Entertainment For Lively Minds
The Wild The Innocent And The E Street Shuffle
Posted by walker182 on 12 February 2010 - 9:22pm.
I'm putting foward the case that this is the best (by some distance) Bruce Springsteen album ever.
Coming so early on, it really showed off the dynamics of the E Street band and had a real diversity which his later albums lacked (Funk, Shanties, Broadway...etc.)
Just the most joyful thing he ever produced. So why does it not get mentioned more? And does the Boss ever play any of it live anymore?
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Sort of agree......
I think if there was an imaginary hinterland between E Street and Born To Run, it would be Springsteen's peak.
He still plays Rosalita pretty regularly and up to Danny Federici's illness and passing, 4th July, Asbury Park used to get a dusting down every now and then. One of my highlights of watching Bruce was on the Rising Tour at Wembley Arena when, by request, he sat at the piano alone and did "Incident on 57th Street". You could have heard a pin drop. Mesmerising.
the point about the hinterland...
...twixt "E Street" and "Run" is spot on. Obviously the latter scores points for its anthems (the title track, "Jungleland" and "Thunder Road") and epic production...
..However I think some of "E Street"'s charm is lost by its follow up's attempt to strive for perfection. While "E Street" had a loose, laid back charm, "Born to Run" was almost too focused.
The sad thing for me is that Springsteen never really returned (on record) to the sound of "E Street" and the development that should have occured after "Born to Run" was somewhat hampered by wrangles which meant that "Darkness on the Edge.." took several years to appear. And for my money, "Darkness.." is a far harder album to love than its two predecessors.
I don't have a favourite
I don't have a favourite Bruce album ... the River was good and the Tunnel of Love was, in its own way, quite briliant, but my problem with Bruce is that he still lacks originality ... everything, the good and even the notsogood all have been here before and he is simply putting a new coat of paint on what he's putting out ... but original? No. A long way off, for me.
I'm Not Sure You're Right, Canute, Old Bean ...
... after all, Rundgren, Steinman and Meatloaf parodied Springsteen on Bat Out Of Hell, and I don't see how you can parody something that doesn't have its own characteristics.
I agree he was a culmination of everything pop had thrown out before he arrived, but the way he blended it all and added his own personality, and the fact he wrote such sensationally good songs, made for a compelling and unique package. And, for my money, of all the people who came after him copying his style, not one of them were a patch on him.
Agreed
...although I think the drumming - by Vinnie 'Mad Dog' Lopez - is below par, clunky and obtrusive. It is not really the great E Street Band lineup, but Bruce's passion seeps out of the grooves. The songs, and the joy, remain unsurpassed.
On the recent tour
Madison Sq Garden November 7th to be precise he played the album in its entirety.
Thundercrack
Seeds
Prove It All Night
Hungry Heart
Working On A Dream
The E Street Shuffle
4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
Kitty's Back
Wild Billy's Circus Story
Incident on 57th Street
Rosalita
New York City Serenade
Waiting On A Sunny Day
Raise Your Hand
Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street
Glory Days
Human Touch
Lonesome Day
The Rising
Born To Run
Wrecking Ball
Bobby Jean
American Land
Dancing In The Dark
(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher (with Elvis Costello)
He plays Rosalita quite a lot usually and I ceratinly have seen him play Kittys Back, Incident and 4th July
He did. I went.
It was fantastic, especially the version of Kitty's Back. He even did the "band tuning up" thing at the beginning of E St Shuffle, & introduced Thundercrack as an outtake from the album. Pus Garry W Tallent on the tuba. What's not to like?
Well Rosalita really, which I've always found a bit overblown & not really all that much of an actual song. It displaced Thundercrack as the epic set closer, and I think it was actually written with that purpose in mind somewhat to its detriment. I like Thundercrack better anyway...
It is, incidentally, Elvis's favourite Bruce album.
.. and Brett Anderson was quite partial..
To quote: "I love Bruce Springsteen. He's made some great records. I used to love born in the USA when I was 15 or 16. There are a couple of really good tracks on that, Darlington Country and I'm On Fire. And I like some like The River, Hungry Heart... That album, The Wild, The Innocent And the E Street Shuffle, is one of those perfect albums that you can just listen to as an album. So yeah, I think he's excellent"
I love, love, LOVE...
...this record. It's between this and Born To Run, for me.
With you all the way..
I discovered BS in 1973 when this album came out. I got the vinyl album in Listen Records in Glasgow - a quid! Still play the vinyl but now have the CD for the car. I even named a later girlfriend 'Mad Dog Lopez' after the drummer. I only managed to go see the band at Hampden last year when quite a few tracks were played. Splendid.
I Listened To This Very Album This Very Evening
It's a beauty. It's between this and Asbury Park for me. The writing is sublime, painting wonderful pictures both lyrically and in the arrangements. The imagery is right out of Scorsese set to an eclectic hybrid mix of a dozen influences. And I prefer the drumming on those two albums to Max Weinberg's heavier hand - there's a bounce and a deftness of touch that somehow got left behind, sadly.
A couple of great lines: 'It's midnight in Manhattan, it's no time to get cute' and 'Walk tall or don't walk at all' but there isn't a duff line on either album, for me.
thanks smithy...
..I've never checked out Asbury Park but I'll take your tip...
Greetings From Asbury Park - well worth the bother
I think I might even prefer it to The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle, but that might because I've played the latter to death. Asbury Park has one great song after another - Blinded By the Light you'll know, if only from Manfred Mann's Earth Band, but there are plenty other corkers, too.
Hope you enjoy it.
Asbury Park just ahead of The Wild for me....
.....Spirit in the Night is my fave Bruce tune. Took a glimpse through that recent "Uncut Magazine guide to Springsteen," and see Bruce played bass on that very tune, didnt know that. Sadly he didnt play the tune on the 2 times i've seen him live - Christmas '07 at the 02 then at the Emirates the following year.
Plus of course Blinded By The Light. Great tune.
New York City Serenade
is just about my favourite Bruce song ever. Piano intro, acoustic guitar kicks in, percussion, the 'Walk tall or don't walk at all' line quoted above, full orchestra, saxophone, call and response section... magic.
This album and "Greetings..." are so different from the rest. Wordy, sprawling, romantic, full of energy and hope, they sound like a young man growing up. I'm a major Bruce fan but these 2 + Born to Run remain my most played of his albums.
Whoops!
I was just going to say that if you lost this track and ended on the laugh-out-loud-funny hyper high of 'Rosalita', it'd possibly be my favourite album of all time.
One of my favourite things to do...
... on my day off is to walk along the sea front down here in Brighton with WIESS playing on the headphones. It just fits. Wonder if it's because Asbury Park is a seaside town too..?
Sandy - Hollies Version
try this for a different take....
The elephant in the room
A great album, but always spoiled for me by ‘Wild Billy’s Circus Story’, a song I just can’t enjoy, however hard I try. Whereas ‘Born To Run’ is a perfect album, not a word or a note out of place, and will always be my all-time number one.
Every other track is a corker, though, and every time I go and see Bruce in concert, I’m willing him to play ‘Kitty’s Back’ or ‘New York City Serenade’. Hasn’t happened yet, though.
DIFFICULT 2nd ALBUM
Somewhere along the way you have to put the man into the context of the era. The first album appeared in a christening shroud of the new Dylan and became notable for the Manfred Mann Earthband abridged cover of 'Blinded.....'. Whereas 'Mary Queen of Arkansas', 'Growin' Up' and 'For You' were formidable tour de forces of songwriting that erupted from the turntable at you. This was 1973 and the album charts were dominated by Elton John and Bowie. Bruce would not appear in the UK album charts until 29 November 1975 when 'Born To Run' entered at No.24.
The second album appeared inbetween as the music press and 'Whistle Test' began to speak in epic proportions of the 'LIVE' shows Bruce was giving on the other side of the Atlantic. Still the album garnered slim pickings except for those of us who said there was an alternative to glam rock and metal. Song writing as an art was developed on the album as Bruce began to understand the commercial transfer of his talent.
'4th July,Asbury Park(Sandy) was by a mile the standout. Hollies lead singer Alan Clark issued it as a solo single, but never troubled the charts. Johnnie Walker made Bruce's version his 'Record Of The Week' on Radio1, but still the record buying public ignored him. I even got my copy in a John Menzies Sale - they never knew the market place in reality!
When it comes to 'Rosalita' I'm very non plus and the elongated versions I've seen him perform over the last 33 years - bloody hell is it really that long!
No one in the modern era comes into his domain for showmanship, performing or repertoire. He remains the embodiment of modern popular music, able to assimilate and develop his craft to produce the perfect reflection of his journey in life.
Oh by the way the best version of 'For You' is that by the Greg Kihn Band - sorry Bruce.