''Dulcinea'' is an album by

Toad the Wet Sprocket Toad the Wet Sprocket is an American alternative rock band formed in Santa Barbara, California, in 1986. The band at the time consisted of vocalist/guitarist Glen Phillips, guitarist Todd Nichols, bassist Dean Dinning, and drummer Randy Guss, ...

released in 1994. It is their fourth studio album with

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

and the follow-up to their popular album ''

fear Fear is an intensely unpleasant emotion in response to perceiving or recognizing a danger or threat. Fear causes physiological changes that may produce behavioral reactions such as mounting an aggressive response or fleeing the threat. Fear ...

'', which was released in 1991. Two songs from ''Dulcinea'' charted on the Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock charts: " Fall Down" and " Something's Always Wrong". ''Dulcinea'' was

RIAA Certified In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets.

Gold on September 1, 1994 and Platinum on July 31, 1995. The album's name is a reference to the

love interest ''Gli Innamorati'' (, meaning "The Lovers") were stock characters within the theatre style known as commedia dell'arte, who appeared in 16th century Italy. In the plays, everything revolved around the Lovers in some regard. These dramatic and pos ...

Miguel de Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 Old Style and New Style dates, NS) was an Early Modern Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-emin ...

' classic Spanish novel, ''

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of Wester ...

''. At least two songs on the album allude to themes found in the novel. "Crowing" is a song about a person who does not know how to hold on to a lover. "Windmills" is a

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wit ...

ical song about how people spend much of their lives chasing absurd or impossible pursuits (the allusion being to a specific scene in ''Don Quixote'' where the title character uselessly attacks a windmill). The album's artwork (illustrated by artist Jason Holley) also explores Cervantes' windmill metaphor, depicting the incongruence between the way things are and how people tend to perceive them. ''Dulcinea'' also delves into some spiritual themes. "Fly from Heaven" is sung from the perspective of

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

, who is portrayed as

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

' literal brother and is upset by

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

's manipulation of Jesus' word. "Begin" and "Reincarnation Song" each explore questions about death and the

afterlife The afterlife (also referred to as life after death) is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's identity or their stream of consciousness continues to live after the death of their physical body. The surviving ess ...

. Glen Phillips has said that ''Dulcinea'' is probably his favorite Toad album because they started to know what they were doing but weren't overthinking things yet.

Track listing

Other tracks recorded during the album's 1993 sessions included "Crazy Life" (later released on 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 and remixed by Tom Lord-Alge for '' Coil'') as well as an alternate take of "Reincarnation Song" and two tracks, "Hope" and "All Right" which would be released on ''

In Light Syrup ''In Light Syrup'' is an album of B-sides and rare tracks by American alternative rock band Toad the Wet Sprocket, released in 1995. ''In Light Syrup'' was RIAA Certified In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIA ...

'' the following year.

Personnel

Dean Dinning Toad the Wet Sprocket is an American alternative rock band formed in Santa Barbara, California, in 1986. The band at the time consisted of vocalist/guitarist Glen Phillips, guitarist Todd Nichols, bassist Dean Dinning, and drummer Randy Guss ...

– bass, keyboards, backing vocals *

Randy Guss Randel "Randy" Guss (born March 7, 1967) is an American musician and drummer. He was best known as the drummer for the band Toad the Wet Sprocket from its formation in 1986 until he stopped touring in 2017 and left the band in 2020. Career G ...

– drums, percussion *

Todd Nichols Toad the Wet Sprocket is an American alternative rock band formed in Santa Barbara, California, in 1986. The band at the time consisted of vocalist/guitarist Glen Phillips, guitarist Todd Nichols, bassist Dean Dinning, and drummer Randy Guss, ...

– guitars, backing vocals * Glen Phillips – lead vocals, guitars, keyboards

Charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control Toad the Wet Sprocket albums 1994 albums Columbia Records albums Music based on Don Quixote