Bruce Springsteen - Classic or Dud ?

The Vinyl Me Please "Essentials" title for October is Nebraska! Seems like a crazy high-profile title for them.

Interesting, that was a notoriously difficult title to cut on vinyl, but I imagine they're working off the remastered digital file processed by Plangent, which probably took care of those problems from way back when.

(IIRC, the only way to get around it on the original vinyl was to master it at a very low volume, surface noise be damned.)

OMG at that pic.

XP Deets out: lacquers cut at half-speed from the plangent processed masters.

Makes sense. This will potentially sound a lot better than the original vinyl then.

I always wondered if it was worth re-transferring the original cassette tape and using Plangent to correct any anomalies there rather than use the official master tape, which is basically a work part or a dub made from the cassette just to have something usable in the studio in the analog era. Even if they went through the trouble, it's very possible the cassette tape has degraded over time, but if they still have it, I think it's worth a shot.

Lee Harvey Oswald didn't sell getting shot as hard as these cats are selling "Glory Days” here … pic.twitter.com/Zp3o4VYyjl

— Super 70s Sports (@Super70sSports) September 16, 2022

mean

More indications a new album is imminent. Rumored to be soul covers, which is fine with me.

Vinyl Me Please catching heat for splitting the songs between sides differently than before

Yeah, a double LP of soul covers could be hit or miss. I wish he had done it in, say, 1989 or 1990 (when he had some down time and his voice was up to it), but we'll see.

My favorite McCartney album Run Devil Run is still like the gold standard for a covers album for me, but I can't really think of any that approach it. Maybe half of Moondog Matinee?

Bowie?

I'll give it another chance. I actually have some mixed feelings about that album - I don't think it's bad ("Sorrow"'s great), but a lot of it feels too arch. I know Greil Marcus actually cites it as one of his very favorite Bowie albums, but he's not really a fan either and doesn't like most of his classics from that era.

Turn it up tomorrow, September 29th at 10:00 AM ET! 📻 pic.twitter.com/uvu93rgGAo

— Bruce Springsteen (@springsteen) September 28, 2022

1. Only The Strong Survive - Jerry Butler
2. Soul Days - Dobie Gray
3. Night Shift - The Commodores
4. Do I Love You - Frank Wilson
5. The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore - The Walker Brothers
6. Turn Back The Hands of Time - Tyrone Davis
7. When She Was My Girl - The Four Tops
8. Western Union Man - Jerry Butler
9. I Wish It Would Rain - The Temptations
10. Don't Play That Song - Aretha
11. Any Other Way - Jackie Shane
12. I Forgot To Be Your Lover - William Bell
13. Rooms of Gloom - The Four Tops
14. What Becomes of the Brokenhearted - Jimmy Ruffin
15. Someday We'll Be Together - Diana Ross and The Supremes

(heavily rumored track list)

"Night Shift"!

I Wish it would rain + what becomes of the brokenhearted = hell yes

Lots of great tracks in that list. William Bell one and Tyrone Davis one. Bell still does gigs and was great both times I saw him.

This could be good if it's recorded relatively raw and live-ish.

I'm fully expecting overproduced glop.

I’m hoping for overproduced glop, tbh. At least half the songs on this list had wonderfully massive and dramatic production.

well, those tiny little snippets teased already sound pretty big, backing vocalists and stuff, but not unlike the seeger sessions. in character. hard to tell.

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

Short, sweet, sounds fine, just what you'd expect it to sound like.

I think that's violinist Katie Jacoby, who's actually been a highlight of the Who and Roger Daltrey's tours in recent years (she gets the spotlight on "Baba O'Riley"). Also, not an exact match, but the lighting and color makes it look like an homage to Elvis's 1968 TV special.

But yeah, classic sweet soul music - sounds pretty good. Would've made a very nice B-side back in the day.

Digging this! Who's the drummer? (Kind of glad it's not Max, tbh.) And yep, Jacoby's great -- kills the "Baba" solo every time.

They kind of obscure the band in the video, so it remains a mystery.

Someone noticed that there is a "Covers (Vol. 1)" affixed to the album title ...

https://is2-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Music112/v4/ea/bb/1b/eabb1b66-4007-6270-82fb-da7a94a30a15/196589231055.jpg/1000x1000bb.webp

Shoulda called it "Cover Them."

Tragic missed opportunity

At least the cover looks good. Best cover since Tunnel of Love

"How YOU doin'?"

"Before my daughter takes you out in this car, let me tell you about the time I drove it to the boardwalk in 1986, Annie Liebowitz was waitin' there for me, I had my bolo tie..."

Everyone looks cool next to a '50s-'60s American car.

Sit on the hood of a Prius, Bruce. See if you still look cool.

A vintage wood-paneled station wagon might be a better fit.

Or convalescent home shuttle bus

Played the Killers' encore with Jake Clemons.

It's been years and years since he was so active popping up with other people.

Besides McCartney (which he's done at least twice), the Killers and Coldplay, where else has he popped up in recent years?

I can only remember four: Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Pearl Jam and Arcade Fire (in 2007 when they did "State Trooper" and "Keep the Car Running").

Bleachers, too.

Billy Joel lol (2018)

Total projection, but after doing so much autobiography with the memoir and the Broadway show, I can imagine it's refreshing for him to do a bunch of songs where the meaning is simple and on the surface. And the arrangements here feel like an extension of the Western Stars orchestrations.

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

Nice to see him in a suit again.

The sound of it is kind of bland and soul-free. Technically good but it doesn't do much for me.

Crushing on the bassist.

Glad to hear the song, but kind of an odd choice, as the sole '80s track on the record (right?). Also, a nostalgia take on a song about nostalgia. Sonically it sounds like his slick '90s wilderness years.

Kinda stiff with less range compared to Commodores

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrkEDe6Ljqs

He should’ve covered this on his 1985 tour, though I doubt Max could’ve played with the necessary finesse. And that’s what this feels like: a somewhat unexpected and mildly interesting one-off — “Hey, didja hear what Bruce covered the other night?” — but not something I feel compelled to return to (unlike the original).

And at the beginning he doesn’t seem to know what to do with his arms.

Is he lip-synching? There's something weird about the sound.

Crushing on the bassist.

It's likely he's lip-synching. IIRC whenever he's used a live mic in his videos, the takes were allowed to run a bit (or in the case of "Brilliant Disguise" the whole video came from a single take), but it becomes much less practical when they're choreographing camera movements and they're making as many cuts like they're doing here.

I mean Bruce brings nothing to this song. It’s also kind of weird he’s singing a tribute to someone else’s friends. Did he ever meet Marvin?