Customer Reviews

Grapefruit Moon: The Songs Of Tom Waits

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Southside, LaBamba's Big Band and Tom Waits tunes, Huh? Well I've got to tell ya... this is a tremendous album! Tom even makes an appearance on "Walk Away". The horn section is tight and rockin' while Southside is typical Southside adding his raspy soulful vocals. This is not a typical Jukes album but rather has more of a big band sound which I happen to be partial to with my love for Maynard Ferguson's band's through the years. I can't recommend this enough! Get it and enjoy!

EDIT - 9-23-08 - I tried to edit my stared rating to 5 stars but can't... I can't stop listening to this album! It is not just good it is great! Someone here or elsewhere said something like "I just can't get into the dixieland thing"... this is NOT a dixieland album! It is a great jazz album!

John "Southside Johnny" Lyon's formidable talents as a singer have often been overshadowed by the Asbury Park hype. But on this cd they are on full display. From the wistful "Grapefruit Moon" to the swinging "Down, Down, Down" to "Walk Away," the playfully sly duet with Tom Waits, Southside Johnny displays a vocal range and sophistication that may surprise those that know of him only casually as the frontman for the Asbury Jukes. My personal favorite cut is "Dead and Lovely" which melts from streetwise to world-weary before finishing strong and swaggering. Richie "LaBamba" Rosenberg's lush, piquant arrangements, Tom Wait's sharp and savory lyrics and SSJ's honeyed gravel vocals add up to one tasty grapefruit!

I've been a fan of SSJ for many years. I didn't think I'd ever find anything to surpass Hearts of Stone, but this really does it. I've been ecstatically enjoying this record since I bought it, and so have many others - from my 17 year old daughter's friends, who say - "I thought he was black" to my 11 year old.

I can't do better than to quote from Mark Saleski's blog. Just google him.

[...]

"There are times when a person experiences moments of such extreme happiness that it's difficult to contain the emotion. I suspect that even the most curmudgeonly people have them. I should know, because I have my moments of curmudgeon on a daily basis. Anyway...for me, this "super-happy" can feel like the top of my head popped off, letting a stream of brightly-colored prayer flags out, the message of bliss radiating out to the rest of the world."

That's how it made Mark Saleski feel, and that's how it makes me feel too.

I have a soft spot for Southside & co., and think the first three Jukes albums are great pieces, in the same way the first three Boz Scaggs albums on Columbia are great.

BUT...I never took him or the band entirely seriously; they were more in the line of 'real good local guys who got a big hand up from Springsteen and Van Zandt.' In other words, I was not entirely sure what Southside brought to the game.

I get it now; this is the work of considerable musicians who are technically solid, and loaded with soul - and with the kind of self control you only get on *great* big band records. Southside's a helluva singer, and gets to the heart of Waits' songs - if you can't hear the music in Waits' own records because the instruments or the singer are too eccentric for you, this is the cure.

The other thing this reminds me of, strangely, is Dylan's 'World Gone Wrong.' It's singer versus big mysteries, and everybody wins.

I can't think of the last time a new album moved me so much.

Scott Atkinson
Watertown NY

Being a Jersey Shore musician and fan of Southside and Tom Waits, I find this as one of the best albums he has ever done and the arrangements by La Bamba really show his skills as a new generation big band leader, reminds me of the great big bands of the early seventies ie: Chicago, Electric Flag, Al Kooper's Blood Sweat & Tears and I am not forgetting Buddy Rich and Maynard Furguson. All I have to say is what a shot in the arm for Southside,La Bamba, and lets not forget Tom Waits.This really brings his talent as a songwriter and poet to another level.

Not a sour note on this disc. Southside Johnny gives Waits songs a smooth flavor backed by a great horn section. Much credit to Richie "Labamba" Rosenberg as arranger and conductor of all the musicians. The tracks are from "live in the studio" sessions in 2005 [New Jersey] and 2006 [NYC]. This album was a work of love.It goes down easy and will receive many listenings from me.

We have a lot of Southside - I played it for my wife who loves him. She didn't recognize who it was but then listened all the way through more than once. A truly great album - humor, pathos, great tunes. What's not to like?

Tom Waits and Southside Johnny Lyon. The imagry is undeniably gritty. In your mind's eye you can see two guys in a dark old man's bar. They'll be sitting in either a booth in the corner or at the end of the bar; either way, they're be in shadow. You also will avoid eye contact 'cause there's nothing but toughness to be seen here. And yet, you're talking about the men that gave us 'Jersey Girl' and 'Hearts of Stone,' so they are capable of wearing their hearts on their sleeves.

This album has been of pet project of Southside for a while. First as a dream and then as a genuine recording effort in 2005 and 2006. But, Southside Johnny covering Tom Waits wasn't going to be a walk in the park. A walk along the boardwalk early Sunday morning after the bars and clubs have closed or along an alley under the same conditions; those could be the case. Now, let's add a big band sound to it...really heavy horn section led by long-time partner Richie "La Bamba" Rosenberg. That puts yet another twist on the songs of the enigmatic Mr. Waits and the blues wail of Mr. Lyon. The fact that it has been released says buckets about Southside's opinion of Tom Waits. I have to wonder what Waits thinks of this effort. Hopefully, he will see it as the act of love and respect that - to my mind - it is.

The result: one excellent recording.

I've been a Southside fan for 30 years, and also a Tom Waits fan. I was looking forward to this CD, but I didn't expect anything like this. Southside's voice is a perfect match for the music of Tom Waits, and LaBamba's big band is perfect. I never thought big band arrangements for Tom Waits' music could sound so terrific. Get this album. You won't be disappointed. Like another review stated, once you start listening to this it is hard to stop!

I have been a fan since I Don't Want to Go Home first came out (much as I hate to admit how long ago that is), but have never heard Southside this good. Any fan of his, or of Tom Waits, or just of the blues in general owes it to themselves to hear this album.

Surely not what I expected, but certainly welcome. Definite Big Band sound to it. Max Weinberg should listen to this, grab Johhny, and go out on tour with his Big Band.

Just a great piece of work by one of our great vocalists.