On the Line (Gary U.S. Bonds album)

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On the Line
Studio album by Gary U.S. Bonds
Released	June 1982
Studio	Power Station New York, NY
Genre	Rock, pop
Length	40:29
Label	EMI America Records Razor & Tie BGO Records
Producer	Steven Van Zandt Bruce Springsteen
Gary U.S. Bonds chronology
Dedication (1981) On the Line (1982) Standing In the Line of Fire (1984)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

On the Line is an album released by Gary U.S. Bonds in 1982, the second of two on which he collaborated with Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, the first being Dedication, released the previous year, 1981.

Background[]

The musicians accompanying Bonds on the album include many members of the E Street Band.^[2] The album includes seven songs written by Springsteen, one written by Steven Van Zandt, and two written by Bonds himself ("Turn the Music Down", "Bring Her Back"), and features a duet with Steven Van Zandt on the track "Angelyne". The album produced one single, "Out of Work" which peaked at #21 on the Billboard Pop Singles charts.^[3][4]

According to the liner notes on the Razor & Tie reissue, after recording the album, Columbia Records had Bruce Springsteen remove his vocals from the tracks, specifically from the track "Angelyne", so Van Zandt stepped up to record the duet instead. Because of this, although Springsteen can still be heard on several of the tracks, he is not credited in the original liner notes. Additionally, the liner notes state that three other songs were recorded for the album but not present on the final release including Springsteen's "Action In the Street", "Lion's Den", and "Savin' Up".^[5][6] Springsteen's version of "Lion's Den" was eventually released in 1998 on his boxset Tracks and "Savin' Up" appeared on Clarence Clemons' first solo album Rescue (1983); "Action in the Street" remains unreleased. Springsteen's version of "Rendezvous" was finally released in 2010 on The Promise.

The album was re-released in 1992 on the Razor Edge label of Razor & Tie music, and then again in 2009 on BGO Records paired with Dedication.

Track listing[]

1. "Hold On (To What You Got)" (Bruce Springsteen) – 3:05
2. "Out of Work" (Springsteen) – 2:53
3. "Club Soul City" (Springsteen) – 3:36
4. "Soul Deep" (Wayne Carson) – 3:16
5. "Love's On the Line" (Springsteen) – 3:38
6. "Turn the Music Down" (Gary L. Anderson) – 3:37
7. "Rendezvous" (Springsteen) – 2:41
8. "Angelyne" (Springsteen) – 4:03
9. "All I Need" (Springsteen) – 5:10
10. "Bring Her Back" (Anderson) – 3:45
11. "Last Time" (Steven Van Zandt) – 4:45

Personnel[]

Musicians^[7][]

• Gary U.S. Bonds – lead vocals
• Bruce Springsteen – background vocals (uncredited)
• Steven Van Zandt – guitar (solo "Last Time"), background vocals (solo "Angelyne")
• Roy Bittan – keyboards
• Clarence Clemons – saxophone (solo "Angelyne" & "Out of Work"), background vocals
• Danny Federici – keyboards (solo "Club Soul City"), accordion
• Max Weinberg – drums
• Garry Tallent – bass

Additional Musicians[]

• Chuck Jackson – background vocals ("Club Soul City")
• J.T. Bowen – background vocals ("Out of Work")
• Rusty Cloud – keyboards (solo "Bring Her Back"), background vocals
• Bill Derby – guitar (solo "Turn the Music Down"), background vocals
• Joe Martin – guitar, background vocals
• Mike Micara – drums
• George Ruiz – bass, background vocals
• Joey Stann – saxophone (solo "Bring Her Back" & "Love's On the Line"), background vocals

Technical[]

• Bruce Springsteen – producer
• Steven Van Zandt – producer
• Neil Dorfsman – engineer
• Gary Rindfuss – assistant engineer
• Josh Abbey – assistant engineer
• Toby Scott – mixing
• Dana Brisbee – assistant mixing

External links[]