With Let Your Dim Light Shine, Soul Asylum hit the skids, unintentionally spinning into middle-of-the-road territory.
It was an uninspired and careerist record, one that dropped off the charts as quickly as it entered, tarnishing the group's image, both as alternative heroes and hitmakers.
For their follow-up, Candy From a Stranger, Soul Asylum stubbornly continued in the post-Tom Petty mainstream rock tradition that marked their first two albums for Columbia.
It only made sense -- a return to the sloppy rave-ups of Twin/Tone, or even their hard-rocking A&M records, would have seemed forced.
And Candy From a Stranger is better than the near-disastrous Let Your Dim Light Shine, which was dogged by such embarrassments as "Misery." Nothing on Candy is as bad as "Misery," but there's another problem -- not many songs make an impression, either.
This is pure, workmanlike rock & roll, which means it has to be well-crafted in order to succeed.
Dave Pirner does have a couple of good songs -- "I Will Still Be Laughing" is a catchy, if restrained rocker, and "Blood Into Wine" is a fine slice of country-rock -- but too often his songwriting is simply colorless.
As a result, Candy From a Stranger is a journeyman record -- an album that delivers the goods competently, but with no real flair or passion.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Creatures of HabitDave Pirner | Soul Asylum | Play | 03:22 | 0 MB | 23 MB |
| 2 | I Will Still Be LaughingDave Pirner | Soul Asylum | Play | 03:46 | 0 MB | 26 MB |
| 3 | See You LaterDave Pirner | Soul Asylum | Play | 04:45 | 0 MB | 33 MB |
| 4 | No Time for WaitingDave Pirner | Soul Asylum | Play | 03:15 | 0 MB | 21 MB |
| 5 | Blood into Wine | Soul Asylum | Play | 04:03 | 0 MB | 25 MB |
| 6 | Lies of Hate | Soul Asylum | Play | 04:39 | 0 MB | 31 MB |
| 7 | Draggin' the LakeDave Pirner | Soul Asylum | Play | 03:37 | 0 MB | 24 MB |
| 8 | New York BlackoutDave Pirner | Soul Asylum | Play | 04:05 | 0 MB | 25 MB |
| 9 | The GameDave Pirner | Soul Asylum | Play | 04:26 | 0 MB | 27 MB |
| 10 | Cradle ChainDave Pirner | Soul Asylum | Play | 04:40 | 0 MB | 31 MB |
| 0 mins | 0 MB | |||||
| 40 mins | 270 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Barbiero | Mixing |
| 2 | David Boucher | Mixing Assistant |
| 3 | Jon Carin | Harmonium, Lap Steel Guitar, Mellophonium, Organ, Piano, Wurlitzer |
| 4 | Chris Carroll | Mixing Assistant |
| 5 | John Clark | Photography |
| 6 | Bob Clearmountain | Mixing |
| 7 | Mark Dobson | Digital Editing, Engineer, Photography |
| 8 | Jim Gavenus | Photography |
| 9 | Steve Harper | Assistant Engineer, Percussion |
| 10 | William Kennedy | Digital Imaging |
| 11 | Chris Kimsey | Producer, Vocals (Background) |
| 12 | Rick Levy | Photography |
| 13 | Aimee MacAuley | Art Direction |
| 14 | Chrissy Madden | Photography |
| 15 | Stephen Marcussen | Mastering |
| 16 | David Nicholas | Engineer, Mixing Assistant |
| 17 | David Nottingham | Assistant Engineer, Mixing Assistant |
| 18 | Cindy Osborne | Project Coordinator |
| 19 | Astrid Pasmino | Vocals (Background) |
| 20 | Dave Pirner | Composer |
| 21 | Keith Rose | Engineer |
| 22 | Soul Asylum | Primary Artist |
| 23 | Don C. Tyler | Digital Editing |
| 24 | John Tyree | Assistant Engineer, Mixing Assistant |
| 25 | John Woodland | Vocals (Background) |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |