Red Mosquito

ok friends, i'm putting on some Sprangsteen. i'll report back

brilliant disguise is a good song

so far this sounds like Meat Loaf

bodysnatcher wrote:so far this sounds like Meat Loaf

which album?

rick malone wrote:I think Darkness is overrated. Some of his best stuff on there but also some very average.

The Wild, The Innocent, and The E Street Shuffle has what I might call the best back to back songs on any album: Incident on 57th Street and Rosalita.

Wild is one of his absolute worst, what a mess

Bruce out of hell

Strat wrote:

bodysnatcher wrote:so far this sounds like Meat Loaf

which album?

Born to Run

i have a feeling i'm gonna be a "Greatest Hits" Bruce fan

i totally see why he has/had a Broadway show. his music is teed up for it.

bodysnatcher wrote:i totally see why he has/had a Broadway show. his music is teed up for it.

at least try darkness, which is kind of the antithesis of BTR.

evenslow wrote:

bodysnatcher wrote:i totally see why he has/had a Broadway show. his music is teed up for it.

at least try darkness, which is kind of the antithesis of BTR.

I started as a Greatest Hits kind of guy. Its been a long slow build with bruce. he's a storyteller. His lyrics are phenomenal. The melodies and moods start to seep through over time. You get past the production elements and the glory ends up slamming you on your ass.

take Born in the USA which has arguably one of the cheesiest keyboard sounds ever (its also fantastic) with a huge chorus of Born in the USA. But the lyrics:

I had a brother at Khe Sahn
Fighting off the Viet Cong
They're still there, he's all gone
He had a woman he loved in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms now

ugh.

evenslow wrote:

bodysnatcher wrote:i totally see why he has/had a Broadway show. his music is teed up for it.

at least try darkness, which is kind of the antithesis of BTR.

I fully appreciate the over-blowness of The Wild... and Born To Run.

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


LOVE

Strat wrote:

evenslow wrote:

bodysnatcher wrote:i totally see why he has/had a Broadway show. his music is teed up for it.

at least try darkness, which is kind of the antithesis of BTR.

I started as a Greatest Hits kind of guy. Its been a long slow build with bruce. he's a storyteller. His lyrics are phenomenal. The melodies and moods start to seep through over time. You get past the production elements and the glory ends up slamming you on your ass.

take Born in the USA which has arguably one of the cheesiest keyboard sounds ever (its also fantastic) with a huge chorus of Born in the USA. But the lyrics:

I had a brother at Khe Sahn
Fighting off the Viet Cong
They're still there, he's all gone
He had a woman he loved in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms now

ugh.

i'm kind of similar to this. my first real exposure to bruce was via Born in the USA, more specifically the Dancing in the Dark and Glory Days videos played on a loop. Looking back, it's a really weird way to get intro'd to the guy who did Rosalita and Jungleland. So I initially just regarded him as one of the iconic stars of the 80s (w/ Madonna, MJ, Prince, etc). Bought the greatest hits and all that.

It wasn't really until The Rising that I finally decided to deep dive into the whole catalogue. I've been head over heels ever since (especially since Magic).

Strat wrote:take Born in the USA which has arguably one of the cheesiest keyboard sounds ever (its also fantastic)

yes and max's drumming might be his best work with the band. powerful mighty max fills throughout.

LoathedVermin72 wrote:

rick malone wrote:I think Darkness is overrated. Some of his best stuff on there but also some very average.

The Wild, The Innocent, and The E Street Shuffle has what I might call the best back to back songs on any album: Incident on 57th Street and Rosalita.

Wild is one of his absolute worst, what a mess

It is.

I generally tolerate Springsteen's cheese, sometimes even embrace it, because there is almost always substance behind it.

LoathedVermin72 wrote:

rick malone wrote:I think Darkness is overrated. Some of his best stuff on there but also some very average.

The Wild, The Innocent, and The E Street Shuffle has what I might call the best back to back songs on any album: Incident on 57th Street and Rosalita.

Wild is one of his absolute worst, what a mess

But what a glorious mess.

There's a pretty good live playlist on Bruce's Spotify page. 89 songs, running over 8 hours.

https://open.spotify.com/user/brucespri ... 6scIsjxvNw

bodysnatcher wrote:

Strat wrote:

bodysnatcher wrote:so far this sounds like Meat Loaf

which album?

Born to Run

I think you may change your mind here with some time.

IMO Wild is Springsteen. Something like Tunnel of Love is fine, a nice change for Bruce, but Wild is on another level. I'll take Rosalita over Born to Run and Jungeland. When he hits the solo in Incident on 57th Street. Wild Billy's Circus Story is another favorite.

Check out Tracks. It has some good, if not great ones that really show how prolific he was.

bodysnatcher wrote:

liebzz wrote:Yeah, I think Born to Run and Darkness are the two best, but as immediate the impact can be listening to The River, it really grew on me more over time and I have become more fascinated with it over the years after reading his biography and autobiography.

I would start myself with a live show like Hammerstein. I think live is where his music really flourishes, especially because some of the albums suffer from weird production and on Bruce’s part obsessive control over the sound. I always felt Bruce was at his best when he just let it go.

The original Pearl Jam??

I believe somewhere Eddie Vedder told the story of his first show being a Springsteen show, and that he just thought that was what live music was and was basically disappointed from there on. Their live shows are probably very influenced by 70s Springsteen, even if they lack the jamming and leading one song into the next unabated continuum that could be vintage live Springsteen.

That being said, I think Pearl Jam is much better at sequencing their set lists than Bruce, but these are basically the two best live acts i’ve ever heard.