Customer Reviews

Grave Dancers Union

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In the early 90s, it looked like good music was finally about to take back the radio waves. Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Smashing Pumpkins, and Soul Asylum, all offering passionate rock and roll and putting to rest years of drek like Bon Jovi, Poison, Warrant, and Motley Crue. Sadly, ever since the mid/late 90s, bands like Soul Asylum are rarely heard on mainstream radio. It's a shame because Dave Pirner & co. know how to write and arrange songs, something that often seems lost on the current crop of bands like Nickelback and Linkin Park that have taken over the airwaves.

What I love most about this album is that there's no formula to it. Songs didn't have to resort to the "soft verse, heavy chorus, soft verse, heavy chorus" mode of a lot of late 90s and current rock. A song that starts with acoustic guitars as the main instrument STAYS with the acoustic guitars throughout the whole song. "Runaway Train" definitely ranks up there as one of the best songs of the 90s. "Black Gold" & "Somebody to Shove" are also exquisitely arranged songs that were so well produced that they sound just as fresh now as they did over ten years ago. "Get on Out" is the best song The Who never wrote. An eclectic album, it features great Aerosmith-like hard rock riffs in "April Fool," but also country-tinged numbers like "New World" and "Homesick."

What this album really makes me think of is how much passion is missing in rock today. Sure, there's tons of great new music out there today, but it is harder to find than it was in the early 90s. _Grave Dancer's Union_ is an example of a band that knows how to inject songs with melody, passion, and originality.

Until the release of "Grave Dancer's Union," Soul Asylum looked fated to labor fruitlessly in the wilderness like fellow Minneapolis rockers The Replacements. That all changed with the 1991 Nirvana revolution and "Union," thanks to some excellent songwriting and a way-overplayed hit single. "Runaway Train," is that single, a throwback to a 1980s power ballad. Fortunately, the album also contained the punkish single "Somebody to Shove," and a storytelling single in "Black Gold." The rest of the material alternates between rockers as ballads, with highlights such as the catchy refrain of "Keep it Up," the nostalgic "Homesick," "Without a Trace," and a superb closing track in "The Sun Maid."

Overall, Soul Asylum's breakthrough album is one of the better things to follow in the wake of Nirvana in the early 1990s.

GRAVE DANCERS UNION vaulted Soul Asylum to previously unattainable heights of popularity. Their first effort for Columbia Records after years of neglect from A&M Records. Rhetoric doesn't do justice in describing the vast package here. Quite simply, Soul Asylum is/was? a great rock and roll band with an expanse of tastes, influences and styles. All are effective when applied to their own songs. "Somebody To Shove," "Black Gold" and "Runaway Train" are as different as three songs can get. They are also as great as three songs can get. The totally awesome Replacements tried but not enough of you paid attention. The torch as Minnesota's next great band was passed to Soul Asylum.

I purchased thia CD for one song "Runaway Train" and whenever I am having a bad day I enjoy listening to it to put things in there proper perspective!The other titles are very good if you are in the right mood to listen to them...

1992 is the year that Soul Asylum became the talk of the town, and by buying Grave Dancer's Union, you will see why. Soul Asylum was one hell of a band, and this is one hell of an album. Of course, it includes the hits "Somebody to Shove", "Black Gold", "Runaway Train", and "Without A Trace", but what here in between in some pretty amazing music. The Country-Music like vocals and guitars on "Homesick", and "New World" are pretty amazing to hear. Not to mention the incredible old-school-Aerosmith-like tone of hard rock anthem "April Fool". And the pleasant orcherstrated tones of "The Sun Maid" is pretty beautiful. Anyway, this is an album you can listen to again and again and enjoy it everytime. This is a great album for those of you who want to get to know the Minneapolis born Soul Asylum, who will be forever loved, and missed.

Good Day. And, good music measures after good, please.

Not=
Remember the Normandy Belt class-struggles, please.

Not=
Judgmental with the 3.0 star rating, please.


This is supposed to be a good North America after good, please. With the smaller, English language, mind you. As dour and daunting: As this music composition-packaging cover is...hmm...okay. Good-to-go now. To make a [shh...a Cadillac] story short, (yes) there are some tracks, and subsequent hearing-thoughts' clues that I appreciated. To keep good after good going - and on the make with that, in-mind.

Ascerbic stuff - with the audio CD technology - these writs are not as contrived as (may/may not) appear. Stay away from that middle-class buffet line...all of the time...mind you !

Good Day.

I was brought back to this album after hearing Soul Asylum's latest release, Silver Lining.

I forgot how truly good this album is. The songwriting is outstanding. Dave's voice is not always in tune, but it adds so much character and emotion that it can't be dismissed.

So many incredible songs on this album. "Runaway Train", "Black Gold", "Somebody to Shove", and "Without a Trace were all FM sweethearts. But there were many other gems on this album. "Keep it up" is a great upbeat pop song. While "Homesick" isn't a favorite of mine, it did well on the charts. "Get on Out" is a cool rocker. To me, "New World" is simply filler". "April Fool" may be my favorite song on the album, it has a harder rock groove, and some great phrasing. The rest were fillers as well to me.

Four big commercial hits, and some hidden gems. Listen to amazon's samples and it might be for you. A big step up from their previous six albums (although I am a fan of those as well).

Soul Asylum were one of the last great songwriting bands. They have several albums that came before this one that were also great (check out "And The Horse They Rode In On"), but after only two more subsequent releases (the great "Let Your Dim Light Shine" and the decent follow-up "Candy From A Stranger"), they just sort of disappeared.

This album is just great though. Superb song crafting, versatile styles. Great break from the hair bands and pissed-at-success grungers that were dominating the scene at the time.

I was once asked what my favorite album of all time was, this CD was it. They are not my favorite band and they don't sing my favorite song. they just put together one heck of an album. Only one track I skip, "Runaway train". I origanally bought this CD before that song hit the airwaves, I just got tired of hearing it because there is so much good on here. I lost this disc and recently bought it again. Playing in my car tacking the kids to school my 16 year old asked who it was. She didn't recognize them and they sounded good. That says a lot, normaly when i have something in that is almost 20 years old she can tell because it sounds dated. Not the case with Grave dancers union, and I think that speaks for itself.

Soul Asylum's "Grave Dancers Union" is one of the better alt-rock albums of the early 90s. Coming from Minnesota, frontman Dave Pirner and the band had enjoyed steady careers as a successful regional act before "Grave Dancers Union" spawned multiple hits. Soul Asylum can rock with the best of the early-90s alt bands, and Dave Pirner is an artistic and passionate songwriter who also has a great feel for a melody and arrangement. The song structures are excellent and are all quite appealing. What I like most about "Grave Dancers Union" is the variety within the tracklist. The songs range from midtempo ballads to heavy rockers, and from catchy pop tunes to experimental numbers. Musically, there are elements of classic rock in Soul Asylum's approach, but the arrangement and Dave Pirner's performances result in a style that is quintissential 90s alt-rock. Overall "Grave Dancers Union" showcases an overlooked band with some of their best material on their hands, and the album is quite enjoyable from start to finish.

The disc opens with one of its best songs, the upbeat and catchy "Somebody to Shove," a song with enough pop sensibility to stay in your head for hours but enough artistic merit to satisfy any longtime fan. It has a great hook and well-structured verses. Another single, "Black Gold," is equally appealing, and with its whimsical lyricism and twinkling guitar lines has proven to stand the test of time. However, the best single is "Runaway Train," a bittersweet number that showcases Soul Asylum at their best. "Keep It Up" is fun and upbeat, while the mournful "Homesick" is soulfully great, as Pirner laments, "I'm so homesick, but it ain't that bad / 'Cause I'm homesick for the home I've never had." The Tom Petty-esque "Get On Out" and the philosophical "New World" are both excellent, as is the snarling hard rock of "April Fool." "Leave Without a Trace" is cut from the same mold as "Runaway Train," and after the nice "Growing Into You" comes the experimental "99%," which uses a bullhorn effect on the vocals and clashing instrumentals for an unsettled sounding track. The album closes with perhaps my favorite song, the absolutely charming ballad "The Sun Maid."

Soul Asylum is not so celebrated today, but with "Grave Dancers Union" they established themselves as one of the most potent bands in the 90s alt-rock scene, and made their presence felt with some excellent singles. The album does the singles complete justice, though, and is a great full listen. I highly recommend "Grave Dancers Union" to any 90s rock fans.