Customer Reviews

Live: Reach Up & Touch the Sky

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As I see it, there are two ways of approaching this review. On the one hand, this CD is a great deal. Lots of great R&B by a great live band for an insanely low price. They tear through their own hits, as well as a great Sam Cooke medley (although I've always considered medleys a bit of a tease), followed by Cooke's "Bring It On Home" & "Having a Party" in their entirety, & finally Chuck Berry's "Back in the USA". On the other hand, as I looked at the set list, I thought I remembered "Stagger Lee" being on the original LP version. How they could edit out "Stagger Lee" (of all tunes), especially a 7+ minute version, is beyond me. As far as I'm concerned, this easily warrants taking a full point off. Bottom Line; If you like great live R&B, you can't go wrong with this. But it could've been so much better!

I love early Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes. And the only way to hear them is LIVE. But not on this album. For a really LIVE experience, purchase Live at the Paradise Theatre Boston, Massachusetts December 23, 1978 [LIVE] a seamless recording of one concert, not a mish-mash of different shows, performances, venues, and nights just slapped together with no cohesion like this album. With that said, if you can't find that album at a reasonable price, this one will have to do as for some reason Live at the Paradise is hard to find and people are just plain greedy in pricing this album used on Amazon. If Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes ever come to your town, go see them. They put on a great show and are still touring from time to time and without the high prices of many of todays acts.

Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes were/are a band that sounds as good as they did in the `70s; their music is infectious. The horn arrangements are great and really enhance the tunes. My introduction to SJ was this title as an LP (yep, long ago). This album rocks. What a joy to listen to it on CD. You will not go wrong to buy this title. It was a mistake to delete "Stagger Lee," a tune on the album, but deleted on the CD version. Warning!!! Listen to this in your car and you might end up with a speeding ticket! Enjoy.

This album is so much fun. For those of you who want to hear what a southside show is all about, this is the album for you. Filled with upbeat, fun, happy, house party type songs, from song 1 to the end you simply can't go wrong with this one. If you are in a bad space in life and need a pick me up, if your having a party and need a cd with the energy to keep everybody up and dancin' or if your cd collection needs a kick in the ass, you should BUY THIS CD!!!!!

Recorded from several venues, Reach Up And Touch The Sky captures the early 80's sound of Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes.

This is a decent release, and sounds great on CD.

My problem with this album is that the songs, while taken from different venues, are not mixed together to create a seamless concert feel. You get a song, then a fade out, then another fade in to the next song, which I find distracting. This is especially evident with the first two tracks, as "I'm So Anxious" fades out with a drum roll, then "Talk To Me" fades in with a starting drum roll. Thankfully this does not occur between all the tracks.

The other complaint about this CD is the removal of the stunning 7 minute version of "Stagger Lee", which I'm sure was due to CD manufacturing standards of the time (CDs made with a time greater than 74 minutes would cause many players at the time to have difficulty reading the last track. This has been corrected on newer CD players.) .Unfortunately, this title is not likely to be reissued with the complete track list from the original LP and cassette.

It appears that "Roll Out The Barrel" is missing as well.

Overall, a good release with some notable flaws.


1. I'm So Anxious - An okay version. Good, but not phenomenal.

2. Talk To Me - High energy. GREAT version of this song with opening rap by Southside. Some interesting comments by South in the middle section of this song.

3. All I Want Is Everything - An absolutely SMOKIN' version!

4. Hearts Of Stone - A truly heartfelt version. This songs was awkwardly sequenced as Southside thanks the audience and says goodnight, even though the CD continues on for another 11 songs!

5. Trapped Again - Nice energetic version. Fun.

6. Why Is Love Such A Sacrifice - Another great version. One of my favorite SSJ songs.

7. Restless Heart - This song did nothing for me.

8. Vertigo - Dedicated to Alfred Hitchcock! Sounds like he's saying "Ver-ti-joe" in the chorus! A nice version, but not significantly different than the studio version.

9. I Don't Want To Go Home - A nice version - faster paced than the studio version. Contains the classic line "Whatever happened to... your mother and I?"

10. The Fever - This version is on fire! Sultry and triumphant.

11. Sam Cook Medley - This was okay, but came off to me as just a quick run through tribute to Sam Cooke.

12. Bring It On Home - Didn't care for this one at all. Was too slow, with some dreadful background vocals. Your mileage may vary.

13. Having A Party - What would a SSJ show be without this one? I still prefer the late 70's version found on the "Having A Party" and "Live At The Bottom Line" CDs.

14. Back In The USA - This one rocks out! Interestingly, there a some (very brief) alternating dropouts on the left and right
channels around the 4:18 - 4:20 mark. I never noticed it before, but picked it up now as I was wearing headphones.

15. Having A Party, Roll Out The Barrel - The set closer. Did I miss something, or is "Roll Out The Barrel" NOT on this cd? I did not hear it during track 15.

Southside Johnny and The Asbury Jukes were R&B revivalists in an era (late 1970s) when punk rock briefly made some noise in the music industry, but their incredible live performances and critically-acclaimed albums with Columbia Records could not propel the band out of the clubs.

Now with Mercury Records - and a total of six albums in their discography - the band was finally captured live on a double-album in 1981, which is in a slightly different version on one CD.

The 15 tracks - recorded at a number of venues - demonstrate the power of the band; with Southside taking flight through an appreciation of Otis Redding, Eric Burdon and Wilson Pickett, the horn section in sizzling form and the guitar riffs of Billy Rush and Joe Gramolini keeping the pace.

The band's signature songs - I Don't Want to Go Home, The Fever, Having a Party - are bolstered by rockers like Chuck Berry's Back in the U.S.A. This is classic American rock-n-roll from a band that understands the legacy of artists who set the foundation in pop music.

That the album did not provide a breakthrough moment misses a major point; the band delivered the goods no matter the size of the venue and Southside never strayed from his musical roots...this is truly an American Band.

Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes have been dubbed "the world's greatest bar band". However, this was recorded at the peak of their popularity in the late seventies and early eighties, when they were actually playing some larger venues. Their live shows are legendary, and if you listen to this CD, you'll get a sense of why. It combines great musicianship, along with the sense of high energy and fun that the band is so well known for. Southside's great stage presence and trademark self-deprecating wit are also on display (although you need to see him at an actual show to really appreciate it). The Sam Cooke Medley that leads into "Havin' A Party" combined with "Back in the USA" is a particular standout. There are also four tracks from the two previous studio albums, which are much improved in a live setting. One oddity about the album - "Hearts of Stone" which is only song #4 is clearly an encore from a concert, so you don't get that sense of being at one live show as is typical of most live albums (although it's the rare live album that is actually from one show). There is one major issue with this CD - the CD is an edited version of the LP, and does not include "Stagger Lee" - and as a result, I knocked off a star. If you still own a turntable, get the LP version, if you can.

Always wanted a CD of this double-live album. It is missing a couple of songs, even though there is room for them on this single disc. Otherwise, a great live show with most of Southside's hits, resulting in a necessary purchase.

REACH UP AND TOUCH THE SKY: LIVE is a great live CD by Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes, the only major defect being that, as one reviewer said, it was taken from a number of shows, which means that, as great as this one is, LIVE AT THE PARADISE THEATER is even better, as it was taken from one seamless perfomance. However, since that one is extremely hard to find, this one can suffice if you can't obtain PARADISE THEATER (I actually have both CDs). This CD is a must-own for any fan of R&B-rock who can't obtain LIVE AT THE PARADISE THEATER.

Southside and Co are one of, if not the best bands going. This album is especially great because it is live and noone puts on a show like they do! Hampton Beach NH was always a good place to see them Labor DAy weekend. If you ever get a chance to catch them, go for it--you will not be disappointed.