NOVEMBER 16,1990 — THE DECREE — PAGE 3
'Soul Asylum' languishing in shadows
By MARK BRETT
When discussing the best rock
bands that you’ve never heard of.
Soul Asylum comes immediately
to mind. Coming out of the early
‘80s Minneapolis punk scene, Soul
Asylum has been languishing in
the shadows for ten years, churn
ing out songs of solid, if a bit
loose, music and perversely bril
liant lyrics.
Their latest release, “And the
Horse They Rode In On,” is more
of the same; a sweatier, more in
telligent collection of rock and
roll you won’t find anywhere. The
fun starts with “Spinnin’,” a gy
rating rave-up that gets the pro
ceedings off on the right food.
“If I lost my mind,” lead singer
David Pimer croons in the chorus,
“would you help me find it?”
Anyone who says no might as
well stop right there, because from
then on, we’re in the dark world of
the Soul Asylum, where even the
ups are downs.
In “BitterPill,” this philosophy
is well borne out. A typically
distopian piece of Soul Asylum
Review
grunge-work, right down to
Pimer’s screaming vocals fi'om
Hell, this song includes the cheery
phrase, “Then you fall into the pit
at the end of your rainbow.”
Next is “Veil of Tears,” a solid
rock-style tune that contains a lot
of (appropriately enough) veiled
political imagery. More openly
political is “Nice Guys (Don’t Get
Paid),” a fable of decadence about
some enterprising men who are
forced by a bad economy to create
the best designer drug in the world.
They, of course, becomes incred
ibly rich and thus achieve the
American dream.
This theme of success is con
tinued in “Something Out of
Nothing,” a funky little tune about
desire, wanting, and instant total
gratification. Next is “Gullible’s
Travels,” an intelligent, ballady
number with an epic scope and
unrelentingly depressing lyrics
like, “Everything’s turning but
Life not really absolute
(Continued from Page 2)
tics of fear, hatred, and division.
Let us find a different way.
So, first of all, we should not
say that everyone who voted for
Sen. Helms is a bigot; we should
not say that we are embarrassed to
be from North Carolina. We must,
instead, revitalize ourselves, wave
good-bye to Mr. Helms as he goes
back up to Washington, and, above
all, keep talking to the people who
don’t agree with us. If we believe
we are right about an issue, we
must find a way of spreading our
message, a way which will make
people of all persuasions want to
be like us, to be with us.
Life is too complex for abso
lutes. For instance, now I’m
thinking that Jim Morrison’s
“Strange Days” is the ‘60s song.
But I’m willing to listen to the
people who support Aretha
Fast food hurts planet
(Continued from Page 2)
A problem exists of determin
ing where fast-foodrestaurants get
their beef. What fast food chain
will admit that they import beef
from the South American rain
forests when they are aware of the
current controversy associated
with this? If cattle aren’t raised in
the rain forest, then they graze on
open land in the United States or
are raised in feed lots — these,
too, complete complete with en
vironmental ills.
For example, cattle grazing on
openlandisresponsibleforerosion
that occurs in the Midwest and
Great Plains regions. Also, cattle
raised on feed lots are fattened for
slaughter; antibiotics are usually
injected into the cows to fatten
them. Therefore, when you eatthe
meat, you are also eating every
thing that was pumped into the
cow.
Fast-food restaurants seem
unappealing. Not only are various
environmental problems associ
ated with them, but the food they
serve is unhealthy. So when you
are debating whether or not to eat
at Hardee’s, remember that when
you purchase a hamburger in
sytrofoam packaging you are
contributing to various environ
mental problems.
Every time you spend a dollar
at a fast-food restaurant, you are
showing support for their harmful
practices.
mostly just turning out wrong.”
Soul Asylum seems to enjoy
subverting (some would say per
verting) country music styles and
using them for their own twisted
ends, as they do in “Brand New
Shine,” a punk-bluegrass tune
about assembly-line optimism.
The theme of success is touched
upon once again in “Easy Street,”
an easy-sounding progressive-
rock style song about the difficulty
in finding utopias. Next is
“Grounded,” a sad, boozy rock
tune that, unusually, isn’t incred
ibly brilliant lyrically. Oh, well.
Soul Asylum’s bad days are better
than many bands’ best.
“Be On Your Way,” another
solid rock number, should strike
home with all of us graduating
seniors, as Soul Asylum delves
into the fiightening world of career
opportunities! “No sense of di-
rection/No sense at all,” Pimer
groans at one point. Yeah. I know
all about that one.
“We 3” sounds incredibly
sappy at first, but a more careful
listenreveals an intelligent, world-
wise, and painfully truthful song
about the eternal triangle; two male
best friends and one’s girlfiiend.
The album ends with “All the
King’s Friends,” a song of such
scope and complexity that I quite
honestly can’t grasp it all. Buried
in the middle of an avalanche of
numbingly good lyrics, however.
is the line “You never know just
what you’ve got until it’s gone.”
Poison builds an entire song
around this cliche; Soul Asylum
apologetically throws it in to get a
pointacrossandmoveson to better
things. I think that just about says
it all.
Overall an album withamellow
feel, “And the Horse They Rode
In On” nonetheless conveys the
sheer rawness that should have
made Soul Asylum famous and
did, indeed, make them infamous
in some circles. Though rough
around the edges and unrelentingly
downbeat, this is an excellent al
bum that should appeal to anyone
who’s interested in good rock and
roll.
This, of course, means that it
will be quickly forgotten by all but
the group’s core of supporters,
just like the rest of Soul Asylum’s
work. And you wonder why
they’re so downbeat.
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