I just picked up a copy of a fabulous book I used to lend from Birmingham Central Library back in the 1990’s. Patrick Humphries co-wrote Blinded By The Light in 1985. In it he writes of seeing a marathon Springsteen concert from 1980 on a visit to New York City and suggests “The excitement and commitment only fully comes across in live performance. Despite the meticulous care (Springsteen) attaches to recording, such is the intensity of a Springsteen performance that afterwards the albums simply become pale souvenirs.”
Really not sure that applies now in 2024? Maybe in 1995 when Greatest Hits came out I’d have tended to go along with this. But now with this release? Nah, these are kick-ass songs put to record you can lose yourself in just as readily as at a live performance.
So to my mind what fascinates with another collection none of the die hards really need is what makes this “Best of” collection that was left off of 1995’s “Greatest Hits” or the 3 disc “Essential Collection” from the early/mid 2000’s or even the recording that accompanied Bruce’s book tour in 2016 which served as a prelude to Springsteen on Broadway theater performances that sold out over 250 intimate shows 5 nights per week for a year and a bit
Growin Up does sound fresh and young and happy to be given life after all these years and Garry W Tallent’s bass is too the fore and funky as hell, Vini Mad Dog Lopez hanging back on the cymbals and not too pronounced on the snare while David Sancious is a joy to listen in on.
There’s much more going on the next track with Rosalita and I’m still coming down from hearing the immortal line “I know a pretty little place in Southern California down San Diego way” in guess where? No other than San Diego itself about a month ago. Believe me the whole arena milked that moment for a few seconds. It’s the intricate detail of a street scene described within the song that is at tension with the overwhelming almost carousel-esque of a fun fair musical backdrop. Uncut magazine even went so far as to put to print a description of this essential track as “One of the great rock’n roll performances, and as close to a perfect song as anyone’s ever recorded” and topped that with “Never mind The Beatles or The Rolling Stones, this is the best rock’n roll track of all time.” It’s hard to argue even on this recorded and officially released version which made the light of day at the back end of that 1973. Hold on tight indeed. Neither 1973 classic nor any alternative showed up on Greatest Hits perhaps as they were never considered actual recording ‘hits’ given those two up front albums flopped in the charts massively to the disappointment of Bruce of course who clearly was determined to spend the next 20 (no 50!) years of his life putting that wrong so so right.
And yet those two tracks were clearly no fluke, because what follows in 1975 after laborious efforts in New York studios is the classic Springsteen signature song, Born To Run. Thank god he wrote a good one here imagine having to sing that song 5000 times if it had dated over time. This time it is placed in front of Thunder Road on this collection which seems counterintuitive however listeners to New York, Cleveland, Boston and especially Philadelphia (via Ed Sciaky) radio stations will have heard Born To Run long before Thunder Road as it was officially released as an album or single.
Thunder Road gives us all time to sit back and just think. This guy is still recording and performing vital music even today, He had indeed learned how to make the guitar talk and tell a magnificent story on record by 1975 and his record company knew he was important for the future worth investing time and energy in although they almost stuffed it up for him by labeling him as one of the new Bob Dylan’s adding to the guy’s anxiety issues that persisted well into his 60’s by all accounts. The image in my mind is of Clarence and Bruce and a ‘69 Chevy that teenage waitress Rosie finds parked at the curb of the pizza place she works at with a big pink bow on the roof and a message taped to the steering wheel “sell it on eBay and buy a Prius”. I’ve read that story three times now in “Big Man” the part biography part fantasy novel about the life of Clarence Clemons and still can’t decide if that actually happened or if former New York Yankees designated hitter Hideki Matsui was along for the ride (nodding along to Van Morrison) at all. I guess it surely must have????
Bruce needed more than catchy rock and roll anthems however so in comes Badlands from Darkness on the Edge of Town. Full throated surly and defiant and perhaps they really have corrected the muddiness on the mix of the original CD release of this, otherwise killer album. Some of Bruce’s double tracked vocals shine through in a way I’d never noticed previously here.
On and on this best of goes. Hungry Heart but no The River. Atlantic City, Dancing In The Dark, Born In The USA are all here so just the two tracks off his gargantuan in all senses of the word album from 1984 as opposed to the 4 that made Greatest Hits and the 7 (count em) singles that one album alone produced over the next year to fifteen months worldwide.
I’ve often felt daunted when confronted by a body of work I have hardly even listened to for the sheer volume that there would be confronting me. This isn’t exactly a subtle collection but a decent overview with 14 studio albums represented as well as the critically acclaimed Streets of Philadelphia which wound up side by side with other cuts first of all on the soundtrack to the Tom Hanks movie Philadelphia and a couple of years afterwards found a home on that Greatest Hits collection. Human Touch is a gorgeous and necessary pick off that much maligned (unfairly IMHO) album of the same name from 1992. Nothing from the more popular Lucky Town album seems weird however. The Ghost of Tom Joad is to my mind one of his best songs and such an inspiration and fully deserving of a place on this collection. There’s nothing new as such here but it is interesting which of the post Reunion-Era album tracks make the cut. The Rising of course is here alongside Girls in their Summer Clothes from Magic but has Bruce fallen out of love with that wonderful 2007 album? We’ve seen nothing so far from that on his recent tour and there’s this gorgeous track here but there are two or three which pack more of a punch that could have made it. There’s nothing off a couple of his side projects from 18 years ago, Devils and Dust, nor perhaps more understandably his Seeger Sessions body of work either. Are they seen as too politically direct for the publishing company or just not Bruce enough? Perhaps too close to the truth in the world we inhabit in 2024 to countenance any reference now. Hello Sunshine and Letter To You from the trans/post COVID era albums are a fitting way to finish this set. The outtakes and box sets will surely follow pretty damn soon one would hope as will a very welcome (to me at least) second revealing of Bruce’s love for classic soul and gospel and/or country music with his spin like 2022’s Only The Strong Survive. Bruce is still out there doing all of this. The guys in Toronado San Francisco three weeks back were made up to hear that Bruce was on form once again and being full of vitality and life. Maybe they’ll spin this one in the bars next time I get out to the Promised Land again. You gotta live it every day.
