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I have enjoyed much of Southside's music but didn't really care much for this one.
I bought this for someone else's gift.But going by the way She says it gets played;it must be pretty good.If you like Southside Johnny/Tom Waits.
Anyway.for me, this "super-happy" can feel like the top of my head popped off, letting a stream of brightly-colored prayer flags out, the message of bliss radiating out to the rest of the world."That's how it made Mark Saleski feel, and that's how it makes me feel too. I suspect that even the most curmudgeonly people have them. I should know, because I have my moments of curmudgeon on a daily basis. I've been a fan of SSJ for many years. I've been ecstatically enjoying this record since I bought it, and so have many others - from my 17 year old daughter's friends, who say - "I thought he was black" to my 11 year old.I can't do better than to quote from Mark Saleski's blog. I didn't think I'd ever find anything to surpass Hearts of Stone, but this really does it. Just google him.[.]."There are times when a person experiences moments of such extreme happiness that it's difficult to contain the emotion.
Southside's a helluva singer, and gets to the heart of Waits' songs - if you can't hear the music in Waits' own records because the instruments or the singer are too eccentric for you, this is the cure.The other thing this reminds me of, strangely, is Dylan's 'World Gone Wrong.' It's singer versus big mysteries, and everybody wins.I can't think of the last time a new album moved me so much.Scott AtkinsonWatertown NY I have a soft spot for Southside & co., and think the first three Jukes albums are great pieces, in the same way the first three Boz Scaggs albums on Columbia are great.BUT.I never took him or the band entirely seriously; they were more in the line of 'real good local guys who got a big hand up from Springsteen and Van Zandt.' In other words, I was not entirely sure what Southside brought to the game.I get it now; this is the work of considerable musicians who are technically solid, and loaded with soul - and with the kind of self control you only get on *great* big band records.
All I have to say is what a shot in the arm for Southside,La Bamba, and lets not forget Tom Waits.This really brings his talent as a songwriter and poet to another level. Being a Jersey Shore musician and fan of Southside and Tom Waits, I find this as one of the best albums he has ever done and the arrangements by La Bamba really show his skills as a new generation big band leader, reminds me of the great big bands of the early seventies ie: Chicago, Electric Flag, Al Kooper's Blood Sweat & Tears and I am not forgetting Buddy Rich and Maynard Furguson.
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