I now know why I hate Soul Asylum's early '90's work

Posted over 2 years ago

Artist:
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Soul Asylum
Album:
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Black Gold: The Best of Soul Asylum
Track:
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Cartoon

Because I was very intimate with "Hang Time", their masterful 1988 album. From the intricate time signatures of "Down On Up To Me" and "Little Too Clean" to the countryfied "Twiddly Dee" to the anthemic pop of "Cartoon" to the stadium ballad "Endless Farewell".Next to this full album, their other stuff sounds like pandering hit-grabbing. Which they did, and good for them. It garnered Dave Pirner a divorce and a roll with Winona Ryder. Awesome."I'm givin back all the things that you gave to me/I'm savin up the price to pay to be free"They've never sounded so earnest, so aching, so powerful, so tight.I remember listening to this album in a drunken haze on road trips with my college friends, the Men's Club. Trips up to UCLA from SDSU, drinking all the while. Road pops in the back of the Pathfinder, cranking all manner of music, but this one is the one I remember. And I remember "Endless Farewell" being the the soundtrack to the ass-end of a relationship. Tore me apart and propped me up.Cartoon:

Comments (8)

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Cody B says I was livin' in MPLS in their early years and I remember their farewell party when they were on their way to start recording the major label debut..It was at a place called Bad Manor where a bunch of bands lived, in the basement, and Dave sang on my mike..My brush with fame. I was so paranoid about losing my mike I stood 2 inches fom it the whole show..It prolly didn't help that i was high as a kite. I always dug their cover of Tears of a Clown..I wonder what would've happened if they didn't become involved in the meat grinder of major label land..

Permalink posted 11/30/2007
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SamTheButcher says You don't have to wonder, "Hang Time" is it. Such a great record. I'm biased, though. :)

Permalink posted 11/30/2007
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Cody B says I think you are right..about hang time and the 90's..They were in a very good place then..and they were real good.

Permalink posted 11/30/2007
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SamTheButcher says Very good. Seriously, listen to "Endless Farewell" again. It'll slay you.

Permalink posted 11/30/2007
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thill says coincidence: i had to drive around in my husband's car and it doesn't have a cd player so i grabbed a handful of my old tapes for driving around to and one was Grave Dancer's Union. Still love the album, 75% of the songs are good and solid. "New World" and "Growing Into You" are two of my favorites. I even liked a couple songs from "Let Your Dim Light Shine". I saw them in concert in the fall of 92 after this album was released. Dave Pirner even passed by me...*sigh* how i wanted to take him home and give him a bath and feed him a solid meal.

Permalink posted 12/02/2007
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poebegone says you know what - i also hated Soul Asylum in the early '90s and have never quite forgiven them for that period 'til now. i could swear there was much unpardonable songwriting in those years. hmm, i seriously need to look into why, you're on to something here, thanks.

Permalink posted 12/13/2007
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Lil Mike says Hang Time ... slicker than the early stuff, but perfect for it's moment in time. Endless farewell... If you fiond the later "hit" stuff cloying, I can't hep but put Endless Farewell in that category of "prom theme" attempts... My fave Soul Asylum disc is Made To Be Broken...circa 85. Now that's a freakin' raw lil' heart stomper of an album... Production ain't all that great, but Bob Mould on a budget gets the job done... This was when they were goofy but sincere kids who traveled around in a van with a melted Eagles 8 track on the dashboard, and rocked harder than Mount Rushmore...

Permalink posted 01/09/2008
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SamTheButcher says @teresa - That was a coincidence! I never cared for much of GDU, but I really liked "Misery" from LYDLS. Funny, because the lyrics can be considered pretty horrible. :) Their new album seems pretty decent, though. @Poe - Let me know what you find. :) I don't envy your journey. :) @LilMike - "Endless Farewell" is borderline cloying for me. Definitely a try at a "bigger" song, but for me, for whatever reason, it works. It seems that Dave ran out of stuff to write about after Hang Time. I've heard the earlier stuff and p'raps was just too raw for me, but I like it better than the later stuff.

Permalink posted 01/11/2008