Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell

Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell is the fourth studio album by the 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", Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell 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
Studio album by
Social Distortion
ReleasedFebruary 11, 1992
RecordedJune–October 1991 at El Dorado Studios in Hollywood, California
Genre
Length44:33
LabelEpic
ProducerDave Jerden
Social Distortion chronology
Social Distortion
(1990)		 Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell
(1992)		 Mainliner: Wreckage From the Past
(1995)

Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell was the one of the best-selling albums of Social Distortion's recording career, achieving gold sales certification in the United States by 2000,[4] and by 1996, the album had sold 296,000 copies.[5] It peaked at number 76 on the US Billboard 200 and topped the Heatseekers chart, and was also Social Distortion's last to feature drummer Christopher Reece, who left the band in 1994.

The cover art features Ness mid-jump, while playing one of his Gibson Les Pauls. The cover is reminiscent and possibly an hommage 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 rock 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").[6] Critic Robert Christgau referred to the album as a "new meaning of hard-honky-tonk," referring to the band's mixing of honky-tonk style of country music and hardcore punk.[2]

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[6]
Los Angeles Times[7]
Q[8]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[9]
The Village VoiceB+[2]

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."[1]

Covers

In 2008, Danish rock band Volbeat released a cover of “Making Believe” on their third album, Guitar Gangsters & Cadillac Blood. In 2018, the German punk rock band Die Toten Hosen covered the song "Cold Feelings" on their "Laune der Natur" single.

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)

Track 11, "Ghost Town Blues", is a CD bonus track and it did not appear on the cassette or vinyl version of the album.

Personnel

Charts

Album
Chart (1992) Peak
position
US Billboard 200[10] 76
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[11] 1

Singles
Year Title Chart Peak position
1992 "Bad Luck" US Modern Rock Tracks 2
1992 "Cold Feelings" US Modern Rock Tracks 11
1992 "When She Begins" US Modern Rock Tracks 14

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[12] Gold 500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Notes
  1. Tinelli, Paul. "Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell – Social Distortion". AllMusic. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
  2. Christgau, Robert (April 21, 1992). "Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
  3. Cole, Matthew (17 January 2011). "Review: Social Distortion, Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  4. "RIAA Gold & Platinum Database". Retrieved 2012-08-03.
  5. "Will the Flash of 'White Light' Burn Steadily?". articles.latimes.com. 1996-10-02. Retrieved 2013-02-14.
  6. Zacharek, Stephanie (February 21, 1992). "Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
  7. Boehm, Mike (February 14, 1992). "Following the Same, Reliable Tracks". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
  8. "Social Distortion: Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell". Q (74): 121. November 1992.
  9. Considine, J. D. (2004). "Social Distortion". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 756–57. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  10. "Social Distortion Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
  11. "Social Distortion Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
  12. "American album certifications – Social Distortion – Somwhere Between Heaven and Hell". Recording Industry Association of America.
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