Desert Island Album #3

Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul - Men Without Women

Most of you reading this are more than likely aware of who Steven Van Zandt (Little Steven, Miami Steve Van Zandt) is.

Thanks to his decades-long career in music, serving as rabble-rousing counterpart to Bruce Springsteen’s “The Boss” in The E Street Band, and of course, as Tony Soprano’s consigliere, Silvio Dante’, on HBO’s iconic The Sopranos.

Steven Van Zandt may not be a household name, but he is a recognizable face.

BUT, DID YOU KNOW:

• Van Zandt starred, co-wrote, and was the executive producer of Lilyhammer. The first original Netflix series produced in collaboration with Norwegian broadcaster NRK. It may not have been Netflix’s first original streaming show, but damn near close as it pre-dates House of Cards.

• Since 2002, he has hosted the syndicated radio program Little Steven’s Underground Garage, a weekly show that celebrates garage rock and its myriad of rock subgenres. It’s also broadcast on Sirius XM.

• He has an entertainment company called Renegade Nation, which focuses on artist management, production, live events, and distribution. Renegade Nation is also the parent company of Little Steven’s record label, Wicked Cool Records.

• He created TeachRock — an educational program where teachers (K-12) engage students by using popular music to “create interdisciplinary, culturally responsive education materials for all 21st-century classrooms.” The TeachRock curriculum helps “keep the arts in the DNA of every school system while engaging students and improving academic outcomes.”

• Additionally, Van Zandt has an Infinite Jest-sized CV of production and songwriting credits.

Calling Steven Van Zandt a renaissance man is too quaint.
So I’ll use maverick — because ultimately, that’s what he is.

That’s what we know about him today. But back in 1981/82?

If you were from the tri-state area (NY, NJ, CT) or a die-hard Springsteen fan, you knew Van Zandt as the chapeau-wearing whirling dervish guitar player in The E Street Band.

Now, I grew up in Ohio, and barely knew who Bruce Springsteen was, let alone anyone from The E Street Band. Of course, I knew… but I didn’t know… you know? But ask me the chronological order of every Kansas album through 1984, and I got you covered (not a fact I am proud of btw.)

A BIT OF HISTORY

After moving to New Jersey from Massachusetts Van Zandt began rampaging through the Asbury Park music scene in the late 60s/early 70s. Starting, leading, and joining bands, with rock stardom the only thing on the agenda. It was during this time that he formed his connection with Bruce Springsteen after having been in the band Steel Mill with him, and the E Street Band pre-cursor, The Bruce Springsteen Band.

If you want to learn about that bond between Bruce Springsteen and Steven Van Zandt, you can read Springsteen's autobiographical tome’ Born to Run.

Or you can save a week or two and listen to “Bobby Jean” from Bruce’s benchmark Born in the U.S.A. album.

When you’re a maverick like Van Zandt, it has to be a challenge to push pause on your ambitions to serve the ambitions of another. But that’s what Van Zandt did when he moved to E Street full-time for the Born to Run sessions and Springsteen’s subsequent albums and tours.

By 1982, Van Zandt had helped propel his friend to rock-n-roll’s top tier by co-producing Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, and The River - Born in the U.S.A. which launched Springsteen into the stratosphere, was still two years out at this point. Given Van Zandt’s drive and passion, despite the success, he had to be restless by the early 80s.

Turns out he was.

Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul - Men Without Women (subject to copyright)

While Springsteen was working on his acoustic solo album Nebraska, Little Steven had kept his musical interests afloat by signing a solo deal with EMI America after being pursued by A&R legend Gary Gersh (Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Soundgarden).

Stepping from the shadow of stage right (or is it stage left) to the spotlight of center stage is not a decision someone makes lightly. But Van Zandt had fronted bands before, so this wasn’t an alien concept for him.

Initial recording for Men Without Women began in 1981 with his friends in The Asbury Jukes, The E Street Band, and The Miami Horns. These inaugural sessions yielded "Inside of Me", "Princess of Little Italy" and "I've Been Waiting."

Bruce Springsteen took part in these sessions, providing backing vocals on "Angel Eyes", "Until The Good Is Gone" and "Men Without Women"; but his contributions were confirmed in later interviews by Van Zandt.

Taking a break during the recording, Van Zandt took to the boards to produce Gary U.S. Bonds album, On the Line, and began the sessions for Born in the U.S.A. with Springsteen.

Eventually reconvening his solo sessions with drummer Dino Danelli (The Young Rascals) and bass player Jean Beauvoir (The Plasmatics), The Miami Horns, and various studio aces and friends, they recorded "Under the Gun" and "Lyin' in a Bed of Fire," and buttoned up the rest of Men Without Women - pulling the albums name from a book of Ernest Hemingway short stories.

It was around this time that Van Zandt decided to adopt the pseudonym, Little Steven, partly to distance himself from any Springsteen comparisons and partly as a tribute to Little Richard and Little Walter. He also christened his band The Disciples of Soul.

Multi-track recording had not yet reached its peak; however, by the early 80s, recording a band in one room had fallen out of favor. But not for a rock and roll purist like Steven Van Zandt.

Van Zandt’s Men Without Women is a rock and roll bouillabaisse from a guy with a love for and encyclopedic knowledge of the genre.

I can’t recall where, but I remember reading that Van Zandt did the bulk of tracking Men Without Women in one room so the band could see one another. He thought this was the best way to capture the essence of his songs and perpetuate the solidarity of a band. It yields very high dividends. By all accounts, there are very few overdubs on the album, too.

The release of Men Without Women was close to my first trip to New York City - October 1982 and January 1983 respectively - so the two are inextricably linked. That album would remain my lifeline to New York City until I could make my way out of Ohio.

The first single, “Forever,” was released in October 1982. Considering that MTV was still in its infancy, the video got a fair amount of airplay; and it was that January when I first saw it.

The video for “Forever” is a simple enough narrative, with the DoS going to band practice as its mise en scene and New York City as its backdrop. Intercut with a live performance, much like the song itself, is brilliant in its simplicity.

Watching Jean Beoviour ride his bike through the streets of New York City represents what the city is to me - both complicated (navigating the traffic) and easy (like riding a bike). This video is one of the reasons I fell in love with New York City. This was 1982, so cocaine and seven-figure budgets had not yet infiltrated music videos, so “Forever” was high art.

With all due respect to Duran Duran, I can assure you that I watch the video for “Forever” with more regularity than “Rio.”

The spirit of the song, and the video, is what makes it still resonate 41 years later.

As a song, “Forever” is a simple, mid-tempo straightforward love song. Unfortunately, the song's pulsing beat and blend of jangly guitars and horns weren’t popular in October of 1982.

Back when these things still meant something, “Forever” peaked at #63 on the Billboard Singles chart, and Men Without Women clawed its way to #163 on Billboard’s Top 200 albums.

Despite the album being recorded in two separate chunks, first in ’81 and then completed in ’82, Men Without Women has a consistent production sound throughout - makes sense, Van Zandt produced it. The record’s clear, crystalline sound is a sound he would employ when producing other artists, too (i.e., Lone Justice and Arc Angels).

You either like that sound or you don’t. I like it… when it’s done well, as it is here on Men Without Women.

No one can say that Gary Gersh and EMI America didn’t try to make the album a hit. They worked it. Despite the failure of the first single, “Forever,” somehow the label squeezed half the album (five songs) out as singles:

• “Forever”

• “I’ve Been Waiting”

• “Under the Gun”

• “Save Me”

• “Lyin in a Bed of Fire”

Those are all fantastic songs, but none of them registered. It’s worth noting that “Inside of Me” made its way onto the soundtrack for The Sopranos.

Surprisingly, my favorite song, “Angel Eyes,” was never a single. The song still gives me goosebumps. For me, this is the song that captures everything (sound, voice, tone, and vibe) that I feel the album was shooting for - and arguably, achieved.

I can only guess that “Angel Eyes” wasn’t released as a single because a very good friend of his sang backup on it. If it was a marketing decision, it was a poor one. If it was a legal/contractual one, FINE (harumph).

If a band member steps out and does a solo thing, that can sometimes cause bad blood in a band. The deep-rooted friendship between Bruce Springsteen and Steve Van Zandt wasn’t compromised at all. Springsteen is all around the album in one way or another, but you can noticeably hear him on “Until the Good Is Gone” - which seems fitting.

Little Steven would stay in The E Street Band long enough to record and co-produce Born in the U.S.A. before fully embracing his solo career (moving back to E Street in ’99.)

Along with the self-titled debuts of Broken Homes and Lone Justice, Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul’s Men Without Women holds the distinction of having been an album I have purchased repeatedly across various platforms over the years. And like the other two, it remains firmly ensconced on my Desert Island Top Ten.

Some may argue that this album sounds like it is from its era, and to that I say “Bupkiss!” Sure, it was recorded in 1981/82; however, like the music that Little Steven champions, Men Without Women transcends its era. That’s what the best music does.

Men Without Women, like its literary counterpart Ernest Hemingway’s book of short stories, highlights the work of two men who embody one of the most important elements of being a maverick; timelessness.

[Fun Fact: Steven Van Zandt is from Massachusetts, not New Jersey… this may explain the use of the word “Wicked” in the name of his record label - Wicked Cool Records.]