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Post by kds on Feb 24, 2023 18:55:33 GMT
The only possible blemish on the album for me is Meeting Across the River, which just doesn't seem to fit the rest of the album. But, even that song has grown on me over the last two years.
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Post by B.E. on Feb 25, 2023 12:55:08 GMT
I don't think rock 'n' roll gets any better than "Thunder Road", "Born to Run", and "Backstreets". I think all the right elements came together on those tracks (in particular). What really struck me this week is just how great the lyrics to "Thunder Road" are. It's gotta be among the best rock lyrics ever written. And throughout the album, with the lone exception of "Meeting Across the River", the production is absolutely phenomenal. I was reminded of Phil Spector and Brian Wilson in its brilliance. I don't think I'd fully appreciated that before. I'd actually love to listen to 'backing track only' mixes of most of the album - I wonder if they've been released (I imagine they have). It's not just the arrangements (which are great) but the execution, too. There are so many moments I'd like to point to but unfortunately I gotta go to work! And Bruce's vocals at times are one-of-a-kind. What a gift! (But I already appreciated that.)
"Meeting Across the River" kills the mood and momentum for me. I don't think the album needed a slow track. Swap it for another rocker and this could have been a perfect rock album - top 10 of all-time great. I actually sort of like the story and how Bruce sings it, but it doesn't fit the album and the arrangement and style of the track is just not to my liking at all. And "Jungleland" is not a favorite of mine. What I've been doing lately is just listening from "Thunder Road" through "She's the One" and either turning it off or starting over. By the way, "She's the One" has been a big-time grower for me. I dig it now just as much as the hits.
The piano playing is very prominent and highly effective throughout the album. Just...really impressive! But it got me thinking - Bruce goes away from it moving forward, doesn't he? It's not featured like it is here, is it?
Looking back, the only moments on the album where I still hear early/young Bruce are at the end of "Born to Run" when he whisper-sings "tramps like us" twice (or once and half) and more substantially on "Jungleland". Sections of that track, and his vocal delivery, were very reminiscent of his earlier style. (And maybe that's why I don't like it as much, but I also just don't think it's a very coherent track - granted, being a nearly 10 minute medley, that's sort of an impossibility.)
So, I'm going with a 9. But the best parts are as good great as it gets.
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 25, 2023 12:59:19 GMT
Three voters rated Born to Run an average of 9.7. We'll move on later today (probably).
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 25, 2023 19:02:12 GMT
Bruce Springsteen, Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978)
The circumstances between the lead-ups to and releases of Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run and its follow-up, Darkness on the Edge of Town, could scarcely have been more different.
Born to Run was a desperate, and maybe final, attempt to introduce Springsteen to the wider world, its hype largely about budget, ambition, and record company promotion; three years later, Darkness at the Edge of Town was the return of one of rock and roll’s biggest stars, its hype almost entirely natural in the absence of much promotion.
The latter album was a long time coming in part because of legal disputes between Springsteen and his former manager and producer, Mike Appel. The proceedings forbade Springsteen from recording in a studio for nearly a year, during which time he and the E Street Band toured extensively.
By the time sessions began for what was to become Darkness on the Edge of Town, Springsteen had written several dozen songs, some of which the band had already incorporated into its live sets. Springsteen said in an interview promoting the 2010 release The Promise, a double-album of material written and mostly recorded in 1977-78, that he spent “at least one full winter” writing songs more or less all night, every night, in isolation.
They may have worked on as many as 70 songs during the sessions—not seventeen, but seventy. Part of the problem seems to have been that Springsteen was having a hard time deciding and getting what he wanted. After the label’s hype surrounding Born to Run, he didn’t want anything that might further an image he thought had been foisted upon him: the image of a label’s creation, more hype than substance.
And so he stripped away. Gone was the grandiose production of Born to Run. Gone were the promotional budgets—in fact, he wanted no label promotion at all, though he eventually did give in to some. He looked to punk, not for musical influence, but for a straight-forward, meaningful ethos. He wanted an “honest” record. What was left were songs. Dozens and dozens of songs. He says in the aforementioned interview that “we weren’t just trying to make any record, we were trying to make an essential record.”
Between his ambitious goals and relative lack of experience as a producer, he struggled to complete the project. Recording went on for nearly a year, from June 1977 to March 1978. There were more than enough songs, and eventually he struggled to decide what to include, what to set aside. He gave away some of the excess songs, to the Knack, to the Pointer Sisters, to Patti Smith. He saved some for later albums. In 2010, he released a double album of unused material, The Promise. And eventually, after all the stripping away, he was left with the 10-song, 42-minute album now called Darkness on the Edge of Town, finally released in June 1978.
The album, despite limited promotion and a release date coinciding with the Rolling Stones, Foreigner and Bob Segar, did well—although nowhere near as well as its predecessor. With sales flagging, Springsteen eventually agreed to an interview with Rolling Stone (July 1978 issue) to help promote the album, and his interviewer said the album would eventually be seen as the equal to classics such as Who’s Next, Astral Weeks and Are You Experienced? … a claim that has turned out more or less true. It is often seen as among his best albums, and the precursor to some of his darker, more stark material yet to come.
Yet it had success at the time, as well, if not to the degree as did its predecessor. It reached #5 on the Billboard charts and #14 in the UK, and was certified as triple platinum. Rolling Stone considered it the second-best album of the year (after the Stones), while NME considered it the best.
Please listen to, discuss, and rate Bruce Springsteen’s fourth album, Darkness on the Edge of Town.
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Post by kds on Feb 27, 2023 13:21:17 GMT
When I first started exploring Bruce's albums ten or so years ago, Darkness was probably my favorite. And, while I still think it's an essential album, I think Born to Run has surpassed it for me in the last year or two.
I'll have to give it another listen or three this week to make sure.
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 27, 2023 15:25:19 GMT
I like Darkness, but it is a clear step down from Born to Run for my taste. I actually like the production, though I know Steven Van Zandt, who was credited as assistant producer, did not like the final mix and said the album suffered from "terrible production." (I think that might be the tension between Van Zandt aiming for a garage band sound and Jon Landau's goal of a clean, "technically perfect" sound.)
That said, it's still a good album and easily better than the two albums that preceded Born to Run.
One interesting side note I could have mentioned in the album intro post: while recording this album, Springsteen happened to be working in The Record Plant studio at the same time as Lou Reed was working on his Street Hassle album. The title suite from that album had a monologue that Reed wasn't happy with, and so he asked Springsteen to do it. Two takes and a few rewritten lines later, they had the part that ended up on the album.
Interestingly, Springsteen apparently opened for Reed for at least one show--in Providence, R.I., in 1973--before becoming famous.
(It should be cued up, but if you have any issues, just start at about the 9 minute mark.)
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Post by kds on Mar 1, 2023 16:54:42 GMT
Having just given Darkness on the Edge of Town a fresh listen, I'm now very confident that Born to Run has lapped it as my favorite Bruce album.
I think Darkness might be a little more consistent from start to finish, but there's nothing on Darkness that's on the same level of Jungleland or Thunder Road IMO.
I'm waffling between a 9 and 10 right now.
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Post by kds on Mar 1, 2023 21:37:34 GMT
I've decided to still award Darkness on the Edge of Town with a 10.
The high points might not be quite as high as Born to Run, but they're still there with Badlands, Promised Land, Prove It All Night, Adam Raised a Cain, and Racing in the Street.
My only real quibble is the title track as closer. I think it's a really good song, but somehow leaves the album feeling....unfinished.
But, all in all, a very high quality listen from start to finish.
Would it be a couple albums early to say that Bruce is...on fire?
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 2, 2023 11:27:16 GMT
I'm going the other way on this. The more I listen--and I did again yesterday, so maybe 4x total so far, though often in the background while I work--the less I rate it among the best. I like the high points, though I agree with kds that they're not at the level of Born to Run. But then I also don't think it's as consistent as Born to Run. So in the end, if there are more ups and downs, with lower "ups," I have a hard time feeling quite so impressed. (I wonder what it would have been like to hear it in real time, in 1978. Expectations must have been sky-high, so I imagine it might have been even rougher.) So I'm waffling between 7 and 8.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 3, 2023 22:25:27 GMT
I went with a 7. It feels a little low, but really, the more I listened to this one, the less I liked it. Obviously a 7 still means I like it: I'm a relatively tough grader, so anything 5 and up means I like it. It just isn't connecting with me, or vice versa. What's funny is how I remember liking it much, much more.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 5, 2023 13:26:05 GMT
Three voters rated Bruce Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town an average of 9.0.
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Post by B.E. on Mar 5, 2023 13:28:59 GMT
Darkness on the Edge of Town doesn't feel as ambitious as Born to Run. From the songwriting to the arrangements and production. Objectively, I don't think it's better overall and I especially don't think it has tracks on the same level as "Thunder Road", "Backstreets", and "Born to Run". So, on one hand I could see rating it an 8 or 9, but subjectively? After quite a bit of deliberation, it's still a 10. It's still my favorite Bruce album. I like that it's a little darker, starker, and sparser. That the themes are a bit more mature. No longer a teen, or in his earlier 20s, this sounds like an artist in his mid to late 20s making music for people the same age. Maybe the fact that I was in my mid 20s when I really got into Bruce has something to do with my preference for his "later" albums, but I think I tend to gravitate towards those themes anyway. And this album being the one that I connected with most, initially, means that it's got staying power with me. Objectively, though, I do believe it's more consistent than Born to Run, that there aren't any overlong songs, and you simply get more (quality) tracks. This is an album I enjoy from start to finish, all ten songs. Like I explained previously, I tend to just listen to the first 6 (of 8) tracks of Born to Run.
My favorites are "Adam Raised A Cain", "Something in the Night", "Racing in the Street", "Streets of Fire", and the title track. So, I guess that sort of explains it. As much as I like some of the more popular tracks, "Badlands", "The Promised Land", and "Prove it All Night", I like some of the other tracks even more. My least favorite is "Candy's Room" - always has been - reminds me of his earlier work a little bit.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 5, 2023 15:33:10 GMT
Bruce Springsteen, The River (1980)
In the end, The River took more than two years after Darkness on the Edge of Town to reach the market, continuing Bruce Springsteen's relatively slow pace. His fifth album was released about 7 1/2 years after his first; consider that Led Zeppelin's fifth album was released just 4 1/4 years after their first, and starting a decade earlier, the Beach Boys' fifth album was delivered about 1 1/2 years after their first! The times, they were a-changin'.
But looking at the history, one can see it didn't have to end up that way, it wasn't planned that way. Springsteen returned to the studio less than a year after releasing Darkness in June of '78. By April '79 he was at work with the group in his home studio, and of course, he had a lot of material already underway from the herculean Darkness sessions. (About a quarter of the eventual album comprised material from Darkness sessions.)
Unlike the origins of Darkness, which was winnowed down from an overabundance of material; what became The River just kept growing. It was initially intended for release by Christmas of 1979 in the form of a single-disc album, The Ties That Bind. By August, 10 songs had been selected; by September, a track sequence had been decided upon and Bob Clearmountain mixed 12 songs; and in October, Springsteen signed off on the final album to be submitted for mastering. It was all but done: The Ties That Bind was to be Springsteen's fifth album with a November or December 1979 release date.
Springsteen had a change of heart and canceled the album. “When I listened to it later on, I felt that it just wasn’t good enough. The songs lacked the kind of unity and conceptual intensity I liked my music to have,” he wrote in a later box set of material from the era. He wanted the album to hit various themes and topics, and they just didn't fit on a single album. Manager/producer Jon Landau suggested a double album, and the group spent another seven months at The Power Station recording studio in New York adding material.
In October 1980, The River was released as a 20-song double album (with around 30 songs left in the can). It was another massive success, a #1 album, 5x platinum album in the US and #2, platinum album in the UK. It was generally well received critically at the time, too, and remains rated among Springsteen's greatest albums.
Please listen to, discuss, and rate Bruce Springsteen's The River.
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Post by B.E. on Mar 5, 2023 16:00:20 GMT
Unlike the origins of Darkness, which was winnowed down from an overabundance of material; what became The River just kept growing. It was initially intended for release by Christmas of 1979 in the form of a single-disc album, The Ties That Bind. By August, 10 songs had been selected; by September, a track sequence had been decided upon and Bob Clearmountain mixed 12 songs; and in October, Springsteen signed off on the final album to be submitted for mastering. It was all but done: The Ties That Bind was to be Springsteen's fifth album with a November or December 1979 release date. Springsteen had a change of heart and canceled the album. “When I listened to it later on, I felt that it just wasn’t good enough. The songs lacked the kind of unity and conceptual intensity I liked my music to have,” he wrote in a later box set of material from the era. He wanted the album to hit various themes and topics, and they just didn't fit on a single album. Manager/producer Jon Landau suggested a double album, and the group spent another seven months at The Power Station recording studio in New York adding material. I've actually never listened to The Ties That Bind. I plan to this week. That should be interesting! I've also never successfully created a single album version of The River, so I might try again. It's fairly easy to trim one side's worth but not two.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 6, 2023 14:17:08 GMT
Unlike the origins of Darkness, which was winnowed down from an overabundance of material; what became The River just kept growing. It was initially intended for release by Christmas of 1979 in the form of a single-disc album, The Ties That Bind. By August, 10 songs had been selected; by September, a track sequence had been decided upon and Bob Clearmountain mixed 12 songs; and in October, Springsteen signed off on the final album to be submitted for mastering. It was all but done: The Ties That Bind was to be Springsteen's fifth album with a November or December 1979 release date. Springsteen had a change of heart and canceled the album. “When I listened to it later on, I felt that it just wasn’t good enough. The songs lacked the kind of unity and conceptual intensity I liked my music to have,” he wrote in a later box set of material from the era. He wanted the album to hit various themes and topics, and they just didn't fit on a single album. Manager/producer Jon Landau suggested a double album, and the group spent another seven months at The Power Station recording studio in New York adding material. I've actually never listened to The Ties That Bind. I plan to this week. That should be interesting! I've also never successfully created a single album version of The River, so I might try again. It's fairly easy to trim one side's worth but not two. I haven't listened to any of the Springsteen box sets/alternative albums. I halfway wanted to incorporate them into this project, but on a lot of the actual studio albums, I'm already going to be starting from near-scratch. I think it would just be too much to try to absorb and compare the unreleased alternative albums at the same time. Someday... It is astounding to realize how much material he had written and recorded in these years, though. Especially considering how little he actually released. That's something I can't get over: the slower pace of releasing material compared to other new acts, and especially those dating back a few years (like into the '60s). I suppose by this time the world had changed, people had different expectations for rock and roll records, they saw them as permanent statements, and they had the budgets and timelines to match.
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