On their fourth album and first to be released by a major, Soul Asylum showed that they had something to prove. Gone were a lot of the hardcore edges that had permeated their first couple of records, replaced by a great alternative rock machine that while it didn\u2019t do much for them at the time set the stage for their future success.<\/p>\n
Produced in tandem by Ed Stasium and Lenny Kaye, the band was clearly ready for the big time. The best song on the album (and in my belief, the best damn song they ever released) is \u201cCartoon,\u201d a powerhouse track written by guitarist Dan Murphy. Expertly produced, expertly played, and sang to near hysterics by both Murphy and Dave Pirner, it is one of those classic songs that you fall in love with after the first listen. I could write this whole damn review about one song and how it makes even the lesser tracks on here like \u201cBeggars & Choosers\u201d and \u201cOde\u201d sound all the more stronger as a result. Just one listen to this track if you haven\u2019t heard it already will make you an instant convert, TRUST ME.<\/p>\n
Even the album\u2019s opening salvo \u201cDown On Up To Me\u201d is a barnburner, just full of electric power and full-on rockin\u2019! This is a bit of a quirky disc, though, and some different characteristics come through on tracks like \u201cMarionette\u201d and \u201cJack Of All Trades,\u201d not to mention the acoustic \u201cTwiddly Dee.\u201d While these would be things that would become more commonplace on their latter-day records, it was a bit different here at the time. But the good thing is that all the tracks work and make the record the more memorable.<\/p>\n
The album\u2019s weirdest moment is saved for the very end with a half-brained, seemingly drunk version of a Terry Jacks song. No, it\u2019s not \u201cSeasons In The Sun;\u201d it\u2019s some weird monstrosity called \u201cPut The Bone In,\u201d which is seemingly about a dead dog but could be about so much more. It seriously has to be heard all the way though to be believed.<\/p>\n
While this record helped set the pace for the band\u2019s future success, it failed miserably at the time. But I truly think this is the band\u2019s best record. Don\u2019t believe me? Have a listen and prove me wrong!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":32891,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7594],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-44664","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-soul-asylum","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=44664"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=44664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}