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Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell

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{{Infobox album

| name = Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell

| type = Album

| artist = Social Distortion

| cover = Social Distortion - Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell cover.jpg

| alt =

| released = February 11, 1992

| recorded = June–October 1991 at El Dorado Studios in Hollywood, California

| venue =

| studio =

| genre = * Punk rock

| length = 44:33

| label = Epic

| producer = Dave Jerden

| prev_title = Social Distortion

| prev_year = 1990

| next_title = Mainliner: Wreckage From the Past

| next_year = 1995

| misc = {{Singles

| name = Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell

| type = studio

| single1 = Bad Luck

| single1date = 1992

| single2 = Born to Lose

| single2date = 1992

| single3 = Bye Bye Baby

| single3date = 1992

| single4 = Cold Feelings

| single4date = 1992

| single5 = When She Begins

| single5date = 1992

}}

}}

Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell is the fourth studio album by American punk rock band Social Distortion, released on February 11, 1992. Following up on the surprise success of their breakthrough singles "Ball and Chain" and "Story of My Life", It became a popular album and received positive reviews from music critics. It also spawned their highest-charting single "Bad Luck", which peaked at number 2 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.

Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell is one of the best-selling albums of Social Distortion's career, achieving gold sales certification in the United States by 2000,{{cite web |url=https://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=SEARCH_RESULTS&title=social_distortion&artist=social_distortion&perPage=25 |title=RIAA Gold & Platinum Database |website=Recording Industry Association of America |accessdate=August 3, 2012}} and by 1996, the album had sold 296,000 copies.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-10-02-ca-49632-story.html |title=Will the Flash of 'White Light' Burn Steadily? |publisher=articles.latimes.com |date=October 2, 1996 |access-date=February 14, 2013}} It peaked at number 76 on the US Billboard 200 and topped the Heatseekers chart, and is the band's last album with drummer Christopher Reece, who left in 1994.

The cover art features frontman Mike Ness mid-jump, while playing one of his Gibson Les Pauls. The cover is reminiscent and possibly an homage to Joan Jett jumping with her Gibson MelodyMaker over a canary yellow background on her third album, Album.

Music style

Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell continues the melding of country and rockabilly influences with punk that began with Social Distortion's 1988 album Prison Bound. Clear influences include Hank Williams (on "This Time Darlin'") and Johnny Cash (on "99 to Life").

Reception

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/somewhere-between-heaven-and-hell-mw0000678610 |title=Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell – Social Distortion |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=August 25, 2015 |last=Tinelli |first=Paul}}

| rev2 = Entertainment Weekly

| rev2score = B+{{cite magazine |url=https://ew.com/article/1992/02/21/somewhere-between-heaven-and-hell/ |title=Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |date=February 21, 1992 |access-date=January 15, 2018 |last=Zacharek |first=Stephanie |author-link=Stephanie Zacharek}}

| rev3 = Los Angeles Times

| rev3score = {{Rating|3|4}}{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-02-14-ca-2023-story.html |title=Following the Same, Reliable Tracks |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=February 14, 1992 |access-date=January 15, 2018 |last=Boehm |first=Mike |author-link=Mike Boehm}}

| rev4 = NME

| rev4score = 5/10{{cite magazine |title=Social Distortion: Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell |magazine=NME |date=October 10, 1992 |last=Cigarettes |first=Johnny |page=41}}

| rev5 = Q

| rev5score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine |title=Social Distortion: Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell |magazine=Q |issue=74 |date=November 1992 |last=Hepworth |first=David |author-link=David Hepworth |page=121}}

| rev6 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev6score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite book |chapter=Social Distortion |last=Considine |first=J. D. |author-link=J. D. Considine |title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide |title-link=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |editor1-last=Brackett |editor1-first=Nathan |editor1-link=Nathan Brackett |editor2-last=Hoard |editor2-first=Christian |editor2-link=Christian Hoard |publisher=Simon & Schuster |edition=4th |year=2004 |isbn=0-7432-0169-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/756 756–757]}}

| rev7 = The Village Voice

| rev7score = B+{{cite news |url=https://robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv492-92.php |title=Consumer Guide |newspaper=The Village Voice |date=April 21, 1992 |access-date=August 25, 2015 |last=Christgau |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Christgau}}

}}

Reviews for Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell have generally been favorable. AllMusic's Paul Tinelli awards the album four-and-a-half stars out of five and praised the music as a "share of rollicking, straight-ahead hard rock." He also claims that Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell "had all the earmarks of a major commercial success with some radio friendly tunes and strong production, but it never found the large audience Epic Records expected."

Track listing

All songs written by Mike Ness unless otherwise noted.

  1. "Cold Feelings" – 3:31
  2. "Bad Luck" – 4:26
  3. "Making Believe" (Jimmy Work) – 4:12
  4. "Born to Lose" – 4:09
  5. "Bye Bye Baby" – 3:06
  6. "When She Begins" – 5:04
  7. "99 to Life" – 4:28
  8. "King of Fools" (W.E. Bruce) – 2:50
  9. "Sometimes I Do" – 4:01
  10. "This Time Darlin' " – 4:08
  11. "Ghost Town Blues" – 4:38 (CD bonus track)
  12. "Alone and Forsaken" – 3:12 (Hank Williams; Japanese bonus track)
  13. "Mainliner 1992" – 2:59 (Japanese bonus track)

Personnel

Charts

class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
Chart (1992)

!Peak
position

{{album chart|Billboard200|76|artist=Social Distortion|rowheader=true|access-date=April 8, 2024}}
{{album chart|BillboardHeatseekers|1|artist=Social Distortion|rowheader=true|access-dateApril 8, 2024}}

Certifications

{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry |region=United States |artist=Social Distortion|title=Somwhere Between Heaven and Hell|award=Gold|type=album |relyear=1992}}

{{Certification Table Bottom |nosales=true}}

Notes

{{reflist}}

External links

  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20090105221858/http://thishereboogie.com/bye-bye-baby-social-distortion-1992/ 'Bye Bye Baby' song of the day on thishereboogie.com 20 November 2008]

{{Social Distortion}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Social Distortion albums

Category:1992 albums

Category:Epic Records albums

Category:Albums produced by Dave Jerden

Category:Country albums by American artists