L.A. Garage Sessions '83-****
I was familiar with a bunch of these tracks from various bootlegs. But
together in one place in excellent quality is a revelation. Loved
this.
Streets Of Philadelphia Sessions-***1/2
I
wasn't a fan of the Oscar winning song, so an entire album of synths
and drum loops didn't sound appealing. I am surprised at how much I
enjoyed this. At least five great tracks.
Bruce Springsteen- Faithless- **1/2
Record Three from the box did little for me. Any one of these songs might have been more
effective on an E Street Band album. But ten similar sounding, moody
spirituals was quite frankly, a bore.
Bruce Springsteen- Somewhere North Of Nashville-***
Record Four has a lot of twang but not much originality. It doesn't
feel like a country record that came naturally to Bruce. It has a few
moments, but just adding pedal steel to standard rock and roll tracks
doesn't make a very convincing country album. The sweeping drama of the
Laurel Canyon sound on "Western Stars" is a much better record.
Bruce Springsteen- Inyo-***1/2
Record Five from Tracks II, "Inyo,"
has a wonderful sound throughout. It's not all mariachi, but Bruce
sounds more comfortable here than he does singing on that "Nashville"
record. My one complaint is his over-affected vocals. He lays on the
Okie so hard on some tracks, I can't follow the stories he's telling, which I imagine
would make some of these tracks more powerful to my ears. Still, I
enjoyed "Inyo." Nice surprise.
Bruce Springsteen- Twilight Hours-***
The sixth LP in the box is the most frustrating. I can't help but think this material
and some of the arrangements would have made a great Scott Walker
record. But sadly, the only chance Bruce takes here is recording an
album out of his wheelhouse. Otherwise, most of these songs go nowhere. Like the
"Nashville" record in this box, he just doesn't sound comfortable with
this Bacharach-esque material. It doesn't suit him. It's not all bad,
though "September Kisses" might be one of the worst songs in his entire
catalogue. Awful, trite lyrics sung to the melody of Don Ho's "Tiny
Bubbles." I am keeping it at three stars because I think a number of
songs could be pulled and enjoyed on their own, specifically "Sunday Love," "Lonely Town" and "Follow The Sun."
Bruce Springsteen- Perfect World- ****
16 comments:
Thanks for the preview - I'm glad my library system has a copy I can borrow!
I'd pretty much agree with all that.
1 - I've got almost everything on this and even though it's mostly really polished demos it's nice to have it all in good quality. Though it's easy to get the bootlegs in very good quality too.
2 - I actually quite liked this one too.
3 - Yeah, it doesn't do much for me either.
4 - I think I liked this more than you did without being blown away but I'd agree that Western Stars is, by a distance, the superior record.,
5 - Not really feling it yet but I suspect that it's one that'll grow on me a lot.
6 - If I want to listen to Bacharach I'll listen to Bacharach, not a pale imitation. Some of this made my toes curl. But I'd maybe give it an extra half star for High Sierra, though it feels more like a Nebraska/Tom Joad kinda song.
7 - Yeah.
Tbh, with pretty much all of these you can see why they weren't released before, especially compared to the records he released instead. With the previous archive releases, there were always loads of tunes which left you with a sense of disbelief that he couldn't find a way of releasing them before, they were so good. But there's little on this record that leaves me feeling that way.
So that makes the pricing even more obscene.
"6 - If I want to listen to Bacharach I'll listen to Bacharach, not a pale imitation. Some of this made my toes curl."
Yeah, the bad ones are really bad.
Oh I'm glad you made this report. I was going to ask.
I find the box overwhelming. And, as is often the case with these "from the vaults" / "off the cutting room floor" efforts I'm impressed at what good choices the artists and producers made the first time.
Still, am I listening? of course! :-)
As much as I love Bruce, think I'm gonna pass here. I may end up downloading a few songs but overall sounds like a bunch of under whelming material
First of all, I am so grateful for this box set. Who else could release this kind of volume of original unreleased material, not just alternative versions of known songs? And have a Track 3 up their sleeves? So have to admit, I'm grading on a curve, and I didn't have super high expectations of being blown away. Tracks had some songs that were so strong, I really questioned why he made some of the album choices he did, but that isn't the case with this material. I wanted to understand his alternative 1990s. If he had released any of this back then after Human Touch and Lucky Town, I would have thought he was insane. But I really enjoyed it at this juncture of his (and my) life.
1) LA sessions: Like you guys said, a little more polished, not revelatory but of course really solid.
2) Streets of Philadelphia Sessions: I think this is pretty strong stuff, again I would have blown it off back then, but I really enjoyed this and have been listening to this the most.
3) Faithless: I will never ever understand some of the creative decisions Bruce and Landau or whoever is involved make. Why in goodness name is this record, recorded in the mid 2000's, put first chronologically before the Nashville and Inyo records, recorded in the mid and late 90's? And of all the people who have asked Bruce to do a soundtrack, he did one for a movie that was never made? That said, this won't be listened to much, but I still think it has merit.
4) Somewhere North of Nashville: It's fine, glad he didn't release it then. It would have really felt like he was following Garth Brooks, not a good place to be.
5) Inyo: Boy on paper this sounds like it shouldn't work, but I really like it. The Aztec Dance is just beautiful.
6) Twilight Hours: I really enjoyed Western Stars, so while it does have some clinkers, I can appreciate this version of Bruce, and Sunday Love is gorgeous.
7) Perfect World: Good stuff, and Grushecky got him off his duff and back to his roots in the 90s, so it's a valuable guide to what led him back to the E Street Band and the last 25 years.
Sal your piano story is hilarious. 22 is not the right age to start lessons, and then your teacher couldn't have chosen a worse path to start!
Bryan
Rodney Crowell’s version of Heartbroke is excellent, quite different than the Guy Clark original. Today’s song of the day is very good, too.
- Paul in DK
See, this is why I mostly describe myself as a lapsed Springsteen fan.
Goodness -- I've been through the whole thing just once on streaming, and I think overall I liked it better than you did! I'm going to try and take my time with each of the installments, but my review when posted will be favorable.
I'm not the typical Bruce fan. One of my favorite albums by him is"Western Stars". Also, I pay more attention to the music than to the lyrics, although they do carry some weight. As a result I found myself really enjoying "Twilight Hours" more than the rest, especially because it's out of his wheelhouse. "Perfect World" is a close second because, as you said, it's the closest to a Bruce/E Street record. Give me a second. I do agree with you that it's a bit overpriced. At nearly $40 a slab, it's costly, even with The extras. Hopefully they'll make the individual albums available at some point which would be nice for all those people I can't show out $335 for the vinyl box. For now I'll be content with the Apple Music downloads
This set is like so much of his output over the past 30 or so years. Some very good songs and a whole lot of ok songs. I am enjoying the 83 sessions and SNON but than might be due to those tracks being a little more in Bruce's rock voice. I didn't care much for SOP sessions , Faithless and Twilight. I still need to check out Inyo and Perfect World. So overall good, not great for me.
When Bruce is on stage, I'm a fan, but when he's on the turntable, after the next song, I'm going to put something else on.
I am only through the first four albums and I'm underwhelmed to say the least. I always expect some goosebump moments any time I listen to a Springsteen album for the first time and so far I have not gotten that. I own every Bruce record on vinyl, including the first two box sets, and this will likely be the release that breaks that streak. I cannot justify that price for this collection of music.
1. LA Garage '83 was fine, but like others said, I've heard most of it before. I was happy to hear demos of Johnny Bye Bye and Shut Out the Light, but then realized I like the finished versions better.
2. Streets of Philadelphia Sessions is probably my favorite of the four I have heard so far. I was happy to hear this version of Waiting on the End of the World, which I have had on bootleg for years. The whole album is definitely a mood, but when I'm in that mood, I like this.
3. Faithless is weird and, IMO, uninteresting. The biggest criticism I can give to an album is that it cannot hold my attention. I'd be surprised if I went back to this one. As a Bruce fan, that's tough for me to say.
4. Somewhere North of Nashville tries to sound like a country record and it's well performed, but there is a lack of authenticity for me. I did like the country version of Janey Don't You Lose Heart, and You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone had a (to me) Dwight Yoakam/3 Pears kind of vibe. I prefer the shit-hot rockin version of Stand On It to this country version, though I can see why Bruce would give it a go.
I'll let ya know what I think of the other 3 as I get through them. But nothing here knocks me out so far, and that is the bar I set for any new Bruce record.
I heard over an hour of it the other day, the DJ probably chose his favorite tracks, not a bad song in the bunch! I wasn't inspired enough to place an order, though, it's more than a little pricey. There's also a single album comp (greatest unreleased hits?) with 20 tracks, that's doable.
Thanks for hanging in there for a full review!
I've been struggling with my Bruce fandom for a bit now, mostly over the money he is charging for everything, but I loved a lot of this set. I've known those 83 demos forever and I love them. "Sugarland" may be in my top 20 Springsteen songs of all time. I really loved the "Streets" sessions as well, but is that really the best title they could come up with for this great record? "Nashville" is fine with a couple of genuinely great songs ("Under a Big Sky" and "Blue Highway"), and I LOVE "Inyo", although i do agree with your assessment of the "Okie" accent. But I differ from a lot of you on "Faithless"- this is the one I've gone back to the most. I had a death in the family recently and "God Sent You" hit me exactly where I needed. Some of the rest did feel unfinished though. Finally, I wanted to love "Twilight Hours" but some of the songs are just underwritten. I HATED "September Kisses" from the jump. But I like the songs you mentioned and I like "Dinner at Eight" a lot as well. Overall, I was surprised at how much I liked this, though. It definitely erases the bad memory of "Only the Strong Survive".
That is way overpriced for physical versions, though I won't bitch since I'm listening to it on streaming for "free" (actually, FREE since a good friend shared his Amazon account with me). Yeah, for clearing out the vaults that's a lot of money to ask. But since one can access it with any music service, I'm not so annoyed. (Dylan sometimes would make only a few tracks available from a Bootleg release on streaming and that ticked me off.) But it's nothing compared to the offensive prices he charged on broadway. I'm still upset about that.
Post a Comment