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The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle by Bruce Springsteen (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle
  • Artist name: Bruce Springsteen
  • Year: 1973
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Columbia Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Who owned it: I was pretty sure that this was my father’s, but he said that he never bought a Springsteen record; my mother confirmed that she was the fan, and added that she saw Springsteen perform at a coffee house in the late 1960s while she was still in high school.
  • Buy it on Amazon: $24.95

The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle by Bruce Springsteen

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I have never listened to this record before, but I recognize some of the songs on it by name, from the previous three Springsteen records that I’ve reviewed, which were:

What I expected

Rock.

What it was actually like

There were not any songs on this record that I enjoyed, but of the seven, I would say that Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) was the most lively and probably the best. It stood out on Live 1975–85, also.

Five of the seven songs had horns, which was approximately five too many; only Incident on 57th Street and 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) left them out. They were both boring, soulless rock songs, and the latter had an accordion and was the worst on the record.

Wild Billy’s Circus Story started out as an Oompa Loompa song, but quickly turned boring.

Two of the songs were more funk and jazz: The E Street Shuffle, which had a sound effect of yelling people in the background to make it sound live, but it was not live; and Kitty’s Back, which started with prominent electric guitar, then after the intro turned into more of a funk song with prominent keyboard.

New York City Serenade had way too much piano, and I had no idea why it lasted for almost ten minutes.

Grade

2/5: bad, but I was able to listen to the whole thing

Live 1975–85 by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Live 1975–85
  • Group name: the E Street Band
  • Artist name: Bruce Springsteen
  • Year: 1986
  • Number of discs: five
  • Label: Columbia Records
  • Collection: Selman
  • Buy it on Amazon: $64.99

Live 1975–85 by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

To the best of my knowledge, I’ve never heard this record before, though I’m familiar with a bunch of the songs on it. I’m not much of a Bruce Springsteen fan, and have previously reviewed:

What I expected

This is a five LP set with 40 live songs from different performances over a ten year period from 1975 to 1985. I guess I expect it to be like Flat Top and Pin Drop, except much better produced, because Springsteen was already a star when he was doing these concerts (many of which were in huge arenas), and because the record company’s producers would have had plenty of material from which to choose the best.

What it was actually like

This was a lot of Bruce Springsteen, far more Springsteen than I’ve ever consumed before in my life, and far more than was necessary to get the point. I’m sure his fans went wild for this box set, though, because it had a bunch of his hits and everything sounded solid, and it was put together pretty nicely.

It occurred to me while listening that I think Springsteen is a terrible singer, and I can not stand his voice. I wonder if this is why I’ve heard that people think it makes sense to compare Springsteen with Dylan, or why Springsteen has intentionally cultivated the idea that he could be compared with Dylan – as a guy with a guitar who can’t sing very well, but can write very personal songs. Either way, if I were Springsteen, I definitely would not want myself compared with Dylan, considering how unfavorable those comparisons would be.

Another really annoying thing about Springsteen is his tendency to tell stories in the middle of his songs – for example, while the piano is playing a riff, so the song is kind of still going on, but also kind of paused. Maybe the producers should have put all the stories onto just one LP and then kept the other four LPs exclusively for music.

And of course, the saxophone. I’m not 100% sure, but it did sound to me like there might have been a saxophone solo in every single song, but for sure it was in most of them. The worst offenders were: Spirit in the Night, Paradise by the “C”, Independence Day and Darlington County. By the end of it, I wanted to yank his bandmate’s saxophone away, break into pieces over my knee, and shove it… into a place that would be family friendly, since ColossalReviews.com is a G-rated website.

The most boring songs on the record were: Backstreets, Independence Day, all of side 6, My Hometown, Darkness on the Edge of Town, Racing in the Street (which was also way too long), No Surrender and Jersey Girl.

His cover of Woody Guthrie‘s classic This Land Is Your Land was uncommonly and almost impossibly terrible, so here are other versions from Peter, Paul and Mary and The Avett Brothers. On the other hand, I thought his cover of War was great (and I forgot again that it was a Temptations song before it was an Edwin Starr song).

Some other songs that I liked were: Growin’ Up, Rosalita (Come Out Tonight), Raise Your Hand and Cover Me.

Born to Run was done well, and I thought it would have made a bigger impact by being placed last.

I always assumed that Because the Night was a Patti Smith song, but apparently it started as a Springsteen song. This version was good.

I loved the beginning of Hungry Heart when the crowd (at Nassau Coliseum on 28 December 1980) sang the first verse.

Born in the U.S.A. is probably the Springsteen song that I hate the most, as it’s the most anti-melodic and generally unpleasant.

Grade

3/5: interesting, but not for me

Flat Top and Pin Drop by Bruce Springsteen (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Flat Top and Pin Drop
  • Artist name: Bruce Springsteen
  • Year: 1975
  • Number of discs: two
  • Label: Exodus Records
  • Collection: Selman
  • Distinguishing characteristics: “SELMAN” written in blue ink on top left of album
  • Buy it on Ebay: $691.00

Flat Top and Pin Drop by Bruce Springsteen

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve never heard of this record, which doesn’t appear to have been a standard live album released through normal channels. I guess it might have been a bootleg?

What I expected

As I mentioned a few months ago when I reviewed Bruce Springsteen’s Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J., I’m not really a fan of his work. But maybe this will be the record that turns me into a Springsteen fan?

What it was actually like

To begin, the song names printed on the two LPs’ four sides did not appear to have anything to do with the actual songs that were part of this record, leading me to be a bit more certain that this record may not be “official” – though from pictures online, it certainly looks legitimate, despite not being present in Amazon or Wikipedia.

Flat Top and Pin Drop was a live album that sounded like a recording of one concert, though I wouldn’t be surprised if it was parts of multiple concerts that all made the cut. The audio quality was not great, and I could barely follow Springsteen’s extensive discourse during Pretty Flamingo and at other parts of the record. I suppose it could probably use a remastering or something.

The concert itself sounds like it was a super fun affair for the band and the audience, with just the right amount of chaos. It’s always cool to listen to the differences between how bands play songs live versus how they sound coming straight out of a studio – some songs are purely studio creations, and to perform them for an audience, they have to be reworked extensively, while others really only make sense when they’re played live, and a studio recording is just a hint at a song’s real sound. Born To Run is a good example in this case of a song that was performed pretty tightly, making it sound a lot like – and arguably much better than – whatever version I’ve always heard, leading me to believe that it’s essentially a live song.

Anyway, as I may have mentioned once or twice in the past:

…I want to stress that rock musicians really need to avoid using saxophone in their music. If you’re Charlie Parker, I want to hear your saxophone part, but in rock I just don’t think there’s a lot of use for it.

So ultimately I didn’t come away from Flat Top and Pin Drop a Springsteen fan. Spirit In The Night was an example of a song that I didn’t mind at all, as it was enough of a jazz song that the saxophone didn’t distract me.

I also loved the closing medley at the end of side four, with a very serviceable Devil With The Blue Dress On, as well as a short but strong Wooly Bully, and a quite impressive take on Little Richard’s Good Golly, Miss Molly.

Also, here is the Good Golly, Miss Molly scene from the educational cinematic masterpiece King Ralph, starring John Goodman.

Grade

3/5: interesting, but not for me

Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. by Bruce Springsteen (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.
  • Artist name: Bruce Springsteen
  • Year: 1973
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Columbia Records
  • Collection: Selman
  • Distinguishing characteristics: “DEMONSTRATION / Not For Sale” stamped in gold on reverse
  • Buy it:

Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. by Bruce Springsteen

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I think everyone is familiar with Bruce Springsteen. Most people are fans of his work, but I am not. Consequently, I’ve never (intentionally) listened to this record.

What I expected

To paraphrase my grandmother, I don’t like Bruce Springsteen now and I haven’t liked him for years! Why is that? To start, I don’t think he’s a great singer or songwriter. His music is pretty basic and boring, which isn’t necessarily bad – I’m a huge fan of the Ramones, and their music is not complex at all – but Springsteen has always seemed to me like a talentless Bob Dylan. I also don’t appreciate his gratuitous use of saxophone and harmonica.

What it was actually like

One of my least favorite Springsteen songs is Blinded By The Light, but the version of it that I heard on this record is not the same as the radio version that I’ve heard a zillion times in my life, and I thought this version was way better. So that was a great start!

Unfortunately, any goodwill accrued in the first couple of tracks was squandered by Mary Queen Of Arkansas, which I absolutely would have skipped after the first verse if it were easy to do so on a turntable. The Angel was equally bad; Spirit In The Night was ok.

There were multiple points while listening to this record that I hoped and wished it would end sooner.

Grade

2/5: bad, but I was able to listen to the whole thing