Bruce Springsteen - Classic or Dud ?

I listen a lot to the E Street satellite channel. Came across the Dave Marsh show and man does he suck. Rhetorically wondered why "hipsters" gravitated towards "Nebraska" (he stupidly suggested lack of drums!), then wondered if that album was the only Bruce disc without "a happy ending."/As if BitUSA " Darkness" or Tunnel end on an up note.

Well, maybe Tunnel is ambiguous, but The River sure ends bleak.

So Tunnel of Love has yet to get the remastered treatment, correct? Thought I read that it was in that group that was getting remastered, but maybe not. I can't wait to replace my old crappy-sounding River and BitUSA CDs. Are these remasters 2009 Beatles good?

are the remasters available on CD or just iTunes?

marsh probably means it's the only bruce album that is pretty devoid of lighthearted/upbeat moments. which is mostly true. IIRC christgau said that the unrelentingly bleak worldview of 'nebraska' was more 'left-correct'

that said, i'm not really defending marsh. lord knows using the word 'hipsters' in order to work up a straw man is one of the most unnecessary and lazy things a critic can do.

XP CD--They just broke up that box set from last year. (See my revive upthread).

Although I notice now I wasn't specific about format then.

The Bruce remasters sound great, even Nebraska.

"nebraska remastered" has some nice assonance going on

Live/1975-85 is still insanely good after all these years. The album remasters sound great, but I still find myself gravitating to the live set more than anything (and I still find myself choking up at the prelude to "The River").

Get one of the awesome shows he's selling, like River tour 1980 or the 1978. Live box was edited and fussed with. Still great tho.

Well, I do also love the "true" shows, like the famous Agora one. But edited and fussed with is what makes the boxed set great imo! I'm a sucker for added-in audience noise and the like, if it serves a narrative purpose...

Yeah I have the Winterland and Nassau boots but I'd much rather listen to the live box.

Wow, been a while, Bruce:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bruce-springsteen-plays-surprise-two-hour-bar-show-in-new-jersey-20150719#ixzz3gM4vWHRZ

Taken in tandem with the Brian Wilson cameo a week or two back, it's nice to see Bruce stage-crashing with some regularity again.

Nice.

This mess could go in a million threads, but I love the look on Bruce's face when he's sharing the mic with Mick Jagger and George Harrison, with Dylan chugging away on guitar behind him. Especially when he forgets the words.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCIZaU08aVQ

Can only imagine the drugs coursing through almost everyone.

River box set on it's way.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Ties-That-Bind-Collection/dp/B016EAZ6GC?tag=smarturl-20

Already mentioned this on the dedicated River thread, but it's good to have it here as well.

Ooops, I did do a search, guess I used the wrong terms, apologies!

Kind of a disappointing set. It's a shame the pacing is so off these releases, since buying this means getting another copy of the just remastered "River," which is two of the "four" CDs. The "single" version of the album was really great as a bootleg called "The Ties That Bind." The outtakes, half are previously released, a lot of the odds and ends are on "Tracks" already, or the "Essential" set. I think 10 of the songs here have never been heard by anyone, though, which is exciting.

As for the DVDs ... eh. The docs have been good, but nothing essential to own. Having a show is cool, but I sort of wish we got a few more sets added to the live archive series instead.

I do kind of hope he does this with Nebraska. That and BitUSA have the most potential, given what has (or has not) been released so far.

I could see a combo BITUSA/Nebraska set, since they were recorded around the same time (and there's hella overlap in the demos).

is there going to be a cheaper version of this River set (ie w/ the single disc river + the outtakes disc)? i might be into that ... too many expensive box sets this season.

And no one has ever heard the electric Nebraska. But as the demo version of the song BitUSA shows, that era's demos can be revelatory. Like, check this spooky Nebraska-Pink Cadillac:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61R5ECzHMiM

Compared to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29_RZ82aZ6A

Speaking of a potential future BitUSA box, "Frankie" was one of those tracks that he recorded several times, for Darkness, for The River and for BitUSA. The song never ended up on an album, though it did find its way to "Tracks." However, I never liked that version because I've long loved this epic version from the BitUSA sessions, one that has this real magic to it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMYD-FJDkHI&list=PLp97J3OSn7IvoHeDcLHNgoX9lF5ohdkHo&index=10

Not Bruce-specificalky but I finally got to see Nils Lofgren solo @ Bridge Benefit last night and he was everything I had hoped for

Had no idea he was playing piano for Neil Young at 18, holy fuck what a career

I have a relative who is close friends with Nils and I got to meet him once. Such a nice guy with an amazing career. The one thing he said that I found particularly impressive is that he's left handed, but he taught himself to play righty just so he wouldn't miss out on any spontaneous jam opportunities.

He said he's played with just about everybody at one point or another and a lot of that wouldn't have ever happened if he couldn't play righty.

He might be the single most talented underutilized working guitarist. Love Springsteen, but Nils is pretty much wasted in the E Street Band.

Sure, but it's one heck of a reliable damn paycheck.

Well, yeah. They're bound for life at this point. Just saying, he's really good, which is totally unnecessary in the band. In Neil Young's band, too, more or less - Nils has told stories about playing with ankle weights to stop him from moving around so much on stage with Neil.

Nils' play the blues soloing so good on this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIpwkYl3FPM

ooh yeah that's great soloing!

Maybe he tells this story all the time, idk, but I dug it:

When he was working on After The Gold Rush he was there as a guiarist. Neil asked him to play piano and he told Neil "I don't really know how." Neil
was like, "Dude you've been playing accordion since you were 5, of course you can!" And the accordion playing informed the tempo of his piano part on Southern Man

fuckin awesome

I really like Nils' self titled album from 1975 a lot. Just a really solid 70s rock record.

Nils is pretty much wasted in the E Street Band.

to some extent, every guitarist who isn't bruce is pretty much wasted in the e street band. but if i were bruce, i'd happily pay nils to stand around doing nothing for three or so hours a night just so i'd know he'd be there whenever "because the night" came around.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd6c6z2owak

http://www.app.com/story/entertainment/2015/12/09/ny-officials-looking-springsteen-ticket-availability/77025086/

Sharp-eyed Bruce Springsteen fans have noticed tickets for the Boss’ upcoming River Tour already on sale on secondary ticket sites.

How can that be when tickets for the tour go on sale the morning of Friday, Dec. 11?

That’s what New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman wants to know. He’s investigating why the secondary ticket sites StubHub, TicketNetwork and Vivid Seats had “speculative” tickets to River shows on sale this week, according to Reuters report. He’s also asked the sites to remove the listings.

Nothing new...

Every time he tours it gets worse and worse, I imagine especially on the east coast. It's like the Pope making an appearance. In the near future they'll be closing down the city during his performances.

Enjoyed this writer's proposed assemblage, reminds me I gotta get back to the Albums That Never Were site:
http://www.vulture.com/2015/12/bruce-springsteen-the-river-ties-that-bind-single-album.html

I even enjoyed Rolling Stone review of the new box! (spoiler: favorable)

Great hypothetical track list, some nice thought put into it.

So he's gonna work on a solo album after this River tour....

the river - my least favorite of his classic albums, but my favorite album cover. that typeface. that blue. (points deducted, however, for non-gatefold packaging of double album.)

I had to check my vinyl copy just now to confirm, but holy shit, you're right--why isn't this a gatefold?!

What is the demarcation between the classic and non-classic albums, fcc?

XP Probably a trade-off for the lyric folder, methinks.

It's funny, I don't think I've ever thought of "The River" as my fave Bruce, but at least 3/4 of it is my fave Bruce. It's where the floodgates opened up and all this stuff spilled out. You can totally hear how he was (reportedly) inspired by "London Calling." It's kind of fascinating how the album exists in this strange purgatory between the depression and starkness of "Nebraska" and party music, with stuff like "Hungry Heart" the perfect conflation of the two.

Speaking of Bruce, I've been listening to a bunch of stuff that, just coincidentally, features Roy Bittan. Early Peter Gabriel, Bowie's "Station to Station," and "Making Movies" by Dire Straights ... it's amazing how essential he is to Bruce's sound, and how much of that sound he brings to the disparate folks he's worked with.

Any single-album version of The River that doesn't include the title track is wtf. That song is pivotal.

If The River were on Nebraska it'd be the only track that trumps Atlantic City for universal obsession. Though everything about The River is so perfect I'm not sure how well it would work a la Nebraska.

What is the demarcation between the classic and non-classic albums, fcc?

for me, everything through tunnel of love.

i still like the river, just have never truly loved it. a lot of the songwriting is almost too on-the-nose for bruce. but i also agree with everything josh in chicago said, especially: the album exists in this strange purgatory between the depression and starkness of "Nebraska" and party music, with stuff like "Hungry Heart" the perfect conflation of the two.

it also struck me, listening to it last night, that in a lot of way's it's clarence clemons' last hurrah as bruce's official sidekick. here it's still very much "here comes clarence!," whereas by born in the usa, he's become one piece of an ensemble.

that's otm. I definitely don't "get" The River yet, despite loving particular songs from it. wonder if it's the sound on cd, maybe the new version will hit me harder. my broocest buds ride hard for the album so the problem seems to be me.

I say "yet", I mean, it's an album I've had for over twenty years