Bruce Springsteen Band • Page 82

I am so excited to listen to this on streaming but I’ve gotta be honest, he may have priced me out of physically owning his new stuff. Tracks II was way beyond what I can justify and tbh $80 for under 40 songs and a :45 minute DVD is hard to pull the trigger on, too.

 

I get it. Tracks II on vinyl was definitely a splurge. But it’s also a super high quality, well put together release. I don’t regret buying it.

 

Pre-ordered the CD boxset. Price equivalent on my local Danish site is US $59 which I thought was quite reasonable for a boxset with 4 CDs and a Blu-ray

 

Listening to The Rising; album is a product of its time sure (brickwalled as hell) but it’s undeniable that Brendan O’Brien fucking cooked on here, as the kids say

 

I think The Rising sounds great. One of me favourite 'later E-Street' records.

 

The highs on the Rising are quite high.

 

The Rising feels heavier to me these days, amidst the wreckage that is our country. We did not, in fact, rise.

 

I think Magic and Wrecking Ball (and Letter to You now that I think about it) are much better than the Rising, however Lonesome Day, You're Missing, and My City of Ruins are top tier Bruce songs for me. Also Mary's Place and Waiting on a Sunny day are both great too.

 

A little revenge, and a little more revenge, and a little more revenge, and oops this didn’t pass

 

It really is wild to look back at the false “unity” that followed 9/11. It was nothing more than a shared thirst for blood.

 

i was thinking a lot about this this week with the anniversary of 9/11 and then everyone getting all whiny and annoying about that dude. heard a lot of "remember when we were all united after 9/11???"

i grew up on long island and remember a waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay different post-9/11 unity. i remember people harassing anyone that looked muslim or arab in public, i remember people going into 711's and beating the store clerks into comas. i remember women getting harassed for wearing coverings. kids in school getting made fun of for their ethnicity.

not exactly the warm fuzzy hug your neighbor we've gaslit ourselves into thinking was actually reality.

this country stinks out loud man.

 

I grew up in a predominantly white area, so the “unity” myth lasted a little longer for me, but there was definitely a point when I realized you only got to be a part of that team if 1) you weren’t a minority, and 2) you bought into the xenophobic, jingoistic patriotism of the moment. I think the “mask off” moment for me was the blackballing of the Dixie Chicks for making pretty basic anti-war statements. In hindsight, I don’t think our country was ever “good,” but 9/11 and the response to it seems like it broke a whole lot of people’s brains.

 

despite growing up in mississippi and kentucky, I first heard the slur "sand -----r" from my freshman year roommate from westchester when they killed bin laden. but he wasnt talking about bin laden and it sure was the plural form of the slur. dude was in the young democrats club also lol. that tells the whole story

 

Yikes! All around!

 

not sure I’ve heard anything better miked than that guitar line in the beginning of “New York Serenade”

 

just finished Peter Ames Carlin's new book Tonight In Jungleland: The Making of Born to Run. I can't say I've read anything like it -- a stunningly complete, extremely well-written account of the conception and evolution of Born to Run's writing, recording, and release. imagine a 300+ page biography on Bruce that just zoomed in on that 10-month period, filled with new and archival interviews to get a firsthand accounting from everyone who was there. it's as vivid as a docuseries and made one of my favorite albums even richer. (it's also way better than the Zanes Nebraska book.)

highly, highly recommend it.

 

Tonight in Jungleland is sitting on my shelf and is my next read after I finish the book I'm currently reading (which should happen tomorrow).

Carlin is good, though; if you haven't read it, @Matt Chylak, I'd recommend his R.E.M. book from last year. One of the most complete music biographies I've ever read.

 

not a big REM fan but I'll keep it in mind. have you read his 2012 bio of Bruce?

 

I was at the actual Wrecking Ball show at Giants Stadium, it was so damn cool.

Also I'm from Monmouth County NJ, Bruce lives a town over and Ill occasionally see him at the record store, so growing up having him pushed on me my whole life was so annoying, and I started with Nebraska cause of Atlantic City and then Darkness on the Edge of Town completely made me a disciple. And it's awesome that he's still just a neighborhood guy.

 

Does it cover the entirety of the REM history? Top 5 band for me but there is a surprising lack of books written about them.

 

It does!

 

I read that one back in college, before Bruce’s own book came out.

 

Thanks. Will look it up.

 

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/669578/the-name-of-this-band-is-rem-by-peter-ames-carlin

 

The NYT review of Tonight in Jungleland mentioned the theory that BTR is a concept album, basically the Gospel set in suburban NJ etc and I was embarrassed that for all my Catholic school upbringing, and years of listening to that album, I never really put that together. And it’s like glaringly obvious lol