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| | Men Without Women/Voice of America | | | Music Artist : | | Little Steven & The Disciples of Soul | | Music Style : | | General | | Record Label : | | Beat Goes On | | Release Date : | | 2005-12-12 | | Store Price : | | $25.49 | | Artistopia's Price: $25.49 | | Usually ships in 24 hours | | |
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CD Tracks/Songs
Disc 11. Lyin' in a Bed of Fire
2. Inside of Me
3. Until the Good Is Gone
4. Men Without Women
5. Under the Gun
6. Save Me
7. Princess of Little Italy
8. Angel Eyes
9. Forever
10. I've Been Waiting
Disc 21. Voice of America
2. Justice
3. Checkpoint Charlie
4. Solidarity
5. Out of the Darkness
6. Desaparecidos
7. Fear
8. I Am a Patriot
9. Among the Believers
10. Undefeated
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Customer Reviews of This Album/CD |
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 This is the best of the best
Submitted on: 2009-10-03 |
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Finally! Voice Of America on cd.
One of the greatest albums ever made. Hard rock meets reggae. Fantastic rock album that should have sold millions.
For some reason the album was impossible to get here in europe for many years.
But now... It's here. And as a bonus we get it as a double album with Men Without Women.
It can't get much better than this! One of my favorite albums ever. |
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Two Sides of Little Steven
Submitted on: 2009-02-17 |
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With the nucleus of outstanding bassist Jean Beauvoir and drummer Dino Danelli - with appearances by members of the E Street Band and The Asbury Jukes and other guests - Little Steven produced albums in 1982 and 1984 that were critically-acclaimed, while showing different sides of his artistry.
Men Without Women (1982) was a nod to the Stax/Volt sound and prominently featured Felix Cavaliere on piano/organ and La Bamba on trombone, along with Max Weinberg, Gary Tallent, Clarence Clemons and Gary "U.S." Bonds. Lyin' in a Bed of Fire is a sizzling rocker, though the standouts are the tracks that change the pace; Princess of Little Italy and Angel Eyes. An ambitious long-form film was produced as a soundtrack, but it was only shown - very briefly - in a few theaters in Los Angeles, though portions were edited for music videos.
Voice of America (1984) is a political statement centered on dissent not meaning disloyalty to the nation. This was during the oftentimes controversial foreign-policy era of President Ronald Reagan, with Little Steven's central theme delivered in I Am a Patriot. The lyrics and garage-band sound travels the world in Voice of America, Checkpoint Charlie and Los Desaparecidos.
These albums have been difficult to find over the many years, but this set brings out of the vault a pair of vastly-underrated releases. |
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LITTLE STEVEN RULES
Submitted on: 2009-02-10 |
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| LITTLE STEVEN IS MORE RELEVANT THAN EVER BEFORE. HE COULD HAVE RODE THE BOSS'S COAT TAILS, BUT INSTEAD BLAZED HIS OWN TRAIL. THE MUSICAL AND LYRICAL THEMES OF THESE ALBUMS ARE TIMELESS. |
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Rock and Roll Savior.......Your Damn Right!
Submitted on: 2008-07-20 |
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I own both of these albumns on LP and each is great individually, but together.........well it would have to be on my 10 CD's to have on a desert island list. I'll make an even bolder statement, one of the 10 best albumns in rock history.
How Van Zandt's solo work has been neglected by the masses is one of life's great mysteries to me. Thankfully he's happy with the twists his career has brought him and wasn't crushed by his lack of solo success.
There was a time in my life that I accessed old friends and new acquaintences by how they reacted to these albumns. I can think of only one individual that didn't become an immediate fan who's still a friend. Even that balanced out because his little sister fell in love with Little Steven and was my companion at the greatest live concert I've ever seen. That would be Little Steven and band from the VOA tour at Meriweather Post Pavilion in '83. It was the basic band, without the horn section of Men Without Women and the absolute raw power........well I had never heard before, nor have I heard since anything to compare. I'll never forget Danelli's drum kit 20 feet in the air with huge tube extensions that went all of the way to the stage, the reggae vesion of "Lyin'In a Bed of Fire" with Beauvoir's Haitian accented background vocals. Those two produced such a thunderous rhythm beat that you started to breathe in unison with them.
The place was only half full, maybe 7-8,000 people, but I remember talking with folks after the show on the way to the parking lot, people were soaked in sweat and just about everyone's reaction was, "that was the best thing that I have ever seen, heard and FELT!"........... |
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Lotta Badda Bing for your buck
Submitted on: 2007-08-16 |
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A year or so ago, I looked for Voice of America on various used and new sites, and found only one used copy costing hundreds of dollars. Thank goodness this double CD is now easily available! Men Without Women contains Steve Van Zandt's tribute to the Stax/Volt sound, aided by the Disciples of Soul, including the Miami Horns. When I first heard the opening song "Lyin' in a Bed of Fire" on the radio, I thought Bob Dylan had decided to thoroughly rock out. Steve's voice takes some getting used to, but the catchy and lyrically polished songs are impressive and repay repeated listening over years -- over twenty years later Men Without Women remains one of my favourite albums. From the slash and burn raveup of "Under the Gun" to the bittersweet ballad "Princess of Little Italy," each song shows us that The Sopranos' gain is good music's loss.
The second CD, Voice of America, has Little Steven without the Disciples of Soul, showing what heavy metal could have been in the 80's if more people had emphasized the real world instead of unreal hair. The harder, more synthesized sound here does not detract at all from the lyrical intensity, or the thoughtful political and social commentary. Nor does the commitment and seriousness of the songs keep them from being great rockers (or otherwise: "I Am a Patriot/And the River Opens for the Righteous" shows its reggaefied stuff better than Jackson Browne's smoother version. "Checkpoint Charlie" reminds us of the ragged disjointedness of a country torn apart, and "Undefeated" hopes for a better world.
These two albums together show that Steve Van Zandt is an artist on a par with anyone who produced music in the last century. |
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