Visual Sound: Issue 31

Written By Mike Greenblatt

Connor Bracken & The Mother Leeds Band
“Back In Town”

They come out of Asbury Park with guns a’blazing! Hard and delicious, “Back In Town” is a dizzyingly shot clip of drummer Rich Seyffart, guitarist Dee DiMeola, bassist TJ Haefner and singer-songwriter-guitarist Connor Bracken pounding their way through an anthemic original that retains a classic rock feel but an alt-rock vibe.

 

Bruce Springsteen
“One Step Up”

This heartbreaking and long-overlooked masterpiece from Tunnel Of Love in 1988 was written during the deterioration of his marriage to Julianne Phillips and, prophetically, features Patti Scialfa on background vocals. 

 
 

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Cyborg Amok
“(Some) Sleep Tonight”

They may be from near the Jersey Shore in Ocean County but no one will ever confuse them with the sunny feel-good Trop Rock pioneered by Mark Mulch of Toms River. In fact, they’re the opposite:  dark, foreboding, in-your-face and seemingly dangerous. And they like it that way.

 

Jon Caspi and The First Gun
“Raise ‘Em High!”

For all of us who played softball for most of our adult lives, another Ocean County band, Jon Caspi and The First Gun, captures the camaraderie and oftentimes ineptitude of trying to play this great game. Hey, I played until I physically couldn’t move right. There was a time on the basepaths when I would take out the middle infielder so he wouldn’t complete a double play, but once I couldn’t make it from first to third without having to pee (as Billy Crystal says), I knew it time to hang up my jockstrap.

Mike Greenblatt

MIKE GREENBLATT has been writing for Goldmine magazine and New Jersey's Aquarian Weekly for more than 35 years. His writing subjects fill the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

He's interviewed Joe Cocker, Graham Nash, David Crosby, Carlos Santana, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Johnny Cash, and members of The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. He was 18 when he attended Woodstock in 1969.

In addition to writing about music, Greenblatt has worked on publicity campaigns for The Animals, Pat Benatar, Johnny Winter, Tommy James and Richard Branson, among others. He is currently the editor of The Jersey Sound.

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Visual Sound: Issue 30