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Recommend me some albums from The Boss.


Towelie

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Never really gotten into him and figured I'd give him a shot. All I really know is Born In The USA, Dancing In The Dark (proper choon that one!) and that he sounded like he was passing a giant turd on We Are The World.

So give me three albums, one classic, one underrated and one recent.

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Skip the albums, listen to live stuff. London Calling, recorded at the Hard Rock Calling festival in 2009 is a good starting point, but any full show you can find on youtube will do.

If you really want albums, either Born To Run or Darkness On The Edge Of Town out of the classics, either The Rising or Wrecking Ball out of the recent ones, and either Nebraska (low key acoustic) or Lucky Town (anthemic rock'n'roll) for underrated.

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4 hours ago, AxlsFavoriteRose said:

OMG i thought i was the only one in the world who thought this! he is AWFUL imo :lol:

Patronising eh?  These insipid blue collar stereotypes coloured with an overall 'we'll make it if out of here together if we really try' theme.  Profundity of the common man, spare me.

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1 minute ago, AxlsFavoriteRose said:

OMG you just keep getting better! David Brent music!:rofl-lol:

It is though isn't it, 'you cant have a spark without fire, this guns for hire', its just vague imagery of Americana, i could write a fuckin' Bruce Springsteen song 'i'm just a fender stampin' cowboy with a name badge on my shirt, been hurt so many times girl i forgot how to hurt, and as i tread the puddles in the alley baby, as i stand up on the roof, i think to myself and i wonder why I'm such a fuckin' poof', there you go, Bruce Springsteen in a nutshell :lol:

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The E-Street Band once backed Chuck. I like Springsteen but I'm just a casual. He has an affinity with Neil Young (of course, Nils Lofgren), the two guesting with each other - multiple duets can be pulled up on youtube. (Neil even dabbled with ''Homeland Rock'' in the late '80s).  Springsteen was sort of carrying on that folkist (American) songbook tradition, stretching back to Bob Dylan. I sort of see them three as passing the baton between them, Dylan in the '60s, Neil in the '70s and Bruce in the '80s.

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Just now, Len Cnut said:

It is though isn't it, 'you cant have a spark without fire, this guns for hire', its just vague imagery of Americana, i could write a fuckin' Bruce Springsteen song 'i'm just a fender stampin' cowboy with a name badge on my shirt, been hurt so many times girl i forgot how to hurt, and as i tread the puddles in the alley baby, as i stand up on the roof, i think to myself and i wonder why I'm such a fuckin' poof', there you go, Bruce Springsteen in a nutshell :lol:

hahaha you're killing me here!:lol:

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17 minutes ago, DieselDaisy said:

The E-Street Band once backed Chuck. I like Springsteen but I'm just a casual. He has an affinity with Neil Young (of course, Nils Lofgren), the two guesting with each other - multiple duets can be pulled up on youtube. (Neil even dabbled with ''Homeland Rock'' in the late '80s).  Springsteen was sort of carrying on that folkist (American) songbook tradition, stretching back to Bob Dylan. I sort of see them three as passing the baton between them, Dylan in the '60s, Neil in the '70s and Bruce in the '80s.

Bruce in nowhere near Bob Dylans league.  You're a bit of a folkie at heart really arent you?  Ever listen to Woody Guthrie?  I like him :)

Edited by Len Cnut
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12 minutes ago, Len Cnut said:

Bruce in nowhere near Bob Dylans league.  You're a bit of a folkie at heart really arent you?  Ever listen to Woody Guthrie?  I like him :)

I didn't say he was in Dylan's league (who is?) but merely cited a certain passing of the torch in regards to the American songbook tradition. Springsteen inherited the same tradition, Chuck, Woody, Elvis. There is also a certain integrity of spirit there: you look at Dylan, Neil or Bruce and you simply know they are the bona fide, the real deal, genuine. There is none of the fakery you see in bands like Guns N' Roses, Aerosmith and Metallica. 

 

PS

If we are discussing 70s/80s homeland rock specifically, I prefer Tom Petty. He is also somebody who is bona fide. I read awhile back that he keeps ticket prices low.

Edited by DieselDaisy
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If the libraries have the box sets for Born To Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town and The River, they also include the concert DVDs. I'd also check out Nebraska, Devils and Dust, Greetings from Asbury Park, Wild, Innocent & The E Street Shuffle, & Tunnel of Love.  

 

 

Edited by dalsh327
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One of his best live performances played in the  270 seat coffee shop Main Point on bootleg in perfect quality before he broke big time with "Born to Run" which was released  August 

https://www.google.com/search?q=main+point+bryn+mawr+photos&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=1069&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjIxoS7jZLPAhWJbD4KHSQwBqsQsAQIGw#imgrc=_

Edited by classicrawker
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Warning: this is a little long. Bruce is my favorite artist of all time, so asking me to pick a small number of records is asking me to pick a favorite from among my hypothetical children  

Classic: Born To Run

This is tough. His first four records - Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ; The Wild, The Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle; Born To Run; and Darkness on the Edge of Town - are all masterpieces but incredibly different. Greetings is very much the rock record you would expect from "the next Bob Dylan" (his reputation when he was signed). The songs are wordy and range from deep poetic takes on urban violence ("Lost in the Flood") to whimsical stories of youth by the Shore ("Spirit in the Night") to borderline nonsense ("Blinded By The Light"). WIESS is jazzy, with lots of long instrumental breaks and a deeper, more orchestral musical arrangement than most of his work. Born to Run is, for my money, the greatest record ever made, and was the album that made Bruce famous, as he found himself on TIME and Newsweek in the same week. It's his first real straight-up rock record, and has two of his best songs, Thunder Road and Jungleland. Darkness starts to show his darker, angrier side, and showcases the best guitar work of his career. Can't go wrong with any of the four, but if you're looking for something to hook you as a newbie, it's Born To Run without a doubt.

Underrated: Lucky Town or Ghost of Tom Joad

This depends on if you prefer folkier tunes or straight up rock. If you want rock n roll, go Lucky Town. His first record with "the other band" (a standard 4-piece without the size of E Street), it's probably his most "adult" record. The love songs he wrote for it are some of the most brutally honest I've ever heard, but in a truly humanizing way, and the grooves are just great. Better Days and If I Should Fall Behind get special props (Fall Behind was our first dance at my wedding). 

If you like folk, Joad is a must. It's some of Bruce's best lyrical work, and he gets the band out of the way and just takes over himself. Guthrie-esque songs and themes, the title track a modernized version of the Grapes of Wrath. If you dig this record, follow it up with Nebraska and Devils & Dust, a couple of other solo folk records. But this one is my favorite of his folk records.

Recent: The Rising

The album that brought back the E Street Band. Magic and Wrecking Ball are also fantastic, but The Rising is the gold standard of latter-career boss. You're Missing, Empty Sky, My City of Ruins, Lonesome Day, all great songs about coping with 9/11 (or at least that's what they became, City of Ruins is originally about Asbury Park), balanced out with melodic pop-rock songs like Waiting on a Sunny Day and Mary's Place. If you want great, late-career Bruce, this is the one. 

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His newer box set "Live 1975-1985" is awesome. Wrecking Ball fits the bill for new tunes as well as underrated. Of course the classics like Born to Run and The River. Just try anything really. Personally I can't stand Nebraska, but I like everything else.

Check out "Ghost of Tom Joad" with Tom Morello on YouTube for something different.

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15 minutes ago, axlslash said:

It was released in 1986 :P

But its spectacular and worth a listen. 

I find it a bit meh. There are some excellent performances there (Backstreets and Reason to Believe are favorites of mine) but overall the performances are pretty straightforward and weaker in my opinion than the average live version you'll find on youtube.

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2 hours ago, Fitha_whiskey said:

Oh no shit? My girlfriend asked for it for her birthday & I got it for her last month. That's why I thought it was newer cuz she has about everything he has released (a shit ton). My bad! :lol:

If she didn't have it yet, you've done her a great favor no matter how old it is ;) 

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