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

Hearts of Stone is the third album by New Jersey rock band Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, released in 1978. The LP peaked at position #112 on the Billboard top 200 chart during the week of January 13, 1979.[3] album's songs were written by [E Street Band guitarist] Steven Van Zandt and Bruce Springsteen, and Van Zandt also produced, arranged and played guitar.[4]

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
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)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Cherwell[2]

History

Hearts of Stone has been called "the best album Bruce Springsteen never recorded",[5] which is not quite accurate. Springsteen did pen 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 Stefanko when they worked together with Springsteen on Darkness on the Edge of Town.

Although hailed by critics, when Johnny severely injured his hand and was unable to tour and promote it, the album did not sell well enough for Epic to renew the Jukes' contract. The group parted ways with its more famous Jersey Shore brethren for the next album, The Jukes, relying on songs written by members of the band.

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, which might have been a smash hit had it been released by its author, was demoed by Springsteen and the E Street Band, along with "Talk To Me", at the Record Plant on October 14, 1977, then given to Van Zandt to take to the Jukes' recording session nearby.[6] Van Zandt combined the base rhythm tracks from the tape with Southside's vocals and brass by the Miami Horns. "Hearts of Stone" is soulful, almost wan, as it details the ache of lovers who cannot be together, while "Talk To Me", released as a single, provided a bridge to the Jukes' familiar sound from their first two records. It did not make the charts. 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 Jukes created well-received records after this. However, they were simply not able to crack the national consciousness and sell enough records to justify true star-level backing. They have bounced from label to label in the decades since, and scratch out their existence in little known bars not much higher in stature than the clubs they played on the way up. Their peak was not very high nor very long, but the Jukes, with a little help from their friends, left this one brilliant document to make sure that their contribution to the music of the Jersey Shore would not be forgotten.[7] This would be the Jukes' last album with Van Zandt, who departed shortly after its release to join The E Street Band full-time, until 1991's Better Days where he and Springsteen would rejoin Southside Johnny on many of the tracks.

In 1987 Rolling Stone voted Hearts of Stone among the top 100 albums from 1967–1987 (#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.[8] Jon Bon Jovi claims that the title track, "Hearts of Stone", was the inspiration for his song "Never Say Goodbye".[9]

Outtakes

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.[10]

Track listing

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
Technical personnel

References
  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. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  3. https://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200/1979-01-13
  4. Carlin, Peter (2012). Bruce. New York: Simon & Schuster. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  6. Heylin, Clinton (2012). Song by Song. London: Penguin Group.
  7. "Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes". Peasel.sr.unh.edu. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  8. 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).
  9. "Video: Hearts of Stone - Bon Jovi and Southside Johnny Live". Youtube.com. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  10. "Men Without Women Live". Backstreets.com. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
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