In Fact, Give it up for the fucking SOUL ASYLUM

See, this sounds genius. I think they're one of those bands that just didn't transition from the eighties well.

I remember Grave Diggers Union arriving at KUCI in late 1992 and I believe I thought, "Oh well, let's see if they'll get anywhere on this major label instead" (having already been dropped by A&M).

Wasn't it Grave Dancers?

Your brother is correct. I saw them three or four times in college in varyiously sized venues. They totally threw down live.

They always had tremendous taste in covers, also (I'd love to hear their version of "Birth, School, Work, Death"!). Their version of "Barstool Blues" on the Neil Young tribute is fantastic. They also do a great one of "Jukebox Hero".

I bought Grave Dancer's Union recently but haven't gotten around to listening to it yet.

are you some kind of calum?

I don't know what this means.

it was just the way you phrased your opening post - so similar i almost thought it was a parody (sorry!)

I remember at the Maxwell's show they cut it short a little early, because something was wrong with the drummers hands,I think, something I've nevers seen before or since. It was the original drummer, his name was maybe Whitey or something?

I don't know if I'll ever play it again, but I actually kind of liked the album after "Grave Dancers Union," it seemed like sort of compromise between their "sellout" sound and their earlier sound, and had a catchy song called "Misery" with an interesting video which featured a CD pressing plant.

No, not a parody thread, just something brought on by comments in the Foo Fighters and Gin Blossoms threads.

The live/medley thing referred to above is the "James at 15 Medley," which was the b-side of a promo single 'r summat. It's on Soulseek, and spun up on my iPod the other day. (Unfortunately, *I* am not on Slsk, but it's out there.) Starts with a version of "The Cross" and sorta wanders--high and low--through a good dozen-plus songs from there.

you preacher. me choir. great song. great video of the cd manufaturing/distro process.

xpost:
they did kick ass live. [...] No record they made [...] supports this notion, really, but it's true.

Disagree. Hang Time and While You Were Out are both evidence to the contrary.

Er, "Runaway Train" wasn't released until Grave came out in late 1992.

xpost:
Their drummer back in the day is now Bowie's drummer. That's all I've got.
Really?!?!

This is exactly what my brother says.

(Nighthorse?!)

Retiring...to rock the world liberally with the Thin White Duke!

Ned, I stand corrected...'twas '92, if not '3. Pretty sure it was the former, though.

Was Made to be Broken one of theirs? I remember picking that up by chance cos I saw that Bob Mould had produced it and at the time the Mould could do no wrong. It was one of my faves for a while. They did 'Alt Cuntry' way back.

Around the same time (1988ish?)They also played a rammed Hull Adelphi and did a memeorable version of Sexual Healing. At the time I was with a fellow band mate. Soul Asylum made our band seem pointless. They were that good. However, we were really shit, so I dunno.

I don't listen to them anymore, but may just dig that one out again. Or is life too short?

This is actually slightly reassuring to hear in that I wondered why the fuck that studio version in 1993 for the No Alternative comp was done.

Yeah, it does sorta go off the deep end, doesn't it? It doesn't really matter to me, it's great either way.

Made To Be Broken 01/86
Time's Incinerator 07/86
While You Were Out 11/86
Clam Dip And Other Delights 01/88
Hang Time 02/88

For these two years, Soul Asylum was firing on all cylinders. I saw them first time until 1989 (at Marquette University's old union, where I also saw the Flaming Lips and the Goo Goo Dolls the same year), but I can only imagine what it would have been to see them in 1987.

It's really a shame that so many people associate them with treacly alterna-MOR. That's not the band I knew/loved.

You could reverse the nouns and improve the image.

No doubt some college-kid assistant has long ago typed the Xgau quote up at his website, so maybe I'll mosey on over there and check my memory.

Made to Be Broken [Twin/Tone, 1986]
Unless the meaning of life is passing me by, Bob Mould's proteges are the latest concept band, admired more for their correct aesthetics than for how they actually sound (or what they actually say). Fast turmoil rools, with hints of metal anthem and country warmth sunk deep enough in the mix that nobody'll cry corny. As a concept, pretty admirable. B

While You Were Out [Twin/Tone, 1987]
Dave Pirner's songs and Chris Osgood's sound do focus their barrage-band intensity, but once again the most striking track is a slow country-folk rip, this one cribbed more or less direct from "On Top of Old Smokey." Which isn't to put down Pirner's better-than-average tunes, but to suggest that barrage meanings may not be his calling. B+

Hang Time [A&M, 1988]
Somewhere in here they warn of "a mountain made of sand," which gets at their problems neatly--their shared sense of sisyphean impotence and their big music no one can get a grip on. B-

And the Horse They Rode In On [A&M, 1990] Dud

Grave Dancers Union [Columbia, 1992]
great tunes, corny songs ("Without a Trace," "Somebody To Shove") *

Let Your Dim Light Shine [Columbia, 1995]
Welcome evidence that Dave Pirner may not be the Bob Seger of his generation--because where in the late '70s temptation came in the form of classic rock, in the mid-'90s it lies along pop's primrose path, a development that should offend only grunge nostalgiacs. The tunes of these neatly crafted songs are up top, their "roots" submerged the way roots usually are. And the often funny, sometimes fantastic lyrics are so smart you'd almost think Pirner knows how cheap he got away last time. After lingering over idioms like "don't get my hopes up" and "left to my own devices," he moves on to vignettes in which his pervasive depression connects to something less collegiate than existential angst--the hard, sad lives of other people, several of them women seen not as objects of sex or romance, just struggling humans like him and me. B+

Candy from a Stranger [Columbia, 1998] Dud

"Fast turmoil rools"? The man is a master of wordplay! Takes no prisoners either. But even he seemed to like "Misery." Best Christgau parody ever was from the late great Veronica Geng- her "Watergate Tapes Consumer Guide," which I have in her collection "Love Trouble Is My Business."

I remember one time Bill Clinton asked for them by name to perform at something.

Hahaha! That was JC Chasez, actually. The guy sang everything from Nelson to U2 to Extreme on that show.

Timberlake and Ryan Gosling did a highly amusing version of "Motownphilly" though.

Remember the Seaweed parody video of "Runaway Train," about missing bikes?

I see that Soul Asylum is playing out, but apparently Pirner is the only mainstay with the band. They also did an album several months back which I never heard or heard about... Is it worth seeking out or going to?

Just had one of "Oh, that's what that song is!" moments when encountering "Black Gold" on the radio.

The Lost Children of 'Runaway Train'