Candy From A Stranger - 10 Year Anniversary

[Monolith Maniac]

Today (May 12th) marks the 10 year anniversary of the release of Soul Asylum's 9th studio album, Candy From A Stranger.

What felt like an eternity waiting for SA's next album (TSL); to me it only seems like 6 or 7 years at the most since Candy was released. It holds the spot for being the first Soul Asylum album that was released since I had become a fan of SA's. It was the third album of theirs I had purchased (the first 2 being GDU and LYDLS). It also is probably the first album I ever really looked forward to being released, since the majority of the music I had listened to at the time was released 20 years earlier.

I can clearly see/understand where many fans are coming from when they say Candy is a lot different and/or not as good as many of their prior albums, but in my opinion Candy is a great overall album as well as a very good follow up album to LYDLS. One of the reasons why I really like it is probably because it is a lot different than their prior albums, and might not be the norm that they had been cranking out in the past.

The album was definitely in heavy rotation in my CD player during the end of my freshman year in high school and throughout the summer. Cradle Chain still remains my favorite track from the album, where I still occasionally sing the incorrect lyrics, "why don't youse, bake a cake".

[Judgmental Patient]

I can't believe it's been that long. That is easily the second-most anticipated album of my life (right after The Silver Lining, and a bit ahead of Let Your Dim Light Shine). It was all I listened to that summer, and it was definitely a trying summer. I remember being very confused as to why I wasn't hearing any of the songs when I listened to the radio.

[philipgar]

This is definitely one of the most under-appreciated albums that SA released. A lot had to do with the way it sounded. The songs off it are so much better live, more so than their other albums. I can't believe it's been 10 years now. This album was definitely the most anticipated album of my life. I remember listening to the live shows before hand (the 97 era shows were great), and just dieing to have the album released.

I had never seen the band live before CFAS was released, but at the time I loved the band. I had all their albums, and just couldn't wait for more. Particularly after hearing tapes of a lot of the live material. It really seemed like it took forever for the album to be released.

While in reality TSL took longer to come out and what not, it never seemed as long for me. I guess it just has to do with where I am in my life. When CFAS was released I didn't listen to as many different bands as I do now. Also, I was in high school and had lots of free time. I didn't really do much besides listen to music and play with computers back then. Plus I was a lot younger... I was 16 when CFAS came out . . .

By the time TSL came out I was already familiar with the new material, and had accepted that I wouldn't hear the album for a while. I was a lot busier at the time, having just finished my first year working on my PhD, living on my own, and just busier in general. Of course my cd collection was also much bigger by this time, and I really didn't have the kind of free time to listen to music like before. I mean I'd listen to it in lab, and at home sometimes, but I avoided spending too much time at home by this point, tending to hang out with friends much more often. Just a very different time in life.

I guess that's my justification there, but candy is definitely the one album that I was literally waiting for a year or so to have, and I wanted that album a lot. I remember picking it up the day it came out, I just couldn't wait (of course now I regularly pick up albums the day they come out, but I now have a cd store in walking distance of lab).

Phil

[lune ellise]

This is definitely one of the most under-appreciated albums that SA released. A lot had to do with the way it sounded. The songs off it are so much better live, more so than their other albums.

I agree with you there - I listened to the live version of Close, and it's way better than the album version (well, they're not called best live band for nothing).

As an album, I liked this one better than Dim Light - it's just so sad how this album is underrated.

Hey, is SA working for a new album? Just asking...

[Closer]

I love this album. It might even be one of my favourites. (I'm not good at picking favourites) It's just the sound, that has been mentioned in this thread, that I don't like on every song. I can't help but feel that some songs could have sounded a whole lot better.
I like the lyrics of a couple of songs a lot because they are not the most positive lyrics and I always prefer it that way, and those songs seem to be very personal songs. More so than on other albums for some reason. Maybe because I can relate to these songs more so than on other SA albums.

[sayeeda]

First time I'd heard any of the songs off Candy was "I Will Still be Laughing" on the radio. I don't even remember if I started hearing it before or after the album came out but it definitely received a lot of play that summer, and the rest of that year.

Candy was the first Soul Asylum album I owned, though it was in pieces some time later...freak accident involving a swinging fist...don't ask. Recently, though, while starting to build up a collection, I ordered another copy, so it should arrive any day now.

[mystic_spiral_3]

I remember being really excited for Candy, because by then I'd found the AOL Soul Asylum board and found all these cool new friends who were as excited about the band as I was. Most of my other friends weren't really into SA. I'd heard several Candy songs off bootlegs and really liked them, and I'd seen my first SA show about a year before Candy came out. I remember the first time I heard "Laughing" on the radio; I was eating lunch in this little alcove in University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning, and jumped out of my seat, distracting the other students who were studying or eating lunch there. The song was on the radio for awhile; it got stuck in my head during several of my finals. Then I went home for summer. I bought the cd the day it came out, and I do remember being disappointed initially...it didn't have the same magic as the bootleg versions. However, it did grow on me throughout the summer.

I also remember being angry that I had to go to something at my sisters' school that night, and thus was missing the chat room where we were all going to discuss the new cd. Heh.

[sheryl]

I waited for Candy, too. And I snapped it up the minute it hit the stores. And then I listened to it. Once.

Then I put it in the microwave.

And I didn't speak to Soul Asylum again until TSL came out.

For the record, I love most of the outtakes from Candy..in my opinion they left the best songs off of it, and I love the songs live.

[RadioGuy]

I really like this ablum. I was really baffled by the lack of "push" the CD received from radio. There are 6 songs that easily could've been in "heavy rotation" on FM radio. Yet, I only remember hearing "Laughing".

I really think the following songs would've done really well on radio
and in video.

Creatures of Habit
See You Later
Draggin' the Lake
Cradle Chain
I Will Still Be Laughing -
No Time for Waiting

[sayeeda]

Ten years later (technically nine, but meh).... back in my possession. I'm a happy gal.