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Hearts of Stone (Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes album)

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Hearts of Stone
Studio album by
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes
ReleasedOctober 13, 1978 (1978-10-13)
RecordedJanuary – June 1978
StudioSecret Sound Studios, New York, NY
GenreRock, R&B
Length34:48
LabelEpic
ProducerSteven Van Zandt
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes chronology
This Time It's for Real
(1977) 		Hearts of Stone
(1978) 		The Jukes
(1979)
Singles from Hearts of Stone
  1. "Trapped Again/This Time Baby's Gone For Good"
    Released: 1978 (US-Canada)
  2. "I Played the Fool/Light Don't Shine"
    Released: 1978 Nov 17 (UK)
  3. "Talk To Me/This Time Baby's Gone For Good"
    Released: 1979 March 23 (UK)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Cherwell[2]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[3]

Hearts of Stone is the third album by New Jersey rock band Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, released in October 1978. The album peaked at number 112 on the Billboard 200 chart during the week of January 13, 1979.[4] All of the album's songs were written by Southside Johnny, Bruce Springsteen, and E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt. Van Zandt, the band's manager,[5] also produced, arranged and played guitar.[6]

History

[edit]

Springsteen penned the title track and the radio-friendly "Talk To Me", and is credited along with Southside Johnny Lyon and Steve Van Zandt on "Trapped Again", but Van Zandt takes solo credit for the remaining six tracks. More to the point, this record pointed the way to the kind of music the reincarnated "Little Steven" would begin making in the early 1980s. Van Zandt asked photographer Frank Stefanko to shoot the album cover art, after meeting during Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town.

The first two tracks, the guitar-driven, syncopated rave-up "Got To Find a Better Way Home" and the horn-powered "This Time Baby's Gone for Good", are classic Van Zandt compositions, heavily anchored in '60s soul. The bouncy third track belies its lyric; "I Played the Fool" makes very good use of bass and horns to carve a distinctive sound. The title track was demoed by Springsteen and the E Street Band, along with "Talk To Me", at the Record Plant on October 14, 1977. Engineer Thom Panunzio dubbed them to cassette for Van Zandt (not present at the session), memorialized by a note reproduced in 2010's "The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story".[7] During 1978 sessions at Secret Sound Studios, he combined the base rhythm track from the tape with Southside's vocals, brass by the Miami Horns, and his own lead guitar.[8] "Hearts of Stone" is soulful, almost wan, as it details the ache of lovers who cannot be together, while "Talk To Me", provided a bridge to the Jukes' familiar sound from their first two records. Pointing the way to the sound they would embrace on their next record, the record's final track, "Light Don't Shine", is light on horns and relies more on detailed guitar, alongside a soft-voiced, reflective Johnny. This song would, ironically, prove to be something of an epitaph.

The album was well received by critics upon its release. However, Lyon severely injured his hand on November 13, 1978, which impacted the band's touring schedule. In an interview from 2000, he recalled, "I had cut my arm on a glass during a show in Sacramento. I was supposed to be off the road for three months at least and we were back on the road in two weeks. We had a huge tour booked. We were going to be gone for a year. The record company had actually started to get into it, but as soon as I got hurt and was off the road, they kind of said 'That’s that' and moved on to other things. It was bitter for me then, but over time you learn that’s just the way this business is."[9] In addition to being released by Epic Records, the group also parted ways with its manager and producer, Miami Steve Van Zandt. Their next album, The Jukes, would rely on songs written by members of the band.[10] It was not until 1991's "Better Days" that Van Zandt and Springsteen would rejoin Southside Johnny for many of the tracks.

After Hearts of Stone, the Asbury Jukes released several other well-received albums. However, they failed to achieve commercial success and moved from label to label in the following decades, scratching out their existence in little-known bars not much higher in stature than the clubs they played on the way up.[11] In 1987, Rolling Stone voted Hearts of Stone among the top 100 albums from 1967 to 1987 (#92). In 2000, The New York Times numbered it among the best albums the band had released, along with debut I Don't Want To Go Home, Reach Up and Touch the Sky and At Least We Got Shoes.[12] Jon Bon Jovi claims that the title track, "Hearts of Stone", was the inspiration for his song "Never Say Goodbye".[13]

Outtakes

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Additional songs were recorded for the album including "Inside of Me", "Princess of Little Italy", "Until the Good Is Gone", "Forever", "Angel Eyes" and "I've Been Waiting" which were not included on the final album release but were re-recorded by Steve Van Zandt for his first solo album Men Without Women. Versions of "Forever" and "Until the Good Is Gone" with Southside Johnny on vocals can be heard on his live album Hearts of Stone LIVE from 2009. Additionally, the track "Working Girl" was originally recorded during these sessions and appears on Southside's 2004 release Missing Pieces, which contains the recordings made during the lost 1982 sessions. The liner notes state the song is from the "Hearts of Stone" sessions and the track features the clear presence of Steven Van Zandt on harmony vocals. On July 2, 2011, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes recorded a live performance of Van Zandt's entire Men Without Women album for release on CD.[14]

Track listing

[edit]

All tracks composed by Steven Van Zandt; except where indicated

  1. "Got To Be a Better Way Home" - 3:23
  2. "This Time Baby's Gone for Good" - 3:28
  3. "I Played the Fool" - 3:29
  4. "Hearts of Stone" (Bruce Springsteen) - 4:31
  5. "Take It Inside" - 3:22
  6. "Talk To Me" (Bruce Springsteen) - 4:02
  7. "Next To You" - 3:39
  8. "Trapped Again" (Southside Johnny, Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt) - 4:21
  9. "Light Don't Shine" - 4:33

Personnel

[edit]
Technical personnel

References

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  1. ^ "Hearts of Stone - Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  2. ^ "Review: Southside Johnny & the Azbury Jukes -Hearts of Stone". Cherwell.org. 3 May 2013. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  3. ^ The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. p. 657.
  4. ^ "Billboard 200 Chart". Billboard.
  5. ^ Marsh, Dave (August 25, 1978). "Springsteen Starting His Conquest Of West". No. 132. Fort Lauderdale News. Rolling Stone.
  6. ^ Carlin, Peter (2012). Bruce. New York: Simon & Schuster. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  7. ^ "The Promise: The Darkness On The Edge Of Town Story". brucespringsteen.net. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  8. ^ Heylin, Clinton (2012). Song by Song. London: Penguin Group.
  9. ^ "Liner Notes". asburyjukes.net. Archived from the original on 2010-07-09. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  10. ^ "Jukes Switch Labels in Shakeup". asburyjukes.net. Retrieved 23 February 2021.[permanent dead link]
  11. ^ "Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes". Peasel.sr.unh.edu. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  12. ^ Minor, E. Kyle (June 18, 2000). "A Bar Band Once Again Takes to The Road". New York Times. New York. p. section 14CN, page 15. The group signed with Epic Records and released I Don't Want to Go Home in 1976; it featured Mr. Springsteen's Fever, a Jukes signature song. The album was among the band's best, along with Hearts of Stone (1978), the double LP Live: Reach Up and Touch the Sky (1981) and At Least We Got Shoes (1986).
  13. ^ "Video: Hearts of Stone - Bon Jovi and Southside Johnny Live". Youtube.com. Retrieved 19 September 2014.[dead YouTube link]
  14. ^ "Men Without Women Live". Backstreets.com. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
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