"Born to Run" by Bruce Springsteen -- who really enjoys this overproduced crappy glop?

I like that album, but I didn't like it for a long time when I was force-fed it on the radio back in the day. The way I get a handle on it is to focus on certain small moments, like "when the screen door slams [and] Mary's dress waves," so that I am not totally swept away by the bombast. Then I gradual divide and conquer. Sort of like an approach described on the Guided By Voices thread.

And this album wasn't supposed to be stripped down, it was deliberately Phil Spector-esque.

Of course, I prefer Darkness On The Edge of Town.

I listen to Q104 on my crappy kitchen radio, because it's all we can get besides NPR and 1010 Wins (and some crappy salsa stations).

I was actually just referring to the song, not the entirety of the album.

[[sees someone else in class raising hand, and decides to raise own hand too, even though he prefers slightly later, stripped-down bruce, and even though he agrees bruce wasn't very good at the whole production thing]]

xpost:
"gradually," put tense from present to past,etc. I think I better stop now.

you really, really, really don't need to add that [and]. please remove it at once. it's making my eyes and my ears hurt. k bye.

[Why the fcuk did I put that "and" there?]

Frankie Goes to Hollywood definitely did a better cover version of "War" by Edwin Starr than Bruce did, that's for sure. (They did theirs *first*, so I always wondered whether they influenced *him*, just like Suicide and the Dictators -- who he apparently shared studio time with in early days -- respectively may or may not have influenced the spare screaming mass-murder songs on *Nebraska and his rhyming of "growing up" with "throwing up" on his debut album)

I WILL NOT APOLOGIZE!

Re FGTH being overproduced as well, absolutely and we wouldn't have it any other way! Their Born To Run version seemed so much more wound up and excited than the original. But, you know, respect to Bruce and all that.

xpost:
My bad. It was "Trapped." I just can't get on the good foot on this thread.

but sometimes even the truth contains typos.

The album that got me over my indie Bruce fear was Nebraska. That album gets better with every listen. Just stunning. Darkness would seem to be my next best step. I can get them all cheap on vinyl easy peasy.

well ain't that the pot calling the kettle black!
Precisely.

Search is slow, otherwise I would post the link where Momus hollas for fcc.

Something else readers of this thread might enjoy: Max Weinberg's drummer interview book- The Big Beat.

there i go, spouting the truth again.

Still, I figure that Darkness on the Edge of Town is his best album overall, with '78-'80 being his peak.

(xp: Bruce LPs on used vinyl are like $3-4 each [The River around $6] and definitely key to the experience.)

But wait...

Where the hell do you think I was during that time period? Your argument holds less water than a rusty colander.

Your argument holds less water than a rusty colander.
I think I was going more for a Sieve of Eratosthenes approach.

I hated Born to Run for years .. only in the last two or three have I decided that it's a pretty good tune except for that horrible, misplaced sax solo. I'm glad my reflexes made me shut it off over the past 20 years, but I kinda like it now - although I would never put it on intentionally.

xpost.. (Ken L is one of my favorite ILM posters these days...)

"Trapped" is awesome. As is everything Springsteen did from '78 to '81. Ever heard the song he wrote for Donna Summer, "Protection?" Great great great.

no.
Alex asked "who enjoys this overproduced crappy glop" and matos answered by raising his hand (I think).

Everything I say on this thread is a lie, including this.

ilm is so testy lately!!!

ilm is so testy lately!!!
Must be all that post-holiday testosterone.

"I wanted to make a record that would sound like Phil Spector. I wanted to write words like Dylan. I wanted my guitar to sound like Duane Eddy". I hated it. I couldn't stand to listen to it. I thought it was the worst piece of garbage I had ever heard. I told Columbia I wouldn't release it. I told 'em I'd just go to the Bottom Line and do all the new songs and make it a live album".

What, where?

I love me the Frankie version very much. And that is all I will say.

Well, yeah. That's what makes them precursors.

Bruce's "1-2-3-4" vs. Holly's orgamzogroans.

As a bit of trivia, John Peel mentioned on more than one occaision that he couldn't stand Springsteen, said he had asked for a Peel session and John turned him down. Although I did buy the single of "Hungry Heart" when I was a kid, I must say today I would not be caught dead buying a Springsteen record or listening to one. Also Fiendish, I marvel at how you can rate Dylan worse than Brooce. Not that I'm a big Dylan fan at all, but it does puzzle me.

Burned-out Single songs:

Rolling Stones - Start Me Up, Jumpin' Jack Flash
Jimmy Buffet - Margaritaville
Sister Sledge - We Are family
Van Morrison - Brown-Eyed Girl
The Police - Roxanne
Steppenwolf - Born To Be Wild
Led Zeppelin - Stairway To Heaven, Rock-n-Roll
Kool & the Gang - Celebration
Dexy's Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird & Sweet Home Alabama
Queen - We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions & Bohemian Rhapsody
Roy Orbison - Pretty Woman
George Thorogood - Bad To The Bone
Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze, Hey Joe, Foxey Lady
Don Henley - Boys Of Summer
Sister Sledge - We Are Family
Derek & The Dominoes - Layla
Bachman Turner Overdrive - Takin' Care Of Business
The Clash - Should I Stay Or Should I Go
Dire Straits - Sultans Of Swing
All covers and remixes of the above songs

Burned-out Groups:

All Village People songs
All James Brown songs
All Motown songs
All Foreigner songs
All Bob Seger songs
All Beach Boys songs
All Boston songs
All Bee Gees songs
All AC-DC Songs
All Doobie Brothers hit songs
All Eagles songs
All Bad Company songs
All Steve Miller Band songs
All Pat Benatar songs

Songs/"Artists" that just plain SUCK!:

Bette Midler - Wind Beneath My Wings (A close 2nd for worst song ever)
Journey (Steve-I'm-such-a-wimp!-Perry ruined this band)
Chicago (Peter-I'm-a-wimp-too!-Cetera ruined the band)
Stevie Nicks (extremely irritating voice & repetitive lyrics)
Celine Dion (we ALL know why)
Bon Jovi (Bad pop music masquerading as hard rock. Just plain despicable!)
Lionel Ritchie (extreme schmaltziness)
Eddie Money (Was this guy a tard?)
Tom Petty (Bland music with chorus lyrics derived from Bartlett's Quotations)
Bruce Springsteen (Bland music with schmaltzy lyrics sung by a man who just stubbed his toe)
David Bowie (Alot of people like him, he's a "legend". I think he sucks!)
Pearl Jam (Bland Alt Rock with unintelligible gravelly lyrics)
Any song with the word "Jump" in the title
Any song with the name "Jane" in the title (EXCEPT Lou Reed's classic "Sweet Jane")
Any song ever played on any "Adult Contemporary" radio station

Worst song ever:
Labelle - Lady Marmalade (extreme screeching and caterwauling)

Paul Bass, you are PUNK
but misguided, cloth-eared, and
corny to the MAXXX

Speaking of montage music, "Bonzo Goes To Bitburg" in "School Of Rock" evokes similar feelings for me (leaving aside the debate about the quality difference between the two songs).

That said, I've always suspected Bruuuuce of being a genius who works on two levels: he knows he can get your garden-variety classic-rock fan to pump his fist in the air and sing drunkenly along to an anthemic chorus. But he also knows that he has some really quite eloquent and crystal-perfect lyrics--a delicacy that some proportion of his fans are missing in their sweaty frenzy.

I have no proof of this, but I think he knows that he's casting pearls before swine a large part of the time. More like irony than condescension: I think he loves the trucker AND the intellectual in equal measure, but in different ways.

Not too long ago I saw a video of him playing live, and I thought I saw a twinkle in his eye that spoke untold volumes. He sang the line "a close band of happy thieves," then looked as if he were thinking, "You know, I just tossed that line off, and it's really apt and articulate. I'm a fucking poet, and half this audience doesn't notice or care. And I'm at peace with that."

Maybe I'm imagining it. Heck, I probably am imagining it. But that's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

This morning while feeding the offspring breakfast, I was subjected to another moldy Bruce oldie, fuckin' "Tenth Avenue Freeze-out". WILL THE TORTURE NEVER END?

Q104 must have some iron-clad condicle in its by-laws that prevents the station from playing anything recorded after 1982 with the lone exceptions being Nevermind by Nirvana and Achtung Baby by U2.

Supposedly, "Hungry Heart" was written for the Ramones (and fuckin' imagine that!), but Springsteen was convinced to keep it for himself.

But the less-over-the-top things, like "Atlantic City" or the totally underrated "I'm on Fire" rank among my favorite pieces of music. Much of Nebraska acts as a counterweight to the saxophonic sludge of the rest of Mr. Springsteen's career.

darkness on the edge
is stripped-down and is my fave
springsteen of them all

Well, I guess I plain fucking hate music then.

-- fact checking cuz (factcheckingcu...), January 5th, 2005.

These are both kinda OTM though....His albums...starting after The Wild, The Innocent, really, start to get less interesting rhymically and arrangement wise....I like the first two the best still (although Nebraska and Darkness kind of make a virtue of the stripped down stiffness that crept into his work, at least alot more than like say the River does)....I really like the wild, over the top arrangements and sense of daring of the first two....

-- Alex in NYC (vassife...), January 5th, 2005.

yeah, but you like Iron Maiden, so you can't be all bad!

you seriously don't like any of the big motown singles?

misplaced sax solo
saxophone sludge
I have to say I sometimes have a little bit of a Clarence problem. Not every rock and roll sax player is King Curtis.

There is some sax usage in softer rock songs that I find appropriate: Paul Simon's "Still Crazy After All These Years," and Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are" both have elegant sax solos (regardless of how you feel about those songs/artists as a whole).

But in a more rockety-rock song I usually find the saxophone superfluous, if not unwelcome. I am, of course, not averse to horns taking their traditional place in ska, jazz, etc.

But yeah, that's a pretty mellow song.

yeah i guess yr right, i meant more stripped down rhythmically compared to the first two....i guess it feels more stripped down to me than it is for some reason....

also, "candy's room" may have the best classic-rock guitar solo of all time.

Also check: The swampy bass on "Adam Raised A Cain."

see: Gerry Rafferty, Quaterflash, Men at Work, Supertramp

I read that as "sausage." It's been a long day.

i persist in hearing bruce's clipped repeating of the title phrase at the end of the song as him singing, "talkin' bout the talmud!"

Okay, well I will concede then that quite recently, hearing it on the radio it struck me as strange that I didn't find "Dancing In The Dark" to be such a terrible song after all these years. Don't ask me why. Not that I would choose to listen to it in the comfort of my own home under any circumstances, but in the vast wasteland of crap on the radio, you hone your pearls where you can, I suppose.

Well, I guess I plain fucking hate music then.

Well for god's sake isn't that why we're here?

"Yeah man ... Velvet Underground ... Stooges ... Bruce Springsteen ... That's what we're about, man. Alright!"

HA HA!

But in a more rockety-rock song I usually find the saxophone superfluous, if not unwelcome.

HAWKWIND TO THREAD!!

strike that

Re: Rockin Saxes:
How about Roxy Music, Stooges, Rainy Day Sunshine Girl.

hey, let's not forget x-ray spex and ESSENTIAL LOGIC.

That dude in Romeo Void wasn't bad either, IIRC. It broke my heart to see him have to watch the crappy ringer they got to replace him on the backstage monitor on Band Reunited

Hey, I've said my piece! The most I'll add is that one can like Motown and Spector without liking what might follow. ;-)

not P and not Q implies probably not R

which is not equivalent to
P and Q implies R

Yeah, I'd say the music on "Darkness" is definitely much simpler than Bruce's earlier stuff. That perhaps explains why all those '78 shows are the stuff of legend. When I last saw Sleater-Kinney cover "The Promised Land," they joked that there are always three or so guys in the crowd who just go nuts and sing along. That's the power of the Bruce-asaurus.

You know, so much of the Bruce hate (or what little there actually is on this thread) no doubt stems from his massive '80s popularity/overexposure. But this is a dude who released five albums before he had a top 40 hit, and even then he followed "The River" with "Nebraska!" That's something. A lot of that "Nebraska" stuff made it into those "Born in the USA" shows in one way or another. As did "Trapped" and "War." Bruce's speachifying about "blind faith will get you killed" before "War" on the "Live" album gives me chills.

Also, not that it's worth very much, but when Peter Buck and Mike Mills joined the E. Street Band to play "Born to Run" at one of those Vote for Change shows last year, they were going nuts, like a couple of excited teenagers.

Anyway, love the guy, and love the fact that even his unreleased stuff is good. Anyone ever heard "The Klansman?" That's some spooky shit.

point taken and agreed with, but just for the historical record, note that his bossness had top 40 hits on album #3 ("born to run," #23) and album #4 ("prove it all night," #33).

i'm also not entirely sure that whatever bruce hate there is stems from his '80s massiveness, inasmuch as the songs the bruce haters around here tend to admit liking are "hungry heart," "dancing in the dark," "i'm on fire" and "brilliant disguise," all from his '80s pop star phase. it's bruce the cult star, not bruce the pop star, that seems to piss them off.

for whatever that's worth.

Rolling Stones - Start Me Up, Jumpin' Jack Flash
Jimmy Buffet - Margaritaville
Sister Sledge - We Are family
Van Morrison - Brown-Eyed Girl
The Police - Roxanne
Steppenwolf - Born To Be Wild
Led Zeppelin - Stairway To Heaven, Rock-n-Roll
Kool & the Gang - Celebration
Dexy's Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird & Sweet Home Alabama
Queen - We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions & Bohemian Rhapsody
Roy Orbison - Pretty Woman
George Thorogood - Bad To The Bone
Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze, Hey Joe, Foxey Lady
Don Henley - Boys Of Summer
Sister Sledge - We Are Family
Derek & The Dominoes - Layla
Bachman Turner Overdrive - Takin' Care Of Business
The Clash - Should I Stay Or Should I Go
Dire Straits - Sultans Of Swing
All covers and remixes of the above songs

Wow Paul. This list is totally OTM, except I still like Roxanne.

I gotta be honest, that always sounded pretty lame to me whenever I saw the video.

-- Chuck's right about the Suicide influence on Nebraska, Springsteen's said that himself.

-- The Phil Spector mention is likewise OTM. That was the whole production inspiration for Born to Run in particular, 64 tracks (4 layered on each of 16), the Wall of Sound thing. Calling it overproduced is a little like calling a Hummer too big: It's true, but that's the whole point. (Not that that means anyone has to like it.)

-- When I was about 16, my parents decided to get rid of the wallpaper in the main bathroom and repaint the walls. First we had to strip the old paper, then for some reason there was some interim period before we painted. For that week or so, my parents told me and my sister we could write whatever we wanted on the exposed walls, because it would all be covered up anyway. We both spent a few hours amusing ourselves with magic markers, but the only thing I remember is that my sister (who was in the midst of a Springsteen craze) scrawled
In the day we sweat it out in the streets of a runaway American dream
At night we ride through mansions of glory in suicide machines
Sprung from cages out on highway 9,
Chrome wheeled, fuel injected
and steppin' out over the line.
My parents sold the house, but I like to think that's still under the paint somewhere. And it's what the song always makes me think of.

(Alex in NYC will be glad to know my sister soon moved on to The Psychedelic Furs and walked around our high school in a trench coat painted with the lyrics to "Imitation of Christ.")

*reassuringly*

I understand. It's kindof like a menstrual cycle thing, isn't it? And hey, I'm hungry anyway. Do you taste anything like salad?

"I wanted to make a record that would sound like Phil Spector. I wanted to write words like Dylan. I wanted my guitar to sound like Duane Eddy"

jim, doesn't he also mention singing like Roy Orbison in this series?

I always though that hearing him talk like this helped me get a handle on the BTR album and the rock-and-roll as opposed to rock (and I might argue their was something rock-and-roll about mid-sixties Dylan) elements in it. Also, compare his unironic (in the good sense) and at the same time unnaive use of these elements to the 50s pastiches of his opposite number on Long Island, Billy Joel.

see: Gerry Rafferty, Quaterflash, Men at Work, Supertramp

Huh, the sax breaks on Breakfast in America strike me as the biggest obstacle to the generally excellent songs (also some of the keyboard sounds). I prefer the sound of "School" and "Hide In Your Shell" (Do I hear Theremins in the background of the chorus?).

My point was actually the opposite. Someone who genuinely can't find anything of value in the entire Motown catalog really shouldn't be worrying about Bruce Springsteen as his has much bigger problems to conquer.

and this will sound like a backhanded compliment, but it sort of makes me think of his dislike for bruce (who i also adore as you all know) and others in a new light, makes me respect it more, for i feel more certain that it's totally sincere and not knee-jerk.

anyway i hope he doesn't react negatively to this because--perhaps it's somewhat mysterious why--my respect for alex just jumped up several notches.

Now occurs to me that most of the hard saxophone references were in slightly outside or arty contexts, so still don't have too many examples. Sonics good example though. I should probably drop this.

I'm curious how many people who don't like Bruce have been converted by seeing him live? Or perhaps the opposite scenario?

rolling stones, "happy"
rolling stones, "tumbling dice"
little willie john, "i'm shakin"

Is there a sax on "Rocks Off"?

But I harbor a nostalgic fondness for "Who Can it Be Now?" and thus we may have a winner in Men at Work.

(The corollary, however, is that I expect that Alex in NYC would Springsteen's British equivalent, if such a freak-of-nature existed.)

Just wanted to see that phrase again.

Rigorous scientific studies have determined that the right amount of glockenspiel is 23.7 milliglockens. Any less or more is, well, wrong.

Or "I've got a fever and the only prescription is... more glockenspiel!"

And if we're still talking saxophones, a special mention to Gil Bernal, whose slapstick-funny solos enlivened the early Coasters (and Robins) records. My favourite rock and roll sax playing on any non-Fun House record.

Love those Glockenspiel wisecracks! Now try "flugelhorn" or "BigMuff".

xpost.. (Ken L is one of my favorite ILM posters these days...)

Thanks, Dave. I hope you didn't read the rest of my posts to this thread. I think we first crossed paths with
this post

Elvis Costello, maybe, if you really want to stretch things ("British" possibly encompassing different ideas of fashion, pop romanticism, mixed-up-kid sentiment and bitterness). Or, for one album, the Clash ("The Card Cheat", anyone?)

- Yeah, i've heard that there's a huge amount of mutual love between Suicide and Springsteen...somewhat inexplicably. On an entirely unrelated note, I've read that the intro to "With Or Without You" by U2 is modelled after the intro to "Cheree" by Suicide.

- Why do I dislike Motown (I'd prefer not to waste the word "hate" on Motown. I don't think Berry Gordy et al. should be viciously maimed or anything, I just don't like the music). I don't know. Perhaps it's because it's so "steadfastly cannonical" (though, admittedly, I do have a great amount of love for certain other music that is equally cannonized, so go know). It just doesn't speak to me. Maybe it's "The Big Chill"'s fault. Whatever. Smokey Robinson's never done anything for me. I loathe everything about Dianna Ross. I suppose the Temptations were alright, but nothing I'd ever get excited about. Marvin Gaye is probably the only artist on the roster I'd ever actively choose to listen to (or, more likely, the one Motown artist I wouldn't actively turn off.) It's just not my music, that's all.

- This morning, the Springsteen tune in question -- as Q104 apparently must play at least one Bruce track every morning -- was "Thunder Road," the opening piano & harmonica intro of which made me sigh balefully.

The corollary, however, is that I expect that Alex in NYC would Springsteen's British equivalent, if such a freak-of-nature existed

Billy Bragg maybe? Yeah, he's alright....a bit more restrained in the studio than Bruce.

Sax solos I don't mind:
- "Urgent" by Foreigner
- "A Night Like This" by the Cure
- various bits of Wish You Were Here and Dark Side.. by the `Floyd
- Anything/everything by James Chance

WA-UH-EH-OH-EH-OO-OH!

Oh wrongity wrongy wrong.

my own answer is strongly implied in how i worded the above question, of course.

This is very interesting, on a number of other musically related levels I don't even feel like going into right now.

Early Billy Bragg ("Back To Basics" CD compilation of vinyl stuff is absolutely essential) is at least 7 times more brilliant than Springsteen. Just him and his guitar. He should have stuck with that formula, even if I appreciate a few things here and there of his later stuff.

I don't think Berry Gordy et al. should be viciously maimed or anything, I just don't like the music)

Well that's good. Because Berry Gordy's record label Qwest was the first record company in the U.S. to release New Order records.

Also, if you can't deal with Diana Ross, well, fair enough. But you must watch "Lady Sings The Blues" someday and tell me it's not a good movie, first. As for me, I'm still racked with guilt for not having Marvin Gaye's "What Goes On" album despite meaning to purchase it for years.

Confession: Strangely I always enjoyed Foreigner's "Urgent". I never bought the record, but it had a certain resonance. In fact, when I first discovered as a kid that there were big books about rock n'roll at the library, it seems to me that song was in my head looking through those books. They talked about the Knack in those books. Stuff like that.

Cure are very fine indeed on "A Night Like This", saxophones or no.

I thought Qwest was Quincy Jones' label.

the grimly station bar jukebox five (every fucken time, much to the old regulars' annoyance):

meat loaf: two out of three ain't bad OR dead ringer for love
brooce: born in the usa (why not born to run? i dunno)
simon and garfunkel: the boxer
bowie: heroes
neil diamond: forever in blue jeans

now that is music to drink to

All I'm saying is: think about it.

Same large-banded arena-concert ethos. Same playing of Greatest Hits to the diehard fans with their fists in the air. Same or similar poetic ambitions. Same level of bombast (even if it is a different flavor of bombast). Almost the same amount of faux populism, or rather the same gosh-gee-I'm-still-just-a-bloke-from-the-old-neighborhoodiness.

Bonus coincidence: They've both been known to have their wives on stage with them.

Special extra credit bonus coincidence: compare the letters in their most overblown material: "Band on the Run" ~ "Born to Run" = "B*n*n* RUN"

I do see some of the same stridency in Mr Hewson's work.

But U2 puts more focus on their status as a band qua band, rather than a solitary superstar with a rotating cast of backup guys.

And I think Springsteen has a capacity for irony that Bono frankly lacks. Some of the same quality can be seen in McCartney, a little bit of wink in the voice, a la "I know this is a bit corny but humor me." Bono seems to take his corn seriously, and always sings as though he believes it.

Has anyone ever wondered if the use of the name Wendy in BTR points to the Beach Boys somehow? I have, but aside from the common grounds of driving fast and Phil Spector I got nothing.

One more thing, Macca collaborator Elvis Costello dissed the Boss back in the day by saying "Springsteen writes about the street. I hate the fucking street" which all good EC fans bought into at the time. But the Boss's own piss-taking of his own myth-making in Darkness's "Racing In The Street" cured me of this.

MP, Bono got some irony around the time of Achtung, Baby, but it's not clear how well it stuck.

does he? springsteen has a bit of a sense of humor, but not a particularly ironic one. he takes himself pretty damn seriously.

and this...

"I know this is a bit corny but humor me."

...sounds exactly like bono to me!

Nevertheless, Bruce-as-ironist is an important part of my personal collection of half-baked ideas, and I'm reluctant to abandon it based on mere lack of evidence.

Someone above said that Buck and Mills were having a great time playing Born To Run with Springsteen at the pre-election concerts. I was at the first one, and that was true there, too, but the person who really went out of his gourd was Conor Oberst. He got so hyped up on the energy from the crowd and the band that I thought he was going to bounce off the ceiling. Everyone I was with was commenting on it -- Oberst must have played hundreds, and R.E.M. must have played thousands of gigs over the years, but I doubt they ever experienced anything like the audience response the Big Bruce Anthems evoke. For better or worse, they do admirable (or not) art songs; Bruce does the Nuremburg rally.

V. snotty post above, too, about people missing the poetry in Springsteen's lyrics. One of his strengths is how accessible his lyrics are. People aren't that dumb (OK, maybe Born in the USA got misheard somewhat). Born To Run and Thunder Road are like Like A Rolling Stone -- a huge range of people "got" them, and loved it.

oh wait, i did mean to challenge this half-baked idea! the e street band is a huge part of springsteen's identity, even if he did lay them off for a while (what are friends for anyway if you can't fire 'em?). springsteen/miami steve were every bit as much of a bonded duo as bono/edge, and by all accounts springsteen was completely shattered when steve up and left the band in the mid-'80s. if he turned into a solitary superstar for awhile after that, it may well not have been his choice.

ouch.

Born to Run is the first song I remember liking. My dad played the tape of it in the car on the way to Florida. I liked it because I was born in America too! When we got home I played the tape and jumped on my mom and dad's bed to it.

(Full disclosure... I also jumped on the bed to the song "Bitch" by that Meredith Brooks)

I later bought Bruce Springsteen's greatest hits, but didn't really like listening to full albums and I think my parents just took it from me and kept it for themselves.

what about Phil Lynott?

xpost:
fcuk! I did the classic bonehead move of typing in my wrong info and getting 80 google hits, whereas if I had typed the right info, I would have got 8000. fcc, I throw myself upon the mercy of the court.

Ha, I never heard this before, but I just remembered that when I first bought a Springsteen record in new wave 1979(I swear this is true) it's because his music *sounded* to me kind of like Elvis Costello (who I loved at the time), though really, the "oh-oh-oh-ohhhhhhh"s's EC was sticking at the end of songs in *Armed Forces* days were more likely inspired by Bruce (who had been doing them for years) than the other way around.

Further, I think a vastly greater proportion of Elvis's influence-seeking at that point entailed looking back in time rather than in keeping up with what was going on on American top 40 radio (more Hoagy than Bruce).

i've always heard all such oh-oh-oh's as distinct ronnie spector homages, though my brain is currently too fried to pinpoint the exact spector moment or moments they're referencing or to even guarantee that one exists. but i think it does.

RS: I've heard demo tapes you made in the mid-1970s with your band Flip City. Some of them sound a lot like '72 Bruce Springsteen.

EC: That's who we were copying. When Bruce came to London for "the future of rock & roll" gigs in 1975, we were like, "Who are these johnny-come-latelies?" We'd been digging him for years. I loved The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle. The songs are so operatic. Then he narrowed it down. I learned something from that. When he wanted to get over, he wrote "Born to Run."

I don't think "whoah-oh-oh-oh's" really belong to anybody. Hell, they're all over the Misfits' catalog too (hmmm....who were also from New Jersey!)

Yes that is correct, silly me. I sure had a lot to drink last night.

i'm dreading some anti-costello and -springsteen comment following on this post's heels.

That's `cos it's a boring song to begin with. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still going to be a pig.

xxpost:
Hell yeah

Anyone care to compare/contrast Springsteen with Van Morrison?

See also 10,000 Maniacs. So what was it that Costello was supposed to bring to Springsteen appreciation again?

Oh please. Like I haven't ruined other peoples' threads before? `Tis the way of ILX.

but, um, costello was covering bacharach in the '70s. see "i just don't know what to do with myself" from live stiffs (1978). or "baby it's you" from a few years later.

as for tunnel of love -- what exactly does that have to do with bacharach?

True in the studio stuff. But live is another story. There's an absolutely blistering solo on "Because The Night" on the famous Cleveland boot from 1975 (or is it '78? Can't recall...). I was taken aback first time I heard it since you don't really encounter anything close to that sound on his studio output. But the guy can really turn it up a notch when he's on stage.

Maybe a fembot fudge-packing faggot like alex in nyc
would prefer Frankie goes to hollywood's
version...

I haven't heard much Bruce live but this sounds entirely right...

such a brilliant song...the production is awesome and really helps the song...that "1, 2, 3, 4" move takes my breath away every single time

^^^. Fuck the haters, once the "1,2,3,4" comes in I start hollering "The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive!"

Jersey Schmuck anthem, "Born to Run."

not all of us New Jerseyans like Springsteen very much, you know!

then there's this from upthread:

he prospect of being compared to Springsteen, whose panavision scenarios - replete with so much obvious romantic, rock-mythology imagery of a kind quite antithetical to Costello's writing - fills Elvis with anguish and dread. "Springsteen always romanticising the f----- street," he complains, with no little justification. "I'm bored with people who romanticise the f------- street. The street isn't f--------- attractive.

this almost makes springsteen sound proto-gangsta ... though i guess that the first 2 springsteen albums have a sort of almost wu-tang vibe to them (if you squint your ears a bit).

Album's overproduced, yeah, but Springsteen & The E-Street Band live 1978-1979 = A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I'd still like to know what Tunnel of Love has to do with Bacharach.

And yeah, Springsteen winning non-fans over in a live setting is no news.

And leave Costello alone. You'd think he'd dissed Robyn or something.

Because it's so much more "street" to only release your new album on vinyl and digital format and name it after a "chic" restaurant in New York that Diana Elvis can afford to eat at, innit?

Note also that he has been reduced to supporting the Police on their next (NEXT?) tour. That wouldn't have happened back in '78.

I don't understand how anything as muddy-sounding as this album could be labelled as "overproduced".

I actually have a problem with the production here for the completely opposite reason.

Born To Run sounds nothing like Mud.

He meant mudvayne

Beautiful song.

Sometimes, this is the best record ever made, by anyone. This is one of those times.

one of the crappiest records of all-time. overproduced tuneless ballads and there is also something about springsteen's voice i don't like at all here.

I think people who hate this record are dead punk and hard.

<i>makes Meat Loaf sound like fuckin' Wire. All those gloopy keyboards and honking saxes and overblown crescendos</i>

this opinion has never made me any friends.

dammit, neither has forgetting to use BBcode

You have to consider the influence of Springsteen's more epic tunes on great bands like Deacon Blue.

It's like a motor-oil smeared wedding cake waiting to be toppled.

I know that's (inexplicably) not supposed to be a compliment, but it totally is.

I heard this tune at a bah a few weeks ago, and it seemed so similar to "Boho Rhap."

Sara Sara Sara otm otm otm

hating this song is a one-way ticket to coolville so kiu dudes

max I would like to join your dadrock defense brigade, is there a t-shirt or uniform I should acquire and wear?

I just finished reading James Miller's Flowers in the Dustbin. He marks the hyping of Springsteen leading up to the release of Born To Run as a milestone in the decline of rock and roll - the moment when the tail started to wag the dog - ie., rock-journo hype about an "important" new artist makes them seem fleetingly important.

tradeshow polo tucked into blue jeans xp

"DAD" on the front, "ROCK" on the back.

I hate when people turn liking or disliking Springsteen into a class issue.

the album isn't as good as the river or darkness but it's alright

the production of the title tune seems to be an intentional attempt to do a phil spector Wall of Sound; it doesn't really work though

I just finished reading James Miller's Flowers in the Dustbin. He marks the hyping of Springsteen leading up to the release of Born To Run as a milestone in the decline of rock and roll - the moment when the tail started to wag the dog - ie., rock-journo hype about an "important" new artist makes them seem fleetingly important.

i learned some stuff from "flowers in the dustbin." but he literally ends the book in 1977, and more or less pronounces pop music dead at that point. which makes some of his pronouncements, such as that above, kind of hard to take seriously.

Yeah, I don't necessarily agree with him, and I wasn't old enough in '74-75 to remember what the Springsteen hype was like, though if Born To Run was being held up as the Highway 61 Revisited or Sgt. Peppers of the '70s, it's easy to see how some might have felt underwhelmed.

http://img.timeinc.net/time/magazine/archive/covers/1975/1101751027_400.jpg

http://www.rockandrollplanet.com/images/610_bruce_newsweek.JPG

i still like this song and album.

I love the song, and it's a great album too. I don't really get why people don't dig at least the song (overproduced? I guess if Orbison on Monument is overproduced). But a big part of it seems to be the usual hipster anti-hype, and that's just bullshit.

this is a great record fuck the haters

As someone who loves this song (and this album), I can easily understand why someone would loathe it. Some people need some subtlety!

has some pretty noise big man moments
bruce is generally too OTT for me though

i'm curious how many people who don't like this album like Nebraska

I liked "Atlantic City," I'll say that.

Me.

The title track at least.

i'm curious how many people who don't like this album like Nebraska

my two favorite bruce records!

I've known live versions of most of these songs for years, got the 30th anniversary edition for the Hammersmith Odeon show, which is mostly great (just a couple of rambling directionless long tracks from his first two albums), and I thought I'd check out the remastered album today (never heard it before) and boy does it suck. Cardboard boxes for drums? Reverb on the Backstreets vocals? I expected something timeless and full of energy and dynamics and it's just this over the top but still very flat seventies sounding turd. Some bits are almost there, but they only make me want to listen to live versions :-(

listening to this boot War and Roses, outtakes from Born to Run and hoooooly shit @ the acoustic "Thunder Road":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTqCf0LIRqU

thinking about this song b/c the last line is kinda essential to who I am and I wonder what it would be like to get to a place in my life where I couldn't really mean it

I was thinking about this album because I just moved away from NJ.

OK - Yeah, the acoustic Thunder Road is one of the best outtakes by anybody, ever - and it remains unreleased after all this time & The release of Tracks. Once upon a time, Springsteen's song choices were even more perplexing than Dylan's but, as the 4th disc of Tracks reveals, he's getting better.

In answer to the original question: *raises hand* Oh! Me! Me!!

The sonic tapestry of Roy Orbison & Phil Spector rolling happily in the mud with Van Morrison remains a potent one.

this song bloooows

early bruce feels like west side story meets happy days for me

and by this song i mean "born to run" not "thunder road," which i can hear without wanting to shove a tony award up bruce's ass

all the crap u defend and u don't like born to run...weird

can't believe that no one has proposed a west end born to run musical to bruce yet;
which hopefully means he's smart enough to never ever allow it

Born to Run... on rollerskates!

all the crap u defend and u don't like born to run...weird

it'd be weird if i like something that's a poor "born to run" (like, i dunno, spring awakening? i don't pay attention to broadway scores), otherwise it's just taste. I like plenty of grandiose crap, just not the Fonz Meets Dylan On The Great White Way kind.

I'm a Springsteen hater for the most part, but I do love the audacity of this song.

I'd say closer to Rebel Without a Cause than Fonz, but yeah point taken. Springsteen's tunes tend to have a very cinematic, dramatic quality & if that's not your bag you'll tend to find much of his material [particularly E. St. Shuffle and Born to Run LPs] irritating.

yeah i love born in the usa and tunnel of love, consider synth-pop to be a positive influence on the guy

I also like how Wild, Innocent and BTR influenced Thin Lizzy.

"Thunder Road" is prob one of my top 5 songs of all time and I would quite happily listen to nothing else for the rest of my life. Esp the line where he goes "...and you're scared and you're thinking that maybe we ain't that young anymore". Cuts as deep as anything in rock.

I agree with the original poster every time I hear the record. then when you see him live (like at Glastonbury last year) you forget all that and get into that "gotta love the boss" stuff. you can't hate him.

Can't imagine my life without this stuff. Honest question: has anyone here seen him live and still come away unconvinced?

i didn't actually enjoy him live that much because it was in a stadium and the sound was awful. Also turning every song into a 10 minute jam isn't really my thing; unless you're playing music such as free jazz or free improv don't jam is my ethos really. Still think he's amazing and seeing songs like Thunder Road live was a treat.

Huh. Springsteen hasn't really "jammed" since the early '70s. Do you mean vamp while he does his preacher shit? Yeah, that can be tedious. But this man is not about aimless noodling.

One cool thing about "Thunder Road" that I don't usually appreciate but do tonight is how zingy the lyric is---the messianic vibe is there but he's simultaneously saying that it's bullshit.

I'm really embarrassed to admit this but I was never sure what the second line means. I'm guessing "suicide machines" are motorcycles (or maybe beat-up old cars) but why would they be riding through mansions of glory on them? Is he using a bit of licence with "through" here, just saying that at night, they like to drive around rich neighbourhoods (near many of these mansions) and dream of escaping their own less-rich existence? That was what I always assumed but it never seemed clear to me. Or is it something more abstract than this? I suppose "suicide machines" could also be a reference to rides at the amusement park that he mentions later - this seems silly though. Everything else in the song makes perfect sense and is almost embarrassingly moving to me.

I just figured suicide machines were dangerous cars built to look good but that ran like shit. Like, riding in these cars is akin to committing suicide.

I remember when this song was first a hit on FM radio. The discussion we are having now is eerily akin to the men (NOTE: I'm pretty sure the women left this thread a few years ago) were sitting around in 1975 discussing whether 'When The Swallows Come Back To Capistrano" by The Ink Spots (big hit, 1940) was overproduced glop. "...and you're scared and you're thinking that maybe we ain't that young anymore" xp Hi Anagram!

He laid down some serious improvised Neil Young-ish guitar thundah on the intros to 'Because the Night' and 'Prove It All Night' as late as '78, but it was definitely the early band with Lopez & Sancious that was into the jamming.

One of those situations where da croupier's complaints make perfect sense and I still love this stuff to death-- I can see why some wouldn't like it.

I really see nothing wrong with the overproduction. Wire and Bruce can coexist pretty peacefully, I think.

The hugeness of it, all that emotion and abandon, that's what I love. I get that it sound overdone or bombastic or, I dunno, cliched or whatever, but dammit, it's a fun song. This song to me is like flying down the freeway & sticking my face out of the car window like a kid. It feels good.

At what point does epic drama cross the line into bombast? Is opera bombastic? I would say that although successive live versions of "Born To Run" have crossed that line, the album version stays resolutely on the right side of it. As for "Thunder Road", to me that is as bombastic as Debussy.

amd of course Debussy is incredible. you're not against the music of Debussy are you?

i mean actually hearing 'Claire de Lune' for the first time was one of the most incredible experiences as a listener ever. up there with 'Born To Run', even

amd of course Debussy is incredible. you're not against the music of Debussy are you?

Not at all, I was just holding him up as someone who is like not at all bombastic and saying that to me "Thunder Road" has the same amount of bombast, i.e. none.

this recording makes Meat Loaf sound like fuckin' Wire. All those gloopy keyboards and honking saxes and overblown crescendos. It's like a motor-oil smeared wedding cake waiting to be toppled.

i think that's the point, and i think that's why this song is so wonderful

early bruce feels like west side story meets happy days for me

brilliant.

Meat Loaf is like Bruce without the restraint.

The West Side Story comparison doesn't even sound like a dis to me.

said it before, saying it now, and will say it again -- to a certain kind of person raised in the middle of New Jersey during the 80s, to never hear "born to run" ever ever ever again would not be a tragedy.

and all Springsteen up until tunnel of love has a "west side story" vibe to it.

anyway, "born to run" isn't the ONLY overproduced glob in Springsteen's catalog. i dunno if it's even the most egregious violator of this supposed sin anyway (maybe that honor goes to "born in the USA").

To be honest, I've never thought of "Born to Run" as overproduced so much as over-arranged, albeit thrillingly so.

I would tend to agree where BITUSA is concerned. It strikes me as Springsteen's slickest, most calculatedly commercial record, so to the extent one acheives that end through heavy-handed production - well, there ya go. Much of this wasn't really Springsteen's idea [though he is where the buck stops, if you will], given that he hit Jon Landau with the demo tape of 'Dancing In the Dark' saying 'Here's your fuckin' single.' With BTR they were going for the Orbison/Spector orchestral thing and they got there, so I don't know if it was OVER produced or not. I guess its a matter of whether you like your tunes densely packed. Ironically, the last two studio records sound most like logical follow-ups to BTR, in terms of their SOUND, of anything else he's done since - almost as if he's been trying to avoid that sound for years.

finally watched that documentary that came with the "Born to Run" reissue a few years back. it's a good watch! they play some really hilarious alternate intros and outros with big string sections that will make you thank god it turned out the way it did. also a cool part about van zandt coming up with the horns part for 10th avenue freeze out.

BITUSA >>>>> Born to Run

wait, Lord Sotosyn likes the album with the 80s gated drums better? Heavens! ;)

xxpost, yeah that is a good doc. That SVZ scene with the horns is great!

:-) '80s gated drums, and some of the most obvious pandering I can think of. BITUSA doesn't even touch BTR for me, though it has some terrific songs. I've always been a sucker for 'I'm Going Down' of all things, and 'No Surrender' & 'Bobbie Jean' give me chills as I boogie. Lots of the other things leave me cold plus the record as a whole hasn't aged as well as I'd hoped.

Steve is a horn-arrangin' mo-fo. He's done a lot of that for Southside Johnny's band(s) too.

Now, I don't consider "overproduced" as anything but a windmill, because I love stuff being slickly produced, but I reckon "Born In The USA" is a GREAT production, and by far the best produced of all Springsteen albums.

As far as "Born To Run" is considered, the problem isn't so much the level of production as the choice of sound. Sure there are a lot of great songs that do make it a great album, and I do understand what the sound is aiming at. The problem being, the Spectoresque wall of sound was largely obsolete already by the time stereo was becoming more important than mono in the late 60s. The wall of sound idea has never fitted with stereo sound, it was designed for mono and does really only work in mono.

:-) '80s gated drums, and some of the most obvious pandering I can think of. BITUSA doesn't even touch BTR for me, though it has some terrific songs. I've always been a sucker for 'I'm Going Down' of all things, and 'No Surrender' & 'Bobbie Jean' give me chills as I boogie. Lots of the other things leave me cold plus the record as a whole hasn't aged as well as I'd hoped.

"No Surrender" is the only song that does nothing for me on an album that's never stopped giving me pleasure. I know some people go to Springsteen for frills and bombast, but I'll take the focused pathos of "Darlington County" and "Downbound Train."

Not my favorite Springsteen though: it's still Tunnel of Love.

And, yeah, "I'm Goin' Down" is my favorite of the singles. Great oral sex metaphor too.

I think it's a shame Springsteen rarely plays "I'm Going Down," and that when he does he can barely do it with a straight face. Then again, it's a ridiculously simple, repetitive song, so ...

Geir is sort of right, re: mono, but "Born to Run" (the album and the song) isn't exactly a showcase for stereo separation effects.

Also, gated drums not that big of a deal on most of "BitUSA" (esp. compared to "Tunnel"), intro to the title track aside, and that's largely because that intro is so stark a simple snare crack wouldn't fill up enough space. The rest of that album is pretty much band-in-a-room, which is one of many reasons I'm always puzzled by stories of Bruce's studio perfectionism. Gary Katz he is not.

@ Alfred: Oh my. I had forgotten about "Downbound Train." I love that one.

"Darlington County" always struck me as something that might've been left off of a John Fogerty LP, but it is a bit of good fun.

@ Josh: I'm not hearing much panning on BTR either, which may at least partially nullify the (well stated) monophonic argument. Then again I'm sure that the recording process was much different during the days of mono, thereby changing things on the front-end as well as the ultimate sound reproduction.

"Darlington County" always struck me as something that might've been left off of a John Fogerty LP

But then, I would say that CCR were one of the most important influences on Springsteen when he perfected his style.

Yes, this is true. The CCR influence seems to have really kicked in around the time of The River.

I might counter with the notion that CCR & John Fogerty (solo) are vastly different from one another in terms of quality, which is why I chose to cite Fogerty. "Center Field" is no "Who'll Stop the Rain," to give an over-simplified example.

lol @ ppl in 2010 calling 80s production values 'overproduced'

???

lol @ ppl in 2010 calling 80s production values 'overproduced'

i DID say that it was "a supposed sin," didn't i?

:-)

ripping
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAvolRT3sX4

Nice. That one is still in his live set.

The problem is not the production. The problem is Bruce's awful mumbly singing style. you hear the song with that rockin' drum intro "DUGGA-DUGGA DUHHHHHHHHHHH...." and you hear that classic guitar riff and the glockenspiel comes in and the guitars are rocking and it crescendoes and you think "Alright! Here we go, it's time to rock!"... and then Bruce's voice comes in "mmrrghhyears mmrrf fff out on the streets uff runaway Amurrrican dreams." and it's like dude! Enunciate! How are we supposed to fantasize riding through mansions of glory and suicide machines when we can't understand what the hell you're saying?

Allan Clarke of the Hollies did this song much better before Bruce's version was even released:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M-Y1JqGwKM

bruce's mumbling is the best part for me. i don't think his Romanticism would be palatable if it wasn't blunted by the grizzled weight of experience. that kind of writing needs to be grounded in some way by melancholy.

That Clarke track, which I'd never heard, is fine, but it really splits the difference between Bruce and, dunno, Jackson Browne.

I think I've kind of always wanted Bruce Springsteen to sound more like Jackson Browne so I am digging this. Also reminding me again of the existence of the Hold Steady who did a pretty decent pastiche on "Stuck Between Stations."

Dude! Enunciate!

i always figured that mumbling thing was the product of severe underbite + not opening mouth to speak

Also, for a belter, Bruce back then was pretty shy. So maybe it was a form of modesty manifesting itself at the wrong time in the wrong song? He opens up his voice more as the song goes on, though.

I always figured that mumbling thing was the product of Dylan/Van Morrison emulation (and is really the major thing I DO like about "Born To Run.") Like, enunciation was not the thing that made Rolling Stones records rock.

Bruce back then was pretty shy

Think it's fair to say he's overcome it since

i like his bad vocals and mumbling on this song

Album is 45 years old today

I'm as old as it is, but it is better than I am.

I like it

BABY THIS TOWN RIPS THE BONES FROM YOUR BACK, IT'S A DEATH TRAP, IT'S A SUICIDE RAP

Little dramatic in spots, no?

But then you hear the new Killers album and realize it's actually kinda subtle.

ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

THE HIGHWAY’S JAMMED WITH BROKEN HEROES ON A LAST CHANCE POWER DRIVE
EVERYBODY’S OUT ON THE RUN TONIGHT
BUT THERE’S NO PLACE LEFT TO HIDE


if for whatever reason you cannot fuck with this kind of awesomeness then i cannot help you

otm

Does this thread mention the case of Steve Van Zandt and the unheard string bend?

Explain please

When The Boss played the original recording of BTR: The Song for Miami Steve the first time, he said something like "I particularly like that minor key riff" to which Springsteen replied "What minor key riff?" Turns out he had been doing a string bend but in that Spectoresque arrangement with all that stuff in it you couldn't hear the bent note. So they went back and redid the guitar part and the whole mix again which took quite a bit of time back in the day.

i haven't heard this song in ages! i love it tho

I think it might be in the doc, where they play the minor version of it? Anyway, the minor didn't work, obviously.

Yes, Springsteen talks about it in doc. Some interviews online with Miami Steve about it as well.

ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

THE HIGHWAY’S JAMMED WITH BROKEN HEROES ON A LAST CHANCE POWER DRIVE
EVERYBODY’S OUT ON THE RUN TONIGHT
BUT THERE’S NO PLACE LEFT TO HIDE

if for whatever reason you cannot fuck with this kind of awesomeness then i cannot help you

― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 26 August 2020 01:27 (eleven hours ago) link

otm

― whiney on the moon (voodoo chili), Wednesday, 26 August 2020 01:37 (eleven hours ago) link

otm

It's the most direct descendant of Like a Rolling Stone, but filtered through suburban 50s teenage greaser angst. Rebel with a Cause: Getting the Fuck Out of Here. At nearly 48, no song quite connects me to the rush, hope, romanticism, and desperation of being young. Fuck tha haters.

All the lore is classic, not least that Springsteen really had no idea what he had on his hands. Hence the tale of him sitting on it for 6 months, not sure what to do with it, convinced he ripped it off from somewhere. Or my fave illustration, the classic Main Point '75 boot, where "Born to Run" comes third (!) in the set.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARuCO6RGAJU&list=RDARuCO6RGAJU&start_radio=1

First comment, btw: "This is the version where you still hear the 'minor' chord that Van Zandt via Springsteen gets removed from the final recorded version. Van Zandt later expressed being 'undecided' about whether he (they) had made the right decision or not! Judge for yourself!"

Weird: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARuCO6RGAJU

I love that boot, because you can here how small of a venue it is and, together with the intro by Ed Sciaky, Bruce just sounds like some minor local bar band with a loyal following (which I guess he is on some level).

*hear*

Main Point is the one thing by Bruce that I'd keep if I could keep no other.

I would probably agree. The "Incident on 57th Street" with the violin that kicks off the album is my favorite thing he has ever done. It amplifies the melodrama of the album version.

yeah that's my favorite bruce song & that's my favorite version of it

that version is so beautiful

?Meeting Across the River" is my fave, with "throw that money," acoustic guitar for "on the bed---she'll see I wasn't just talkin'---and I'm gonna go out walkin'...", trumpet solo, "Heyyy Eddie can you get us a ride..."piano, trumpet

Bruce Springsteen – vocals
Roy Bittan – piano
Richard Davis – double bass
Randy Brecker – trumpet

("Acoustic guitar" may have been how I heard bass of the late great Richard Davis at some points.)

"Late"? He's not dead yet.

Hoped you'd say that! At this point, I just assume, esp. w venerable jazzers.

Jazz guys can live pretty long these days.

Listening to this album again and I'm struck as always by how much it's basically two distinct EPs with identical structures/sequencing. I've never met another album that gives me such a vivid sense of "End of side one, now get up and turn the record over" even when I'm listening to it on my phone.

I heard the title track in a shopping centre a couple of weeks ago.

it sure beats most of the crap of today!

The key to this song is to see it performed live.

Seriously, it is hard not to be a Springsteen fan after seeing him perform.

Is this the only Springsteen recording with wah-wah guitar on it?

I like it okay, but not as much as his first album, his fourth one, and probably a couple others by him. (also not as much as many, many john cougar mellencamp, bob seger, thin lizzy, boomtown rats, and iron city houserockers albums.) (it is probably better than *bat out of hell* and *slippery when wet,* though.)
― chuck, Tuesday, January 4, 2005 6:58 PM (seventeen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

*chef kiss*

loool

have to respect the joe grushecky shoutout tho

xhuxk’s kiss

For the “Jungleland” instrumental section before “in the parking lot” it often seems like he shouts “sax!” and then proceeds to play a guitar solo.

Unless Nils plays it

Not to be confused with
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WXgHkujfI0

I think Springsteen plays all the guitars on that album.

Actually I was talking about live versions, sorry

Hammersmith Odeon ‘75 he calls for that solo by saying “Something!” a few times.