''Slow Dance'' is an album by the American musician

Southside Johnny John Lyon (born December 4, 1948), better known by his stage name Southside Johnny, is an American singer-songwriter who usually fronts his band Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. Southside Johnny has long been considered the Grandfather of ...

, released in 1988. It was marketed as a solo endeavor, although a few

Asbury Jukes Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes are an American musical group from the Jersey Shore led by Southside Johnny. They have been recording albums since 1976 and are closely associated with Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band. They have recor ...

played on the album. The album peaked at No. 198 on the ''Billboard'' 200. The cover of "

Ain't That Peculiar "Ain't That Peculiar" is a 1965 song recorded by American soul musician Marvin Gaye for the Tamla (Motown) label. Background The single was produced by Smokey Robinson, and written by Robinson, and fellow Miracles members Bobby Rogers, Pete Mo ...

" was a minor radio hit. Southside Johnny promoted the album by again touring with the Asbury Jukes.

Production

The album was recorded during a six-month period between Asbury Jukes commitments. Southside Johnny wrote five of its 10 songs; he wanted to focus more on his lyrics than he had in the past. Bruce Springsteen contributed to "Walking Through Midnight", which was written in part in 1978. The Uptown Horns performed on a few songs. "Little Calcutta" was inspired by the plight of the homeless people who resided at the

Port Authority Bus Terminal The Port Authority Bus Terminal (colloquially known as the Port Authority and by its acronym PABT) is a bus terminal located in Manhattan in New York City. It is the busiest bus terminal in the world by volume of traffic, serving about 8,000 buse ...

Critical reception

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'' wrote that "it's pleasant enough—Lyons has a smoky, soulful voice and writes a pretty fair song—but the production has rounded all the edges off the songs." The ''

Orlando Sentinel The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company. The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by parent company, '' Tribune P ...

'' deemed the album "an exceptional collection that combines the sheen of modern production techniques, eschewed by the Jukes, with the old-fashioned power of Lyon's heartfelt vocals." The ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...

'' labeled the album "pleasant" and "serviceable," but noted that Southside Johnny's "not quite special enough; his experience somehow works against him ... He doesn't quite grab our attention." The ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris, it was renamed the ''Citizen'' in 1851. The new ...

'' determined that "Lyon can make soul ballads as powerful and assertive as an army of tough-slinging guitar players." ''

The Kingston Whig-Standard ''The Kingston Whig-Standard'' is a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. It is published five days a week, from Tuesday to Saturday. It publishes a mix of community, national and international news and is currently owned by Postmedia. It ha ...

'' opined that, "once again, without horns and their natural bluster, Southside Johnny sounds forced and, well, phony." '' The Record'' considered ''Slow Dance'' a "pleasant little album that will probably win him some new fans in the easy-listening ranks."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

called the album "a noble, but failed, experiment," writing that it was an "attempt is to take Southside out of the bar band, R&B, horn-filled Jukes style, and put him with contemporary synthesizer sounds and programmed drums."

Track listing

References

{{reflist 1988 albums A&M Records albums