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Post by kds on Feb 15, 2023 13:56:39 GMT
I'm giving Bruce's second album a seven because there is a definite progression in terms of songwriting, production, and vocals. Rosalita alone dwarfs anyone of the debut album. I think the other long songs on Side 2, and good, and hints at things to come. Sandy is a good ballad, but I think the version on the live box is superior.
The only track that I really don't much care for is the opening track, The E Street Shuffle. As I said before, it reminds me a little of The Dead.
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 15, 2023 16:56:25 GMT
The only track that I really don't much care for is the opening track, The E Street Shuffle. As I said before, it reminds me a little of The Dead. I'll probably end up a 7, too. But I like the opening track! Maybe I just don't know enough of the Dead to say it reminds me of them. The horn intro puts me in a New Orleans kind of mood, and then it's got that very, very '70s funky sound with the electric piano (clav?) and guitar parts. It has a great, driving rhythm throughout, and cool little change-ups here and there to keep it interesting. It's one of my highlights, actually.
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Post by kds on Feb 15, 2023 17:10:16 GMT
The only track that I really don't much care for is the opening track, The E Street Shuffle. As I said before, it reminds me a little of The Dead. I'll probably end up a 7, too. But I like the opening track! Maybe I just don't know enough of the Dead to say it reminds me of them. The horn intro puts me in a New Orleans kind of mood, and then it's got that very, very '70s funky sound with the electric piano (clav?) and guitar parts. It has a great, driving rhythm throughout, and cool little change-ups here and there to keep it interesting. It's one of my highlights, actually. I'm not overly familiar with The Dead, so I can't really put my finger on why it reminds me of them.
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Post by B.E. on Feb 18, 2023 16:24:35 GMT
It had been driving me crazy, but I finally figured out which song the strings at the end of "New York City Serenade" reminded me off: "Good Night" by the Beatles.
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Post by B.E. on Feb 18, 2023 17:43:38 GMT
This is by far the most I've ever listened to this album, as I probably listened in full about half a dozen times this week. I've grown to appreciate it as the sort of album you can put on while driving, or in the background, and enjoy it from start to finish, but there's really only one track that truly grabs me: "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)". I feel foolish for overlooking the fact that this is...clearly...a classic on the same level as his others to come. Incredible! I think "The E Street Shuffle" is my second favorite track, and so for me the album would probably work better (rating-wise) if you just omit the nearly 10 minute "New York City Serenade" (the album would still be over 35 minutes long). While it has the really cool/catchy "she won't take the train" section and the section where Bruce belts "singing, singing, etc." (which is awesomely powerful), it is very long, I strongly dislike the 90 second intro, the core song is merely "ok", and Bruce continues his penchant for "whisper-singing" on the album. There's pretty much no way to avoid the drawn-out letdown after "Rosalita", IMO.
As for Bruce's singing, I think right off the bat with "The E Street Shuffle" you can hear that he's pretty much found his voice. That said, I hadn't noticed before how expressive and dynamic his singing was on this album and how often he'd incorporate the aforementioned "whisper-singing". I don't feel like he continued to do that -- not nearly as often or prominently, anyway -- but perhaps I'll listen for it as we continue on. I did really like that most of his leads sounded single-tracked. His voice sounded clear and strong and impressive. On a track like "Wild Billy", I'm basically just interested in listening to his voice. But, admittedly, I've found that's one track that you sort of need to be in the mood for (which probably isn't too surprising).
Lyrically, I think Bruce took a major step forward. He's not over rhyming anymore. It's a pretty drastic change. But I don't think the songs themselves are better than on his debut. Actually, combine the two: "Rosalita" is best, but then I'd probably take "Blinded by the Light", "Sprit in the Night", and "Growing Up" next. The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle is sort of lacking in the ear-catching/singalong/anthemic chorus department. I do think the band sounds a bit tighter and I think the recording sounds better.
While I'd rank it above the debut, I'm giving it the same rating - 6.
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 18, 2023 17:49:17 GMT
I did end up voting a 7, btw, if it wasn't obvious.
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 18, 2023 18:15:09 GMT
Four voters rated The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle an average of 6.3.
We'll proceed presently.
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 18, 2023 18:35:47 GMT
Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run (1975)Neither of Bruce Springsteen's first two albums had sales to match critics' (or presumably, live fans') opinions. Neither made it into the Top 50, and none of his three singles charted. Anywhere. Capitol obviously believed in Springsteen, however, giving him a large budget to deliver a hit. (Or at least they were willing to go all-out this one time before cutting bait.) He and the E Street Band began work on the album about six months after The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, with the first sessions in May 1974. Springsteen wanted to make a great album. Not in the way everyone wants to make every album great, but historically great. He later told Rolling Stone that he wanted the album to be like "Roy Orbison singing Bob Dylan, produced by Spector." So that's a reasonable enough expectation... He and the group spent well over a year on the album. In the process of its creation, he parted with keyboardist David Sancious and drummer Ernest "Boom" Carter, adding eventual E Street mainstays Roy Bittan on keyboards and Max Weinberg on drums. He also brought in eventual producer and manager Jon Laundau, while eventually letting go previous producer and manager Mike Appel. Also involved in the production was now-legendary producer and mogul Jimmy Iovine, founder of Interscope Records and co-founder with Dr. Dre of Beats Electronics, as an engineer at The Record Plant studios. Also supplementing the core band were longtime Springsteen collaborator Steven Van Zandt and jazz-fusion artists David Sanborn and Randy and and Michael Brecker on saxes, horns, and saxes, respectively. An early mix of "Born to Run" was leaked to numerous radio stations, helping build buzz. Columbia Records' massive promotional campaign did more of the same, with a then-massive quarter-million dollar spend aimed at both consumers and the industry. A Landau quote that Springsteen was the future of rock and roll was highlighted, and both Time and Newsweek put Springsteen on their covers in late 1975. It worked. The album broke the Top 10 in its second week of release, peaking eventually at #3. It has gone 7x platinum in the U.S. and sold huge quantities worldwide. The title track was released as a single, reaching #23 and going double-platinum. "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" hit #83. A third single, "Thunder Road," did not chart but became a classic rock radio mainstay and has gone platinum. Born to Run was widely praised by critics upon release, and is regularly considered among the greatest albums of all time. Please listen to, discuss, and rate Born to Run.
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nZs0gvllzGn7y9-5OuorN7W37HPrPGrn8
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Post by kds on Feb 19, 2023 2:32:48 GMT
I'll comment further later, but posting my 10 now.
I think there's competition, but BTR is in the conversation for greatest bookends to any album with the opening Thunder Road and dramatic closing Jungleland.
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 19, 2023 14:54:32 GMT
I'm looking forward to this week because Born to Run has a strange place in my library. (I'll try to make this clear, but my feelings aren't all that clear.)
It is, I think, my least-known, least-listened to album among albums that are not only widely considered great, but that I also consider great. There are plenty of canonical albums that I just don't like, and I know them far worse. (Think: Neil Young generally, among many others.) But this is one I have, I've listened to a fair share, I don't dispute its greatness at all, I really like it ... but somehow I still don't listen to it very much. I'm not familiar with it in the way I'm familiar with my favorites from the Beach Boys, the Beatles, Dylan, Zappa, Prince, Zeppelin, Queen, or any number of other classics. I can't even say why. It has always just kept itself slightly on the periphery for me.
But these opportunities to give albums repeat listens usually end up with me appreciating albums more. I have no doubt I'll discover moments of brilliance that bigger fans were well aware of all along, but that somehow just never quite struck me before. It should be fun.
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Post by B.E. on Feb 19, 2023 15:20:26 GMT
Until about a year ago, I had a similar experience! For whatever reason, my fandom focused on the era from Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) through the same day releases of Human Touch and Lucky Town (1992). Sure, I'd listen to Born to Run occasionally and kept up with his 2000s releases (through High Hopes (2014)), but at least 95% of the time I'd listen to those 1978-1992 albums. Perhaps it's because there wasn't as much of a need to? I'd hear "Thunder Road" and "Born to Run" in passing all the time, and I'd seek out other favorites like "Backstreets" and "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" when the mood struck - that's half the album right there. I don't know, I guess with Darkness on the Edge of Town being the album that hit me hardest when I was first getting into Bruce (and a little later, Nebraska), I just didn't feel the need to "look back". Bruce was a little older, the material a bit more mature, and that's what I gravitated towards, I suppose. That said, there are other reasons why I don't seem to appreciate Born to Run, as an album, as much as most other fans do, but I'll save that for a later post. As I alluded to, though, over the past year or so it might be my most listened to Bruce Springsteen album! So, I'm coming around!
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Post by kds on Feb 21, 2023 15:12:16 GMT
I think I first listened to Born to Run in full in 2014 or 2015, which I decided to start exploring Bruce's catalog. I liked it from jump, but at the time, I was a bigger fan of Darkness on the Edge of Town, but in the last year or so, I've grown to really appreciate some of the album tracks on Born to Run, namely Night and She's the One, both of which just have such a joyous energy to them.
Of course, you have the classic title track, the fan favorite Tenth Avenue Freeze Out, and the bookend tracks I've already mentioned.
The closer, Jungleland, to me works better than the previous album's closing epic. I think Jungleland has a natural build up and just when it climaxes, Clarence comes in with perhaps the greatest sax solo in history before the music calms down to a single piano, which is amazing. Up until this point, we've discussed how Bruce's music could be busy, but this is such a display of restraint in the final verse, and it really works to the song's benefit.
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 23, 2023 17:29:57 GMT
I think I've listened to Born to Run about four times in the past 2-3 days, and I'm planning on a few more. Granted, it's distracted listening, playing while I work. But even so, I'm getting much more familiar with it than I've ever been.
One thing that keeps jumping out at me is how much he's doing with some really simple rock chord progressions. For example, I think I've heard what I think of as the "simplified 'Sweet Jane'" chord progression (I-V-IV) (though it has appeared in a bazillion songs including millions before "Sweet Jane") in at least two or three songs, but because of the additional arrangement touches like the piano parts, it doesn't seem like big dumb rawk.
It's been fun. I don't think I'll be matching KDS's 10, but a 9 seems highly likely.
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 24, 2023 13:33:23 GMT
A note on the production. There are a few spots, with the end of "Jungleland" the example I was just listening to, where Springsteen goes for bigger or higher notes, when suddenly at least more, and I think a different, reverb is applied. In a few cases, it almost sounds like it's a different vocal take entirely, possibly in a different room, with different mic, or something: I'm not sure exactly what it is, other than it isn't the same. Also on "Jungleland," it's mostly single-tracked on the vocal (or if doubled, the double is really quiet), but starting on that final "-land," it is at least double-tracked. Then with the wordless outro, that reverb is cranked as mentioned above (which can be a nice move to help take the strain off of it and hide some minor pitch imperfections, as it all gets mixed up in the wash).
More on the vocal approach than the production, there were also a few places where I felt I understood his comment about wanting the album to be "sung by Orbison" (along with written by Dylan and produced by Spector). I need to go back again to note the location(s), but at times he sings in a different voice from his typical rasp, as different from his normal voice as Dylan's Nashville Skyline voice was from his usual.
Edit - Another example of the sudden, heavier reverb and possibly separately recorded, edited in bit: "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out," around 1:34, with the "And I'm all alone" part.
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 24, 2023 17:19:17 GMT
In the end, I've changed my mind: I've given Born to Run a 10 after all. There are places it doesn't quite match my taste, but I'm thinking of it from a more objective perspective and thinking, OK, for what he's doing, could it be done much better? I'm not sure it could have been.
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