Details
Track Listing
1. Can't Teach an Old Dog New Tricks - (featuring Bruce Springsteen/Southside Johnny)
2. Murder in the First Degree
3. Take Me Back - (featuring Southside Johnny)
4. She Just Wants to Dance - (featuring Dickey Betts)
5. Fannie Mae - (featuring Southside Johnny)
6. Dumb Ass / Bitch - (featuring Phoebe Snow/Dickey Betts)
7. I've Got Dreams to Remember
8. Nothing But Blue
9. She Chose to Be My Lady
10. Too Much, Too Little, Too Late
11. Every Time I Roll the Dice
12. Don't Do It Here
Album Notes
Personnel include: Gary U.S. Bonds (vocals); Southside Johnny (vocals, harmonica); Phoebe Snow (vocals); Dickey Betts, Mark Leimbach, Bruce Springsteen (guitar); Dan Cipriano (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); Jim Wacker (keyboards); Zerrick Foster (bass instrument); Lance Hyland Stark (drums).
Recording information: GB's Underground, Wheatley Heights, NY; Suite A Studios, Sarasota, FL.
Gary U.S. Bonds is the kind of singer who seemingly just can't resist making a comeback every 20 years or so. He first came to fame in the early '60s with the rock & roll hit "Quarter to Three," but fell off the radar until admirer Bruce Springsteen masterminded his 1981 return, DEDICATION. After a couple more releases, Bonds spent another two decades away from the studio before unleashing the wryly titled BACK IN 20. With so much water under the bridge, there was no reason to expect the Southern soul man to recapture his former glory, but against all odds, he does just that. Sure, there are the prerequisite guest appearances (from the Boss, Southside Johnny, Allman Brothers guitarist Dickey Betts, and Phoebe Snow), but this is no desperate, mix-and-match, hit-hopeful duets album. Bonds's buddies stick to second-fiddle status, ceding the spotlight to his soulful, seemingly ageless voice as he gamely charges through a dozen tracks of rollicking juke-joint/bar-band R&B of the sort very rarely played by first-generation practitioners in the 21st century.
Industry Reviews
BACK IN 20 is a solid, thoroughly professional affair with not one throw-away track - a welcome comeback by an extremely talented artist.
3 1/2 stars out of 5 - This self-produced album has plenty of bluesy crests that storm like whitecaps...
The sound is a hybrid of 70s arena rock, a roadhouse blues band, and early-60s pop pastiche....Bonds' voice remains relatively strong and distinctive.
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