Soul Asylum - Welcome To The Minority Box

On August 10th Hip-O Select will re-release Soul Asylum's two A&M albums along with a CD of previously unissued live material from 1990 in a box set called Welcome To The Minority. Both Hang Time and ...And The Horse They Rode In On have been out-of-print for years now, so it is good to see this material coming back into print, even if only in a limited edition, internet only form.

I do have one major complaint about the set. It seems that the bonus material from Horse that I posted here earlier ("One Way Conversation," "Little House On The Edge" and "Village Idiot") will not be included in the set. It is a curious omission considering the promo-only material from Hang Time is included on the first disc. I sent an email to Hip-O asking about the oversight, and will let you know if I hear anything back. It's hard to imagine there is a good reason for this, but you never know. It seems like a missed opportunity to include everything in the UMG vaults that would be of interest to hardcore fans of the group. A remix of "Something Out Of Nothing" is on the Horse disc, for those who have been dying to hear that.

The third disc looks to be fairly representative of the band's live shows at the time, and includes covers of "The Tracks Of My Tears," "I Put A Spell On You," and "To Sir With Love" as well as a smattering of tracks from their indie days that were always highlights of any Soul Asylum show ("Freaks," "Closer To The Stars," "Made To Be Broken"). The live disc will no doubt be quite welcome to old-school fans of the band like myself who find the slickness of After The Flood off-putting (although you gotta love "Rhinestone Cowboy"). Soul Asylum were in my opinion one of the best live acts around during the late eighties and early nineties. (I am holding out hope that Hip-O Select will release a similar set for the Feelies, because I would love to hear a vintage live show from them as well--if you feel the same way, send Hip-O Select an email).

"James At 16 (Heavy Medley)" is a bonus track on disc one of the set, having originally been issued as a b-side to a promo only 12" for "Standing In The Doorway." It is an absolute killer medley that goes a long way toward suggesting just how much fun a Soul Asylum live show could be. Any band that can segue seamlessly from The Nuge into The Gap Band deserves to be remembered as one of the greatest of all time. I'm only leaving this track up for a couple days since it will soon be available commercially.

Soul Asylum And The Horse They Rode In On

The other day my friend Adam and I were discussing why the indie backlash against Soul Asylum that followed in the wake of their 1992 breakthrough, Gravedancer's Union, was so intense. I think I can explain it pretty simply: Soul Asylum's mainstream breakthrough was the indie-rock equivalent of switching to the popular kids' lunch table. As a group, indie-rock fans are a proprietary lot and they don't always celebrate when one of "their" bands finds a larger audience. It is difficult to think of a single band that made the switch from indie to major label that did not face accusations of "selling-out." This impulse was perhaps strongest with bands like Soul Asylum that had roots in the (often doctrinal) hardcore punk movement.

However, the intensity of the backlash against Soul Asylum cannot be explained by indie-rock provincialism alone. When you consider that in the wake of their success the band unceremoniously sacked long-time drummer Grant Young and replaced him with studio wiz Sterling Campbell, and Dave Pirner dumped his wife for Winona Ryder, it did seem like the band was making an effort to cut itself off from its roots. For a band that had skillfully mocked the rock-star ethos for the better part of a decade (listen to their cover of "Juke Box Hero,") they seemed to be doing an awfully good imitation of rock stars once they had a double platinum album under their belt. This was not necessarily the best thing for a band whose stock-in-trade was sincerity.

Have you forgotten?
They'll spoil you rotten,
Have you forgotten?
Have you forgotten?
You're just another freak,
...a beautiful freak.

On some level it felt like the band was saying, "Thanks for the memories guys, but we don't need you anymore" to their old audience. That's probably not a totally fair assessment. After all, Grant Young himself had replaced Pat Morley after Say What You Will... for much the same reason Campbell replaced Young (Young was a better drummer than Morely, and the band felt he was more likely to help them take their music to the next level). The only difference is that back in 1984 there was a lot less at stake than there was in 1994. As for the whole Winona thing, who knows what was going on in Pirner's marriage before that? It's really nobody else's business.

Anyway, these tracks come from a slightly less complicated time in the band's career--their stint on A&M records. While the band was clearly attempting to take their music in a less ragged, more commercially acceptable direction than on their Twin/Tone albums, they still seemed like the same lovable losers they had been before. ...And the Horse They Rode In On did not end up being a commercial breakthrough for the band, and its relative commercial failure coupled with Pirner's hearing problems nearly ended the band before they got another shot at the big-time.

These three tracks (courtesy of Adam) come from a promo only CD for the album. I'm not sure why they weren't included on the album, as they are generally of pretty high quality. The promo package lists the songs as "Non-LP Bonus Tracks." I suspect these were originally intended to be included as CD-only bonus tracks, but that idea may have been scrapped.

Soul Asylum - Clap Dip And Other Delights

I've gotten a couple of off-line requests to post more Soul Asylum by friends who are determined that the band not merely be remembered for "Runaway Train" and it's schlocktastic MTV video. Certainly there is a good case to be made that they should be remembered for better than that. Made To Be Broken, While You Were Out and Hang Time are all indie-rock classics. Nobody rocked as hard as Soul Asylum during their heyday.

These two covers come from the UK release of Clam Dip And Other Delights, which has been out-of-print for years. They highlight the less-serious side of the band that became less evident after they became rock stars. The cover (a parody of the famous Herb Alpert album made upon their signing to his label) features the late, great Karl Mueller covered in Clam Dip. When I was in college I had a giant framed poster of this cover, and thinking back on it I now understand why girls were afraid to come to the parties my suitemates and I threw.

There is an interesting back-story as to how I acquired this album. During junior year in college my friend Adam picked up a copy of this for me while he studied at East Anglia University for a semester. Adam is an unusually generous person, and he tells me he no longer has a copy of this to call his own because he inadvertently gave away his last copy in exchange for some magic beans. Being a generous person myself, I would ordinarily return my copy to him. But I earned this album the hard way. If I remember things correctly (and there is a good chance I don't) Adam gave me this record based on a dare involving a bottle of Jägermeister, streaking in sub-zero temperatures, and a near death experience...or possibly in exchange for some magic beans. Whatever the case, I think I'll hold onto my copy if for no other reason than to remind me never to drink to excess again.

Soul Asylum - One Way Conversation

"One Way Conversation" was released as the B-side of a promo only 12" supporting the 1990 album ...And the Horse They Rode in On. To the best of my knowledge, it has never been made commercially available, although a quick search of allmusic.com reveals that it was covered by Crash Vegas. I imagine this song didn't make the final cut because it was decided it wouldn't fit in with the rest of the album, seeing as how "One Way Conversation" is actually a decent song. (I remember thinking Horse was a disappointing album when it came out in 1990 on the heels of Hang Time, and I guess still think so today.)

I have to admit I've soured on Soul Asylum in general over time. I haven't listened to them in years. Even the recent passing of bassist Karl Mueller was not enough to get me to drag out Made To Be Broken in a fit of nostalgia. I'm not exactly sure why I turned on this band. I don't think it's because they temporarily got big, or even because Dave Pirner stole my then make-believe girlfriend Winona Ryder.* It's just that lyrics that once struck me as clever seem too facile, even downright embarrassing, now.

My judgment is probably too harsh: when I cringe at one of Dave Pirner's cornier lines today, I think I am mostly feeling contempt for the dumb kid who used to worship these guys (i.e. me 15-20 years ago). Why Soul Asylum evokes that contempt more than say, Robyn Hitchcock, The Replacements, Hüsker Dü, or any one else, I'm not sure.

And to tell the truth, as I look over the track list for ...And the Horse They Rode in On, it doesn’t look like such a bad album; "Spinnin'," "Bitter Pill," "Gullible's Travels," "Grounded"...those were all solid songs. It would have been a stronger album with "One Way Conversation" included though. Also, "We 3" really should have been cut, the lyrics to that one made me cringe 15 years ago.

*True story: I used to clerk at the infamous New York City video/music store Kim's Underground circa 1993-94. One day I was sent to sub for someone who had called in sick at the West Village location. While I was there, none other than Winona Ryder walked in and purchased every Soul Asylum CD. And no, she didn't shoplift them, she paid for them with a credit card (although for all I know she might have walked out of the store with a couple laser disc players under her blouse). A few weeks later I saw her and Dave Pirner walking hand-in-hand down St. Mark's Place.