THE CLEVELAND FREE TIMES – BY JOHN C. BRUENING – JANUARY 3, 2001
For years, Southside Johnny Lyon was generally regarded as that other guy – markedly less famous but nearly as entertaining and compelling – out of the fabled Asbury Park, N. J., music scene of the early ’70s. Steeped in vintage rhythm and blues and backed by a brass-intensive backup unit that predated the campy neo-swing wave by more than two decades, Johnny Lyon and his Asbury Jukes maintained an ongoing vigil to keep some of rock’s original ingredients – blues, R&B and soul – on life support. For 30 years now, while the rest of the world lost track of the music’s roots with everything from bloated arena rock to vaguely defined “alternative rock,” Johnny and his Jukes have never strayed far from the source…
The close of Y2K (may we never read or hear or utter that acronym again as of this week) finds Lyon and company digging even further back, with the November release of Messin’ with the Blues, a satisfying mix of vintage and original material that’s every bit what the title suggests. Their first studio recording in eight years, Messin’ plumbs the rich depths of the American blues tradition without resorting to the easy trick of stringing together a series of hammy, cartoonish covers from Chicago’s pre-rock heyday. It’s an eclectic set, with songs borrowed from diverse sources like Memphis Slim, Percy Mayfield and Tom Waits – names that might not seem all that connected until Lyon’s interpretations clarify the cultural and historical thread that starts with the blues and moves through R&B, soul and rock. More than just messin’, Lyon’s teaching and illuminating on this album, too.
The album opens with a bawdy, roadhouse take on Waits’ “Gin-Soaked Boy,” driven by guitarist Bobby Bandiera’s grinding slide and Lyon’s double punch of wailing harp and jagged vocals. The team sounds like vintage Howlin’ Wolf here, which is about as messy and gritty as traditional urban blues gets. And when Lyon fires off healthy doses of harp on tracks like “Rhumba and Coke” (a collaborative effort with bassist/producer Garry Tallent, a veteran of Springsteen’s E Street outfit) and “Tell ‘em I’m Broke” (Lyon / Tallent / Bandiera), we’re reminded after too many years that there’s much more to this vocalist than just vocals.
Not that he’s lacking in this department. On many of the 13 tracks, Lyon opts for scaled-back arrangements that make more room for the range and subtlety of his vocals, which remain remarkably intact after pushing his pipes to the limit in countless live gigs over the past three decades.
What makes the overall package even more satisfying is the end to the long wait. Messin’ is Southside and the Jukes’ first studio recording in almost a decade (his last effort being the uneven Better Days in 1992). The years in between weren’t the happiest, according to his recent comments to UK fan magazine The Ties That Bind.
“I went through some bad times and really wanted never to record again,” he said. “If you’re not in good mental shape, the studio is a torture chamber.”
Perhaps the most positive change amid the otherwise “bad times” was his move a few years ago, from familiar New Jersey environs to Nashville – a locale with an entirely different, and clearly more vibrant and promising, music scene.
“After I moved to Nashville, I met some of the best people I’ve ever known, and started to come out of my funk,” he told The Ties That Bind. “[Nashville has been] a place to regroup away from the duties and expectations of living in New Jersey. I love New Jersey, but sometimes you need to step away from what you know and open yourself up to what you don’t know.”
Regarded (and sometimes dismissed) in his earlier days as a footnote to Bruce Springsteen – a tag reinforced by his early hits with material written by Springsteen and/or E Street guitarist Miami Steve Van Zandt – Southside Johnny has, ironically, stepped out from the Boss’ long shadow and morphed into something new by re-embracing the old.
For a guy who doesn’t want to go home, he may have found his way there in spite of himself.
BY JOHN C. BRUENING
Copyright (c) 2001 – The Cleveland Free Times,
