Dave Pirner didn’t play “Runaway Train” at the 930 Club Friday night. In fact, it’s hard to know if the general music-buying populace even associates Pirner’s name with that Grammy-winning song and Soul Asylum, the band he has lead since 1982. Still, there he was, playing songs from his first solo album to about 50 people, a shockingly small turnout since Soul Asylum has been a bit of a Washington favorite since they famously became Clinton-era rock stars --- insert visions of Tipper Gore singing “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow” here --- by performing at 1993 D.C. inaugural party. Pirner seemed mostly bemused by the mostly empty room though, and he and his band dutifully essayed the selections on “Faces and Names”, a record that actually finds Pirner sneaking into some interesting territory.
Soul Asylum’s music evolved from beer-fueled, gnarly punk rock howls to million-selling soft rock ballads, so one might imagine Pirner’s solo record would continue that form and come on like a cross between Jim Croce and Christopher Cross. Happily, it’s much better than that, a mellow rock set underpinned with soul and the rhythms of its’ creator’s new hometown, New Orleans. With straightforward backing from keyboards, bass and drums, Pirner made numbers like “Tea”, “364” and “Levitation” crackle with a lively energy missing from the last few Soul Asylum efforts. There was still some soft rock dross on the menu (“Teach Me to Breathe”), but playful covers of Wyclef Jean’s “Gone ‘Til November” and Afroman’s “Because I Got High” were delivered crisply, and both Pirner’s guitar playing and singing showed a freewheeling engagement that made the sparsely witnessed gig a generally agreeable affair.
Washington Post, 2002
