I'm in the midst of reading this now. One of the better rock biographies written from the perspective of someone who is a fan as well as a biographer. You get the sense where I am in the book right now that it took a ton of effort to put a positive spin on the creative process for the Tunnel of Love/Lucky Town/Human Touch era.
The book actually motivated me to finally put aside the 3 hours I needed to watch the Houston '78 Bootleg Cut from the Darkness on the Edge of Town box set. ...and holy moses! This is perhaps the best live show I've ever seen. Frankly, the setlist is basically perfection for me (I am really huge on the first 4 albums...love the others, but the first 4 really strike a chord for me - Nebraska is also up there, but I dislike the full band versions of songs that were on the Live/1975-85 set). The versions of Streets of Fire, Prove It All Night, and Spirit in the Night in the show's first half hour are so epic - and he doesn't even slow down from there, basically nailing amazing versions of every song imaginable from that era (and a few from the River). Just wow.
Chris_H_2 wrote:I think this makes me a communist or something, but I don't really like Bruce Springsteen's music. There, I said it.
I used to be like you, but I've since smartened up.
Wrecking Ball was my album of the year.
As a child in the 1980s, I liked Bruce Springsteen much like Michael Jackson, inescapable artists of the time with really catchy songs that a 5-9 year old child can love just on the symbolism of it all.
When I came into my own musical tastes in the 1990s, I did not like anything Springsteen at all that I knew except "Streets of Philadelphia". I never really gave him the time of day for many years until the early to mid-2000s hearing The Rising. Even then, I did not reach back at all.
Around 2007, I finally reached back to the first 3 or 4 albums and really started to enjoy it (The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle in particular). Still was not a huge zealot of any kind then either. Then I picked up the Hammersmith Odeon show from 1975 and was stunned how good he sounded live. The rest really started to follow. Saw him in 2009 at the Nassau Coliseum in the first 5 rows and well, now I'm hooked. I will say this, this may be the one artist that you really can't judge until you see him live - even at 63 years old, the show is spectacular...if you love guys who can go on stage with no crazy light shows and screens and just blow your socks off for 3 hours with straight up rock n roll music, THIS is your guy. Even at his age, the only shows I have preferred to the Springsteen shows I have seen (3 now - the one mentioned, one of the Giants Stadium closing shows, and the 2nd MSG show last year) are the truly great Pearl Jam shows I have been lucky enough to attend.
Gods' Die wrote:That Hammersmith show is about as essential as a concert of an artist gets...holy shit that is a high quality show.
I thought the same for a long time. A friend then sent me a bunch of Springsteen bootlegs, and one particularly from Passaic, NJ in '78, which blew my mind all over. Then this Houston show from last night, which is just about second to none. A lot of Springsteen fans I have spoken to over the years really love the live '78-80 period, which I guess was the last gasp of the pre-arena Springsteen era. The setlists changed every night, the focus was simply unmatchable, and the jamming jaw dropping, particularly from Springsteen himself (very underrated as a guitarist since the only song on an album that sniffed even close to his potential was "Kitty's Back").
Just thought I'd rekindle this in light of the Pearl Jam Bitching hijacking I contributed to In any event, that Houston '78 DVD does contain perhaps my ideal setlist from a Bruce standpoint:
Set 1: Badlands, Streets of Fire, It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City, Darkness on the Edge of Town, Spirit in the Night, Independence Day, The Promised Land, Prove It All Night, Racing in the Street, Thunder Road, Jungleland
Set 2: The Ties That Bind, Santa Claus Is Coming to Town, The Fever, Fire, Candy's Room, Because the Night, Point Blank, She's the One, Backstreets, Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
Encore 1 (If I remember correctly): Born to Run, Detroit Medley, Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
I listen to Bruce alot. I started with Tom Joad and Nebraska in the 90's. Reviews lead me to The Rising and then a Greatest Hits. When I moved country I had a real connection to the early albums and now it's out of control. About to start the Heylin book, just saw 2 Sydney shows (wish it was 3) and I still have many albums to discover.
Chris_H_2 wrote:I think this makes me a communist or something, but I don't really like Bruce Springsteen's music. There, I said it.
I like the odd song but I'm basically the same. I respect the guy but his music.....I can't really describe what I don't like about it. It's like overly romantic or something. I can't watch them live at all. All the posing and the preening embarrasses me and I have to turn away. Not by Bruce so much it's the others.
Saigon, it was all gone The same Coke machines As the streets I grew on Down in a mesquite canyon We come walking along the ridge Me and the brothers under the bridge
Campsite's an hour's walk from the nearest road to town Up here there's too much brush and canyon For the CHP choppers to touch down Ain't lookin' for nothin', just wanna live Me and the brothers under the bridge Come the Santa Ana's, man, that dry brush'll light Billy Devon got burned up in his own campfire one winter night We buried his body in the white stone high up along the ridge Me and the brothers under the bridge
Had enough of town and the street life Over nothing you end up on the wrong end of someone's knife Now I don't want no trouble And I ain't got none to give Me and the brothers under the bridge
I come home in '72 You were just a beautiful light In your mama's dark eyes of blue I stood down on the tarmac, I was just a kid Me and the brothers under the bridge
Come Veterans' Day I sat in the stands in my dress blues I held your mother's hand When they passed with the red, white and blue One minute you're right there ... and something slips..
Raney William's playground was among Haven's streets Where he ran past melted candles and flower wreaths Names and photos of the young black faces Whose death and blood consecrated these places
Raney's mother said Raney stay at my side For you are my blessing, you are my pride It's your love here that keeps my soul alive I want you to come home from school and stay inside
Raney'd do his work and put his books away There was a channel showed a Western movie everyday And that brought him home books on the black cowboys of the Oklahoma range The Seminole scouts that fought the tribes of the Great Plains
Summer come and the days grew long Raney always had his mother's smile to depend on Along the street of stray bullets he made his way To the warmth of her arms at the end of each day
Come the fall, the rain flooded these homes In Ezekiel's valley of dry bones It fell hard and dark to the ground It fell without a sound
And they took up with a man whose business was the boulevard Whose smile was fixed in a face that was never off guard In the pipes 'neath the kitchen sink his secrets are kept In the day, behind drawn curtains in the next bedroom he slept
And she got lost in the days The smile Raney depended on dusted away The arms that held him were no more his own He lay at night his head pressed to her chest listening to the ghost in her bones
In the kitchen, Raney slipped his hand between the pipes From a brown bag pulled five hundred dollar bills and stuck it in his coat side Stood in the dark at his mother's bed Brushed her hair and kissed her eyes
In the twilight Raney walked to the station on streets of stone Through Pennsylvania and Ohio his train drifted on Through the small towns of Indiana the big train crept As he lay his head back on his seat and slept
He woke and the towns gave way to muddy fields of green Corn and cotton and endless nothing in between Over the rutted hills of Oklahoma the red sun slipped and was gone The moon rose and stripped the earth to its bone
Is it wrong to admit that I really like "I'm On Fire", but I suspect it's only because we accidentally had it on repeat one of the first times I had sex with my ex girlfriend?
Inspired by this thread to watch the Houston dvd. It is so good. The transition from the Prove It All Night solo into the song is perfection. He had mastered displaying that perfect blend of reverence for the event, faith in the music, and a dash of "aw shucks, we're just having fun". Seamlessly moving from one to another as the song and situation called for.
He's still amazing now but has veered into the kitchy. However, the way he acknowledges Clarence and Danny's passing, and allows the audience to acknowledge was the highlight of the show I saw last year. It came across as heartfelt, emotional and was fan driven. It made me recall when I first got into Bruce. 16 or 17 at the drive-in. Baked out of my brains, lying on the hood of my car having an unneeded beer and yet another spliff when the Jungleand sax solo came on. In my haze I just got lost in it, and realized it's not all earnestness but there's a lot of celebration and fun being had.
LetMeSleep wrote:I listen to Bruce alot. I started with Tom Joad and Nebraska in the 90's. Reviews lead me to The Rising and then a Greatest Hits. When I moved country I had a real connection to the early albums and now it's out of control. About to start the Heylin book, just saw 2 Sydney shows (wish it was 3) and I still have many albums to discover.
I recently read the Peter Carlin biography and it was really good.
Most of my connection to Bruce started with the first 4 albums (oddly less so Born to Run, which I have come to appreciate a lot more in recent years), and then very slowly branching out. For the first few years, I would say The Wild, The Innocent... was my favorite but it has since been slightly topped by Darkness, which is just phenomenal.
I think part of the problem with getting into Springsteen is if you start with Born in the USA or the sort of image conjured up by it, that can be off putting. It's a very strong album, but maybe too working man's creed for many. In the context of the entire first half of his career, it fits well though.