This three-disc set collects the two albums Soul Asylum recorded for A&M Records—Hang Time (1988) and And the Horse They Rode in On (1990)—along with a live recording from that era. In ways, the set highlights the reason for the band’s popularity and its lack of commercial success. The live tracks embody the band’s charms—loose, spirited performances, nutty covers, and the feeling that if you had a band, it would be like Soul Asylum and you, Dave Pirner and Dan Murphy could hang out. They were proletarian rock stars, and it was crazily possible to imagine them replacing the traditional rock star order.

That sense of connection made for very forgiving listeners who were kinder to their records than they deserved. The songs were usually there—though not as consistently as fans remember—but the production was rarely sympathetic, making the band seem smaller and less exciting than it was. Producers Lenny Kaye and Ed Stasium give Hang Time a little gloss and a sound with greater definition, but the band still wasn’t as kinetic as it was live. And the Horse They Rode in On works better as a record because Steve Jordan made no effort to emulate their live sound.

For fans who thought of the band (and themselves) as beautiful, misunderstood losers, these albums were good enough, but at the same time markers that real magic, the sort that Soul Asylum conjured onstage, couldn’t really be captured, and those who saw them were part of a private club who knew something the rest of the world could only guess at from the albums. That mentality has surrounded hundreds of bands, of course, but it was all the more tantalizing in Soul Asylum’s case because their songs and shows were so close to something a larger audience could get, and indie values could actually have a place in marketplace. Then those fans got what they wanted and had to deal with it.