Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run: 30th Anniversary 3-Disc Set (CD/2DVD)
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Free Music Notes for Born To Run: 30th Anniversary 3-Disc Set (CD/2DVD)
Free Music Review: History Lesson: The Making of a Rock Star
Hit: 5 Stars
Without a doubt, the highlight is the DVD of the 1975 show in London. "Born to Run," the album, had put him on the cover of "Time" and "Newsweek" the same week in October, 1975, one of the very few times that has happened for a non-news story.
The publicity and hype generated by Columbia records was so overwhelming that there was a backlash: "Nobody can be that good."
So here we see his first show ever in the UK, playing to an audience of professional critics and amateur skeptics, people thinking, "hey, 'Rock and Roll Future,' this is the land of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, The Who - who do you think you're kidding. No unknown kid from America deserves 'Time' and 'Newsweek.'"
The show begins in almost total darkness, a piano softly plays, then harmonica, and a soft spotlight lights the kid from New Jersey who sings "Thunder Road," accompanied by only piano. An unknown song at the time, "Thunder Road" has become a Springsteen classic. IMHO, especially given the expectations, it is a perfect understated opening.
The DVD has the entire show, including everything from the hard rock of "She's the One," and "Born to Run," the song, to a much slowed down version of "For You," an underated sleeper on his first album, "Greeting From Asbuty park, NJ." Bruce accompanies himself on the piano and I swear, this version of "For You" is so beautiful it could be the scruffy New Jersey kid channeling god.
Any skeptic who walked out of this show thinking Springsteen was merely hype has no ears, no taste, or was xenophobic. The show gives more than a big hint that this Springsteen guy is for real, as a songwriter and performer, and that "Born to Run," especially, is an extraodinary album. There are only eight songs, but none are fill. Repeated listenings of the four corners of the album (before CDs) "Backstreets," "Jungleland," Thunder Road," and the title song are so good they become... well, addictive, works of genius, and lead to still more listening. "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out," "Night," and especially "She's the One" could each be the centerpiece of almost any other album. Even the whispered "Meeting Across the River," fits and helps the album become a coherent whole. The songs taken together are more than the sum of the parts.
As a footnote I'll offer the opinion that Bruce only wrote one other album that is as good as "Born to Run" and that is his next one, "Darkness on the Edge of Town." Everything he has released is good; a good bit of it is great, but I don't think anything else matches "Born To Run" or "Darkness." I don't know if two other back to back albums this good have ever been released.
The DVD of the show gives us a big early peek at the guy who would develop into rock's greatest performer. By 1985 he would be the biggest rock star in the world, selling out multiple nights at football stadiums.
The remastered CD is nothing special to my ears. Perhaps an audiophile could hear improvement. The DVD, "The Making of 'Born to Run,'" is interesting, but will probably appeal mainly to fans.
However the DVD of the 1975 London show ought to appeal to anyone who likes Bruce, or rock & roll, or showmanship, or history. Its a treat.
Free Music Review: Legendary & Essential; Springsteen Conquers America
Hit: 5 Stars
After his first two album sold very poorly this would become his make or brake sessions. Springsteen could hardly pay his band anymore and his legendary scruffy look of the time had more to do with him not being able to buy new clothes than carefull image building. The music press were raving about him. Both Rolling Stone and Time magazine featured article with him on the cover. The sales not on par with the hype. Not everybody was confident he could make it at the time, even in his innercircle. After recording the Rock & Roll classic Born to Run his drummer and keyboard player left the band. The Born to Run sessions found Springsteen plagued by insecurity but determinate to hit big. He stripped down his writing creating songs that had a cinematic quality to them. The opening lyrics of the album continue to be some of the most vivid songwriting in history of Rock.
"The screen door slams
Mary's dress waves
Like a vision she dances across the porch
As the radio plays
Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
Hey that's me and I want you only
Don't turn me home again
I just can't face myself alone again"
The Album finds Springsteen trying to find everything he's ever loved in R&R and cramp it into one album. He puts layer on layer. Trying to recreate the Phil Spector sound he loves. He keeps scratching away at the words in an attempt to equal the mini opera's of Orbison. His guitar scream as uninhibited as Chuck Berry's and the horns shout Sweet "Stax" Soul Music at you. This record has to be everything R&R symbolizes, not only to Springsteen but to us all.. "Kids flash guitars just like switch-blades hustling for the record machine, The hungry and the hunted explode into rock'n'roll bands, That face off against each other out in the street down in Jungleland", as Springsteen realizes the competition is big.
Born to Run marks a important turning point in Springsteen's career. Although much of the album still deals with his experiences in New Jersey, it's the first album we find Springsteen looking out on the road to the rest of America. "When the change was made uptown And the Big Man joined the band, From the coastline to the city, All the little pretties raise their hands" Springsteen sings in 10th avenue. Here he's still the punk with a R&R dream getting his band together. But by the time we get to Born to Run he realizes the confinements of the Jersey shore. "Baby this town rips the bones from your back, It's a death trap, it's a suicide rap, We gotta get out while we're young, 'Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run" he screams, he's ready to go for broke. "the poets down here
Don't write nothing at all, they just stand back and let it all be" he rants in Jungle Land as he realizes R&R should be more, lager than life. And that's just what he's about to become.
The special edition features an insightful documentary and a live concert at the Hammersmith Odeon. This live DVD is also an excellent demonstration of Springsteens Live performance. Something that made him even more legendary than his songs. Some performances would stretch out for four hours. His E-Street band is as much part of his reputation as his songs are.
Free Music Review: From the coastline to the city, all the little pretties raise their hand
Hit: 5 Stars
I'll assume that you already know the music. The remix provided no great revelation (did anyone ever say, "I like Born to Run, but if it were mixed better it might really be something special"?) However, this entire set may be seen as an opportunity to embrace the work in a new light, or at least, at a new time in your life. And it turns out that the songs you know by heart are truly great. We learn from the "Wings for Wheels" video that Bruce was looking to make sweeping, cinematic songs, and of course he succeeded in spades; the piano introductions that mark most of these songs serve to set the mood in a very cinematic, dramatic way. "Thunder Road" is an invocation, and thus it appears first on the record; the opening is, as Bruce said on the recent Behind the Music, an invitation. And we go along for the ride, and it is spectacular. Think of the way "Jungleland" opens, the violin and piano; the scene perfectly set.
"Tenth Avenue Freeze Out," "Night" "Backstreets" and "She's the One" are stone cold classics that still raise the hair on your arms when he plays them live, and will when you listen again here; "Meeting Across the River" ages far better than we might have thought. "Born to Run" is one of the 10 greatest rock'n'roll songs ever written. For me, though, the one song that benefits most from a fresh listen is "Jungleland." Sweeping in its grandeur, over 9 minutes long, and the culmination of the story songwriting Bruce began on his first two albums. The vocalizing he does after the final, whispered "Tonight... in... jungle... land..." may be one of the greatest rock vocal performances ever. He says it all in those closing moments, without saying a thing.
Watch the documentary first; it provides an informative window into the creative process, and places the Born to Run record in historical context. Then listen to the album. Then play the concert DVD. At the time, this was thought to have been a disappointing performance by the E Street Band, but the proof is there on the tapes. This is an opportunity to see one of the great live rock'n'roll bands of all time, unchallenged, at THE quintessential time in their evolution. It is the first tour with the classic Born to Run line-up: Max Weinberg and Roy Bittan actually joined the band during the recording sessions, as did Miami Steve, who isn't even on the album. This is Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band as they live in your mind's eye: skinny, scraggly, unkempt; big hats, bonded together with a whole lot to prove, and intent on proving it (all night) at any cost. The sheer thrill of youth and rock'n'roll and "making it" has maybe never been captured so succintly before. These are moments you can never recreate; maybe these musicians are more skilled now, but they will never be 25 years old with everything on the line again. The hair on your arms WILL stand up when you watch this concert, and you will experience a rock'n'roll epiphany, a little taste of old time religion and redemption delivered with piano, glockenspiel, Fender telecaster and brassy sax.
Free Music Review: "Run" out and get this for your Springsteen fan on the Xmas list
Hit: 5 Stars
A great album sounds better and Springsteen fans will be experiencing nirvana (no, not the band silly--the other nirvana)with the concert DVD. The cinemascope production makes this album sound bigger, bolder and with better depth than before.
The CD remaster sounds terrific. The booming production makes the previous CD sound tinny by comparison and captures the raw power of the original vinyl release. There aren't any extra tracks or outtakes and that's a pity because you know there have to be some around somewhere. By the way, Amazon refers to this as the "first retooling" of any Springsteen album. That's not quite true--"Born to Run" received a 20 bit remaster limited edition release about a decade ago. That remaster sounded very good but this new version has better clarity and depth.
The Hammersmith/Odeon Concert from 1975 is the crown jewel here for fans. This concert which hasn't been available on DVD before looks quite good with solid sound as well. Springsteen performs most of "Born to Run" as well as classics such as "It's Hard to Be A Saint in the City" and "Spirit in the Night". It's an entire vintage concert with the Boss and his band in top form.
The "making of" DVD covers everything from the pressure that Springsteen was working under to produce a hit album for Columbia Records to working with the band in the studio to achieve the sound he wanted for the album. Finally the "Hype" of Springsteen that threatened to overtake the value of the album and the artist is also discussed. Featuring vintage footage and new interviews, it's a marvelous glimpse into the creation of one of the top ten albums of all time. There are also three performances from 1973 recorded in Los Angeles-"Spirit in the Night" "Wild Billy's Circus Story" and "Thundercrack".
The whole package comes in a large cardboard box with a cardboard replica of the original vinyl packaging for "Born to Run" and cardboard holders for the DVDs. The CD features a label that mimics the Columbia label for the original "Born to Run" and looks like vinyl on both the top and bottom (it's an unusal looking CD in that it's all black except for the label area). I do agree that these probably should have been released in something a bit sturdier but that's pretty minor and easy to fix--go out and buy some jewelboxes. Finally, there's a booklet with numerous rare and previously unreleased photos of Springsteen and the band. A brief essay from Springsteen's book "Songs" is included. The 1975 concert also has a couple of paragraphs written by Springsteen about the experience of seeing and performing in London for the first time.
30 years later it's still a great album given a deluxe presentation by Columbia. A great Christmas package for the Springsteen fan in your family whether they be middle aged or teenagers.
Free Music Review: DVD worth the price of admission
Hit: 5 Stars
AH, WHEN HE WAS TRULY 'THE BOSS'
Am viewing/listening to the dvd '75 Hammersmith Odeon LONDON show, and it's electrifying. Really. I don't usually write reviews before digesting , but I'm jumping in early and am completely sold.
The audio quality is fantastic and is from a 24 track recording of the show. The picture is a bit rough, shot in that horrible 70's film stock. But the performance itself is phenomenal.
A must buy for all who appreciate when Bruce's writing and performing revolved solely around his belief in rock and roll redemption. 'Born to Run' was a total musical escape from a grinding mid-seventies lower class reality. And it was huge for him as well as us.
I came in during the 'Darkness' allbum and missed this tour so I've never seen live footage from this period. The 'Darkness' tour and album was like a revelation to me at the time. I was just coming out of my adolescent 'Kiss' and 'Boston' phase and I was a depressed and isolated queer kid. 'Darkness' hit me in the gut the way no other album ever had or has ever had since. I soon bought 'Born to Run' and Bruce became my hero.
Great anecdote about a meeting with him: During the 'River' tour I saw Bruce at the Capitol Center in DC with a group of guys who were all Bruce freaks as well. We decided to try to meet him after one show and went to the stage door and waited until around 5 in the morning. Other band members walked out, a few apparently very impressed with themselves (Max Weinberg you know who you are)then out he came in a Ford Bronco with a driver. When it was my turn to approach him I had nothing for him to sign except the sweaty folded stub for the show, but he took it and made a joke about it to put me at my ease. And he became a bit of a god for me, for awhile.
So, before the 'Darkness' set in for Bruce, the depression years of 'The River' and the desolated 'Nebraska' the MEGA "BornInTheUSA' (which so got on my nerves with how misunderstood the title song was--does anyone else remember crowds at the shows pumping fists and waving flags like they were at a Nazi rally or something. I even threw away the autograph I had on the ticket stub I was so irritated with it all.) Before all that there was 'Born to Run' and a great musician had a great fantasy we all wanted to be part of.
All this from a guy who needed rock and roll like others need oxygen. Raised and apparently emotionally abused by an alcoholic father, he found salvation in a guitar. And so did we, for awhile. I Love you Bruce.