Let Your Dim Light Shine is the seventh studio album by American rock band Soul Asylum, released June 6, 1995 on Columbia Records. Critically, it suffered in comparison to its predecessor, Grave Dancers Union, the band's breakout release. It includes the hit "Misery," which was parodied by "Weird Al" Yankovic as "Syndicated Inc." on his album Bad Hair Day.
This was the first Soul Asylum album with drummer Sterling Campbell, who had previously provided half of the drums on Grave Dancers Union.
The album's title comes from a lyric of the song "Promises Broken."
Reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
| Chicago Tribune |  [2] |
| Christgau's Consumer Guide | B+[3] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B[4] |
| Los Angeles Times | [5] |
| Q | [6] |
| Rolling Stone | [7] |
| Spin | 7/10[8] |
AllMusic gave a mostly critical summary of Let Your Dim Light Shine, with Stephen Thomas Erlewine commenting that the music "isn't quite as impressive" compared to previous efforts, and moreover that this element is easily overlooked because of the "self-importance" of the lyrics.[1]
Track listing
All songs written by David Pirner unless noted otherwise.
- "Misery" – 4:24
- "Shut Down" – 2:51
- "To My Own Devices" – 2:59
- "Hopes Up" – 3:45
- "Promises Broken" (Murphy, Marc Perlman) – 3:14
- "Bittersweetheart" – 3:34
- "String of Pearls" – 4:56
- "Crawl" (Stephen Jordan, Pirner) – 4:00
- "Caged Rat" – 3:03
- "Eyes of a Child" – 3:35
- "Just Like Anyone" – 2:47
- "Tell Me When" (Pirner, David Samuels) – 3:42
- "Nothing to Write Home About" – 3:14
- "I Did My Best" – 3:46
For the Japanese release of Let Your Dim Light Shine, an additional track was added to the album. It was a cover of the Descendents song "Hope". Note that "Bittersweetheart" fades out at 3:17, but the guitar feedback remains, therefore "Bittersweetheart" quickly segues into "String of Pearls". The running time of both songs equals about 8 minutes and 30 seconds long.
Personnel
Soul Asylum
- Dave Pirner – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, trumpet, producer
- Dan Murphy – lead guitar, backing vocals, producer
- Karl Mueller – bass guitar, producer
- Sterling Campbell – drums, percussion, vocals, producer
Additional musicians
- Trini Alvarado – backing vocals
- John Devries – backing vocals
- Joey Huffman – organ, piano, mellotron
- Eric Pierson – guitar (on "Hopes Up", and "Caged Rat")
- Jane Scarpantoni – cello
- Dave Schramm – pedal steel guitar (on "I Did My Best")
- Tim Ray – piano, electric piano
Production
- John Siket – engineer
- Michael Stern -engineer (non credited)
- Butch Vig – producer
- Andy Wallace – mixer
- Howie Weinberg – mastering
Charts
Album
| Chart (1995) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 Album Chart | 6 |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | "Misery" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 20 |
| Mainstream Rock Tracks | 2 | ||
| Modern Rock Tracks | 1 | ||
| "Just Like Anyone" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 11 | |
| Modern Rock Tracks | 19 | ||
| 1996 | "Promises Broken" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 63 |
| Mainstream Rock Tracks | 29 | ||
| Adult Contemporary | 29 |
References
- ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Let Your Dim Light Shine Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 2018-04-19.
- ^ Kot, Greg (1995-06-08). "Pirner's Folly". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2018-04-19.
- ^ Christgau, Robert (2000-10-15). "Soul Asylum: Let Your Dim Light Shine". Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s. Macmillan Publishing. ISBN 9780312245603.
- ^ Browne, David (1995-06-09). "Let Your Dim Light Shine". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2018-04-19.
- ^ Hochman, Steve (1995-06-04). "Album Review: Soul Asylum Is Searching With Its 'Dim Light'". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2018-04-19.
- ^ "Let Your Dim Light Shine Review". Q. July 1995. p. 124.
- ^ Gardner, Elysa (1998-02-02). "Soul Asylum: Let Your Dim Light Shine". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2007-10-02. Retrieved 2018-04-18.
- ^ Arnold, Gina (July 1995). "Soul Asylum: Let Your Dim Light Shine". Spin. SPIN Media LLC. p. 71.