Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes
Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes is the band of the American singer and songwriter Southside Johnny (real name John Lyon , born December 4, 1948 in Neptune , New Jersey , USA ).
The beginnings in Ocean Grove
Lyon grew up in Ocean Grove , New Jersey, and graduated from high school in Neptune . As an artist, Southside Johnny first appeared in the mid-1970s, immediately after Bruce Springsteen, as a member of the Jersey Shore Music Scene .
His first three albums, "I Don't Want to Go Home" (1976), "This Time It's for Real" (1977) and "Hearts of Stone" (1978), were heavily influenced by rhythm and blues . The albums were produced by Steven Van Zandt , the band's co-founder and close friend of Bruce Springsteen. All songs were also written by Van Zandt and / or Springsteen. "I Don't Want to Go Home" , written by Van Zandt, was to become Southside Johnny's signature song, a mixture of brass phrases and emotional lines of text. The other hits include the title songs of the first three albums "I Played the Fool" , "Talk to Me" , "The Fever" , "Love on the Wrong Side of Town" and "Trapped Again" , a version by Sam Cookes "Havin 'a Party" as well as the newly arranged "Without Love" by Aretha Franklin .
The 1980s - just behind Springsteen
In 1982 the magazine chose Rolling Stone , the album "Hearts of Stone" among the top 100 albums of the 1970s and 1980s. In West Germany the band gave concerts a. a. several days at the Onkel Pö in Hamburg and the Kant cinema in Berlin. The appearance at the Essen Grugahalle (1979) together with the concert at the Cologne 2004 Live Music Hall in 1992 in the DVD series "at Rockpalast" of the WDR published.
Since the formation was constantly in the shadow of Springsteen, the hoped-for national commercial success failed to materialize, and in 1979 they were dropped from their record company. The Jukes continued to work without Van Zandt, who had meanwhile become a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band , and released the albums "The Jukes" (1979) and "Love Is a Sacrifice" (1980); Guitarist Billy Rush took on the role of main songwriter for the band during this time. But even these two albums were not particularly successful, higher sales figures were achieved with the first best-of compilation "Havin 'a Party with Southside Johnny" (1979) and the first live double album "Reach Up and Touch the Sky - Live" (1980) achieved.
During the 1980s Southside Johnny released new recordings continuously: "Trash It Up" (1983), an album produced by Nile Rodgers and influenced by disco sound; "In the Heat" (1984) and "At Least We Got Shoes" (1986), which is again more oriented towards the origins , on which u. a. Patti Scialfa , the future wife of Bruce Springsteen, worked together with Bobby Bandiera as a songwriter, who in turn would take over Billy Rush's post from now on. Scialfa can also be heard in the background choir on several Jukes albums together with Lisa Lowell and Soozie Tyrell , the latter also engaged in Springsteen's E Street Band since 2002 .
In 1988 Johnny's first solo album "Slow Dance" was released , which contained mostly ballads and love songs, but also the song "Little Calcutta" , which is still considered Southside's most political song and describes the life and climate of the homeless in New York City .
Several changes followed, both in the record company and in the line-up of the jukes, accompanied by ongoing tours.
The 1990s with a break
His recording career continued with the album Better Days (1991), which was produced by van Zandt and included songs by Bruce Springsteen. In addition to Southside, the songs were sung by van Zandt, Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi . The Jukes embarked on a worldwide tour to promote the album. But once again, Southside Johnny's bad luck with the record industry showed when his record company went bankrupt while on tour.
Southside created the theme song for the sitcom Dave's World, a cover version of Billy Joel's You May Be Right .
After that, Southside took a break from the music business and went to Nashville . Some members of the Asbury Jukes became members of the Max Weinberg Seven and appeared on the television show Late Night with Conan O'Brien , while others worked as recording and tour musicians for artists such as Jon Bon Jovi , Willy DeVille , Graham Parker and Robert Cray .
In 1997 Southside came back into the limelight with the independent label double album Spittin 'Fire , a semi-acoustic live recording made in France during a series of ten concerts at the Chesterfield Café the previous year.
From 2000 with its own label
After another period without a record deal, Southside finally founded his own record label "Leroy Records" in 2001 and has since released his own albums: Messin 'with the Blues (2000), Going to Jukesville (2002), Missing Pieces (2004), Into the Harbor (2005) each half with covered classics and the other half with own compositions, which are often collaborations with Jukes guitarist Bobby Bandiera or Jukes pianist and organist Jeff Kazee.
Southside Johnny is still touring almost continuously and has a regular audience at all concerts, especially in some regions of the USA , but also in the UK and the rest of Europe. The DVD "Live at The Opera House" (2003), recorded in Newcastle / England in 2002, documents the energy of a jukes concert that is still unbroken after three decades. From 2005 on, Southside Johnny lived in Delaware Bay for a time , but has lived in Ocean Grove again since 2008 . His annual appearance on Springsteen's "Asbury Park Vacation Show" causes as much commotion as Springsteen himself.
At the turn of the year 2006/2007, the five-CD box set Jukebox was released: four CDs with largely unpublished material and a bonus disc with highlights from the legendary Jukestock concert from 2001.
Others
The name "Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes" inspired the Austrian songwriter and mastermind Günter Brödl to invent Ostbahn-Kurti & the chief part. Willi Resetarits embodied the figure of Ostbahn-Kurt for many years and was a very successful musician in Austria under this name. He even rose to national rock size.
Discography
Albums
- I Don't Want to Go Home (1976, Epic)
- This Time It's for Real (1977, Epic)
- Hearts of Stone (1978, Epic)
- Havin 'a Party with Southside Johnny (1979, Epic)
- The Jukes (1979, Mercury)
- Reach Up and Touch the Sky - Live (1980, Mercury)
- Love Is a Sacrifice (1980, Mercury)
- Trash It Up (1983, Mirage / Atco)
- In the Heat (1984, Polydor)
- At Least We Got Shoes (1986, RCA)
- Slow Dance (1989, RCA)
- Better Days (1991, Impact)
- The Best of Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes (1992, Sony / Epic / Legacy)
- All I Want Is Everything - The Best Of 1979-1991 (1993, Rhino)
- Ruff Stuff (7 track EP) (1995, SSJ Records)
- Jukes Live at the Bottom Line 1975 (1995, Sony / Epic)
- Rockin 'with the Jukes (1996, Sony)
- Spittin 'Fire (1996, Musidisc)
- Restless Heart (Compilation) (1998, Polygram)
- Live at the Paradise Theater 1978 (2000, Phoenix Gems)
- Messin 'with the Blues (2000, Leroy Records)
- More Ruff Stuff (5 track EP) (2000, SSJ Records)
- Super Hits (2001, Sony / Epic / Legacy)
- Going to Jukesville (2002, Leroy Records)
- Found in a Closet (2 track EP) (2003, SSJ Records)
- Missing Pieces (2004, Leroy Records)
- Into the Harbor (2005, Leroy Records)
- Collections (2006, Sony / BMG)
- Jukebox (2007, 5CD box set, Leroy Records)
- From Southside to Tyneside ... Live (2008, Secret Records)
- Grapefruit Moon - The Songs of Tom Waits (with LaBamba's Big Band) (2008, Leroy Records / Evangeline)
- Ruff Stuff 3 (7 track EP) (2008, SSJ Records)
- Hearts of Stone Live (2009, Leroy Records)
- Pills and Ammo (2010, Leroy Records)
- Men Without Women Live 7-2-11 Asbury Park, NJ (2012, Leroy Records)
- Songs From The Barn (Southside Johnny & the Poor Fools, 2013, Leroy Records)
- Soultime (2015, Leroy Records)
Singles
- Got to Get You off My Mind / It Ain't the Meat (It's the Motion) (1976, Epic EPC 4595)
- I Don't Want to Go Home / The Fever (1976, Epic)
- Havin 'a Party / Little by Little (1976, promo single, Epic)
- Little Girl So Fine / I Ain't Got the Fever No More (1977, Epic 5091)
- Without Love / I Ain't Got the Fever No More (1977, Epic 5230)
- Without Love / First Night (1977, 45 Epic)
- The Fever / When You Dance (1977, Epic 5827)
- Love on the Wrong Side of Town / Some Things Don't Change (1977, Epic 5862)
- Trapped Again / This Time Baby's Gone for Good (1978, Epic)
- I Played the Fool / Light Don't Shine (1978, Epic 6828)
- Talk to Me / This Time Baby's Gone for Good (1978, Epic 7152)
- I'm So Anxious / Your Reply (1979, Mercury 76007)
- Living in the Real World / Wait in Vain (1979, Mercury)
- All I Want Is Everything / Paris (1979, Mercury 6167 837)
- On the Beach / Goodbye Love (1980, Mercury)
- On the Beach / Why Is Love Such a Sacrifice (1980, US Mercury MER 21)
- On the Beach (En la playa) / Keep Our Love Simple (1980, Esp Mercury 6167960)
- All I Want Is Everything (live) / Restless Heart (1981, NL Mercury 6170147)
- Get Your Body on the Job / Slow Burn (1983, Mirage / Atco)
- Trash It Up / Ms. Park Avenue (1983, Mirage / Atco)
- Love Is the Drug (1983, promo single, Mirage)
- New Romeo / Tell Me Lies (1984, Polydor 881 383-7)
- Captured / Tell Me Lies (1984 F Polydor 881 623-7)
- Captured / Love Is the Drug (1984, Polydor 881 762-7)
- Walk Away Renée / I Can't Wait (1986, RCA PB 40765)
- You Can Count on Me / Till the End of the Night (1986, RCA PB 40915)
- Hard to Find / You Can Count on Me (1985, RCA SSJ 100)
- Tell Me (That Our Love's Still Strong) / I Only Want to Be with You (1986, RCA SSJ 200)
- On the Air Tonight / Walking Through Midnight (1988, RCA PB 42617)
- Ain't That Peculiar / Acts Of Love (1988, RCA PB 42843)
- It's Been a Long Time (single edit) / Shake 'em Down (1991, Impact EM 211)
- Coming Back / The Right to Walk Away (1992, Impact 7450327)
- Tell 'em I'm Broke / Satan's Shoes (2000, Leroy Records BH 45 # 2104)
Other publications
- Having a Party (1984, VHS, Sekuj Ltd)
- Live at The Opera House (2003, DVD, Secret Films)
- In Concert / Without Filter (2003, DVD, inak / SWR)
- At Rockpalast (2004, DVD, WDR)
- Jukebox (2007, 5CD box set, Leroy Records)
- The Fever (2009, DVD, Charly Films / BR)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Horns of Plenty. (No longer available online.) Asbury Park Press, Oct 12, 2008, formerly original ; accessed on November 5, 2008 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
