Southside Johnny and The Asbury Jukes’ ties with Cleveland ran deep. The New Jersey group, which burst onto the scene with 1976’s roof-raising LP I Don’t Want to Go Home, was supported early on by Cleveland audiences and radio. The big, brassy band led by Southside Johnny Lyon and championed by “Miami Steve” Van Zandt was signed to Epic by A&R man Steve Popovich, now-legendary record man and founder of Cleveland International Records. In 2017, the frontman remembered Popovich in an interview with Pittsburgh’s Tribune-Review: “We didn’t even have a record contract….
Santa Came Down the Chimney: Real Gone Announces Christmas Titles Including a Trio of Vinyl Soundtracks and One CD Debut
Even though it’s only the middle of September and it is not even fall yet, announcements are beginning to be made about the upcoming Christmas season. Real Gone Music is continuing its yearly holiday tradition with a batch of holiday albums, including a CD debut and three vinyl represses, due in October and November. The lone CD reissue in the slate, due November 5, is Merry Christmas, Baby, one of the earliest compilations of Christmas music singles from 1956. Subtitled Intimate Christmas Music for Young Lovers, the R&B album was originally released…
Straight to the Top: Southside Johnny Reissues Tom Waits Tribute “Grapefruit Moon”
At first glance, Southside Johnny Lyon and Tom Waits might seem at disparate ends of the musical spectrum. New Jersey native Lyon is a progenitor of the Jersey Shore sound with its brassy, party-time fusion of rock & roll and rhythm & blues. California’s Waits came into prominence during that state’s singer-songwriter boom, touching on folk before settling into a piano-based, jazz-influenced sound that he would ultimately jettison in favor of a more experimental and avant-garde direction. Yet Lyon and Waits (born just a year and three days apart on opposite coasts)…
Christmas Conga! Real Gone Announces First Wave of Holiday Lineup
Sure, you can wait to find Real Gone’s lineup of holiday-themed titles under the tree, but why wait? A trio of merry Yuletide albums will be available on color vinyl on November 1, including Cyndi Lauper’s Merry Christmas… Have A Nice Life!, the Home Alone Christmas soundtrack compilation, and the soundtrack to Love Actually. First up: Cyndi Lauper’s Merry Christmas… Have A Nice Life! This often-overlooked slice of Lauper’s discography is a fresh spin on the time-honored tradition of the Christmas album. The album was partly inspired by motherhood; in fact, the story goes that…
