Let Your Dim Light Shine
album by Soul Asylum
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.
It was the first Soul Asylum album with drummer Sterling Campbell, who had previously played drums on half of the tracks on Grave Dancers Union.
The album's title comes from a lyric of the song "Promises Broken".
Reception
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.
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" (Dan 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".
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