Customer Reviews

Men without women (1982, & The Disciples of Soul) / Vinyl record [Vinyl-LP]

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Think Bob Dylan meets Exile on Main Street era Rolling Stones with The Asbury Jukes horn section and you begin to get the idea. With the great Dino Danelli (ex Young Rascals) and Mighty Max Weinberg (E Street Band) on drums, this album will knock you out.

With the help of a few E-Streeters, a handful of Jukes and even a Plasmatic, Miami Steve knocks the ball out of the park on his first solo album. I was lucky enough to catch Little Steven And The Disciples Of Soul play most of this album live at The Bayou (R.I.P.) on December 19, 1982 right after picking it up on vinyl. It's a shame that it isn't properly represented on the Greatest Hits CD. For some tasty Jersey tunes, look no further.

If Van Zandt really knows how good this is, why won't he put that band back together for so more???

This stuff, along with Hearts of Stone, are amongst the most under appreciated of all rock....

Steve: fuggetabout the Sopronos and give us MORE!

Men Without Women borrows freely from classic soul styles, throwing in loads of piano, horns in unison, guitar riffs on loan from the Stones and Dobie Gray's "Drift Away", and Motown-style drumming. Understand you're not getting Otis Redding or Solomon Burke here - Little Steven is somewhere beneath Springsteen as a singer. Think Keith Richards. But for these songs, the scrappier the singing the better. With a garage-rocker's passion, Little Steven's a true believer. You will be too.

MEN WITHOUT WOMEN is Little Steven's best solo album. It successfully combines adult romantic nostalgia themes with a nascent social conscience. There is an undercurrent of desperation throughout the album, but it never devolves into maudlin cliches. Instead, you get the best mixture of soul, rock, and blues this side of Southside Johnny or J. Geils. This record was a refreshing burst of fresh air in an era when pop meant Duran Duran and the Human League.

I first bought the LP in '82 wore it out, so I bought the Tape, wore it out now I have the c.d.Steve and the band are great. This album has everything, a great horn section, stones-like guitars and Steve's underrated songwriting. I'm so happy that i now have the c.d. that will last forever. I hope someday Bruce will let Steve co-write some songs for his next album so we can here the old soul stuff they were both brought up on.

It has been some time, since I last heard "Men without Women", simply because my record player is packed in a box, and I do not have the CD. Still, reading the lyrics on-screen brought back, once again, memories of just how brilliant the album really is. Some day I will have to buy it, because (as others have mentioned) it really stands the test of time; songs more powerful than "Lyin' In A Bad Of Fire" and, especially, "Under The Gun" are few and far between.

I originally bought the LP partly because I had heard "Under the Gun", partly because Van Zandt was an E-Street'er. I was not disappointed! I am still not disappointed.

Simply one of the greatest overlooked rock and roll records ever. No, that's not right. Simply one of the greatest rock and roll records ever. Buy this record. You will not be sorry. Steve Van Zandt is the arranging genius and the soul of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. He put into this record everything gleaned from all those late nights listening to scratchy old R&B records - and somehow made an album unlike anything he or anyone else has made before or since. None of it sounds dated, even 20 years down the road. All of it sings with a passion that we rarely see in pop music any more. Buy this record. If you love rock and soul and R&B and songs about men and women that reflect reality, buy this record.

As a fan of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, it was not hard for me to enjoy this album. As a former Juke and E-Streeter, Miami Steve sets the rock world ablaze with this solo venture. This is as soulful and rockin' as anything Daryl Hall could try to sing. Piercing guitars, and dead-pan Stax-like horns, this album has plenty of hidden gems. Under the Gun and Angel Eyes are my favorites. Listen closely for Bruce's background vocals. Released in 1982, this album got lost in the shuffle of the New Wave craze. A few cuts are heard in the Sopranos as background music....in Bada Bing no less! Without being overly derivitive, Miami Steve makes his own interpretation of Sam Cooke, the Drifters, and black soul music. For a more world beat sound, try the out of print album Freedom-No Compromise.

Steve Van Zandt finally left his sideman and producer role and stepped out as a frontman to release this superb album in 1982. Of course he was and is a member of the E Street Band and one of Springsteen's oldest friends, but after the break up of an early Springsteen band, Steel Mill, and before rejoining Bruce at the end of the Born To Run sessions, Mr. Van Zandt went on the road as part of an oldies package tour backing up a variety of sixties soul group. The combination of early to mid 60's soul music and rock has always been a big element in Bruce's music and the Jersey Music scene that produced him, Steven, Southside Johnny and others. The training Steven received on those package tours serves him well on Men Without Women. The album has a wall of sound production feel to it and songs like "Forever", "Save Me" and "Angel Eyes" would not seem out of place in Phil Spector's catalog. There are soaring horns, stinging guitar riffs and tortured vocals all over the album. Mr. Van Zandt does not stray too far from the E Street family as members of the band appear to lend support as does the Boss himself. Bruce is uncredited on the album, but you can plainly hear him singing back up on "Until the Good Is Gone." With it's lyrics about the relationships between men & woman and the trials and tribulations between adults, the album is like a more rhythm & bluesier older brother of Born To Run. These songs may be about what happens to the Magic Rat, Barefoot Girl, Terry & Wendy and the others when they grow up and get into mature relationships. After this record, Mr. Van Zandt used his subsequent albums as a voice for his political stances. But on this record, he just lays it it on line, singing about the things men and women do.