Let Your Dim Light Shine is the seventh studio album by American rock band Soul Asylum, released June 6, 1995, on Columbia Records. 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.
It was the first Soul Asylum album with drummer Sterling Campbell, who had previously played drums on half of the tracks on Grave Dancers Union.
The album's title comes from a lyric of the song "Promises Broken".
Reception
AllMusic gave a mostly critical summary of Let Your Dim Light Shine, with Stephen Thomas Erlewine commenting that the music "isn't quite as impressive" compared to previous efforts, and moreover that this element is easily overlooked because of the "self-importance" of the lyrics.
Track listing All songs written by David Pirner unless noted otherwise. "Misery" – 4:24 "Shut Down" – 2:51 "To My Own Devices" – 2:59 "Hopes Up" – 3:45 "Promises Broken" (Dan Murphy, Marc Perlman) – 3:14 "Bittersweetheart" – 3:34 "String of Pearls" – 4:56 "Crawl" (Stephen Jordan, Pirner) – 4:00 "Caged Rat" – 3:03 "Eyes of a Child" – 3:35 "Just Like Anyone" – 2:47 "Tell Me When" (Pirner, David Samuels) – 3:42 "Nothing to Write Home About" – 3:14 "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.
Personnel Soul Asylum
Dave Pirner – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, trumpet, producer Dan Murphy – lead guitar, backing vocals, producer Karl Mueller – bass guitar, producer Sterling Campbell – drums, percussion, vocals, producer
Additional musicians
Trini Alvarado – backing vocals John Devries – backing vocals Joey Huffman – organ, piano, mellotron Eric Pierson – guitar Jane Scarpantoni – cello Dave Schramm – pedal steel guitar Tim Ray – piano, electric piano
Production
John Siket – engineer Michael Stern – engineer (non credited) Butch Vig – producer Andy Wallace – mixer Howie Weinberg – mastering
Charts
Weekly charts + Weekly chart performance for Let Your Dim Light Shine Chart (1995) Peak position
Year-end charts + Year-end chart performance for Let Your Dim Light Shine Chart (1995) Position US Billboard 200 97
Singles + Chart performance for singles from Let Your Dim Light ShineYearSingleChartPosition1995"Misery"US Billboard Hot 10020US Mainstream Rock Tracks2US Modern Rock Tracks1"Just Like Anyone"US Mainstream Rock Tracks11US Modern Rock Tracks191996"Promises Broken"US Billboard Hot 10063US Mainstream Rock Tracks29US Adult Contemporary29
Certifications
References