SOUTHSIDE JOHNNY & THE ASBURY JUKES : I DON'T WANT TO GO HOME / THIS TIME IT'S FOR REAL

    I Don't Want To Go Home
  1. I Don't Want To Go Home
  2. Got To Get You Off My Mind
  3. How Come You Treat Me So Bad
  4. The Fever
  5. Broke Down Piece Of Man
  6. Sweeter Than Honey
  7. Fannie Mae
  8. It Ain't The Meat (It's The Motion)
  9. I Choose To Sing The Blues
  10. You Mean So Much To Me Baby
    This Time It's For Real
  11. This Time It's For Real
  12. Without Love
  13. Check Mr. Popeye
  14. First Night
  15. She Got Me Where She Wants Me
  16. Some Things Just Don't Change
  17. Little Girl So Fine
  18. I Ain't Got The Fever No More
  19. Love On The Wrong Side Of Town
  20. When You Dance

Label : BGO Records

Length : 78:42

Released : 1976 (I Don't Want To Go Home) / 1977 (This Time It's For Real)

Review (AllMusic) for "I Don't Want To Go Home" : When Bruce Springsteen first rose to fame in the mid-'70s, more than a few critics were bemused by the prospect of a rock star from Asbury Park, NJ, one of the Garden State's less scenic locales, but when Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes dropped their classic debut album I Don't Want to Go Home the same year as Born to Run, for a moment it seemed as if the Jersey Shore could be the secret center of the rock & roll universe. At its best, I Don't Want to Go Home sounds like the work of the greatest bar band in the history of the world; pumping out superb covers of lesser-known R&B classics (with Lee Dorsey and Ronnie Spector on hand to contribute guest vocals) as well as like-minded originals; the Jukes are admirably tough but versatile on this record, adding the right touch of swagger on "How Come You Treat Me So Bad" and "Broke Down Piece of Man" while sounding suitably heartbroken on the title cut and generally proving they can play anything they set their minds to and make it cook. While Springsteen fans were initially attracted to this album by the presence of two otherwise unavailable tunes by the Boss, "The Fever" and "You Mean So Much to Me," his bandmate, Steve Van Zandt, turned out to be the secret weapon on this album, producing the sessions and writing three of the album's best songs, and Southside Johnny Lyon's vocals are powerful and fully confident on every track, even while trading verses with legends like Dorsey and Spector. If I Don't Want to Go Home didn't quite capture the sweat and physical power of a live Southside Johnny gig, it got the band's heart and soul on tape with tremendous accuracy, and it's a masterful set of hard-boiled blue-eyed soul.

Review (AllMusic) for "This Time It's For Real" : Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes' second album suffers a bit in comparison to their debut, I Don't Want to Go Home; while the first album boasted a number of songs that would become staples of the band's killer live show for years to come (such as "The Fever," "Broke Down Piece of Man," and "I Don't Want to Go Home"), This Time It's for Real kicks off with a powerhouse, roof-raising anthem (the title cut) and never comes up with another song that hits quite as hard. Most of This Time It's for Real finds Southside and the Jukes (and their behind-the-scenes mastermind, Miami Steve Van Zandt) in a soulful mood, with vintage R&B groups the Coasters, the Drifters, and the Five Satins lending vocals to three tunes. While much of the album stays in a mid-tempo R&B groove, the band is in superb form throughout (especially the truly mighty Miami Horns), and Southside Johnny more than holds his own as a soul belter, no mean feat with some of the great men of R&B on hand as guests. A stack of fine songs from Van Zandt (and his old buddy Bruce Springsteen) adds the icing to the cake; while purists might wish it rocked harder, This Time It's for Real proves that Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes were one of the finest R&B-based show bands of the 1970s. And as a bonus, read the liner notes for the inside scoop on what the string players ordered for lunch!