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

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band

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

, and the follow-up

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

to the successful 1992 release '' New Miserable Experience'', released in 1996 by

A&M Records A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...

. 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 princip ...

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, written by Carol Heikkinen, and starring an ensemble cast including Anthony LaPaglia, Maxwell Caulfield, Debi Mazar, Rory Cochrane, Johnny ...

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

; 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.

Reception

Reception to the album was mixed.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine explained 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 ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' critic David Browne said that "there’s something too generic about the Gin Blossoms." ''

People The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...

'' 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

Track listing

*"Competition Smile" ends at 3:38. Following 30 seconds of silence, an untitled hidden track begins. *The track "7th Inning Stretch" is omitted from international releases of the album. This version of the album has 13 tracks, with "Til I Hear It from You" as track 13.

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'' ...

''.

Personnel

Gin Blossoms * 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 the ...

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, ...

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

* Scott Johnson –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

, background vocals * Jesse Valenzuela – guitar,

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

* Bill Leen –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

, background vocals * Phillip Rhodes –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, background vocals Additional personnel * Art Neville –

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

* Rick Steff –

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"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 (mou ...

* Robbie Turner –

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a console steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings, enabling more varied and complex music to be played than with other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play ...

* 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 - 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