Step Lively (album)

Step Lively is a reissue of Hats Off Step Lively, the fifth studio album by Australian blues/rock band Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons. The album was released in North America and Europe in September 1981.

Step Lively
Studio album (reissue) by
Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons
ReleasedSeptember 1981
GenreRock, pop, Blues Rock
LabelWEA, Columbia
ProducerPeter Solley
Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons chronology
Dexterity
(1981)		 Step Lively
(1981)		 Cha
(1982)
Singles from Step Lively
  1. "But It's Alright"
    Released: August 1981
  2. "Gimme Little Sign"
    Released: October 1981

Background and release

Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons released their fifth studio album Hats Off Step Lively in Australia in August 1980. The album peaked at number 17 on the Australian Kent Music Report.[1] The band began touring internationally including performances in The Bottom Line club in New York, and at the Montreux Jazz & Blues Festival. Increased tensions within the group led to members Gary Young and John Power leaving the band by June 1981.[2] The album was released in September 1981, but with the band no longer together, the album was not promoted and was a commercial failure.

In 2007, band member Joe Camilleri said "We could have done it if we'd kept punching, but the band actually disintegrated, basically, looking back, because we were too tired. We should have just taken a year off. But what happened was we were right at the end of the period when, in order to flog a record in the States, you were virtually out promoting the one you had out the year before. So it was a totally asynchronous situation. We were having to dig into what we viewed as archives when we went out of the country."[3]

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]

Carly Darling from Billboard said; "On the group's second US album, Step Lively, the infectious sound staked out on last year's Screaming Targets is honed and refined." adding "The listener is in for one of the hottest sleeper albums of the year"... "From the heavy metal/funk rave-up of "Sweet Honey Sweet" and the Latin tinge of "Too Hot" to the summer breeze effervesces of "P.T", Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons create their own persona." Darling commented that all of the songs are of the "boy meets girl/boy loves girl" variety, but each are "handled in their own way" but added "for sheer good time grace, nothing on the album beats "Puppet on a String".[5]

Track listing
Side A
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."But It's Alright"J.J. Jackson, Pierre Tubbs2:53
2."Sweet Honey Sweet"Joe Camilleri, Jeff Burstin, Tony Faehse3:42
3."Tighten Up"Camilleri, Burstin, Faehse3:22
4."All I Wanna Do"L. Cook3:04
5."Fool Enough"Wayne Burt3:32
6."P.T"Camilleri, Burstin, Faehse3:40
Side B
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Gimme Little Sign"Alfred Smith, Joe Hooven, Jerry Winn2:35
2."Keep It Up"Camilleri, Burstin, Faehse3:46
3."Too Hot"Camilleri, Burstin, Faehse2:33
4."Puppet on a String"Camilleri, Burstin, Faehse3:30
5."Rudy"Camilleri, Burstin, Faehse4:33
6."Rub Up, Push Up"Justin Hinds3:05

References
  1. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. p. 156. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. NOTE: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1970 until ARIA created their own charts in mid-1988.
  2. Nichols, David (2016). Dig: Australian Rock and Pop Music, 1960-85. Verse Chorus Press. p. 307. ISBN 9781891241611.
  3. The Drum Media, p.12 (12 July 2007)
  4. "Album Review: Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons – Step Lively". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  5. "Billboard Magazine". BillBoard. 26 Sep 1981. p. 78. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
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