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Rating: This band predominantly played alternative rock and post-punk, and was more or less a candidate to carry on the legacy of their fellow townsmen Husker Du and Replacements... They had sold little, had done a lot and much of it was good, giving the right outlet to their creativity in all directions. In fact, they even released three albums in one year. Then, the nineties arrived...
In a triumph of seraphim and bargain bin jeans, dirty Converse, and scraped guitars, it was only right that Soul Asylum reached the mainstream audience, given how hard they worked in the previous decade, in the shadows shared with many other bands behind the anonymous definition of "alt rock".
And yet, one must say, those who had been listening to them for a long time (not me) could not help but notice the changes in musical approach, as they became a curious band of radio-friendly root rock. Not that David Pirner and his companions had completely ignored their acoustic vein before, but neither can it be said they had forced it to such levels.
The story goes that "Grave Dancers Union" and "Runaway Train" arrived, and everything changed for them. In a rapid evolution towards the end, not material but creative, a few years after the 1992 hit came this "Let Your Dim Light Shine". Soul Asylum was, for a teenager who knew nothing of all the music of the past, the most honest and credible band around; David Pirner, even being a temporary boyfriend of the ubiquitous Wynona Ryder, lived the lives of us young street folks even when he was sitting on the toilet. His tormented vibrato is a world record (unsurpassed to this day), and it's genuine, so genuine it seems fake, too contrived. I envied his voice and the way he sang the opening line of "Runaway Train": "Call you up in the middle of the night"... Especially that "call you up" I tried several times to imitate...
Is Pirner's pose or a daily life to be shared and exported around the globe? Simple feelings, stories of daily misery: Soul Asylum seems like a band of UN ambassadors in a Third World America. And they tell it, they sing it, with a self-assurance that makes them standard-bearers of this nation of wretches, with such awareness that it seems as if they received an investiture straight from heaven. And then the first single and also the first track of "Let Your Dim Light Shine" is titled "Misery", and it was immediately successful. In '95, "Frustrated Inc." was born, a multinational producing misery. Just like Soul Asylum, who produce misery in their songs and (finally) become enriched. The kids from Minneapolis become entrepreneurs of despair, wholesalers of marginalization, licensees of the import/export of tears, speculators of existential discomfort. Clever ones from the community squares.
The tracklist unveils items like "Promises Broken", "Eyes Of A Child" (a slow woman, very poor and with a sea of children, who maybe, according to Pirner, mind you, is the only one who understood everything about life), "Just Like Anyone", "Nothing To Write Home About"... The Music? More or less like that of the previous "Grave Dancers Union". Namely, radio-friendly rock, almost eighties in the choruses, and root or folk rock in the verses as in the sound, apart from the essence of a rhythm guitar that acts as a true pivot, always very deaf and hard.
The chorus of "Misery" seems to come from a Poison LP, from Def Leppard... Do you remember the nineties well? So you haven't removed from your mind certain bands with bandanas and teased hair who decided to play a bit more grunge to make a buck, or certain vocalists who cut their hair, covered their tattoos, turned to acoustics? Soul Asylum, on the other hand, in the nineties, while Pirner's red hair grew longer, began to sing (for the first time in their career) eighties choruses. FM rock returns in "Hopes Up", and in "Tell Me When", the latter played on the goodness of the lead guitar riff. The verse, as often happens, is a catchy and smooth folk, maybe without great character. Folk-root verse/radio-rock chorus: it works even if instead of folk you find country-rock n' roll in the delightful "Bittersweetheart". "Mysery", however, is the prime example.
Very powerful riffs, even if not very original, for "Shutdown" and "Nothing To Write Home About", two fairly similar songs with the same slowdown at the moment the title is pronounced. The diagonal "Crowl" is fun, with those sophisticated verses crashing into an out-of-time hard rock chorus with those "see ya see ya later maybe one more beer". The ballad "Promises Broken" is evocative, sung by the drowsy but effective voice of the lead guitarist, which, however, seems to come directly from "Hotel California" by the Eagles: here the hotel, however, is called "Satellite". "Caged Rat" is interesting, showcasing a more extreme soul typical of a past known to few: here brief free-jazz phrases, cheap pop, and deafening guitar devastation mix into a filler-demonstrative act... The problem lies in the intentions: in '95, the caged rat wasn't the one in this little song but the one in Corgan's "Bullet With Butterfly Wings"...
The only perhaps original stuff, when compared to their own and others' discography, could be the other big single "Just Like Anyone": choruses all to squawk with a tongue-twister text, a powerful special for Pirner's voice and the jingle-jangle sonics of the guitar, all within a hard-college rock structure. The finale then is to shout, something that always the redhead achieves well.
A sequel record to the '92 hit, unresolved and less bright, without a track comparable to "Runaway Train" for effectiveness and translatability into banknotes. Less valid but all catchy, sometimes smoother (melodies) and sometimes harsher (rock) than its predecessor, thus often not reaching its level when it comes to the quality of marriages between melodic and rough.
The beginning of the end of an excellent band that previously maneuvered well without finding mass distribution and that three years before this record had already performed excellently in these radio and less daring paths.
Ryder will soon leave the "vibrant" David as success abandoned Soul Asylum. The only thing that did not abandon them was this taste for making root radio music. By this hour, success or no success, we would have found, in subsequent releases, another couple of good, perhaps even excellent, albums of punk, garage, and alternative rock. Alternative to this, at least.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Misery (04:24)
they say misery loves company
we could start a company
and make misery
frustrated incorporated
i know just what you need
i might just have the thing
i know what you'd pay to see
put me outta my misery
i'd do it for you, would ya do it for me?
we will always be busy
making misery
we could build a factory
and make misery
we'll create the cure
we made the disease
frustrated incorporated
i know just what you need
i might just have the thing
i know what you'd pay to feel
put me outta my misery
all you suicide kings
and you drama queens
forever after happliy
making misery
did you satisfy your greed?
get what you need?
was it only envy, so empty
frustrated incorporated (x4)
04 Hopes Up (03:52)
There's just no substitute for fun
I've tried every single one
And no one can take your place
Everybody gets replaced
My time has neither come nor gone
It just slips out when I yawn
Without hope I can't go wrong
Don't get my hopes up, don't get my hopes up
Don't get my hopes up now
Don't get my hopes up, don't get my hopes up
Don't get my hopes up now
It's so hard to settle down
Don't recognize my home town
Home is where I hang my head
Lost in all these things I said
Been holding my breath for so long
I don't need air anymore
If you never let me breathe
I'll never breathe, I'll never breath
Don't get my hopes up, don't get my hopes up
Don't get my hopes up now
Don't get my hopes up, don't get my hopes up
Don't get my hopes up now
Don't know what I was hoping for
I feel like feeling better than I ever felt before
My time has neither come nor gone
It just slips out when I yawn
Holding my breath for so long, for so long
Don't want to be bored no more
I know there's so much more
Don't know what I was hoping for
I feel like feeling better than I ever felt before
Don't get my hopes up, don't get my hopes up
Don't get my hopes up now
Don't get my hopes up, don't get my hopes up
Don't get my hopes up now
06 Bittersweetheart (03:34)
Why you always want to get the best of me
I'm like a seeing-eye dog and I can't even see
They're naked and they're following my master who is blind
And my mind's gone to pieces, I could use some piece of mind
So I picked up the pieces and I made a new start
Stole an old stiletto, started stabbing in the dark
I can't live without it, I would surely fall apart
But it's hard to make arrangements 'round a bittersweetheart
Bittersweetheart, bittersweetheart
Better get yourself a little street smart
Bittersweetheart, sad but true
It's a bittersweetheart that's a hard heart to cure
It's just my bittersweetheart
It's like a suicide mission when you can't see no end
Tired of compliment-fishing and impressing your friends
I never kissed no one just to kiss and tell
It's a little bit of heaven and a whole lot of hell
In the eye of the beholder is a beautiful start
But you always seem to end up with a bittersweetheart
There's a darkness looming but the sun is shining bright
I can live to see the morning if I stay up all night
Bittersweetheart, bittersweetheart
Without a shortcut, without a head-start
Bittersweetheart, sad but true
It's a bittersweetheart that's a hard heart to cure
My bittersweetheart it's the hardest part
Bittersweetheart, bittersweetheart
Are you in there, are you beating
Beating me up until I'm bleeding
How much blood can you spare
Bittersweetheart, bittersweetheart
Think just a drink might get you to the good part
Lyin' in bed just a'wonderin' what to do,
It's a bittersweetheart that'a a hard heart to cure
In time inside you find you always wind up with a bittersweetheart
08 Crawl (03:56)
You got me going, so get me out of here
I should be blowin', in someone else's ear
I'm looking forward to looking back
On days like today
Though I wish you would go away
Stay, won't you stay
I'm gonna crawl, cra-ha-hawl, cra-ha-hawl
I never felt better just crawling home
I'm gonna crawl home, crawl home alone
Good to see you, see you later, maybe one more beer
I'm gonna crawl home, crawl home from here
Some respond to pleasure, some respond to pain
I'm hangin' out to dry, in the pouring rain
Victims of temptation, never can complain
I could use the sensation, you see I can't feel pain
I'm gonna crawl, cra-ha-hawl, cra-ha-hawl
I never ever said I'd never make it home
It's just a stone's throw, a crawl home
Good to see you, see you later, maybe one more beer
I'm just a crawl home, crawl home from here
I could use someone, to drag me out of here
I am that someone, it's all become quite clear
So get me out of here
I never felt better just crawling home
I'm gonna crawl home, crawl home alone
Good to see you, see you later, and I'm outta here
I'm just a crawl home, crawl home from here
09 Caged Rat (03:07)
Why don't you go home and crawl into your hole
Why don't you go home and spend some time alone
In the corner I looked across the room
To the other corner, I knew I'd be there soon
Caged rat (x12)
In the corner I looked across the room
I knew I'd be there soon, in the (other) corner
Caged rat (x12)
Why don't you go home and crawl into your hole
Why don't you go home and spend some time alone
From the corner I looked across the room
To the other corner, I knew I'd be there soon
Caged rat (x12)
11 Just Like Anyone (02:47)
She walks into the outhouse
The cold night breathes into her face
The flies are standing still now
The moon it spills through the place
And she starts wondering what it's like to be liked by everyone
And like everyone be just like anyone
And just wants to be so just like anyone
She reaches through the darkness
Her fingers touch the porcelain seat
She spins and pulls her pants down
The cold air holds her like a theif
She starts wondering what they mean, do they just mean to be mean
And thinking about the scene, do they just want to be seen
And trying not to seem so just like anyone
The door comes screeching open
She walks into the evening air
She disappears in the darkness
All that's left's the faint smell of her hair
She's done wondering what it's like to be liked by everyone
And like everyone be just like anyone
And just wants to be so just like anyone
And wondering what they mean, do they just mean to be mean
And thinking about the scene, do they just want to be seen
And trying not to seem so just like anyone
14 I Did My Best (03:44)
Hold up in a dressing room without a dress
Kneeling at the confessional with nothing to confess
And I knew all about my surprised party
I was spoiled and deppressed
But I acted surprise and I told lots of lies
Yes I did my best
Stop the truck at the truck stop
I need something to help me crash
Food stamp cheque and credit cards
But they only accepted cash
That was sweat beating on my brow
My heart was beating out of my chest
So I stole everything they couldn't give away
Yes I did my best
And I did the best that I could do
With all the mess that I've been through
What did u expect me to do
I did my best for you
I was waiting for a chain reaction
With a missing link
Waiting for that trickle down
Forever circling the sink
I was tired of being tired
I could not get no rest
So I kept sleepwalking and talking in my sleep
Yes I did my best
And I did the best that I could do
With all the mess that I've been through
What did u expect me to do
I did my best for you
I did my best for you
I did my best for you
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