EPIC 1978
- Got to be a Better Way Home
- Baby’s Gone for Good
- I Played the Fool
- Hearts of Stone
- Take it Inside
- Talk to Me
- Next to You
- Trapped Again
- Light Don’t Shine
Buy the album at: SouthsideJohnny.com | amazon.com | amazon.de | JPC.de
Symphonic rock, accompanying themes of adolescent heartbreak and anger, is offered here, performed by vocalist Johnny and a 10-man hard-driving band of rockers cast in the Spectorish mold of Bruce Springsteen and others. The vocals lack zest and the lyrics are dull, but some cuts are worth hearing…
BILLBOARD 11/11/78
(All rights reserved)
HEARTS OF STONE – THE STEREO REVIEW
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes’ new album is at once more assured, more contemporary, and less funny than their two earlier effords, but rest easy; the spirit that makes their version of Sam Cooke’s “Having a Party” the most memorable number in their live shows remains intact. The Jukes, after all, are about nothing if not good times, and if the phrase “good-time music” hadn’t been rendered meaningless by a horde of boogie bands that shall remain nameless here, it wouldn’t be so hard to sell all you heavy-metal fans on the music these guys make. Fact is that Johnny and the boys are the band Paul Butterfield would have led if his approach to the blues wasn’t so academic, that Chicago would have been if they hadn’t cut their teeth on old Herp Alpert records, that J.Geils could have been if they hadn’t pandered their audience, and that Willy DeVille would be running if he only could shake his compulsion to become a young James Brown. In short, it’s the modern r&b band for all seasons.
“Hearts of Stone” derivates from the formats of the Jukes’ first two efforts right down to the cover shot, which for the first time reveals Johnny Lyon’s eyes. There are no oldies here, no noveltry blues songs (perhaps because drummer Kenny Pentifallo, whose comic basso was particulary suited to them, has departed), and no guest appearances by legendary vocal groups. As a result, the record has a considerably harde edge and considerably less under-the-boardwalk-romanticism than one might have expected. Which is not criticism: it simply means that “Hearts of Stone” is better for dancing than for making out.
The material by Miami Steve Van Zandt and Bruce Springsteen (Bruce wrote the title tune and the addictive “Talk to Me” – the guy farms out so many good songs it’s getting ridiculous), is less easily tracable to specific influences, and while non of the tunes has a hook as warmheartedly memorable as “I don’t want to go home” or a production as overwhelming as “When you dance”, they do, on balance, establish at last an identifiable voice for the Jukes,enabling them to escape the revivalist trap they could well have fallen into. The result is a record that sounds as crisp and modern as anything by Boz Scaggs and yet still maintains the basic sylistic parameters of their other albums. In short, the Jukes have entered the mainstream with their integrity intact.
I don’t mean to make any of this sound like some classroom excercise (Contemporary Record Production I), because this stuff is far too vital. The point is simply that the Jukes are growing with becoming grace. Johnny’s singing has continued to deepen and mature, the horn section has never sounded richer, and the addition of E-Streeter Max Weinberg on drums has tightened the rythm section up considerably. They remain what I have called them before, the Best Working Band in America, and if “Hearts of Stone” is not as immediately involving as its predecessors, it is no less deeply felt. Give it half a chance and it’ll get to you!
– Steve Simets (Stereo Magazine 1978)
HEARTS OF STONE
“That song was probably the apex of the early Jukes – the culmination of everything we tried to do. The first album went straight from the stage to the studio. The second was the experimentation phase, and the lessons all came together on the thrid album. We’d learned enough to make a professional record,but weren’t too jaded! And we were determined to make the best album. We recorded eight songs and threw them out and started right over, and the record company went through the roof! It was just one of those moments in life when you feel you got to put all on the line, and everybody felt that way, and it shows in the music.”
– Southside Johnny
THE BAND
Southside Johnny – Lead Vocals
Billy Rush – Lead Guitar, Rythm Guitar
Kevin Kavanaugh – Keyboards
Aland Berger – Bass
Max Weinberg – Drums
Stevie Van Zandt – Vocals, Rythm Guitar (Lead on “Hearts of Stone”)
Bob Muckin – Trumpet
Rick Gazda – Trumpet
Stan Harrison – Tenor (Solo on “Talk To Me”)
La Bamba – Trombone
Ed Manion – Baritone (Solo on “I Played The Fool”)
CREDITS
Produced and Arranged by Stevie Van Zandt
Engineer – Jack Malken
Assistant Engineer – Michael Berry
Mixed by Jack Malken, Southside Johnny and Stevie Van Zandt
Assisted by Michael and Candy
Recorded and Mixed at Secret Sound Studios New York
Mastered at Masterdisk, New York City by Bob Ludwig
Photography – Frank Stefano
