The Eddie Wilson Anthology

We all know the story. Eddie Wilson was the leader and creative force behind the seminal early sixties Jersey rock and roll band Eddie and the Cruisers. A popular regional group in the north east. They released one album of 12 tracks that bubbled up the middle of the charts and spawned two regional hits, On the Darkside and Tender Years, before being quietly forgotten. Then on the night after having his latest master work rejected by his record label, Eddie’s car skidded off a bridge. His body was never found. It was assumed he perished in the crash.

Twenty years later saw a resurgence, almost a mania, in Eddie Wilson’s popularity. His one album, Tender Years, was rereleased and went gold then platinum. His unreleased masterpiece, Season in Hell, was found and released. Then a “mystery” tape was discovered of a recording session of Eddie with some of the greats of early rock and roll. Then Eddie reappeared.

While hiding out in Canada under the name of Joe West, Eddie assembled a new band called Rock Solid playing local clubs and bars. Then, at the height of “Eddiemania”, Eddie’s band played the opening slot of the Montreal Spring Music Festival. Prior to the festival Eddie’s guitar player, Rick Diesel, sent a demo tape to Eddie’s old label Satin Records. The executives liked the tape and felt the singer sounded a lot like Eddie and decided to check them out.

As the story goes, the Satin Records execs confronted “Joe” and realized it was Eddie. Eddie panicked and almost ran away again but decided to push forward. Rock Solid played their set and during the band introductions Eddie revealed himself.

Eddie’s comeback album Rock Solid (coproduced by his friend, musical partner and original Cruiser Sal Amato) went gold then platinum. This gave him the success and freedom to write and record how and when he wanted. Two more albums followed at Eddie’s pace before Eddie left Satin Records to pursue life as he wanted to. Since then Eddie has released new albums when he feels he and the music are ready.

Contained on these two discs are the best of Eddie’s Satin Records output. From the first album Tender Years on through the last album Higher Ground. There are even a couple of unreleased songs although most fans will know these from the many bootlegs available.

CD 1
From the album – Tender Years
01 On the Dark Side
02 Wild Summer Nights
03 Hang Up My Rock & Roll Shoes
04 Tender Years
05 Boardwalk Angel
06 Down on My Knees
From the album – Season in Hell
07 Season in Hell (Fire Suite)
08 Small Town Girl
09 Where the Action Is
10 More Than Just One of The Boys
11 Crystal Blue
12 N.Y.C. Song – Previously unreleased version
From the album – The Lakehurst Tapes
13 Some Like It Hot
14 Garden of Eden
15 Runaround Sue
16 Emotional Storm
17 Chain Reaction
18 C-I-T-Y
19 Customary Thing
20 Down on My Knees [Live] – Previously unreleased

CD 2
From the album – Rock Solid
01 Runnin' Thru the Fire
02 Pride and Passion
03 Just A Matter of Time
04 Fool and His Money
05 Heat of the Night
06 When the World Was Young
From the album – Tough All Over
07 Open Road
08 Maryia
09 N. Y. C. Song
10 Keep My Love Alive
11 Strangers in Paradise
12 Bound for Glory
From the album – Higher Ground
13 Song and Dance
14 Killing Time
15 Wheel of Fortune
16 Higher Ground
17 Road I'm Running
 

Reality Notes

The story of Eddie Wilson was told through two films loosely based on a novel by P.F. Kluge titled of course, Eddie and the Cruisers. Love them or hate them, the films have achieved a cult status due to their runs on cable television and the growing home video market. The novel itself has faded into obscurity but if you ever find a copy pick it up. The book is darker and more of a mystery thriller. I won’t spoil anything here because the films greatly altered the plot line but I can recommend it. The films have recently been remastered and released on BluRay.

The music for both films was written and performed by John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band. They were hired on the recommendation of Bruce Springsteen after he turned down the job. The producers were looking for a Jersey roots type of sound and Cafferty fit the bill. The fact that he sounded a lot like Bruce didn’t hurt either. This compilation is as much a tribute to John Cafferty and his songs as it is to the story and films themselves.

For this compilation I used all of the soundtrack material I could find plus two Beaver Brown albums that were from the same period. There are two versions of the first soundtrack album. Due to copyright issues the second version dropped Tender Years and replaced it with two non-Cafferty songs. The current release has reverted back to the original tracklist. There is a third soundtrack related album titled The Unreleased Tapes. This one contained some alternate versions of a couple of songs and the rest of the songs used in the films but not on the other albums. This material presented a challenge because several tracks also contained dialog from the films placed over intros and instrumental parts. I had to edit those out and recreate some intros.

I then went through the two Beaver Brown albums Tough All Over and Roadhouse and found songs to fill in the gaps. My first attempt also used some Cafferty live bootlegs to create some live sets but I just couldn’t get them to sound right. Maybe that will be a separate project. There is actually enough material to fully simulate all of the “albums” in this comp.

I still think there is one great film that could be constructed from the two. Now that the films have been remastered and rereleased I’m hoping that some fan editor will tackle that one day.

Hindsight

This came out pretty cool. It's still a good listen. I prefer the first disc over the second probably because of the songs from the  first movie. For some reason the songs from the second film have a Canadian production feel that was popular at the time which makes sense seeing that the Eddie character had been hiding out in Canada. I still want to go back and edit down some of those live bootlegs, might be cool.

Is it on my iPod? At the moment, yes. This is my preferred way to listen to this material.