Bruce Springsteen (Official Thread)

[TheSound]

I didn't know such a doc existed. I may have to Amazon this. I've liked this cat for a long time.

I, too, was born a rebel.

Runnin' Down a Dream (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It's pretty epic to put it mildy....4 hours of the whole of his life story and that of the Heartbreakers...very in depth, interviews with Tom and everyone associated with him, it's the last word really in rock documentaries, in fact come to think of it my CRF profile page here actually contains an autoplay video of 'You Wreck Me' which is taken from the opening of the documentary.

 

[LG]

When you give Darkness another listen, I would like to know your favorites/likes and dislikes from the album LG, as well as anyone/everyone else's opinion .

I myself enjoy the whole album to the end, but it reminds me a bit of a "repeat?" of Born To Run, not saying Born To Run is bad,I love BTR, but just the "message" is repeated,the whole "Babe,we gotta get out of this town. Let's go." kind of the classic Greaser/Rebel/Break-Away feel, so to speak. Again not that it is a bad thing, but seems to me that is why it wasn't as successful as Born To Run. Of course I seem to remember reading that Darkness was meant to be the "sequel/s" to the BTR "story/stories", if that is the case I take all the previous back because now I see the reasoning behind it all ,but hey this is just my opinion, I'd say the main reason that Darkness wasn't as successful as BTR is def. that 3-year gap due to the issues with his record company and what not.

Just want to clarify, with this^^^ I don't mean to "gun" anyone down or argue. Apologies if my words are a bit confusing I just felt like voicing my opinion on something I'd like to say I have a "good" knowledge about , in shorter words a friendly discussion .

Personally, the 3 albums I like the most from Springsteen are DOTEOT,Born To Run,and Nebraska, I feel like I have stated this before XD if so apologies. I'd type up a couple of reasons why those 3 but the last "paragraph" tired me out XD. Maybe another time.

As for the new album High Hopes, I am looking forward to it. Yet I would much rather like to see a return to his Nebraska-type work, just the dark,deep,murder,mystic feeling I get when I listen to it, amazing. All in all I am happy to hear The Boss is releasing a new album, and will be looking out for it. Peace and Love

I will listen to DOTEOT tomorrow sometime Wanderer, I did buy a copy when it was released a long long time before you were born... But it never grabbed me the way Run or USA did. Nebraska, just not a fan of that album and I've tried to be patient with it too.

 

[The Wanderer]

^^^ Far Out , USA, the only reason I didn't list it as one of my favorites is because I feel like that is "everyone's" favorite album by The Boss next to Born To Run XD, but that is just me. Oh no, don't get me wrong, it is a fantastic album , I love most of the tracks (Minus My Hometown, eh I don't want to say why but if I am asked to I will XD.) especially I'm Goin' Down & I'm On Fire. I'm shocked to find you didn't like Nebraska , but totally understandable, I've had that feeling with a couple of albums/bands/songs I hear that are good. If I had to name one, Molly Hatchet, but I don't want to get off-topic .

 

[LG]

^^I think that both Run and USA are top shelf E-Street Band albums, that is what I like about them. Springsteen is still the Boss of course but the band shines on those albums too.

 

[The Wanderer]

^^^ Ah I see what you mean. Agreed, that Sax towards the end of Dancing in The Dark<3 . I kinda feel like an idiot for not "tipping my hat"/mentioning the E Street Band earlier , well now I do. Personally, if I really enjoy the band on the songs 4th Of July, Asbury Park, Rosalita, Spirit In The Night, and all of the tracks on Born To Run XD. I remember when I heard "The Big Man" Clarence Clemons passed but that was way before I really got into The Boss and E Street, but boy I sure am glad I did .

 

[TheSound]

When you give Darkness another listen, I would like to know your favorites/likes and dislikes from the album LG, as well as anyone/everyone else's opinion

For me Darkness just has it all, it’s quite literally flawless from beginning to end in every respect, so there’s no point in me even picking out any tracks for special mention, I just see it as a single musical commentary on life in ten perfectly formed episodes, in fact to me it’s almost like a concept album…. it’s grandiose, visionary, tragic, triumphant, dark, and beautiful. It really just embodies the aspirations of the American working class, it’s raw yet it’s well crafted, it’s unsettling but it’s consoling, Bruce on Darkness speaks with the passionate voice of every American outcast, every drifter, junkie, and working stiff…along of course with that ever present Springsteen mythology of the highway and the freedom that it offers.

To me this was just the pinnacle in the creative arc of a guy who millions of people over the years have considered to be a storytelling genius, and a true poet. OK I guess Darkness is seen as a pretty dark album, but it’s not all that uniformly gloomy since its more despairing moments are just spectacularly swept away by those powerful blasts of defiance that he produces in songs like The Promised Land, or in Badlands ("We'll keep pushin' till it's understood, and these Badlands start treating us good") Born to Run was almost operatic in its conception and production, with that kind of ‘wall of sound’ they achieved… and brilliantly so, in fact it’s a record Phil Spector would have been proud to have produced, and Darkness was just a kind of counterpoint to all that, it’s an angry and raw record that he unleashed after that hellish three-year hiatus which we were discussing yesterday. So to me Darkness is still as pertinent today as it was back when it was first released… even listening to it now it’s as if something you sense is wrong with the world, and people feel helpless, angry, frustrated – and we know the world is slowly going mad under the constant threat of terrorism and economic gloom etc....so it's literally as grand and as lowly and as pathetic as that.

Darkness and The Rising are his two best records imo, with The River not far behind them….in fact The Rising is actually a whole other landmark in rock music because it still remains, at least as far as I know anyway, the only rock album inspired pretty much entirely by the events and the aftermath of the one single event which has completely changed the world in which we live more fundamentally than any other event since the 1940’s…..and that's September 11, 2001.

Darkness btw actually sold a lot better than some people obviously imagine it did, it’s still one of Bruce’s biggest-selling records….it’s quite interesting to see how all his albums have fared commercially, given the trend that nobody basically sells any records these days, at least compared with 30 years ago….Born in the USA is now up to almost 30 million units sold, and nobody will ever sell 30 million albums ever again, those days are long gone. Here’s some data taken from the great Springsteen Greasy Lake fan forum, which one of the guys on there compiled a year or so ago….

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN - Career-to-date Albums & related - The Circuit - Bruce Springsteen - Greasy Lake Community

 

[LG]

^^Nicely put TS, I appreciate a well written post.

The River, I never bought a copy of this one. A friend of mine gave me his copy for free, he thought it was 'one of the worst records I've ever heard' and so I didn't have to spend a dime for it.

I have a simple way to tell my favorite records from a band or artist, the ones I listen to the most so Born and USA will always be the ones I pull out when I'm in the mood for some of New Jersey's finest.

 

[LG]

Listened to DOTEOT this morning, really enjoyed it thanks Wanderer for getting me to give it another spin.

Listening to The Rising right now, after reading TS's eloquent post I decided maybe I hadn't given it enough attention. So far 1/2 way through and picking up on things I missed before.

Thanks guys, been a "Boss" morning so far.

 

[Vehicle]

The Boss does have a great knack for painting very specific little snippets of life, doesn't he?

Meeting Across The River is one of my favorite examples of this.

 

[TheSound]

'The Promise' is well worth the effort/cost too....it's many of the tracks from the 'Darkness' studio sessions which didn't make it onto the original album.