It's likely that the outcast's dream of playing in a famous band that shows up the school by coming back to play the senior prom is essential to understanding the mind of the air guitarist. Soul Asylum's evening at the prom might add some real-world magic to the dream. It wasn't the band's prom, and the group were seriously famous in 1997 and didn't have to play proms to make rent. The occasion was the great flood of '97, and Soul Asylum wanted to do something nice for some kids whose lives got submerged when the rains came.

Does the story add enough to justify forking over $15 for an album that's just pretty good? That probably depends on how much air guitar you play. They play their two best-known songs – "Runaway Train" and "Misery" – and nail "Losin' It," "Just Like Anyone," and "Black Star." But the soul of a prom lies in the cover tunes a band has to play – how well they play them, and more than that, what songs they choose. The selections on this album are so eclectic that they're almost loopy; still, here's a band doing something earnest in a cynical world, so I think they should get a free pass on that front.

On the evening opener, "School's Out" – a no-brainer – they sound tentative, but the energy between the crowd and the stage fills any holes. "The Tracks of My Tears" is the low point – Dave Pirner sounds like his vocal chords were sanded for an hour or two to warm up. But just when you're ready to wince, along comes Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing," and suddenly the band are right there in the pocket, and even Pirner's gritty vocal sounds nice. Thing flatten out on "I Can See Clearly Now," and the kids in the gym have never heard their version of Lulu's "To Sir with Love," but Soul Asylum redeem themselves by closing the evening with a raging cover of the Glen Campbell hit "Rhinestone Cowboy" (topped off by Pirner's ad-lib, "There's been a fucking load of compromising," which could have gotten the whole band sent to the principal's office). Risks like that deserve applause. (J.H. Tompkins)