Let Your Dim Light Shine

Let Your Dim Light Shine
Studio album by Soul Asylum
Released	June 6, 1995
Recorded	1994 - 1995
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	49:59
Label	Columbia
Producer	Butch Vig & Soul Asylum
Soul Asylum chronology
Grave Dancers Union (1992) Let Your Dim Light Shine (1995) Candy from a Stranger (1998)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Robert Christgau	(B+)[2]
Rolling Stone	[3]

Let Your Dim Light Shine is an album from 1995 from the band Soul Asylum. 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 to list Sterling Campbell as the band's official drummer. He was listed as providing "percussion" on the previous album, even though he played on at least half of the tracks, including the big hit, "Runaway Train."^[4]

The album's title is derived from a line in the song "Promises Broken." Actress Trini Alvarado provided backing vocals on three songs.

Dim Light was the least favorite album of the band, as Columbia, their label at the time, constantly interfered with their creative process.^{[citation needed]}

The music video for "Just Like Anyone" starred actress Claire Danes.

Track listing

All songs written by David Pirner unless noted otherwise.

1. "Misery" – 4:24
2. "Shut Down" – 2:51
3. "To My Own Devices" – 2:59
4. "Hopes Up" – 3:45
5. "Promises Broken" (Murphy, Perlman) – 3:14
6. "Bittersweetheart" – 3:34
7. "String of Pearls" – 4:56
8. "Crawl" (Jordan, Pirner) – 4:00
9. "Caged Rat" – 3:03
10. "Eyes of a Child" – 3:35
11. "Just Like Anyone" – 2:47
12. "Tell Me When" (Pirner, Samuels) – 3:42
13. "Nothing to Write Home About" – 3:14
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.

Singles

1. "Crawl"
2. "Misery"
3. "Just Like Anyone"

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
1995	The Billboard 200	6

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1995	"Misery"	The Billboard Hot 100	20
1995	"Misery"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	2
1995	"Misery"	Modern Rock Tracks	1
1995	"Just Like Anyone"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	11
1995	"Just Like Anyone"	Modern Rock Tracks	19
1996	"Promises Broken"	The Billboard Hot 100	63
1996	"Promises Broken"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	29
1996	"Promises Broken"	Adult Contemporary	29

Band members

• Dave Pirner – vocals, guitar
• Dan Murphy – guitar, vocals
• Karl Mueller – bass
• Sterling Campbell – drums & percussion

References

1. ^ Allmusic review
2. ^ Robert Christgau review
3. ^ Rolling Stone review
4. ^ [1]