters "As Long as It Matters" is a song by American power pop band Gin Blossoms. It was released in July 1996 via A&M Records as the third single from their third studio album, '' Congratulations I'm Sorry'' (1996). The song was written by Phillip R ...

" (Rhodes, Valenzuela, Wilson) – 4:31 # "Perfectly Still" (Johnson, Leen) – 4:05 # "7th Inning Stretch" – 0:14 # "My Car" (Valenzuela) – 4:17 # "Virginia" (Valenzuela) – 4:02 # "Whitewash" (Leen, Wilson) – 3:19 # "I Can't Figure You Out" (Valenzuela) – 3:18 # "Memphis Time" (Johnson, Valenzuela) – 3:14 # "Competition Smile" (Rhodes, Wilson) – 4:47 # "

" (bonus track) (Valenzuela, Wilson,

Marshall Crenshaw Marshall Howard Crenshaw (born November 11, 1953) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and guitarist best known for hit songs such as " Someday, Someway," a US top 40 hit in 1982, " Cynical Girl," and " Whenever You're on My Mind." He ...

) – 3:47 There is a

hidden track In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as t ...

following "Competition Smile".

Excluded songs

Among tracks excluded from the album are "Seeing Stars", a song written by the lead singer Robin Wilson about the band's ex-lead guitarist Doug Hopkins, and the 1995 hit "

". The latter was released as a single (although it is included on the international edition of the album) and can be found on the soundtrack of the movie ''

'', while the former was included as a B-side on the "Follow You Down" single, along with Wilson's "Idiot Summer" from the

of ''

Wayne's World 2 ''Wayne's World 2'' is a 1993 American comedy film directed by Stephen Surjik and starring Mike Myers and Dana Carvey as hosts of a public-access television cable television show in Aurora, Illinois. The film is the sequel to ''Wayne's World'' ( ...

''.

Reception

Reception to the album was mixed.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave it three stars out of five explaining that "The only fault of Congratulations...I'm Sorry is that it sounds a bit too close to the debut -- there's virtually no difference in terms of style and production." Entertainment Weekly gave the album an extremely negative review, saying "there’s something too generic about the Gin Blossoms." ''

People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

'' magazine called the album "a quick fix for any dark mood", continuing, "the songs are so upbeat they almost conjure sunny summer afternoons."Tomashoff, Craig (1996-02-26), "Congratulations I'm Sorry". ''People''. 45 (8):23

Personnel

Gin Blossoms * Scott Johnson -

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, background vocals *

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, background vocals * Phillip Rhodes -

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, background vocals *

- guitar,

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

* Robin Wilson -

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

Additional personnel * Art Neville -

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

Rick Steff Rick Steff is a Memphis keyboard artist who has recorded with bands such as Lucero, Cat Power, Dexys Midnight Runners, and Hank Williams Jr. Rick's father is Dick Steff, a trumpet player who appeared on many songs with Elvis Presley, and Dusty S ...

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

* Robbie Turner -

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...

* James SK Wān - bamboo flute

Production

* Producers: Gin Blossoms, John Hampton * Engineers: Erik Flettrich, John Hampton, Billy Siegle * Assistant engineer: Billy Moss * Mixing: John Hampton *

Dave Collins David S. Collins (born October 20, 1952) is a former outfielder in Major League Baseball from to . Collins is one of three players to have made it to the major leagues who played for the Rapid City Post 22 American Legion baseball program in ...

- mastering * Pre-production: Billy Siegle * Direction: Bill Graham * Art direction: Robin Wilson * Design: Karen Walker, Robin Wilson * Photography: Danny Clinch, Robin Wilson * Cover photo: Robin Wilson

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control Gin Blossoms albums 1996 albums Albums produced by John Hampton (music producer) A&M Records albums