Search - Southside Johnny & Asbury Jukes :: Live at the Paradise Theater Boston Ma Dec 13 1978

Springsteen has nothing on these boys

Obiburner | Bend, OR United States | 06/08/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Live albums can be a mixed bag, a poor recording, too much audience sound, and of course, some bands just sound terrible without the help of a good studio mixer and slick production tricks. Some top "acts" don't even play together without studio muscians cleaning up their poor sound. If that is your fear with this album, fear not, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes were born to play together, and to be heard live. The "Jersey" sound they put out is equal to anything the "Boss" did during his various stints touring with the E Street Band, and surpasses many if not all of his attempts to be a live solo performer. True, there is no "Big Man" on sax but as Mark Knoplfer would say, "that trumpet sound blowing insane" for this band uses horns the way they were meant to be played with Rock n Roll, reminescent of Blood Sweat and Tears or even Chicago while they were known as Chicago Rapid Transit and not that whinning, boring commercial sound they devolved into after their second album. Does this band and album party, you betcha. Even before they play their aptly titled "Having a Party" signature song and "Stagger Lee" and its comical segue into "Santa Clause is Back" Southside Johhny and the boys know how to entertain and give you and the audience one great show. Sure, everybody who is a fan of a band tells you "This is the greatest live album ever, a must have." Well, no hype here, everyone's tastes are different and I've not heard every live album ever made. I do own a number of "bootleg" albums and a large number of commercially recorded live albums (this helps me to know when and when not to pay the extremely high prices concert promoters fleece you for these days) and this live album has moved into my favorites. While listening to Southside Johnny and this album for the first time, my son was in the room with me and though he had never heard them (or even heard of them) he thought theirs was a great sound and this a fine album. I enjoyed my first exposure to an entire Southside Johhny experience so much, I got back on line and ordered more Southside Johnny and the Ashbury Jukes. If those are even half as entertaining, I might break down and even try a studio recording or two. So let yourself and some friends have a party, stick this CD in your mix and play this one Friday night for them. You won't regret you did. And if Southside Johnny and the Ashbury Jukes come to your town, don't fear wasting your concert dollars."

Classic live album

timfarrell76 | jungleland | 06/23/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a classic live album by a better-live-than-in-the-studio band. This is a band you need to see live to appreciate. They combine many of the Jersey Shore music elements into a great group with a wild frontman, keys/organs, an amazing guitarist, and a horn section that includes TWO sax players and trumpet.However don't be mistaken. Although their sound is different from the E-Street Band, Southside Johnny and the ASBURY (they're from Jersey, not San Francisco) Jukes, is definitely a Springsteen-related band. 5 songs on this were written by Springsteen. 3 of those songs were co-written with Steve Van Zandt of the E-Street Band, who also wrote 5 of the other songs alone. This is a good selection of songs, but some classics like Hearts of Stone (another Springsteen-written song) are unfortunately missing. A great introduction to a classic and underappreciated band."