168 replies to this topic

[Coker]

I maintain that Hammersmith Odeon London'75 is one of the greatest live albums of all time. I urge everybody to listen to that if they haven't.

I'm admittedly not a fan of Born in the USA era Bruce (other than I'm on Fire...cause c'mon) and much of the later/newer stuff. The Wild, The Innocent & The E-Street Shuffle has been my favorite for years.

[McNulty]

People who hate the boss are probably the same stunods that like awful bands like Godsmack and such.

[Nigel Tufnel]

The Springsteen website is selling live downloads of his 2014 concerts, but you can only buy them through June 30.  Check out this February concert from Brisbane - he played the entire Wild & Innocent album, a bunch of other old stuff, plus he threw in covers of Stayin Alive and Highway to Hell.  Well worth the $10 if you ask me.

 

http://brucespringst...D&sku=BSPDB264M
 

01. Stayin' Alive 
02. Bruce Talk 
03. It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City 
04. Does this Bus Stop At 82nd Street 
05. Growin' Up 
06. Spirit In The Night 
07. High Hopes 
08. Just Like Fire Would 
09. You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch) 
10. Sherry Darling 
11. Save My Love 
12. Bruce Talk 02 
13. Fade Away 
14. Bruce Talk 03 
15. The E Street Shuffle 
16. 4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) 
17. Kitty's Back 
18. Wild Billy's Circus Story 
19. Incident On 57th Street 
20. Rosalita 
21. New York City Serenade 
22. Darlington County 
23. Waiting on a Sunny Day 
24. The Rising 
25. The Ghost Of Tom Joad 
26. Badlands 
27. Glory Days 
28. Born To Run 
29. Bobby Jean 
30. Dancing In The Dark 
31. Tenth Avenue Freeze Out 
32. Bruce Talk 04 
33. Highway To Hell 
34. Bruce Talk 05 
35. Thunder Road 

[Pedro Cerrano]

BTW, nobody asked me, but if I'm ranking his pre-BITUSA records it goes:

 

1)  Darkness...

2)  Born to Run

3)  The Wild, The Innocent....

4)  Greetings....

5)  Nebraska

6)  The River

 

Darkness is clearly his best, IMO and the next two are safely at 2 and 3 respectively.  Really hard ranking 4-6.

[Coker]

Other than MAYBE Dylan and MAYBE Lennon when he was high as a kite, did anyone do imagery better than The Boss?

 

"Barefoot girl sitting on the hood the Dodge, drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain."

 

Such a seemingly simple line, but so good.

Tom Waits.

[You Play to Win the Game]

Listening to Darkness On The Edge of Town tonight... wow... One of the best albums I've ever listened to. Can't believe I never got into Springsteen. Honestly, I thought all his stuff was just boring Born In The USA type stuff so I never bothered to explore him much.

[Pedro Cerrano]

Listening to Darkness On The Edge of Town tonight... wow... One of the best albums I've ever listened to. Can't believe I never got into Springsteen. Honestly, I thought all his stuff was just boring Born In The USA type stuff so I never bothered to explore him much.

Darkness is his best IMO...but all his pre BITUSA stuff is just excellent.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Springsteen has had an amazing career. Being able to stay relevant, and adaptable over 4 decades? Speaks for itself.

When you see the images of his live shows, and those performances.... I don't know how you can't respect it; even if the music itself is not your favorite.

 

I'm not enough of a fan to know his entire catalog, but even for me... there are 20+ great / well-known songs in Pedro's list that I identify.

The Springsteen station on Sirius is fantastic.

[Nigel Tufnel]

The gif alone makes this one worth a click:

 

http://theconcourse....teen-1598497909

[Pedro Cerrano]

Currently hammered. Listening to The Boss.

[Nigel Tufnel]

Springsteen's website just started making classic concerts available for download. The first show, just released last week, is a 1978 show from the Agora Theatre in Cleveland. Highly, highly recommended.

http://m.live.bruces...show?show=11757

 

 

From Rolling Stone:

 

Imagine hearing Springsteen go from "Racing in the Street" into "Thunder Road" into "Jungleland" – and then he comes back out for the second half of the show. This epic Cleveland set is from August 9th, 1978, a highlight of the fabled Darkness tour, simulcast on local station WMMS. Springsteen burns through classics like "Rosalita" (with a snippet of the Village People's "Macho Man"), castoff gems like "Fire" and covers from "Summertime Blues" to "Twist and Shout." The peak is the 10-minute "Prove It All Night," with the long, moody guitar-piano intro. This is simply the greatest live LP this greatest of live rockers has ever officially released.

 

ttp://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/bruce-springsteen-the-agora-cleveland-1978-20150113

[Nigel Tufnel]

The second classic show was just made available - December 31, 1975 from the Tower Theater in Upper Darby, PA.  The final show from the Born to Run tour.  Six weeks after the Hammersmith Odeon show in London.

 

http://live.brucespr...r-Darby-PA.html

 

• 1.INTRO
• 2.NIGHT
• 3.TENTH AVENUE FREEZE-OUT
• 4.SPIRIT IN THE NIGHT
• 5.DOES THIS BUS STOP AT 82ND STREET?
• 6.IT'S MY LIFE
• 7.SHE'S THE ONE
• 8.BORN TO RUN
• 9.PRETTY FLAMINGO
• 10.IT'S HARD TO BE A SAINT IN THE CITY
• 11.BACKSTREETS
• 12.MOUNTAIN OF LOVE
• 13.JUNGLELAND
• 14.ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT)

ENCORE

• 1.4TH OF JULY, ASBURY PARK (SANDY)
• 2.DETROIT MEDLEY
• 3.QUARTER TO THREE
• 4.THUNDER ROAD
• 5.TWIST AND SHOUT

[Pedro Cerrano]

Jungleland and Rosalita back to back -- 26 minutes.

 

Unreal.

[Nigel Tufnel]

Jungleland and Rosalita back to back -- 26 minutes.

 

Unreal.

 

Supposedly there's a "Theme from Shaft" interlude in the middle of Rosalita, too.

[Pedro Cerrano]

Not sure what my favorite Springsteen verse is, but this is definitely a nominee:

 

I met her on the strip three years ago
In a Camaro with this dude from L.A
I blew that Camaro off my back and drove that little girl away
But now there’s wrinkles around my baby’s eyes
And she cries herself to sleep at night
When I come home the house is dark
She sighs “Baby did you make it all right”
She sits on the porch of her daddy’s house
But all her pretty dreams are torn
She stares off alone into the night
With the eyes of one who hates for just being born

For all the shut-down strangers and hot rod angels
Rumbling through this promised land
Tonight my baby and me we’re gonna ride to the sea
And wash these sins off our hands

Tonight tonight the highway’s bright
Out of our way mister you best keep
Cause summer’s here and the time is right
For racing in the street

[RShack]

Whatever he's playing live at the moment... he's got the biggest delta of studio vs live of anybody I can think of...

[Nigel Tufnel]

I thought this was a pretty good article:  how Bruce Springsteen rebounded after a down period in the 90's.

 

http://radio.com/201...is-groove-back/

[Pedro Cerrano]

I thought this was a pretty good article: how Bruce Springsteen rebounded after a down period in the 90's.

http://radio.com/201...is-groove-back/

Without reading this I'm guessing 9/11 had a lot to do with it.

Human Touch and Lucky Town are so bad. But he's been good other than those two duds.

[Pedro Cerrano]

Zomg!!!


Craig Finn is the frontman of the Hold Steady, a band with a clear Springsteen influence (they’ve covered “Atlantic City”), and he told Radio.com that the tour had a big impact on him: “When he came back with the E Street Band on the reunion tour… once you see him live you’re like, ‘S***!’ You know? There’s like all this stuff like Sonic Youth and Fugazi, that are great. But this is the best thing. This is literally the best thing. And I think just by showcasing that, he became undeniable.”

Finn also noticed that Springsteen wasn’t simply preaching to the converted, he was actually doing some converting: “My girlfriend is younger than me; she thought he was kind of lame, so I took her to a concert, and after the show she said, ‘I know I didn’t like him before walking in, but now he’s my favorite artist of all time.’ That’s the power of his live show.”

[Nigel Tufnel]

Without reading this I'm guessing 9/11 had a lot to do with it.

Human Touch and Lucky Town are so bad. But he's been good other than those two duds.

 

Yeah, there was some stuff leading up to that... Streets of Philadelphia, R&R, HOF, stealing Jakob Dylan's mojo on national TV, but his 9/11 album, The Rising, was pretty big.