JD Souther - You're Only Lonely

  by Tommy Gunnarsson

published: 10 / 11 / 2011

---

Review

My father is a great Eagles fan, and, having practically grown up with their 70’s albums, JD Souther is no stranger to me. This Detroit born musician and songwriter wrote some of the Eagles most successful songs (like 'New Kid in Town', 'Best of My Love' and 'Heartache Tonight'), and also played in the Southern Furay Hillman Band together with Chris Hillman of the Byrds and Richie Furay of Buffalo Springfield and Poco. If that wasn’t enough, he also found the time to release some records under his own name, the first one in 1972, including the song 'How Long', a song that the Eagles re-recorded (and got a Grammy award for) on their comeback album in 2007. In 1979, his third solo effort was released, 'You’re Only Lonely', an album whose title track spawned Souther’s first solo hit single when it reached the Billboard Top Ten (this hit also made the album his most successful to date). Now it has been re-released on CD by Floating World/Sony, and I must say that it’s not the best re-release ever. The cover image seems to be scanned from the old LP sleeve, and it’s a bit blurry overall. Also, the CD contains the album’s original nine songs, and nothing more. Sure, I don’t demand a lot of bonus tracks and demo versions etc, but since the album was 35 minutes long, I think they could have added at least something more, like some B-sides from the singles. On the plus side though, the booklet contains a lot of information, written by Alan Robinson, on both Souther himself and the songs on the album. Well, what about the album itself, then? If you like the Eagles, you know what you’re in for. You will even find Don Henley and Glenn Frey among the harmony singers! This is classic American west coast 70’s rock, with great harmonies and good melodies. The only track that I really don’t like is 'Fifteen Bucks', which is far too groovy for my taste. But hey, you can’t get it all, can you? All in all, this is a nice little album, and I wouldn’t be surprised if my dad will find this in a box for Christmas…

Track Listing:-

1 You're Only Lonely
2 If You Don't Want My Love
3 The Last In Love
4 White Rhythm And Blues
5 'Til The Bars Burn Down
6 The Moon Just Turned Blue
7 Songs Of Love
8 Fifteen Bucks
9 Trouble In Paradise

Band Links:-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._D._So
http://jdsouther.net/index.htm
https://www.facebook.com/jdsouthermusi
https://twitter.com/jdsouther
https://www.youtube.com/user/officialJ
https://plus.google.com/10425406628827

Label Links:-

http://www.floatingworldrecords.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/floating.worl
https://twitter.com/floatingwrecord