If I give you my heart would you love me forever

From the archives: Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul - Men Without Women

Well, sure, NOW everyone knows who Little Steven (aka Steven Van Zandt, Miami Steve Van Zandt) is.

Thanks to his decades-long career in music, he served, and continues to serve, as the rabble-rousing counterpart to Bruce Springsteen's "The Boss" in The E Street Band, as a well-regarded music producer, and, of course, as Tony Soprano's consigliere, Silvio Dante, from HBO's iconic The Sopranos. He may not be a household name, but he is a recognizable face.

It's worth noting that Little Steven also:

• Starred, co-wrote and was the executive producer of Lilyhammer. The first original Netflix series.

• Since 2002, he has hosted the syndicated radio program Little Steven's Underground Garage, a weekly show celebrating garage rock and similar rock subgenres.

• 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.

[Fun Fact: Steven Van Zandt is from Massachusetts, not New Jersey…may explain the use of the word "Wicked" in Wicked Cool Records.]

• Is the founder of Teachrock, an education initiative created by the Rock and Roll Forever Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in New York City that aims to provide free standards-aligned, arts-integration curriculum and professional development workshops to K-12 schools nationwide.

Van Zandt has a huge CV of production credits, far too many to list. I can say with honesty that he is one of three or four producers whose album I would buy solely because he produced it (ie. Lone Justice and Arc Angels). But he’s also worked with legends like Southside Johnny and The Asbury Jukes, Gary U.S. Bonds, and Darlene Love… and of course, all of Springsteen’s most popular records.

Calling Steven Van Zandt a Renaissance man is too reductive. So let's use the term "maverick" because, ultimately, that's what he is.

Sure, we know all of this now, but back in 1981/82?

If you were from the tri-state area (NY, NJ, CT) or a die-hard Springsteen fan, you probably knew Van Zandt as the chapeau-wearing, whirling dervish guitar player in The E Street Band. I would guess many had no idea that a man with all of these varied interests and skills lived under the hat.

Since I lived in Ohio, I barely knew who Bruce Springsteen was, let alone anyone from The E Street Band. But ask me the chronological order of every REO Speedwagon album through 1984, and I got you covered (how's that for useless knowledge, a fact I am not particularly proud of but it is what it is).

Van Zandt began his musical career rampaging through the New Jersey music scene in the late 60s/early 70s. He led and joined bands with a laser-like focus on rock stardom. After having played with him in two bands (Steel Mill and The Bruce Springsteen Band), it was during this time that he formed his airtight bond with The Boss.

If you want to know how tight that bond is, you can read Bruce Springsteen's autobiographical tome, Born to Run. If you're short on time, you can listen to "Bobby Jean" from Born in the U.S.A.

When you're a maverick like Van Zandt, it has to be a challenge to slap pause on your ambitions to serve the greater good. But that is what Van Zandt did when he moved to E Street full-time for the Born to Run sessions and subsequent albums and tours.

After helping propel his friend to the upper echelons of rock and roll by co-producing Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, and The River, one can only imagine that Van Zandt was restless - the release of Born in the U.S.A., which launched Springsteen into the stratosphere, was still two years out in 1982.

Stepping from the shadow of stage right to the spotlight of center stage is not a decision someone makes lightly. But this was familiar territory; Van Zandt had fronted bands before. So while Springsteen was working on his acoustic solo album Nebraska, Little Steven kept his chops sharp by signing a solo deal with EMI America after being pursued by A&R legend Gary Gersh (Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Soundgarden, etc.).

The initial recording for Van Zandt's solo album began in 1981 with his friends in The Asbury Jukes, The E Street Band, and The Miami Horns. But Van Zandt hit pause when The Boss called him to co-produce and make Born in the U.S.A.

Eventually reconvening in 1982 with drummer Dino Danelli (The Young Rascals) and bass player Jean Beauvoir (The Plasmatics), The Miami Horns, and various studio aces and friends, they began recording again. By now, Van Zandt had christened the band The Disciples of Soul. While they finished recording, they would woodshed the songs around clubs in New York City.

To wit: Men Without Women was born.

Little Steven (may be subject to copyright)

Van Zandt's solo debut is a rock and roll bouillabaisse from a guy with a love and encyclopedic knowledge of the genre; and is titled after the Ernest Hemingway book of short stories, Men Without Women.

[Fun Fact: This is where Van Zandt begins using the moniker Little Steven. Not only to distance himself from The E Street "Miami Steve" but also to pay homage to Little Richard and Little Walter.]

With the steady growth of multi-track recording by the early 1980s, recording a band in one room had fallen out of favor—but not for a purist like Steven Van Zandt. I can't recall where, but I remember reading that Van Zandt primarily tracked 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 a band's solidarity. By all accounts, there are very few overdubs on the album, too. The effort here yields high dividends.

The release of Men Without Women coincided with my first trip to New York City, where my grandmother gave me $20 and told me to "put it in your shoe," - New York City was different back then; it still had an edge. This trip also happened to be when my cousins baptized me at the altar of Bruce Springsteen and Little Steven. All of it is inextricably linked for me.

The first single, "Forever," was released in October 1982 with an accompanying video for the burgeoning MTV. It’s a simple performance clip intercut with the band members doing their own thing. We see Jean Beauvoir riding a bike around the city, other Disciples in various states (jogging, yawing), and Little Steven getting flowers before going to his girlfriend's place. Everyone is going to band practice, ergo the mix of narrative and performance.

I assure you that in 1982, this constituted high art for a music video.

It's a simple, mid-tempo, straightforward love song whose excellent blend of jangly guitars and horns was not de rigueur in October of 1982. Despite that the song still clawed its way to #63 on the Billboard singles chart, and Men Without Women made it to #163 on Billboard's Top 200 albums… back when these things mattered.

Hardly a chartbuster, but for an AOR-based album, it was a respectable showing for a debut album.

No one can say that Gersh and EMI America didn't try to make the album a hit. They worked it. Even 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 resonated with a broader audience.

As a kid in Ohio, Men Without Women would be my lifeline to New York City until I could get there (five years later). This meant that my midwestern roots had me entirely baffled by the song "Princess of Little Italy." Simply put, I wouldn't say I liked it.

That said, years later, when I dated an Italian woman from Brooklyn, I came to appreciate the song. Still not my favorite, but I get it now.

If a band member steps out and does a solo thing, that can sometimes cause bad blood in a band; however, the deep-rooted friendship between Springsteen and Van Zandt wasn’t compromised. The Boss shows up (uncredited), providing backing vocals on "Angel Eyes," "Men Without Women," and most noticeably on "Until the Good Is Gone."

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 (returning to E Street in' 99.).

Some may argue that this album is from its era, but it is no more of its era than anything by the artists that Little Steven championed then, and continues to champion today. With that being said, Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul's Men Without Women transcends its era because that’s what all good music does.

Like its literary counterpart, Ernest Hemingway's book of short stories, the album Men Without Women highlights the work of two men who embody the spirit of a true maverick, making them timeless.