Bruce Springsteen - Page 2

I used 'last six months' as a general term, but yeah, he fell off the wagon, and fell off it hard. I don't have the book in front of me, but the way he handled himself is kind of shocking. He was trashed and smoking around his pregnant daughter, etc. But that's like one of the many, many funny/sad/shocking things about that book.

I wrote my high school junior year essay on "Bruce Springsteen vs. Reagan's America". So, yeah, I've been a fan for a lot of my life.

I have a soft spot for Devils & Dust. Between the title track, "Reno", "All The Way Home", "The Boxer", "Silver Palomino", and "Matamoros Banks", I'd put it up there as some of the best solo work The Boss has done. It doesn't stand up to the volley of awesome that links Born To Run to Tunnel of Love - just about every album he put out from one end to the other in that run are bonafied classics - but I think D&D is better than The Ghost of Tom Joad by a long shot.

Also, count me as a fan of The Rising. First album I ever picked up from him day one, and I still find myself listening to "Counting On A Miracle", "Nothing Man", "The Fuse", "You're Missing", the title track, "My City of Ruins" - at least half that album stands up seven years later, and that's a better ratio than most artists have in their entire catalogues.

I read the book too, Rath, which is why I'm busting you on inaccuracy. EDIT - No, the reason I'm busting you on inaccuracy is I KNOW you know more about Zevon than I do. Think of me as the Catholic-school rap on the knuckles.

After getting the diagnosis, he put up a brave front but fell right into the abyss (not that I'm standing on any moral plateau over that decision - similar situation I'd be hunting down AIDs infested 13 yr old hookers myself) - but Oct 02 was the Letterman appearance, Sept 03 was his death - and between those 2 dates he was pretty well straight (by all accounts). That's damn near a year.

Darkness on the Edge of Town is probably my favorite album of all time. It's got some of the best songwriting from any American artist ever. It's such a heart-breaking album. Still amazes me.

I don't know if anyone else has watched these but they're great. Josh Ritter's cover of "The River" is astounding.

Pete Yorn's 'Own Worst Enemy' is the shit, as is the Atlantic City, and I love that Tegan and Sara cover. There are some pretty astounding versions of Springsteen songs out there. Hold Steady's version of Atlantic City is pretty goddamn great.

I never used to like Springsteen, I could never get past his voice but I decided to listen to 'Greetings at Asbury Park' a couple of years ago and was just completely blown away, songs like 'Growin' Up' 'Lost in the Flood' were so such skilfully written songs, the man has a gift for writing great character sketches, The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle' is packed with so much energy.

'Racing in the Street' is one of the most moving songs ever created as well as 'Something in the Night'

For all the roar of "Thunder Road" and "Born to Run" and "Jungleland", "Meeting Across the River" may be my favorite song on the album. There's such an air of last-chance desperation masked by a fool's hope that this time it'll work. It's hauntingly understated song.

Find it odd that there's so many "Tunnel of Love" fans. People seem to be drawn to the 80's in everything.

More songs moving me:

"Incident On 57th Street" and the live 75 versions of "Kitty's Back" & "Jungleland"

Has nothing to do with the eighties and every thing to do with fairly intense personal lyrics. He was writing about the end of his very public first marriage. It makes for some very beautiful and occasionally emotionally awkward moments.

I say Bruce is at his best when it's raw and under-prodced.

I can't enjoy anything from Human Touch and on, save for the Seeger Sessions.

With that said, Hammersmith '75, Born to Run, Greetings From Asbury Park, are what I listen to the most. That shit still gives me goosebumps.

I like Tunnel of Love despite its 80s production, not because of it. I have no doubt it would be better without it, but it doesn't quite ruin it for me either. It's just a great collection of some of his most personal songs, really.

"Is a dream a lie if it don't come true
Or is it something worse
That sends me down to the river.."

Is beyond brilliant.

"Poor man wanna be rich
Rich man wanna be king
And a king ain't satisfied till he rules everything"

is up there too.

Granted its been forever since I listened to "Tunnel of Love", but I always thought of it as a lukewarm attempt at "Blood on the Tracks".

Well, let's be honest...nothing can really live up to Blood at the Tracks, so the comparisons are probably unfair (I've done it myself, mind you). It's really just a good album to hear some of Springsteen's most personal and vivid lyrics.

"Tunnel" was the first Springsteen album that didn't connect with me completely on first listen, and I still think it's a lot like "Darkness" in that the live arrangements produce what amount to almost completely different songs.

But that's true to one degree or another of almost all his stuff. When I first saw him (Roxy L.A. '75), all we knew was that he was a "great live performer"; but no one I knew had even the remotest idea of just what that entailed in his case, and we were all completely stunned by the show.

I'd loved all of "Born To Run" (only got into the first two after that), but after seeing him live, even the best of his albums after that would always feel slightly incomplete, because I knew just how much better the material would come across on stage.

While I'm not sure I'd put forth "The River" as being necessarily superior to his other albums, it was the first one that actually felt and sounded like an E Street show, and I retain a lot of affection for it on that basis.

It is a great line, though it's another example of Bruce letting his roots show through a bit too clearly:

"Poor man wanna be a rich man
Rich man wanna be a king
But the man who can sing when he hasn't got a thing
He's the king of the whole wide world."

--King of the Whole Wide World, by Elvis Presley, written by Ruth Batchelor and Bob Roberts

I don't deny that the album, as a whole, would probably sound superior with a less glossy sound, but that's really a moot point. It's a product made in the 80s and reflects the musical trends (right or wrong) of that timeframe. It sounded timely when it came out, and I can get past that 80s element when I listen to it now. The album IS what it IS, and I love it.

For absolutley killer versions of all of those you should pick up "Live at Hammersmith Odeon 1975" the version of Lost in the Flood is fucking tremendous, the song sounds like a war.

And that live version of Thunder Road is my favorite thing that has ever graced my eardrums. I remember reading in Nick Hornby's "31 Songs" that Bruce used to segue from Racing in the Streets into this version of Thunder Road. I would give anything to hear that live.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_h4jxXPENU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYPSZiE0OAs

Eh, just watch every video. It's a fucking incredible collection.

I just got word...

I'm going to see Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band in Toronto on May 7th!!

And I'll be seeing him in State College, PA on May 8th. Sweet.

Nice! Get there early and try get in the pit.

Virtually every boot I've heard from the '78 tour (and both shows I saw on that tour) features that segue. And since that was back when Bruce used to kick off radio broadcasts with the cry "Bootleggers, roll them tapes!", I don't think you need to feel too guilty.

(Yes, I know, he later grew unhappy with the practice when he found that bootlegging wasn't just fans trading tapes of favorite shows. But still...)

"The River" CD sound alright? A remastered import out there?

A local CD exchange store had some nice 70's bootlegs. Wish I'd picked up the '78 one. I went with Atlanta '75.

If you go looking again, I think the best sounding of the 78's I've heard is from a New Jersey show (typically sold under the name "Piece De Resistance," though I've seen others). Only problem is that every version of it I've heard drops out after the pause during "Fire", and loses the end of the song (not sure if it was the radio station or the taper that was fooled). Also, there's not much in the way of tall tales or stage banter from Bruce. Very intense show musically, though: the guitar parts on "Because the Night," "Kitty's Back," and "Prove It All Night" are just searing, and it's the best version of the "Not Fade Away/She's The One" pairing I've heard yet.

You might also consider the one usually called "Berkeley Night." Maybe not quite as amazing sound, but a looser, more characteristic performance.

Oh, and if I understand your question about The River? Well the sound is typically dry, tinny early-CBS CD, but the original vinyl was no great shakes in that department, either. I hear there's a vinyl remaster that sounds better, but honestly, that album really needs a complete remix IMHO.

Strangely, for all that (and despite the fact that I find "The Price You Pay" too Jackson Browne for me, and "Drive All Night" unlistenable), it remains probably my favorite Bruce album. I think it's because it was the first one to really capture the emotional and musical range of an E Street live show.

Saw one of the Spectrum shows in Philly this week. Amazing. First Springsteen concert for me.

Good to hear. May 14th can't get here fast enough for me.

Heh. Reading over the recent setlists at backstreets.com. Atlanta got "96 Tears"? Lucky sods.

I just skimmed those, and it looks like he's been throwing in all kinds of great covers - "I Wanna Be Sedated," "London Calling," Social Distortion's "Bad Luck."

I've only seen him once, but it was on the E Street reunion tour after Tracks came out, so the sets were all over the place. It looked like they were starting to get a little predictable after The Rising, but this bunch is really well-varied. I've really got to shell out the cash and see him again one of these days.

I have an old bootleg cassette collection (that I've got to transfer to CD someday) of about 60 or so E Street covers. Quality's all over the place, but one hell of a lot of fun; my two favorites are probably "Party Lights" and "Double Shot."

Someone made me a single-cassette comp like that a while back. There's a surprisingly awesome version of Buddy Holly's "Rave On" with Gary Busey (fresh from playing Holly) singing lead on there.

Apologies if I'm a live Bruce newbie and explaining something that's well-known, but all of the covers are coming from the crowd -- Bruce collects them during the intro to "Raise Your Hand," and shows them to the band right before they play 'em. Part of his way to pump E Street as the "greatest living bar band."

Yes, I was seated next to a guy who is following them across the country.

That's actually a pretty recent development: I think the "Magic" tour is when it started (that was the first time I remember seeing it, and I'm pretty sure I hadn't seen any on the "Rising" tour). It's cool, but the E Streeters know way more obscure stuff than most people seem to be asking for!

I was at a show on the "Tunnel of Love" tour where Bruce called for "Little Latin Lupe Lu;" had to yell to the horn section to join in (and what key), then got to the end, and admitted that they hadn't played it in so long he couldn't remember how to end it. So he starts calling out to the band, asking for suggestions of other songs, shaking his head "no" or "nah, we did that". Finally, he just says "OK, follow me, boys," the band stops, and he breaks into the guitar intro to "Twist and Shout". Great, great endiing.

And unless my memory is conflating that show and the one the night before, I'm pretty sure it's the same show where he called his mom onstage during "Rosalita."

EDITED FOR SERENDIPITY: I have my mp3 player on shuffle, and just as I finished typing the above, up came "Raise Your Hand" from the "Live 75-85" set.

I actually listened to Born in the USA for the first time, in it's entirety, I'd heard the hits on the radio but I just never bothered to listen to his stuff because I thought it would all be like Born in the USA, I was wrong, in listening to Born in the USA, I found there's some really great stuff, a distillation of his themes into the pop/rock formula (but it's anything but), Ironically, it was Dancing in the dark that finally got me to listen to Springsteen and actually listen to his other recordings, I'm glad I did.

Songs like 'Downbound Train' and 'Born in the USA' are classic Springsteen, character sketches of men on the edge but he tempers it with songs like 'Bobby Jean' and 'My Hometown' which are tinged with optimism.

Probably shouldn't use "Born" as shorthand when talking about "Born In The USA", but yeah. If you get the chance, give the alternate version of the title song a listen (I think it's on "Tracks").

I just recently started listening to Springsteen , partly due to this thread. It's weird because everytime I heard him, I knew there was something there I liked, but I've never taken the "effort" to delve any deeper.
I now own all the studio albums from Asbury to The River plus the Hammersmith live show, and now consider myself converted.
My favorite album is probably Darkness on the Edge of Town or maybe Asbury, but I can't be sure yet.
He's a fantastic artist.

Went nuts today over some Boss bootlegs!

"Prodigal Son At The Main Point" ---160 min. club show in Phila., Feb. 74. Sound is remastered and sounds great! The band debuts Thunder Road (Wings For Wheels) Female violinist really adds a nice touch to "Incident At 57th Street"

"Making Up For Lost Time--is a 3 disc-er; recorded at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta Sept '78; chills during the "Racing In The Street"/"Thunder Road" segue; the band does "Good Rockin' Tonight", "Fire", "Because The Night" and a medley of "Not Fade Away"/ "Gloria"/ "She's The One"; awesome stuff!

"Does The Bus Stop In West Hollywood?"--Roxy, LA Oct '75 (Haven't listened to yet)

Also "How Nebraska Was Born" and "Running Out Of Innocence"-basically early demos/alternate takes

Previously I got "Sparks On The Ballroom" Atlanta Aug 75 + "From The Dark Heart of A Dream" Boston Mar '77

If I can just find the ones Jeb mentioned, I'll be set!

Youngstown. Reminds me of home.

Does it mention the actual date it was recorded? I like finding boots from shows I was at, but none of the '75 ones I have are from the night I was there. I don't know that title, though, so it might well be.

Toronto was a blast! WAY better then the Buffalo show last March. So much energy, better crowd, more fun. Thankfully we were able to beat rush hour heading into Toronto and our number was in the group of 350 that got into the pit! Front center stage again!

The Set List:

May 7, 2009
Toronto, Ontario
Air Canada Centre

Badlands
No Surrender
Outlaw Pete
She's The One
Working On A Dream
Seeds
Johnny 99
The Ghost Of Tom Joad
Raise Your Hand
E Street Shuffle
Prove It All Night
Louie Louie
Waiting On A Sunny Day
The Promised Land
Racing In The Streets
Kingdom Of Days
Radio Nowhere
Lonesome Day
The Rising
Born To Run

Hard Times
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
Land Of Hope And Dreams
American Land
Rosalita
Glory Days

Niles ROCKED Ghost of Tom Joad on the guitar. His solo was incredible. Max had a kickass solo later on and watching him play drums is hilarious. It's like he's been trying to force a big poop out for an hour.

We got E Street Shuffle and Prove it all Night as the "request" songs and Louie, Louie as the cover song. Someone made a really cool Racing in the Street sign which Bruce grabbed from them later when he started playing that.

To close the first set with Racing in the Street, Radio Nowhere, Lonesome Day, The Rising and then Born to Run was enough to die of exhaustion. I'm so happy we got Land of Hope and Dreams and a close with Glory Days!!

Some pics:

Great show report and a helluva setlist.

And FWIW, I have never seen Bruce's current album become such a small part of the setlist in such a short period of time. Down to, what, only four songs already?

Only one from Magic, too, and that was miles better than Working on a Dream. Stranger still is that "Outlaw Pete" seems to be getting a lot of plays, and it's kind of terrible.

Outlaw Pete live was cool. So I'm glad he played it. Hearing one song from Magic was alright since I had already seen some on the Magic tour a year ago. So that didn't bother me. Plus he probably doesn't want to play a lot of Magic songs since he just wrapped that tour up. And he only played a few songs from Magic in Buffalo, so I guess he just doesn't want to play the whole album?

Here's the opening to the concert: Badlands

Gets the crowd worked up during Working on a Dream

The Louie, Louie cover

Racing in the Street, when he grabs the sign from the fan (I found out he was supposed to play I'm On Fire but changed it during the show to this song)

End of American Land into Rosalita

Glory Days

The closing of the show

So, I saw Bruce on Friday night in State College, Pennsylvania. It was only the second time I've seen him with the E Street Band (I saw him solo on the "Ghost of Tom Joad" tour) and they did not disappoint. I was able to see them do "Jungleland" and "Out in the Street" live, so a part of me can now die happy. "The Wrestler" sent chills down my spine. Strangely, the only song he did from "Born in the USA" was "Bobby Jean", although I was stoked because I adore that song. A highlight, however, was when he sat at the edge of the stage next to a little girl (no more than 6) he had pulled up there with him and the two sang "Waiting on a Sunny Day" together. So freakin' cute. Anyways, here's the setlist:

Badlands
Out In The Street
Outlaw Pete
She's The One
Working On A Dream
Seeds
Johnny 99
The Ghost Of Tom Joad
Raise Your Hand
Ramrod
My Generation
Spirit In The Night
Waitin' On A Sunny Day
The Promised Land
The Wrestler
This Life
Radio Nowhere
Lonesome Day
The Rising
Born To Run

Hard Times
Jungleland
Land Of Hope And Dreams
American Land
Bobby Jean
Detroit Medley
Wooly Bully

Dave, I'm curious as to why you don't like "Outlaw Pete". I think it's a blast. This opinion was only cemented by the live performance, which was the stuff of greatness.

Wait, is the "My Generation" as in The Who? Because if so, holy shit.

And yeah, "Outlaw Pete" seems like the kind of big sprawling song that would play well to a big crowd.

EDIT: And he did "Ramrod"??? Wow.

Yes!!! It was one of the request songs and it was fantastic. He and Little Stevie made a production of pretending they didn't know how to play the song, whispering and gesticulating in confusion at the center of the stage. Of course, they then ripped into a completely kickass cover. The second of the request songs. Greatness, complete with Bruce's "Let's roadhouse!"

EDIT: Does anyone know why Patty isn't playing with the band at the moment? Or did she just sit my show out?

You cannot be a fan of music without owning Nebraska. It's a rule.

IIRC, Patti fell off a horse a couple months back, and while I guess it's not serious, she's taking it easy coming back.

When The River came out, "Ramrod" was one of my favorites. But since Bruce re-formed the E Streeters in '99, I'd come to feel badly that he seemed to be using it as the default "fill-in" party number in place of all the oldies he wasn't doing any more ("Quarter to Three", "Twist and Shout", "Raise Your Hand", and the rest). Still a great live number, but I'm glad to see he's mixing it up with the covers again.

And I really wish The Professor would quit jumping all over that song. The studio arrangement is perfect, with everyone just chording behind Bruce till after the sax break, and THEN we get all the piano runs as the band takes it home. When they play it live now, it's like Roy can't let the thing breathe for a second.

(Though, of course, I also know who's to "blame" for that: there's not one note played in an E Street show that hasn't been 100% vetted by The Boss)

It's just a silly, repetitive song, inexplicably bloated to 8 minutes. It probably didn't help that the advance reviews all tended to compare it to those, so I was looking forward to a return to "Jungleland," "Incident on 57th St.", and "New York City Serenade" territory.

And the hook's melody sounds like "I Was Made for Lovin' You" to a distracting degree.

In listening to it again, I can see how it might work live. On the album, it just sounds really lacking in the dynamics department and lacking grit compared to his old-school epics. It's a lousy opener, but then I'm not all that keen on most of the album. Methinks he blew his load a bit on Magic.

That's a pretty wicked set list. Ramrod... I hate you! My Generation AND Wooly Bully. Sounds like a great show.

I heard that Patti wasn't on tour because she's at home with the kids. She wasn't on the Magic Tour and this is a reason why they only play two or three shows a week instead of a lot more, so Bruce can be home more.

Also, Bruce's site has a short clip of My Generation up: http://media.brucespringsteen.net/no...508_1S_GNX.mov