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Post by kds on Mar 6, 2023 14:38:35 GMT
Bruce did a tour about 6-7 years ago where he played The River in full.
As I recall, tickets weren't quite as high as they are now, so that probably would've been a good time to see him in person.
I'm still waffling on whether or not Bruce is a true bucket list artist for me to see in concert. Six or seven years ago, I'd have said yes. Now, with "cheap" tickets costing a couple hundred dollars and a five year old son at home, I'm kinda leaning towards no.
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Post by kds on Mar 7, 2023 14:20:27 GMT
Having not listened to The River in a little while, the first thing that struck me when I listened yesterday was "this is long." Bruce had a lot of good material on the album, but I think there could be some trimming. Maybe not enough for a vinyl era single album, but surely enough for a CD era single album.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 8, 2023 14:38:48 GMT
In my first listen, I surprised myself by thinking, "whoa, I like this a lot more than Darkness." And I mean a lot.
I wasn't a stranger to either album: I own them both, though I admit I don't listen to either regularly. (I did listen to The River this past fall, I believe, on my vacation. Either this or last, as I recall putting it on in the car.) But for whatever reason, this time around it really struck me as a very listenable album, an album with a lot of great rock and roll hits ... which is funny, because only two songs were hits in the US (Hungry Heart at #5 and Fade Away at #20), with similar success for those two songs in Canada and less success (and in some cases different singles selected) elsewhere around the world.
Maybe it's not so deep or ambitious, I don't know. But it sure is a fun listen. Maybe a little long, that's true. But then again, when you're sitting on five or six albums' worth of unreleased songs (many of them recorded), I suppose you've got to do something. We all know how annoying it is to be a fan of a band with a treasure trove of material they sit on...
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Post by kds on Mar 9, 2023 13:59:12 GMT
The one thing I'll say about The River over Darkness is that it's got a bit more of a joyous sound (at least in across most of the album), at least musically.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 9, 2023 15:10:40 GMT
I think there is a single album in there that I like almost as much as Born to Run. It wouldn't be as epic, as grandiose, but it would be a really consistent, energetic, enjoyable rock and roll album. One thing about this album that drives me crazy because for me it takes something away from one of the best songs: it's the fake live performance of "Sherry Darling." I hate it! From what I gather (thanks to this informative website), while the song was indeed recorded live in the studio, there was no audience, and that was all added to the recording to make it seem as if it were from a concert. I think the song itself is really, really great. But that crowd noise really detracts from it, for me. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure in a real concert, it would be a kickass song. It would be fun to sing along, to cheer, etc. But I don't much like concert recordings to begin with, much less fake ones on studio albums. Regardless, right now I am somewhere between an 8 and a 9. And I think there's a very high 9 or low 10 in there somewhere.
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Post by kds on Mar 9, 2023 16:52:08 GMT
I'm with you, I've never liked "fake live" songs on studio albums.
I'm thinking eight, but I might try to listen another time or two. Every single time I listen to this album, I find the first half really grabs me, but I tend to lose interest towards the end. I might try doing a split listen
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 9, 2023 17:06:28 GMT
I have the same experience: disc one feels like an all-timer, but it doesn't quite hold. I think part of the problem is disc two has more of the slower songs as well as the three longest songs (two slow, one midtempo) on the album. So while there are two fewer songs than disc one, it just feels like it drags.
Generally I want to cut double albums down, but this one would be REALLY tough for me to do--at least in the LP era. With a CD, I could make a long single album, a "3-sided" sort of thing.
As I was jotting down favorites, in the end I put every single uptempo (and most of the midtempo) songs--all the rockers--in the favorites category. I really like them all: Sherry Darling, Jackson Cage, Two Hearts, Out in the Street, Crush On You, I'm a Rocker...I mean all of them. And then as we get into the slower songs, well, I like all of them, too. I don't love them all, but there isn't a real clunker.
There isn't a song on this album I dislike. Not one. However, I would dramatically edit "Drive All Night" if I could: 8:26 is too long. If I were to remove one song from the album, it would be "Point Blank." The title track, "Stolen Car," "Wreck on the Highway," and "The Price You Pay" are all fine songs, but they're my next-least favorites. I could include any of them on the album and be quite happy, but I think all of them ends up being a bit much.
Because of the consistency throughout the album, I wonder whether I'd end up happier with an edited-down album or with a resequenced album. I'm not sure. But regardless, I really like it. A lot. I'm surprised The River never struck me as much as it does now: in the past, it was just another of the good Bruce albums. But right now, I'd rather listen to it than Born to Run. So I went with a 9.
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Post by kds on Mar 9, 2023 17:48:45 GMT
Drive All Night is a big one for me that drags the album down.
Really, with the exception of Jungleland, I don't think epics are really Bruce's thing.
Funny story regarding The River. When I was a teenager, I always though that Hungry Heart was just an early Bruce song because he sounded so young on it. I don't know when I found out that his vocals were sped up.
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Post by kds on Mar 10, 2023 14:57:08 GMT
Doing a split listen was the right idea. I don't know why I didn't think of that before.
Disc 1 is an all timer. Out in the Streets, Ties Than Bind, Hungry Heart, the title track, etc. It's close to Born to Run great, and I think probably a little better than Darkness (and I'm not a big fan of Darkness).
Disc 2 is more uneven. As mentioned, Drive All Night is at least five minutes too long. Stolen Car and Price You Guy are just OK IMO. I typically enjoy Bruce's slower songs, but I feel like the ones of Disc 2 just plod.
I'd probably rate Disc 1 a 10, and Disc 2 a 7.
Putting them together, I'm going to give The River an 8. A high eight.
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Post by B.E. on Mar 12, 2023 0:03:50 GMT
I went with a 9. I think it's a great double album. Sides 1-2 are more energetic and has the "big" songs ("The River", "Independence Day", and "Hungry Heart"), but over the years I've really started to gravitate towards Sides 3-4. I like "Point Blank" as the opener. "I'm A Rocker" is probably my favorite rocker on the album. "Fade Away", "Stolen Car", "Drive All Night", and "Wreck on the Highway" are all among my very favorite songs on the album. I understand criticizing the length of "Drive All Night" but I love it exactly how it is. I love everything about it - including how it builds up - and have memorized the pattern in which he passionately sings about the wind, rain and snow! Conversely, "Cadillac Ranch" and "Ramrod" would be easy cuts for me if I were to trim this double album down to a single album (although, it should be said, I don't dislike them). As for Sides 1-2, it's almost too energetic! But it's a lot of fun. It's sort of interesting how much of it is pure, unserious pop/rock. Stuff like "Sherry Darling", "Out in the Street", "Crush on You", and "You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)". I think Bruce really showcases his vocal ability on this album. Singing with a lot of gusto and charisma. A song like "You Can Look (But Better Not Touch)", for instance, really needs to be performed - and he nails it. "The River" and "Independence Day" are truly great songs in every sense of the word. I love 'em, but I'm sort of a little tired of 'em at the moment. And "Hungry Heart", too, but that's more because his sped-up vocal has always irked me just a little bit - it hardly even sounds like him! And the lyrics are a little iffy. At the moment, "I Wanna Marry You" might actually be my favorite song on Sides 1-2. I've always loved that one. I think that's one of Bruce's better background vocal performances, too. I don't have an issue with the "fake live" atmosphere of "Sherry Darling" and, honestly, I never really heard it that way. The atmosphere is really fun and is heard elsewhere on the album. It comes off to me like "live in the studio" not "fake live", but also like street people are singing along, not concertgoers. As for an easy song to cut? "Jackson Cage".
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 12, 2023 11:15:45 GMT
Three voters rated The River an average of 8.7.
We'll proceed with our next album later today.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 12, 2023 14:52:26 GMT
Bruce Springsteen, Nebraska (1982)
How does one follow up a quintuple platinum double album and a year-long world tour that birthed the legend of four-hour, marathon concerts? With a relative flop? With yet another major success? With a sharp left turn in style?
One could argue the answer to these questions for Bruce Springsteen with Nebraska is a universal “yes.” Yes, by “only” going single platinum after his prior five albums sold about 20 million copies between them and at least double platinum each, it was a relative flop, sales-wise. But as a platinum album that peaked at #3 on the Billboard charts, it’s impossible to call it anything but another major success. And with a back-story that sits alongside other legendary albums, there is no doubt that the album represented a startling deviation from his big-band rock and roll.
After the fall 1980 release of The River, Springsteen and the E Street Band embarked on a major tour, not just criss-crossing the U.S., but spending several months in Europe in spring 1981. It was throughout this tour that shows began topping three and four hours in duration, establishing the legend of the group’s epic live shows. The 140-show tour finally concluded in fall 1981.
Not wanting to waste studio time tinkering with songs in the studio, Springsteen decided to demo songs at home first. He told Rolling Stone in 1984, “I would get in there, and I just wouldn't have the material written, or it wasn't written well enough, and so I'd record for a month, get a couple of things, go home write some more, record for another month—it wasn't very efficient. So this time, I got a little Teac four-track cassette machine, and I said, I'm gonna record these songs, and if they sound good with just me doin' 'em, then I'll teach 'em to the band.”
He had been recording early versions of songs in various states of completion throughout latter 1981 before setting out to record “the” demos from which to proceed. Springsteen recorded 16 or 17 complete songs from Dec. 17, 1981, to Jan. 3, 1982, including (legend has it) one remarkable session on that final day in which he recorded 15 songs—10 of which ended up on Nebraska. Several others were used on future albums.
In April 1982, Springsteen assembled the E Street Band to record “proper” versions of these new songs. Around the same time, engineer Toby Scott says Springsteen asked him whether they couldn’t just use the demos as master tapes for the album. However, they continued recording full-band songs through May 1982.
The famous decision was made to release the recordings intended as demos; meanwhile, several of the other songs recorded that spring landed on Springsteen’s next album—a story for another day. An after-the-fact decision sets January 3, 1982, as the last day of Nebraska sessions.
Preparing the cassette—a single cassette Springsteen had been carrying around for months—for professional release was a challenge. Scott told Tascam.com:
Nebraska was released on September 30, 1982. The album had no singles released in the U.S., though both “Atlantic City” and “Open All Night” were released as singles in the UK. Neither charted there, though “Atlantic City” reached #49 in Canada. Despite this lack of single success, the album was a hit, peaking at #3 and going platinum in the U.S. Several critics rated it highly: Village Voice named it the third-best album of 1982; at the close of the decade, Rolling Stone placed it as the 43rd best album of the 1980s. It is now widely regarded to be among Springsteen’s best albums and, indeed, one of the finest albums overall of all time.
Please listen to, discuss, and rate Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska.
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Post by kds on Mar 13, 2023 12:59:57 GMT
Nebraska's an interesting album for me. The songwriting is good. I think it's in general a very good album. But, I feel like it's a "mood" album, in that I need to be in a certain mood to enjoy it. Sure, I can listen on Atlantic City or Highway Patrolman on their own pretty much anytime, but the whole thing?
It's funny that I also sort of feel this way about Dennis Wilson's Pacific Ocean Blue, and they're two albums up for discussion today.
I don't know if Monday morning is the right time for a refresher on Nebraska. Maybe after lunch.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 13, 2023 14:15:22 GMT
Nebraska's an interesting album for me. The songwriting is good. I think it's in general a very good album. But, I feel like it's a "mood" album, in that I need to be in a certain mood to enjoy it. Sure, I can listen on Atlantic City or Highway Patrolman on their own pretty much anytime, but the whole thing? It's funny that I also sort of feel this way about Dennis Wilson's Pacific Ocean Blue, and they're two albums up for discussion today. I don't know if Monday morning is the right time for a refresher on Nebraska. Maybe after lunch. It's definitely not the album to help you jumpstart your week like some go-getter. More like a mopey, gray Sunday kind of album. This will be interesting for me, because Nebraska has long been the Springsteen album I claim as my favorite. It was the first, and for a long time, the only Springsteen album I liked at all. But in recent years I've definitely come around on more of his upbeat stuff. And even the previous album, The River, jumped out at me anew mostly for its uptempo and even joyous pop-rock material. I wonder, then, whether there's something general in me that has changed to the point that Nebraska will have lost some of its luster. (Luster? Strange word for a dark, stark album!) Or will it just be that other side of the coin? I don't think I'll dive into it today, but I am looking forward to it.
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Post by kds on Mar 13, 2023 14:28:31 GMT
I should've listened yesterday, as it was a chilly, gray day.
Nebraska is probably my least favorite from that really great (IMO) run of Springsteen albums from 1975-84, but I still really enjoy it.
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