Customer Reviews

Hearts of Stone

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As the saying goes, "Timing is Everything" and I can't help but feel that with a couple breaks and a little good timing, Southside Johnny might have become the big 70s & 80s mega superstar from New Jersey instead of the BOSS. Don't get my wrong, I love Springsteen. I just think Southside Johnny and the Jukes deserved better.

Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes were the second band after Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band to emerge from the New Jersey area. Though they carried a significant influence, including key personnel, from Springsteen and company, they were basically a White R&B brass band in the Bill Chase, Blood Sweat and Tears tradition.

This album is the most successful merger of old R&B with modern songwriting and sensibilities in the Jukes' catalog. "Hearts of Stone" features many great Van Zandt originals "Got to Be a Better Way Home", "Trapped Again", "I Played the Fool", "This Time Baby's Gone for Good" and my favorite "Take it Inside".

As evidence the Springsteen and Southside Johnny were close, Springsteen either wrote or had a hand in three of the songs.

As much as I like and admire Springsteen, I don't think I like any Springsteen album any better than "Hearts of Stone"

I agree with most of the reviews ever done on this recording, and to some extent this band - this may well be one of the top ten albums of all time, and only 46 people know about it! Johnny Lyons must wonder what he could have done differently - but I guess he just wasn't meant to achieve commercial success the way Bruce and Little Steven did. This album is flawless - It ranks up there with Darkness on the Edge of Town (Bruce Springsteen), This Year's Model (Elvis Costello & the Attractions), You're Never Alone with a Schizophrenic (Ian Hunter) and Damn the Torpedos (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) Bruce and Little Steven provided most of the material, but Southside & Company added a ton of Heart and Soul - it has tracks which are nothing short of haunting (Hearts of Stone, Lights dont Shine) and some that just rock (Take it Inside, Got to Find a Better way Home) I know it has been a long time, but I would love to see this album re-released - it stands up to the test of time - and I cant help but think that these guys got a raw deal. Everyone should own this CD -

Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes are at their peak on this LP.The
title cut "Heart's of Stone" is one of the most soulful & unforgettable
song's your ever gonna hear,combined with hot rocker's like "Talk to Me"
& "Take it Inside" make this CD a bargain at any price.The final cut
"Light Don't Shine"is a big time tear your heart out & lay it on the
table killer.All in all this collection is smokin & a must have for 70's
Rock-n-Roll afficianados!

Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes remain one of rock music's best kept secrets, which is a shame, and a puzzle, as they deserve to be more widely appreciated. To see this band live, as I did in 1977 at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, is to fall madly in love with them. They were the ultimate lets-get-drunk-and-damn-the-hangover good time band. They would get everyone dancing on their seats midway through their first number and never allow the pace to relent until they took their final bow. The band cooked: The sight of the five man horn section swaying in time to the music was an exercise in style and panache that impressed me so much that I have never forgotten it to this day - 25 years later! However, their recordings were patchy, except for this one, which is perfect.

Track by track, each song is a gem. It is not like other SSJ & AJ albums: acres of ash studded by diamonds. Every song is an exercise in inspired craftsmanship. Most of the nine songs were written by Steve van Zandt and are among the very best that he has written. Bruce Springsteen wrote the other three, and these are among the best he has ever written. This is an indication of the quality that I am talking about. The title track, penned by the Boss, has to be one of the saddest songs ever written. Like Smokey Robinson's `The Tracks of my Tears' or Neil Young's `Birds', the lyrics focus in on the heart of the subject with clinical precision and without offering the blanket of facile sentimentality. Very few songs manage to do this successfully and it takes a particularly sort of genius to do it. This is the best song, but the others are inspired. There are no fillers on this recording.

The arrangements by Steve van Zandt give just the right amount of flair to the music. The musicianship is perfect. The horn section gives just the right amount of colour when required. Billy Rush's guitar playing has a suitable rough edge and his solos are handled with taste and flair. The most thrilling moment is on `Take It Inside' where both the horn section and Rush's guitar trade off one another, spurning each other on, driving each other higher and higher, making the music soar. This is what they did so well in concert, and they may still do for all I know. Then there is Southside Johnny's voice. His passionate soul inflected blues drenched singing is a delight. His roots are in R'n'B. If you like Otis Redding, Lee Dorsey or Rufas Thomas, then you will see where Southside Johnny learnt his craft, and he holds his own in such company. Never has the material of the Boss or Steve van Zandt been in such capable hands. The only thing missing from this recording is Southside Johnny's masterly harp playing. (Harp means harmonica for all you non-blues fans out there.)

Everything came together for this album: the song writing, the arrangements, the musicianship, and the singing. It perfectly encapsulates a certain kind of soul/R'n'B drenched rock music that has never been equalled and has certainly never been bettered. Except for those with a heart of stone, I would recommend this CD to everyone. On every level it works. I even love the name of the band.

Southside Johnny -- What a set of pipes!

It's no wonder he was known as "The Voice" of the Asbury Park music scene -- his voice is so rich and so real. Heartbreaking that he was never allowed to enter the pantheon of rock superstars (like his pal, Springsteen).

If you don't weep while listening to him sing "Hearts of Stone" then you have no soul. I go crazy whenever I hear "Got To Be A Better Way Home". I'd give it 6 (or more) stars, if Amazon made it possible!

Regrettably, Southside Johnny and his Asbury Jukes never got decent radio air-play in order to reach mass acceptance. Just goes to show you how long rock radio & the music industry have been in a state of ignorance to the raw power of his talent. Tragic.

Don't miss this gem - It rocks AND breaks your heart from start to finish!

This is one of the greatest albums I have ever heard. Southside and the Jukes at the top of their game. It will break your heart and make you feel things that you didn't know you could feel anymore.

This album represents the Jukes, and the whole Jersey phenomenon, better than just about anything I've heard. For one moment, the best songs, the best horn section, a terrific rhythym section, a great lead singer, and some snarling scorching guitar collide- the result is one of the classic soulful rock albums of 70's. This one has always been overlooked. The songs are wonderful. Highlights include "Talk to Me"- sort of a "She's the One" on speed- with some flat-out sizzling guitar work- The elegaic "Light Don't Shine No More"; and the slow, mournful title track. This is authentic and soulful rock, heartfelt and perfectly arranged. This is on my ten albums I'd take to a desert island list- for the last 20 years, I've worn out a half dozen albums before it came out on CD. The studio Jukes were never better than this moment.

This should have been the LP that catapulted Southside to the list of elite rockers. "Take It Inside," after 20 years (and I can't believe this album is that old) sounds fresher in melody and mix than most songs on the radio today.

Possibly when Bruce Springsteen's new box set comes out with his version of "Hearts of Stone," it will draw some interest into the "original recording" heard here. SJ's vocals are packed with emotion and angst about a love affair heading south.

It was always said about the Jukes that no recording ever captured the magic of the live act. That is because too often the emphasis was on the "show" and not the studio. While other collections ("Love is A Sacrifice"; "At Least We Got Shoes") are inconsistent, this is the most polished disc by the band -- and until the 1980s -- this was also the most polished disc of any Jersey act. It was not until 1991's "Better Days" -- again produced by Little Steven/Miami Steve -- did the band produce a collection to rival "Hearts of Stone."

A guy I once worked with - a long time ago - in Birmingham, AL was a Red Bank native. I had remarked that the whole Jersey shore thing was captured by Southside Johnny like now one else. After he re-attached his jaw which had just hit the floor, he sputtered something about no Iowa plowboy living in Alabama should have even heard of Southside Johnny. He was right. I shouldn't have, but I did. And I had the Hearts of Stone LP to prove it. Still do.

Point is, whether it is John Cafferty (Eddie and the Cruisers), Bruce Springsteen, or Manfred Mann (or Bon Jovi either), no one had it down better than Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.

Springsteen's contributions to the career of Manfred Mann (Blinded by the Light, Spirit in the Night) was no fluke. He also contributed to this album, including the title track. Little Stevie van Zandt had a huge hand in this album, between songwriting, arranging, and production credits. Another E Streeter, Max Weinberg, was the drummer.

So, how is this not just another Springsteen album? Southside Johnny's vocals (smoother, more style, more range of emotion) for one. Brilliant horn arrangements that would have pleased another Red Bank native, William "Count" Basie. Somehow, it just all came together. It was special. It was magic. It was the fullness of the Jersey Shore sound captured in a single album that (almost) nobody has even heard of.

This album is one of the true gems of the seventies. If you like horn driven rock and roll, this is THE CD to buy. Some masterpieces written by Steve Van Zandt and Bruce Springsteen.