Seeing them on SNL really made me realize how underrated their vocal blend was in their peak years. They've all lost their fastballs now but for a group of not-necessarily-great individual singers they had a really magic combination.
Magic is so good. It's not at the level of anything up through Tunnel, but it's so much better than any other late period Bruce. The worst thing I can say about it is it leans a little hard into retreading BTR/Darkness, but it's mostly earned.
1a. Born to Run 1b. Tunnel of Love 2. The Wild, The Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle 3a. The River 3b. Live 1975-85 4a. Western Stars 4b. Nebraska 5. Darkness on the Edge of Town 6. Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ 7. The Promise 8. Born in the USA 9. The Ties That Bind 10. Letter to You 11. The Rising 12. Human Touch 13. Devils & Dust 14. Wrecking Ball 15. Magic 16. Working on a Dream 17. The Ghost of Tom Joad 18. High Hopes Haven't Heard: Lucky Town We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions Tracks
And if we're doing live albums I probably wouldn't even put the comp first in favor of a few recordings of single shows.
1. Born to Run 2. Darkness on the Edge of Town 3. Nebraska 4. Born in the USA 5. Greeting From Asbury Park 6. The River 7. Tunnel of Love 8. The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle 9. Letter To You 10. Western Stars 11. Wrecking Ball 12. The Rising
BITUSA is bombastic. I love it. It's the perfect blend of his pop music/ rock and roll sensibilities.
I will literally never forget the Boston Globe in the spring of ‘95 saying “with the acquisitions of Jose Canseco and Mark Whiten the crack of the bat at Fenway Park might be mistaken for the snare drum on ‘Born in the USA’”. And then they both SUCKED. Crazy to think at that point the album was only as old as Bon Iver, Bon Iver is to me now
Do you know if that's been digitized somewhere? Have never read about that before, that's absolutely hilarious, and this represents the confluence of my two strongest interests in life (Bruce and baseball, and why yes I am a super boring white dude from middle America, thanks for asking!)
I wish I had a link somewhere. I just have an absolutely indelible 8-year-old's memory. Mark Whiten SUUUUUUCKED for us, right after looking like a stud with the Cardinals. Traded his ass for 13 ABs of Dave Hollins by July.
Haha, that is hilarious. Also, that bottom part... Having trouble wrapping my mind around Bon Iver, Bon Iver hitting the decade mark this year.
Like it's crazy to me that as a kid The Joshua Tree and Born in the USA were such codified classic rock staples and they were not very old at all.
I first listened to The Joshua Tree in 2004, right around when Atomic Bomb came out. I remember it felt super old to my then-14-year-old self. Atomic Bomb will be 17 years old this year, which is how old The Joshua Tree was at the time.