Aug 19, 2015 - Twenty-three years ago Soul Asylum released their album 'Grave Dancers Union,' which featured their hit single 'Runaway Train.'
It can be said about most bands is there are two sides - the way the band sounds on their LP/CD and how they are live. Well, as for the LP/CD, yes, of course, I enjoy most of them, but live.from a person who has spent over 25 years on and off, traveling across the country to see the band over 100 times, you have to see them live to understand the full picture.
It's an entirely different world. The band, in the late 80's, was called 'the best live band in America' and in my opinion.yes they were. So, if all you've ever heard is that 'Runaway Train' song and thought that was all the band had to offer, it time to get 'Closer To The Stars'. Another place that played, and continues to be, a big part of the Minneapolis music scene is the music venue of 7th Street Entry & First Avenue. These are in the same building in two different rooms.
First Ave is the famous club that is featured in the film 'Purple Rain' with Prince, which is the larger venue. 7th Street is a small room that fits about 200 people.
Both rooms have had their fair share of greatness and history play there. I have attended shows that I will never forget in both of these rooms over the years. The Depot is attached to the venue and is a great place to meet up before shows. It has great food and drinks as well as some of the best photo collections of bands that played next door, including a few classic shots of Soul Asylum. The band's next release was Clam Dip & Other Delights, a six song E.P. That featured Karl on the cover.
A&M, the band's label, was owned by Herb Albert of the famed Herb Albert & The Tijuana Brass. The band had a few jabs at him over the years, including the cover of Clam Dip which was a parody of Herb Albert & The Tijuana Brass' LP, Whipped Cream & Other Delights. When originally issued on vinyl, there were two different versions. Version included 'Artificial Heart' and 'Take It to the Root.' Version contained covers of 'Move Over' (Janis Joplin) and 'Jukebox Hero' (Foreigner). By this point in the band's career, one of the famous things the band did, was play cover songs.
These had no bounds in the fun and entertainment of what the cover song was going to be, did anybody know it was a cover song, and what the hell was that cover song. Their catalog just seemed endless. Some songs later became staples of their sets, but it did not start out that way. I was going to try to list a few here but it's really an endless amount of laughs and wowers and the occasionally.really? Here's a link that will be the tip of the iceberg, but it's a good start. It's something some of us collectors would someday like to have a complete list of but that's kind of a joke once you discover how many there really are.
Dave and Dan did a small acoustic show tour and the band recorded 12 demo songs which would end up being the 'Grave Dancers Union' demos. This was a completely new side to the band in that they were playing 'guitars with holes in them' (acoustic guitars). New songs and even old ones had a completely different feel to them. Hearing them do a Woody Guthrie song and a Leonard Cohen song in the same night was something different.
All the songs were great as acoustic songs, and then later with the full band. You could feel in the air and within the crowd that something special was going to happen.