Bruce Springsteen - Classic or Dud ?

Yes. I'm a huge Springsteen fan (it's hard not to be in NJ) but the Storytellers thing could be his low point, surpassing even his LA studio musician phase. It was tough to watch because Bruce is always likable, but there he comes off as a pretentious gasbag.

darkness is a pretty uneven album, but the high points are indeed high. points, i mean.

http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l9xo1kzEKT1qzjvwlo1_400.jpg

this is like one of those movie posters where, like, christian bale is in the middle looking angsty and the two supporting players are on either side doing what they do. EXCEPT THEY ARE ALL BRUCE.

i think it's helpful to remember bruce's first two albums, esp. the first, where he is clearly struggling to be the next dylan. his more laconic, less wordy writing style that he arrived at later was clearly a deliberate choice. and yes he can be a huge gasbag.

yeah the first two can be borderline goofy but i kinda like the quirkiness and fun of them, they seem more lively

yeah, i like the first two as well but they put the lie to the "brooce-as-salt-of-the-earth" persona.

"la la laaa la la la la la laaaa....once again, there is an unspoken subtext about the power of rock n roll here. what do the la la las say? they say 'sing with me,' they also say 'stand by me and we will stand together in this'"

this reminds me of christgau's review of "born to run":

Just how much American myth can be crammed into one song, or a dozen, about asking your girl to come take a ride? A lot, but not as much as romanticists of the doomed outsider believe. Springsteen needs to learn that operettic pomposity insults the Ronettes and that pseudotragic beautiful-loser fatalism insults us all. And around now I'd better add that the man avoids these quibbles at his best and simply runs them over the rest of the time. If "She's the One" fails the memory of Phil Spector's innocent grandeur, well, the title cut is the fulfillment of everything "Be My Baby" was about and lots more. Springsteen may well turn out to be one of those rare self-conscious primitives who gets away with it. In closing, two comments from my friends the Marcuses. Jenny: "Who does he think he is, Howard Keel?" (That's a put-down.) Greil: "That is as good as `I Think We're Alone Now.'" (That's not.) A

i just noticed that xgau doesn't even write "operatic"--he writes "operretic." ouch.

yeah, the pre-born to run stuff tries REALLY HARD, and kinda fails to be as epic/awesome as bruce wants it to be, but the overall enthusiasm/vibe is pretty charming.

shit like this makes me grin totally:

Wizard imps and sweat sock pimps
Interstellar mongrel nymphs
Rex said that lady left him limp
Love's like that (sure it is)

the way he throws out (sure it is) is pretty dope

btw i heard the manfred mann cover of "blinded by the light" on the radio the other day. that rarely gets revived, but it was a minor hit and was probably the first time a lot of people heard anything by springsteen. funny to think about that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2-GqYkwjTM

actually the station played this and then a live version of the same song by springsteen himself. which is, like, 15 minutes of "blinded by the light." that might be too much.

actually it was a bit more than a minor hit. even though born to run came out two years before the manfred mann single topped the charts, i suspect that more people heard the latter.

despite time and newsweek covers, etc.

or maybe i'm wrong. anyway, there it is.

It hit #1.

"wrapped up like a douche" from the manfred mann version is the all time misheard lyric

I like the pre-Born to Run stuff best.

the first two ... put the lie to the "brooce-as-salt-of-the-earth" persona

how so?

he seems more like a little cutey pie scuzzball pothead poet dude on those IMO...there's that one great concert DVD where he's wearing a big dirty knit stocking cap, he looks kinda williamsburg (no whiney)

(tho i know he says he never smoked pot but who knows?)

GOD I hear the Manfred Mann "Blinded" every time I turn on a midwestern classic rock station.
Much prefer the original.

He's maybe the only major rock and roller who's an ascetic (I've seen one photo of him drinking a beer).

v true imo that all the pre btr stuff is very sorta scuzzy boho in vibe, btr was where he decided he wanted to be a novelist imo

first couple records are definitely more "urban"

they've got hip-hop beats?

He's maybe the only major rock and roller who's an ascetic (I've seen one photo of him drinking a beer).

i don't know about nowadays but in his glory days he was not shy about being completely sloshed in public. anyone who lived on the jersey shore in the '80s, for example, can tell you stories.

baby he was born to rap

x-post The Storytellers ep is classic if only for his hilarious tale of his evil doppelganger, the one that gets spotted drinking, smoking and going to strip clubs:

"One time," continues Bruce, "as I reached the parking lot, a man and a woman spied me and said, 'Bruce, you aren't supposed to be here.' I could see where they were going with the whole thing, so I said, 'I'm not. I am simply an errant figment of one of Bruce's many selves. I drift in the ether over the highways and byways of the Garden State, often touching down in image-incongruous but fun places. Bruce does not even know I'm missing. He is at home right now, doing good deeds.' That usually stupefies and satisfies them. Hey, I gotta get through the world somehow."

anyone who lived on the jersey shore in the '80s, for example, can tell you stories.

Share, by all means.

v true imo that all the pre btr stuff is very sorta scuzzy boho in vibe, btr was where he decided he wanted to be a novelist im

seems to me that a scuzzy boho poet in a wool cap has as much if not more of a claim to salt-of-the-earthness as a novelist who measures his words. but maybe i'm not understanding what salt of the earth means in this context. generally, i think of him as someone who has long sung about salt-of-the-earth types. what he is himself, i've never particularly needed to know.

right what i was getting at w/the novelist thing was that he decided to get really deep into the whole "writing with depth and a great degree of craft about a specific kind of american life" thing, not that he himself was necessarily of what he wrote about

I can see that parallel, to novelists. Early Bruce is more Dylan-y stream-of-consciousness (but consciously so). Later on he conflates his interests and influences in a much more efficient way, helped along by his smart new buddies.

also kinda prefer vinnie jones to max weinberg

got a little more swing

hahahahah a vinnie lopez hahah not the dude from lock stock and 2 smoking barrels, tho that would be a sweet lineup.

dream e street band lineup

vinnie jones - drums
brian bosworth - keyboards
carl weathers - guitar
michael dudikoff - percussion
treat williams - bass
jason statham - saxophone

dudikoff can rage on the cowbell

it's the martial arts training

I'm waiting for the dirt on Broose gropin' hookers.

The Bruce Springsteen - Asbury Diner story

I am going to take you up west a few blocks to the corner of Asbury Ave and Main Street across from the fire station was the Asbury Diner. I worked there on and off as a waitress from 1969 to 1972 and always on the night shift which was from 10PM - 5 AM. There were many regulars each unique with their own stories to tell. Every night person in the area would stop by 'The Diner' sometime during the night.

I remember one regular who would come in anywhere between 2 and 4 in the mornings. He always seemed wasted to some degree and I wasn't sure if it were drugs and/or alcohol. He was always soft spoken and polite and more often than not would come in alone. A young boy, good looking, if you could look through the fog and see him. His speech always mumbled, slurred and soft with a crocked smile when he would be gazing at the menu, unable to articulate what it was that he wanted. But I knew what it was, as he had the same thing every time he came in like that. He wanted eggs fried sunnyside up. I have to say, I don't remember what else he ate with those eggs, but I remember those eggs. I would bring him his plate and sometimes he would eat, but most times not. He would be staring at his eggs with his head bobbing back and forth. I knew it was time to go in the kitchen and get a clean warm and wet dish towel. No sooner would I come back and yep...his face had fallen right flat in the middle of his untouched face, His look was one of confusion and embarrassment. My towel was ready as I washed his face and his hair that had streaks of yellow yolk on it while taking the plate away. I would help him stand, as he still looked lost...he would kind of point to his jean pocket and I would go in there and fetch the $1.37 cents that was needed to pay his check and he would be on his way. Sometimes when you have memories from years ago, you wonder what happened to some of these people. I have good news. That young man is doing well today, but I have no idea if he still likes his eggs sunnyside up.

I never minded waiting on his table and I was usually the one who did, as the other waitresses hated to not so much because of the mess but because he never tipped a dime. I must have waited on him a couple of hundred times. A tip back then for what he had would be anywhere from 15 cents to 25 cents.

So, today I am permanently disabled on SSD get my food from free food pantries, get meals on wheels and live in senior HUD housing. I am poor. I figure this guy kind of owes me $40.00. I know if he was not so wasted he would have tipped, he just had some poor judgment at those times. So, if anyone runs into Bruce Springsteen, please ask him if perhaps he might want to tip me now? I sure could use it. Thanks, Barbara

Maybe that's why he shaved off the beard and ditched the hats! He's on the run from a waitress with a great memory.

right what i was getting at w/the novelist thing was that he decided to get really deep into the whole "writing with depth and a great degree of craft about a specific kind of american life" thing, not that he himself was necessarily of what he wrote about

The 33-1/3 book on Born In The USA goes into this very, VERY deeply. He spent a shit-ton on time working and reworking the songs that became Nebraska, Born In The USA and all the contemporaneous B-sides and unreleased stuff.

Springsteen has famously said that he has never smoked pot, never heard any evidence to the contrary. That would be very strange though for a young guy making a living in bands during the late 60s and 70s who also loves reggae.

i guess that "making of darkness on the edge of town" doc is on hbo tonight? wish i had hbo.

good vintage footage turned into a deathly boring hagiography, unsurprisingly.

three things about it, though:

1. the old footage of bruce and little steven at a piano doing impromptu renditions of "sherry darling" and "talk to me" as if they were knocking out demos in the brill building in 1965 is priceless, and suggests a very different album they might have made in 1978 (and that steven, for one, clearly would have preferred to make).

2. chuck plotkin gives the most perfect explanation i've ever heard of how to mix the vocal on a rock and roll record.

3. this was, according to the opening and closing credits, "a film by thom zimny," which was produced, directed and edited "by thom zimny." and yet: "bruce springsteen is the author of this motion picture under british law." i found that last credit puzzling, especially in a film whose first 22 minutes were devoted to springsteen's long struggle to win back control and ownership of his music from his original manager. mike appel, on the principle that the artist has a moral right to own his art. one imagines a "mike appel is the author of this sound recording" credit on the back cover of "born to run" would not have sat too well with bruce.

1. the old footage of bruce and little steven at a piano doing impromptu renditions of "sherry darling" and "talk to me" as if they were knocking out demos in the brill building in 1965 is priceless, and suggests a very different album they might have made in 1978 (and that steven, for one, clearly would have preferred to make).

yes that was so fuckin great

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBcW3lSgK2s

Springsteen has famously said that he has never smoked pot, never heard any evidence to the contrary.

Where did he say that? Nobody's going to mistake him for Keith Richards, but that sounds a little extreme.

Everybody in NJ hears Bruce stories, who knows if they're true or not. I heard one that a club owner in Asbury used to pay them in pot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idnJnjV_8rg&ob=av3e

I'm sure at some point this video was posted and a few people talked about how incredible it is. But this is the first I've seen it and goddammit I am uncomfortable.

darkness never really clicked with me, i watched this doc largely to see if getting some context for it would help and

something about the production still bothers me, cause it doesn't have the wall of sound of btr but it still has the kinda bog standard late 70s grandiosity about it

i'm getting it more now but

still a stretch tbh

deathly boring hagiography

Given the standard of most rock docs, this seems a bit harsh. It doesn't go out of its way to disguise the fact that Springsteen could be a pain in the ass, and it invites Mike Appel to put his side of the lawsuit. But yeah, Cluck Plotkin's bit is a highlight - loved the way he related Springsteen's cinematic description of the opening notes of Adam Raised a Cain.

I think Van Zandt is dead wrong about the "lost" album (aka The Promise). The bulk of it sounds like a series of expert pastiches which might have been given to other artists (as some were) but would have done Springsteen no favours at all as a follow-up to Born to Run. It's just goofing around. Van Zandt probably liked this stuff because Springsteen didn't care enough about it to drive everyone nuts making them do 73 takes.

yeah if anything i came away with the impression dude was impossible to work for

I laughed at the bit about getting the right drum sound. "Stick… stick… stick… stick…"

like i kinda felt like we were supposed to come away with this idea of him as the heartland brian wilson or something