I am a massive fan of the Boss, but find myself only listening to his early albums like BTR, BITUSA and would like to listen to something post 2000. BTR is my all time favorite album so is there anything similar to that in his discography?
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Crazy story about my Springsteen concert experience. My introduction to Springsteen was the Darkness album. I immediately loved this album on first listen and was excited to learn that the Darkness tour was coming to St. Petersburg, Fl where I lived. This was back in the day when tickets went on sale only at the venue box office. We went to the box office a couple of hours early and scored front row seats for the hefty price of $7.50 per ticket. When we were in our seats waiting for the show to start, this crazed guy approached us and asked us if we “deserved these seats”. I said that we paid for the tickets, so yes. He asked if we are huge fans, like are you familiar with “The Fever”. I lied and said “yes I am”. I did admit that this was my first time seeing a Springsteen concert. He said he was at the Miami show the previous night and the show was phenomenal and that we were in for a huge treat. He went on to say that he was chatting with a lady in the concession line in Miami that turned out to be a relative of Bruce’s. She gave him a backstage pass for Miami and front row tickets for this show in St. Pete. He got to meet Bruce backstage and was totally star struck. After he left us, we all looked at each other and said what a nut this guy was. Of course once the show was over, we were just as star struck and nuts as that guy!
Fast forward about 10 years later, I learned that the (hot) receptionist at my work was a huge Springsteen fan. She had never seen Bruce live and I told her about my front row experience. I told her all about the crazy front row guy and how he met Bruce’s relative in Miami. When she and I started dating, I promised her that I would find a way to get her in the front row of a Springsteen concert.
When the Human Touch/Lucky Town tour was announced in 1992, I had some friends near Philly who got tickets for the first of two shows at the Spectrum. My now wife (the hot receptionist) was finally going to see Bruce live. But I had promised front row. I found a ticket broker in the classified section of the Rolling Stone magazine and purchased two front tickets for the second show at several hundred dollars each.
We flew to Philly and saw the first show and my wife was blown away. I couldn’t wait to see her experience front row the next night. We went back to the hotel and was waiting by the elevator holding our newly purchased concert shirts when a man approached us and asked us if we needed tickets for night two. I said no and that we had front row tickets for the second show. He said that was fantastic and we parted ways and went up to our room. The next morning we were having breakfast in the hotel restaurant and we saw the man from the previous night. He was with his wife and they came over to talk to us and we invited them to join us for breakfast. They had flown in from Minneapolis to see these shows. He told his wife that we had front row for tonight’s show. He said he had front row seats on the Darkness tour in St Petersburg. He said he was at the Miami show and met a relative of Bruce’s and they gave him front row tickets for the St. Petersburg show. Both my wife and my jaws dropped. I thrust my finger at his face and yelled “YOU’RE THE GUY!!!”. I said I was in the front row of that show and that he had talked to me. He asked what he had said and I told him he asked if I deserved this seat. He said “yep, that was me”. So 14 years later, across the country, we realized we had met at a previous concert.
We all became good friends. They invited us to stay at their house in Minneapolis for the Springsteen concert later that year on Halloween night. My wife and I have seen about a dozen more Springsteen shows since then. We have been married for 36 years and she’s as hot as ever!
(Pictures: “the guy” in Miami with Bruce; pictures I took in the ‘78 show; ticket from ‘78; my wife and I in Philly in ‘92)
Previous Albums Ratings:
Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ: 9/10
The Wild, The Innocent, and The E Street Shuffle: 8/10
Born to Run: 10/10
Darkness on the Edge of Town
My rating: 10/10
Favorite Songs: Badlands, Racing in the Streets, Streets of Fire
Least Favorite Songs: Factory
Another great album where all of the sings are top notch. Even my least favorite song, Factory, is a very good song.
Something that occurs to me about the four albums Ive listened to thus far is that each one has a somewhat different feel. Not completely different; we're not talking about a David Bowie level of reinvention. But each album thus far has had a different level of musical focus or texture thus far. The first album had a bit of a folk texture to it, feeling Dylan-esque. The second album was more soulful and atmospheric. Then Born to Run was a shot of adrenaline; a more uptempo and operatic rock album.
Darkness at the Edge of Town lives up to its name. There's a cynical edge to the lyrics and harsh vibe to the music. I would never consider Springsteen a hard rock artist, but of these first four albums, this one rocks the hardest.
I feel like the band is really tight at this point. The guitars, drums, etc, are all working in sync, and every instrument gets its time to shine. There are a couple of guitar solos that I particularly liked. Candy's Room, Prove it All Night, and The Promised Land comes to mind.
I also think that Springsteen's vocals shine on this album. They were very good before, but I feel like he's taken them to another level here.
I'm also struck by the darkness in the lyrics. Even something mike Candy's Room, which us mostly just a love song, the titular Candy has some sort of trauma or depression. And that's one of the happier songs on the album!
Someone in the comments for my review for Born to Run described the band as "young and hungry", and the Born to Run album feels young and hungry as well. This albums feels like Springsteen got the success he was striving for, but that it didn't bring him happiness or relief. I'm not trying to psycho analyze anyone here, I don't much about Springsteen as a person. But that's what this album feels like to me.
Anyways, amazing album. The lyrics are great, the instrumentation is top notch, everyone is firing on all cylinders here. Also, we finally left the Mid-Atlantic region of the US, so that's nice too haha.
Bonus Tracks
So Young and In Love (I missed this from Born to Run)
Give That Girl a Kiss
Iceman
Hearts of Stone
Don't Look Back
I missed another bonus tracks. To try and avoid doing so in the future, I made a spreadsheet. Hopefully that will fix the issue.
The song itself is a fun song. I wouldn't have placed it over any song on Born to Run, but I liked the song itself.
The other four songs are the Outtakes from Tracks. I will be reviewing The Promise album next, so those songs aren't included here.
Give the Girl a Kiss would not have fit well on this album at all, but I still liked it.
Iceland, on the other hand, is an incredible song (imo) and should have made the album over Factory. Did Springsteen think it was too similar to Racing in the Street?
Hearts of Stone and Don't Look Back would both have fit on the album, and they're both solid singers, but I wouldn't have put them on the album over any that are actually on there.
ok, question. The Promise is a 22 track album of outtakes from Darkness on the Edge of Town, right? So, why did only six songs from this album make it onto Tracks? Was Springsteen planning something like The Promise, so he held most of the Outtakes back? Or were the six that were included chosen because Springsteen thought that were the best?
Just curious.
Favorite Quote:
- Poor man wanna be rich, rich man wanna be king, and a king ain't satisfied till he rules everything
- For the ones who had a notion, a notion deep inside, that it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
- You're born into this life paying for the sins of somebody else's past. Well Daddy worked his whole life for nothing but the pain. Now he walks these empty rooms looking for something to blame. But you inherit the sins, you inherit the flames
- Well you're born with nothing, and better off that way. Soon as you've got something they send someone to try and take it away
- Woah nothing is forgotten or forgiven, when it's your last time around, hm. And I got stuff running 'round my head that I just can't live down
- Now some guys they just give up living and start dying little by little, piece by piece. Some guys come home from work and wash up and go racing in the street
- She sits on the porch of her daddy's house but all her pretty dreams are torn. She stares off alone into the night with the eyes of one who hates for just being born
- But your eyes go blind and your blood runs cold. Sometimes I feel so weak I just want to explode
- Blow away the dreams that tear you apart, blow away the dreams that break your heart, blow away the lies that leave you nothing but lost and brokenhearted
- And when you realize how they tricked you this time and it's all lies, but I'm strung out on the wire in these streets of fire.
- But if dreams came true, ah wouldn't that be nice. But this ain't no dream we're living out through tonight. Ah girl you want it, you take it, you pay the price to prove it all night.
- Well everybody's got a secret, Sonny. Something that they just can't face. Some folks spend their whole lives trying to keep it. They carry it with them every step that they take
- Sleepy town ain't got the guts to budge. Baby, this emptiness has already been judged. I wanna go out tonight, I wanna find out what I got
- We'll take the midnight road right to the devil's door, and even the white angels of Eden with their flaming swords won't be able to stop us from hitting town in this dirty old Ford
- And you cry because things ain't like before. Well don't you know they can't be that way anymore
Next: The Promise
I remember hearing a newly released song a couple of years ago that was 1975ish era but can't remember what it was. I searched the 'net but no luck. I know you all know what I'm talking about. It was a stand alone, not like the the old sones on "Letter To You". Thanks!
As title says, I'm curious to know (especially from fans who got the chance to see Bruce and the guys on tours) when do you think they reached their peak? 'Cause being 27 I've seen him only in the recent years, then of course I always listen to the live stuff from all his career but it's harder to judge based on selected shows/songs (having said that, I personally find Bruce vocals being the best on 2008 and 2012; the 2008 shows sound so good also band related).
I pick Born to Run, it's the one I can do every song without thinking about it. Just have to make sure we're going with sways and not waves.
This is an extended excerpt from my fan made The Ghost Of Tom Joad documentary. Youtube has been meticulously blocking a lot of footage, but I found a way around it so everyone can see it for free on my channel. The Ghost Of Tom Joad is often overlooked in his discography and I think it's easily a topic worthy of a short documentary. For anyone interested, its coming very soon. I hope you enjoy it.
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Bit of a serious thread. If you don't like this topic, maybe you should sit this one out.
This is something I've been reflecting on for quite a while. It's maybe been in the back of my head ever since I became a Bruce fan. And after seeing a few comments here and there expressing similar concerns, I figured it'd be worth making a longer thread about it collecting my thoughts. Especially after seeing Bruce being more politically outspoken in these past years.
In terms of my own perspectives, I'd describe them as broadly Left. Some inspiration from anarchism (no, not chaos) but also recognizing the political systems that we live in.
Over the most recent years, it has felt like Bruce has been doubling down on the American exceptionalism: the Super Bowl Commercial, the podcast with Obama, some of his speeches and endorsements, the language he's used.
I suppose we could say it's always been there. But it has really ramped up in....the 21st century?
Some brief examples:
When Bruce talks about America as "a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years", my mind immediately turns to Indigenous peoples and enslaved people certainly did not see it that way. People who suffered from American Imperialism don't see it that way. (Hawaii, The Philippines, The Middle East/West Asia, East and Southeast Asia, Central and South America, etc).
Every time he says "Despite its many faults" about America, it feels like Bruce is just brushing past all these criticisms to only validate the viewpoints that fundamentally love America. I'm not denying that there are still people who admire America, but one still has to take into account the opinions of those who have suffered from America's impact.
Yes, I know that Bruce has been associated with a sense of "critical patriotism": Criticizing his country because he sees it as failing to live up to ideals. But at a certain point, one has to question the very ideals themselves and what they have meant. We can always say "The ideal has never been accomplished, therefore it is untainted". Nevertheless, ideals carry biases no matter how much we may see them as unblemished.
Example: One of Bruce's favorite songs and covers is Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land". It's often seen as an inclusive anthem where people of all backgrounds can come to the United States and appreciate its gifts. But praise of the song often neglects how that land was obtained through Indigenous displacement. (To be fair, even Pete Seeger acknowledged this and once sung a rendition that accounted for it.) See: The Blindspot in the Great American Protest Song. A separate post could be made discussing the Founding Fathers and their contradictory and flawed legacy.
So when Bruce talks about America as this nation of immigrants that everyone can travel to regardless of background, there is history missing. It's not even that he's completely unaware considering his albums like Inyo and appearing on the Little Steven song "Native American". But he doesn't seem to acknowledge this part of America's history enough. Some peoples (Native Hawaiians and Native Americans alike) had no choice but to be annexed under America and American identity. Inclusiveness can be good but people also want the option for independence and carving out their own path.
For much of his career in the 20th century, Bruce seemed generally critical of American foreign policy. There are discarded "Born In The USA"/"Vietnam" lyrics where he rails against Nixon for bombing Cambodians. It showed that his empathy wasn't just towards American veterans but towards peoples harmed by American bombings.
Prior to Bruce endorsing political candidates, the politics in his music were on a more human level that pointed to larger social forces. But in the 21st century, things shifted towards directly endorsing political candidates starting with John Kerry in 2004. Then Barack Obama in 2008, where he endorsed him even at the primary stage.
When endorsing Obama in 2012, he talked about how Obama was "vigorously pursuing our real foreign enemies, especially the killing of Osama Bin Laden." I'm reminded of the commenters who have brought up Obama's record of drone strikes. One has to discern the underlying context of what it means to pursue foreign enemies and the ideology behind that.
In some early 2000s interviews, Bruce has talked about supporting the invasion of Afghanistan but not Iraq. From what I understand, entering Afghanistan had majority support but that doesn't necessarily make it right.
This is not me criticizing Bruce after the fact. There are actually articles from the time which have criticized Bruce's words:
Intervention has to be handled very carefully otherwise it becomes an exertion of power over countries and yes, imperialism.
To be clear: I don't have any issue with Bruce being political. That's been a part of his music for a long time whether implicitly or explicitly. But the actual content of his politics leaves something to be desired.
Not even getting into socialist artists yet, there are liberals who have been more critical of politicians like Bruce's friend Jackson Browne. And I've wondered why Bruce has not only endorsed candidates but praised them more than he needs to.
There is a part of me that has empathy. Many Americans and even some non-Americans are taught some form of American exceptionalism. The Pledge of Allegiance, the ideal of America as a nation of immigrants, one of the world's first democracies. Bruce has talked about how doing the pledge of allegiance as a child made him feel pride. But to an increasing number of Americans and non-Americans, it can feel cult-like.
There are ideas that initially seemed well-intentioned but are now recognized to be outdated. The "melting pot" used to be used as a metaphor for immigrants coming to America and assimilating into a single culture. Now, the cultural traditions of immigrants are becoming more respected.
I've often felt that Bruce can express larger ideals regarding community, individuality, creativity, and the complexity of life without strictly tying it to America.
On the flipside: There's a type of exceptionalism that treats America as "the worst country in the world" which I don't agree with either.
I just want America (or, maybe the land itself) to be a country. Not some mythology to appeal to. Not something that crushes all other narratives.
Or, maybe America itself needs to be completely reformed. Who knows.
Sidenote:
Bruce fans around the world were the ones who got me into Bruce, showing that his resonance was not restricted to America or New Jersey. It sounds strange that a person from Jersey needed to have this explained to them but there it is.
The choices shouldn't be Trump supporters and not. I think it's indeed important to hold your side accountable. That goes for liberals, social democrats, socialists, anarchists, whoever.
I’m on fire by Bruce Springsteen is kind of a serie song right? I mean it sounds great but the lyrics are weird.
New PBS special featuring Springsteen interview at the The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music and footage from the recent Music America: The Songs That Shaped Us concerts.
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random teen by the way.
loving his stuff now, trying to find new artists and he was the first one I thought of. so far I’ve listened to-
Born in the USA
Born to Run
The River
Nebraska
Tunnel of Love
Magic (love this one a lot)
the Minneapolis single
where should i go from here?
I saw racing in the street 78’ version during the high hopes tour. I believe that’s the only time he’s played it live at a show other than a promotional performance in Asbury Park