[ctviggen]

Ok, I have to admit that I always thought Springsteen was too pop for me.  However, my fiancee was able to score tickets to a Springsteen concert where it was just him and instruments (some acoustic, some not).  I was very impressed.  He's a very good musician and song writer.  (Sadly, I think I knew maybe a single song he played, but I enjoyed the concert anyway -- as an aside, I went to see Stevie Ray Vaughn, who at the time I'd never heard of, and was blown away; after that, I figured I'd go see anyone.)

So, now they're coming out with this:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Music/09/27/music.springsteen.reut/index.html

Does this seem worthwhile?  If not or if so, what other Springsteen titles would you recommend, given that I probably wouldn't listen to the song "Born in the USA" if you paid me to (too overplayed).

[Bernd]

Hi,

Respect to you for dipping your toe into the unknown. If you enjoyed the last rounds of Concerts you could check out these: "Devils and Dust",
"The Ghost of Tom Joad" , "The Rising"and "Darkness on the edge of Town".
The "Born to Run" remastered project will, I am sure be great.

I did the same as you years ago and went to a gig ( John Lee Hooker) here in Manchester England and became a fan there and then.

Peace and keep rocking

Bernd

[dwk]

I'd say that pretty much everything by Springsteen has merit, but there are certainly stylistic variations between albums and periods.

If you liked the stripped-down acoustic show, then you MUST check out his two acoustic albums - Nebraska and The Ghost of Tom Joad.  Nebraska is very raw (recorded in his home studio to two-track) and has long been very highly regarded. Tom Joad is more polished but IMHO is vastly under-appreciated; it's by far my most-frequently-played Springsteen album.  Be warned that these albums have little of the uplifting redemptive quality that permeates most of the rest of his work - these are definately dark albums.

I'm looking forward to the Born To Run re-release as the existing releases all suffer from pretty poor sound quality. I'm not thrilled at shelling out for extras, but I guess I'll do it. Born to Run would get my vote as "Best Rock and Roll Album" - not necessarily best overall album (although it's almost unarguably top-10), but the one that most successfully captures the wild emotion and power of the promise of R'n'R. Hard to believe it's almost 30 years old.....

As far as the rest of the catalog goes it's all at least good, and to be honest I think I'm only just realizing just how consistently good Springsteen has been over a 30-year career without ever really straying from his core vision. I find the earlier stuff somewhat more compelling than his later work, although thematically and stylistically there is a lot of similarity and the newer stuff is far from weak.  Possible safe bets: The River is a double album and is pretty representative; Greetings from  Asbury Park is his first album and the one that showed his initial promise; Tunnel of Love is another lower-key album that flew under the radar a bit but is very strong.  Of course, you could do worse than just picking up everything prior to Born in the Usa (that would be up through Nebraska) and going from there.

[R_burke]

Born to Run is way different from the others mentioned, i.e. Nebraska, Tom Joad and Devils and Dust.  

In my case I really like the stripped down acoustic type stuff of his and don't much care for the Rock God stuff he did.  I consider Born to Run part of the Rock God stuff.  

Listen to samples of the previously released Born to Run and see if it is the type of Springsteen that you like before you go out and buy the new one.

[PhilNYC]

Ok, I have to admit that I always thought Springsteen was too pop for me...

Are you talking about his recent stuff or his old stuff?  Anything before "Born in the USA" was more Dylan-esque than pop...

[mojoman]

I'm no Bruce fanboy but one thing I can say about Springsteen is that he consistently puts on excellent concerts.  The first time I saw him was in 1976 on the Born To Run tour.  He and the E-Street Band blew me away.   I later saw The River tour and was again impressed.  I saw the 2000 tour, the performance was good but the arena sound sucked, not really Bruce's fault for poor acoustic design of the hall.  I saw two shows on The Rising tour and both were excellent.  I've never, ever been in a crowd quite like the one in Greensboro, NC.  I don't think anyone in the sold out show ever sat down and everyone was really into the music.  People were loud when they should have been loud and respectful during the quiet songs.  Bruce even mentioned a couple of times how great the crowd was (and he was right).  Later we saw the Chapel Hill stadium show on the same tour.  Johnny Cash had just died and Bruce opened with a solo version of I Walk The Line and preceeded to play a set list that was almost a greatest hits and lasted over 3 hours.  I recently saw the acoustic tour, again in Greensboro.  He played over 2 hours and held the audience captive with his stories and songs.  It's got to be hard to keep 10,000 people interested when you're playing alone for over 2 hours.  An excellent show.  

I enjoy Bruce's recorded catalog but it's his live shows that really get the blood pumping.  He's one of the few performers I'm willing to fork out $80 to see.  I'd recommend getting either the Live in New Your or Live in Barcelona dvds.  Both are excellent.