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Scenes From The Southside

Bruce Hornsby - Scenes From The Southside Audio CD

A fair review of the Bruce Hornsby "Scenes From The Southside" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Bruce Hornsby reviews here, or go back to the Bruce Hornsby tabs.

Band: Bruce Hornsby
Title: Scenes From The Southside
Rating:

Release Date: 2008-04-01
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Look Out Any Window 2: The Valley Road 3: I Will Walk With You 4: The Road Not Taken 5: The Show Goes On 6: The Old Playground 7: Defenders Of The Flag 8: Jacob's Ladder 9: Till The Dreaming's Done

Scenes From The Southside
"Look Out Any Window" is a great track and sounds very similair to tracks such as "The Way It Is". Scenes From The Southside being Horsnby's 2nd solo album and 1988 release sounds like Chicago, and Elton John's recordings from that time and that is not a bad thing in itself. "The Valley Road" was a massive hit and as of today his last top 10 hit in the US. The booklet contains all the lyrics and we also get a list of whom plays what on the album. Allmusic gave the album 4. 5/5 which is a little too genrous. 4/5.

A Worthy Successor
Like his debut album, it is a perfect blend of rock, pop, jazz & country & it even has a little bluegrass thrown in for good measure. Scenes from the Southside, which is Bruce's 2nd album, was nothing short of a masterpiece back in 1988 & just like it's predecesor, it sounded like nothing else on the radio at the time. Shortly after this album came out, Hornsby said in an interview. . . . "I tried to make 'Scenes From the Southside' a musical version of a short-story collection". That is definitely an accurate description because it's chock full of great melodic songs that not only tell great stories but also conjure up vivid images of the people, places & subject matter Hornsby writes about. But this is still a pop album & a superb one at that.

A few of the highlights include:

The kickoff song, "Look Out Any Window", which is my favorite, is another socially conscious rocker in the vein of "The Way It Is" and it is about pollution and mindless land development from "The fat cat builder man". It starts off very quietly with a distant electric guitar solo, synth & slow piano and then slowly builds until it explodes into a fast paced & powerful pop song. Here's an example of the great lyrics: "Far away the men too busy getting rich to care/Close their eyes and let it all out into the air/Hoping nobody else would care". IMHO, this is the Best environmental song ever written.

"The Valley Road," which is another great track & which was the albums most successful single, is a song which describes a plantation romance in which a field hand impregnates the owner's daughter, causing a townwide scandal. Very catchy & upbeat song. From the way it sounds, you wouldn't even know that it was about something controversial.

Another great song & one which was a fairly big hit for Bruces' pal - Huey Lewis, is "Jacob's Ladder" where Hornsby takes a deserved shot at bogus evangelists in America. Example: "The congregation's waiting at the altar/They can't find the preacher anywhere/They found him with the new girl from the choir/Where they store the boxes of the book of prayer,".

But not all the songs here are serious, some are more light & playful like the song "The Old Playground. " in which Bruce reminesce's about his old high school basketball days. Very upbeat & catchy tune & it would've made a great single. It was even used by the NBA once in a short film that they made.

"The Show Goes On" is the longest track on the album at 7:30 min & also one of the most beautiful ballads Bruce has ever done. It was featured in the movie "Backdraft" & if you've ever seen that movie, it's almost impossible to not envision the firefighters in the movie training & fighting fires when you hear this song.

In "Defenders of the Flag," Hornsby talks about the people in the south who still refuse to give up the old prejudices & racism as well as the old flag. It features a bluesy harmonica solo from Huey Lewis who also played & sang on the underrated "Down the Road tonight" on Bruce's first album.

The other songs here are romantic in nature, enhancing the notion that Hornsby would've been great as the king of romantic ballads if he had chosen to do so. He falls in love with an Appalachian girl in "The Road Not Taken," and he shows regret for a missed romantic opportunity in the beautiful & elegant closer "Till the Dreaming's Done".

So all in all, there's not one bad or mediocre track to be found here & this is one of the finest albums of the 80's, if not all time. It is Definitely one for the ages & a Must have if you are a fan of Bruce Hornsby or just great melodic rock music in general.
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A mediocre sophomore effort
I know they won the Best New Artist Grammy. In 1987,Bruce Hornsby & The Range took home one or two Grammys for their 1986 debut THE WAY IT IS. This 1988 mediocre release didn't garner any Grammys but was probably a nominee. Hits from this album include THE VALLEY ROAD and JACOB'S LADDER. The latter track,written or co-written by Hornsby,was first a hit for Huey Lewis & The News from their '86 Grammy-winning FORE! album. The other songs are good. Puerta wound up leaving the Range to reform his first band Ambrosia. So Hornsby wound up seeking a new bassist.

Bruce Hornsby brings out melody magic and certainly has the touch
With his band The range, this certainly shows a whole lot of range when it comes to eargasmic pop/rock music. Bruce Hornsby has the touch on this classic Cd from the 80 ths.
It begins with Track 1 Look out any window, and it drives you into the Hornsby world. The pianoplaying is the key element on many of this tracks, so on the opener too. He treat the tangents with the right feel and joy, and the vocal and other instruments just fits in. Track 2 The Valley Road is more in the "synth land", and is a fine mix between different keyboards variations. This one too has that open soundpicture, with a very clear piano soundmix , and the vocal and the other instruments just fill it out in a way. Track 3 I will walk with you has much of the same elements input, but this one also have a more potent vocal with the right tearjerkin` voice to build up the right mood alltrough.
Track 4 The road not taken, has a very open soundlandscape, where Hornsby just drizzel out pianomagic in this very catchy and tuneful song. Track 5 The Show begins as a ballad. Soft but clear pianoplay with some synth strings along with it. Then suddenly it changes into more uptempo beat, and give`s you minor freezez down your backbone, so to speak. It opens up. He realy makes the show goes on, on this one. Track 6 The old playground is the first minor letdown, which is to compact . The vocal and the instruments figths for theire places. There is anyway a good piano solo there, all though. Track 7 Defenders of the flag, is a blues song, which doesn`t fit`s in a away. The harmonica is ok, but it has much of the same problems has the song before. Track 8 Jacobs Ladder sound`s like a copy of the original Huey Lewis hit, but Hornsby bring`s some new magic to it. Not at all bad. Track 9 Till the dreaming`s done, is an ok ballad. Anyway Bruce Hornsby brings out melody magic, and certainly has the touch with a big T.

Great musical artist, among the few out there.
That's when I started purchasing his CDs. Little did I realize many of the songs that I heard on some of my favorite movies were the works of Bruce Hornsby and the Range. If it's any musician who deserves the royalities when a person buys their merchandise, it's Bruce Hornsby. .

You can see a complete list of all Bruce Hornsby discography, or go back to the Bruce Hornsby tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.