Reception to the album was mixed. AllMusic 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."
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 "Til I Hear It from You". 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 Empire Records, while the former was included as a B-side on the "Follow You Down" single, along with Wilson's "Idiot Summer" from the soundtrack of Wayne's World 2.
Personnel
Gin Blossoms
- Robin Wilson – lead vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica
- Scott Johnson – guitar, background vocals
- Jesse Valenzuela – guitar, vocals
- Bill Leen – bass guitar, background vocals
- Phillip Rhodes – percussion, drums, background vocals
Additional personnel
- Art Neville – Hammond organ
- Rick Steff – accordion
- Robbie Turner – pedal steel guitar
- 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
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
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! scope="col"| Chart (1996)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
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Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (1996)
! scope="col"| Position
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! scope="row"| US Billboard 200
| 138
|}