Ruby Vroom

Soul Coughing

1994

2.86

Rating

Votes

28%

41%

14%

Distribution

Rock

User Submitted Album

Album Summary

Ruby Vroom is the debut studio album by American rock band Soul Coughing, released in 1994. The album's sound is a mixture of sample-based tunes (loops of Raymond Scott's "Powerhouse" on "Bus to Beelzebub", Toots and the Maytals, Howlin' Wolf, the Andrews Sisters, and the Roches on "Down to This", and a loop of sampler player Mark Degli Antoni's orchestral horns on "Screenwriter's Blues", among others). It also features guitar-based tunes like "Janine", "Moon Sammy", and "Supra Genius" and jazzy, upright-bass-fueled songs that often quoted other material—the theme from Courageous Cat on "Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago", Thelonious Monk's "Misterioso" on "Casiotone Nation", and Bobby McFerrin's cover of Joan Armatrading's "Opportunity" on "Uh, Zoom Zip". On September 12, 2024, the band announced on Jimmy Kimmel Live that a remastered 30th anniversary version of the album would be released on CD and vinyl, which includes bonus songs from the era. The album sold approximately 70,000 copies, as of April 1996, according to Billboard.

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Nov 16 2025 Author

Ruby Vroom is the debut album of Soul Coughing. As a whole this is a better album than Irresistible Bliss, but this one doesn't have a classic like "Super Bon Bon" and it's a bit too long. Still it is full of jazzy and blues rock music that is very pleasing to the ears.

Nov 13 2025 Author

Such a unique sound. Iconoclasts. They made 3 great records, and it started here.

Nov 18 2025 Author

This reminded me a bit of Cake, who I also liked a great deal from this era. Lots of interesting sounds had me several times thinking there was an odd noise in my house - but it was part of the song. I enjoyed this quite a bit!

Nov 26 2025 Author

This album is too long but I've loved it for 20 years and it's nice to know other people love it too.

Dec 02 2025 Author

actually super fun! I really liked this! far from a perfect album, but I always love dynamic indie rock, and it was really cool how sample-heavy this was! 9/10

Nov 12 2025 Author

Some sort of rock/jazz combination. Surely an interesting sound. Maybe worth a re-listen at some time

Nov 22 2025 Author

Took a bit to ease into the neo-soul/Tom Waits foundation this LP builds upon, but once I got there I greatly enjoyed the sleazy, backroom clouded with cigarette smoke vibes. There’s just enough gritty rock instrumentation to drive the clubbier vocals and sax and give this LP a distinctly unique feel in a crowded field. Awesome these guys got back together this year, really enjoyed this album and would get tickets for the next round of touring.

Dec 03 2025 Author

I feel like this is probably one of those love it or hate it bands for most, the particular style and quirks of the music and lyrics profoundly irritate some people I know who's musical opinions I value a lot. But I always liked it and at one time listened to this album quite a bit, and I feel like there is some real substance behind the laid-back style.

Dec 04 2025 Author

Wow, this is super fun. Really loved hearing Bulldog's Entrance from Looney Tunes sampled in Bus to Beelzebub.

Nov 11 2025 Author

There were a few songs that were very conversational Dada, in my mind. I dug those, like "Screenwriter's Blues". But some of the songs that were closer to be "songs" just got repetitive and annoying ("Down To This", "Bus To Beelzebub"). I also felt the last two tracks could be a bit shorter. I get why this was listed by users; it's quite different from some of the other stuff around at that time. But it shouldn't be a mix of annoying and interesting.

Nov 11 2025 Author

A fun listen, not much by the way of stand out tracks but it's got a great sound.

Nov 18 2025 Author

Wish I were better able to get past the vocals sounding like an obnoxious mashup between CAKE and Smash Mouth, because there's a lot of very fun things happening in this on the music & production side.

Nov 19 2025 Author

Alternative rock, jazz fusion, alternative hip-hop. Ni fu ni fa.

Nov 20 2025 Author

The songs on here that hit get surgically implanted into your brain as permanent earworms until the day you die. Get ready to be hearing "A man drives a plane into the Chrysler building" as you're trying to fall asleep at 3AM. But it's kind of a mixed bag over all. Probably too long and frontloaded for its own good.

Dec 12 2025 Author

I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything quite like this - odd

Nov 11 2025 Author

Frustrating. There's an art to fusion right? Fuse together a bunch of flavors and the meal may taste like crap. I once ate sushi with pop rocks on it - interesting, unique, but not exactly delicious cuisine. There's some decent individual pieces but altogether it's a dog's breakfast or a sh#t sandwich. I painfully let the album play because if I don't finish an album that's a 1 and I felt like that was too harsh. But I skipped to the end of a few songs.

Nov 26 2025 Author

I had to take my AirPods off during listening to this to talk to someone and didn’t really feel like going back to finish

Nov 29 2025 Author

Dec 05 2025 Author

Feel like just dragged a bit

Dec 08 2025 Author

Red Hot Chili Lepers.

Nov 14 2025 Author

pointless, donk-slobbing album

Nov 29 2025 Author

Ruby Vroom isn't a good listen. It was a bit of a mess before Bus to Beezlebub and at that point it went dramatically downhill. 1.