SOUTHSIDE JOHNNY AND THE ASBURY JUKES : LIVE - REACH UP AND TOUCH THE SKY

  1. I'm So Anxious
  2. Talk To Me
  3. All I Want Is Everything
  4. Hearts Of Stone
  5. Trapped Again
  6. Why Is Love Such A Sacrifice
  7. Restless Heart
  8. Vertigo
  9. I Don't Want To Go Home
  10. The Fever
  11. Sam Cooke Medley : Only Sixteen / (What A) Wonderful World / You Send Me
  12. Bring It On Home
  13. Having A Party
  14. Back In The USA
  15. Medley : Having A Party / Roll Out The Barrel

Label : Mercury

Venue : Blossom's Music Center, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio + Pine Knob, Clarkston, Michigan + Robin Hood Dell, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania + Freehold Raceway, Freehold, New Jersey, USA

Recording Date : June - July, 1980

Release Date : 1981

Length : 67:25

Review (AllMusic) : Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes made a handful of very good records (and at least one great one, Hearts of Stone), but their greatest strength was always as a live act - the Jukes were a show band first and foremost, and the brisk trade among fans for Epic's promo-only live LP of the group at the Bottom Line testified to the fact their listeners wanted to hear this band tearing it up the way they did in front of an audience. In 1981, Mercury closed out the Jukes' deal with the label by releasing a double-live set, Reach Up & Touch the Sky, and while some might wish that a four-sided concert set had been released when Steve Van Zandt was still working with the the Jukes, this is still a storming document of a great act in their prime, with Johnny Lyon a superb frontman. Reach Up & Touch the Sky benefits from picking and choosing tunes from the group's back catalog, and this features most of the best selections from their Epic and Mercury albums, along with some superb covers; side four of the vinyl edition was devoted entirely to Sam Cooke covers rocked within an inch of their life (with Chuck Berry's "Back in the U.S.A." added for seasoning), and Johnny Lyon sings "Bring It on Home to Me" and "Having a Party" like his life depended on it, with the band's mighty horn section offering thunderous support. Elsewhere, "The Fever" gets the extended treatment it truly deserves, "I'm So Anxious" and "Talk to Me" will make you forget their studio versions forever, "Stagger Lee" gets another near-definitive performance, and the show comes to a close with the band sliding into "Roll Out the Barrel." Reach Up & Touch the Sky isn't quite as good as the Jukes in person, but it sure beats just remembering that great gig in, say, 1979, and it rocks strong and proud throughout; this is what rock & roll party music is all about.

Review (Wikipedia) : Reach Up and Touch the Sky, sometimes called Reach Out and Touch the Sky, is a 1981 double live album by Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes. Released on Mercury Records in 1981 to satisfy the contract of the band, which had recently broken up, it was a moderate commercial success, charting in the United States and reviving the band's flagging sales. It was also critically well received. In 2003, the Rough Guide to Rock indicated that the album was the band's "defining moment". In the early 1980s, the band was losing its commercial edge, which at least in the United Kingdom was related to the band's close connection with such then old-school rock as Bruce Springsteen in the era of punk rock. At the end of 1980, Southside Johnny broke up the band (though it later reunited), and the double live album was released in 1981 to complete the band's contract with Mercury Records. According to NME, the album at least temporarily put an end to the band's commercial decline. Although a moderate seller in the United Kingdom, the album charted in the United States, reaching #80 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart and #31 on Rock Albums. The album has been critically well received. Rough Guides stated that the music itself was "[h]ot and sweaty" and "could not disappoint." Though noting that fans might miss Steve Van Zandt, who was not performing with the band at this time, Allmusic indicates that "this is still a storming document of a great act in their prime" featuring "most of the best selections from their Epic and Mercury albums, along with some superb covers." On its release in 1981, Rolling Stone described the album as "the penultimate party band playing unsurpassed party music." In 1993, the Los Angeles Times described the album as "magnificent", and in 2000 the New York Times numbered it among the band's best albums, along with debut I Don't Want To Go Home, Hearts of Stone and At Least We Got Shoes. In that same year, PopMatters compared the album to then-current release Live at the Paradise Theater, finding Reach Up and Touch the Sky superior in sound quality, but preferring the "intensity and performance" of the newer release.