"Tell her there's a spot out 'neath Abram's Bridge / And tell her, there's a darkness on the edge of town..."
I get a new turntable and dust off some old records. Vinyl Tap #13:…
"A sinister cabal of superior writers."
"Tell her there's a spot out 'neath Abram's Bridge / And tell her, there's a darkness on the edge of town..."
I get a new turntable and dust off some old records. Vinyl Tap #13:…
Article comments
26 - RogerMDillon
Don't waste breath on Vinny. He thinks that Def Leappard's Hysteria rocks.
27 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
That explains it. I was about to tell him that "Asia" is getting back together--because they've never been known to not to "just say stuff that doesn't make sense."
28 - Vinny
Wow thanks for actually explaining to me why you like Bruce Springsteen.
Here's a line from "Zero and Blind Terry"
And together they ran like reindeers through the street
Like tomorrow the earth was gonna catch on fire
Now Terry's dad hired some troopers to kill Zero and bring Terry back home
Wow perhaps you can explain what this means.
Look at all of Springsteens new songs it sounds like he is just making up crap to make it sound like he's some type of mysterious drifter folk poet.
He should start living off the coat tails of Dylan, Guthrie, and Seeger and go back to the 80's pop crap that got him well known.
29 - Mark Saleski
can somebody explain to me this internet thing where people like to hang their ignorance out for all the world to see?....sorta like a pedophile swinging his dick out outside the corner elementary school?
just askin', is all.
30 - gonzo marx
thanks for the excllent read about a homeboy, Gordon...much appreciated..
/golfclap
"Greetings from Asbury Park"
nuff said?
Excelsior?
31 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
"the 80's pop crap that got him well known"?
Well now, Vinny, you're being incredibly ignorant as well as dense right out the gate. About the "explaining" I need to do, there's 824 words devoted to that subject preceding this "comments" section.
32 - Vinny
All you've done is quote me and explain nothing.
I'm happy enough because I provoked you to become defensive.
Springsteen Sucks!
I'm done with this lame forum
Rock Chalk Jayhawk go KU!!!!!!
33 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
As long as you're happy, Vin--bliss is another form of ignorance, after all.
(Oh, and 'neneer, neener'? Is that all the wit you can muster?)
34 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
thanks Mark and Gonzo for the comments. I felt like I should've saluted some of the worthy tracks from his first album (such as "Growin' Up" and "Hard to be a Saint in the City") but I wanted the narrow focus on Springsteen and what he wanted to be (with the E St. Band), not on how the record company perceived him. And of course, on the second album, the "record company just gave me a big advance!" Gotta follow the money and the freedom it allows...
35 - Vern Halen
Ummm..... I'm not a fan of Darkness - of all his major albums, this is the one I like least. There's only two cuts that do it for me - "Candy's Room" & "Racing in the Street." The rest of the album sounds so... strained, for lack of a better word. Springsteen sound best when he makes the whole thing sound effortless - like he's talking / singing to you off the top of his head, even though you know he isn't. Candy & Racing feel to me like they ought to be on The River somewhere - an album that's all over the place, for sure, but is more in line with Springsteen's naturalistic approach.
36 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Vern--thanks for the reasoned response. Since one thing usually leads to another listening spree for me, I'm now listening to The River more again--and though we disagree about "Darkness," you have a good point about "Candy" and "Racing" being fitting for The River.
37 - Willy Joel
Springsteen = The most over-rated "Rock", I mean "Pop", star in history. The critics tell you to like the hack so you all fall in line. Totally unorginal, unexciting, non-creative non-talent out there. He makes country music sound innovative. Europeans laugh at America's infatuation with this loser.
P.S. The emperor isn't wearing any clothes folks
38 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Thanks for your knee-jerk uninformed comment, Willy Joel.
39 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
By the way, Willy Joel--I used to like your albums but then the critics said you were "Pop" and you sucked so I stopped buying them. I hope you start recording again (after you stop drinking and crashing cars around Long Island) but you do understand I'll have to check with the critics to see if it's okay to buy any new albums. And also the Europeans now I guess, too, huh--I used to not give a crap what they thought, because they're all a bunch of weenies, but you made me see the light.
So: new Willy Joel+critics yes+Europeans yes=purchase.
Gawd, I hope you're not dried up and have writer's block when it comes to songs--that comment you wrote here was pretty piss-poor and witless, so I hope that's no indication.
40 - Mark Saleski
wow, interesting thoughts about "Candy's" and "Racing" being on The River. i only hear that for "Racing".
as far as the music on Darkness sounding forced, i never heard that, though i sort of know what you mean. the other thing is that i've heard all of these tunes played live....different animals there.
41 - Vern Halen
Part of it is the recording - play Darkness back to back with The River and maybe you'll hear what I do. The River seems to have more... space... air... room...something. Darkness feels tighter & constrictive. Maybe something with the EQ'ing?
For years I listened to a custom copy of the River that I dubbed to cassette from my vinyl - taking out Ramrod & Drive all Night and sticking Candy & Racing into the middle of side 4 - fit Roulette there somewhere too (I'm as big a nut for track selection & sequencing as Bruce is). With the release of the Tracks box, you can make a whole other album out of the River outtakes, or a Three CD River Deluxe. And Candy & Racing make even more sense in that larger context.
42 - Mark Saleski
the reason you hear more space in the music is this: there's more space in the music!
The River was recorded with everybody in a big 'old soundstage. i have to admit that i didn't love it when it first came out, since it sort of reminded me of Phil Spector's "wall of sound". now, of course, i love it.
the two records sound completely different to me.
ever notice there there are almost no guitar solos on The River? another big difference.
43 - Baronius
I've never gotten this. See, to my naive little ears, Darkness sounds a lot like Born to Run. The albums, that is. As for individual songs, "The Promised Land" sounds as full and poplike as anything on Run. "Candy's Room", which is vintage Max Weinberg, reminds me of "She's The One". And if Run is the happy side of Springsteen, how do you explain "Meeting Across the River"?
Now here's where I'm going to lose all credibility. There's one other album that reminds me of these two: "Bat out of Hell". "Thunder Road" and especially "Jungleland" have the same kind of sweep as Meat Loaf's album. (All three albums feature Max, by the way.) And "Two out of Three Ain't Bad" really sounds Springsteeny to me.
44 - Mark Saleski
"Meeting Across The River" i think was inspired by Bruce's interest in pulp fiction/movies.
ya, i think several E St. people were on Bat Out Of Hell. i never "got" that record. the only Meat Loaf i ever liked was when he sang on Ted Nugent's "Free For All" record.
45 - Glen Boyd
I know that Roy Bittan played on Bat Out Of Hell, which would account for at least some of that record's cinematic sort of sweep (dramatic keyboards have a way of doing that).
But Meat Loaf is nowhere near in the same league as Bruce. Much of Springsteen's music, especially the Born To Run album, has a true cinematic quality, where MeatLoaf is just overwrought in an often irritating way.
As for the differences between Darkness and The River, Bruce was never satisfied with the way Darkness was recorded. There were actually rumors for years that he wanted to re-record and re-release the entire thing. The way The River was recorded was actually somewhat of a reaction to that.
Which is why the record has so much "space" compared to Darkness. As Saleski notes, it's intentional. Bruce was going for much more of a live feel with The River...especially on the short frat-rock influenced tracks like "Sheery Darlin", "Im A Rocker', and "You Can Look,"
As for Vern's "experiment", I could not imagine side 4 of The River without Ramrod or Drive All Night. Likewise I couldn't imagine Darkness without "Candy" or "Racing."
-Glen
46 - Mark Saleski
there were a ton of high-powered musicians on Bat Out Of Hell, i just never really liked the songs all that much.
funny though, i went to a Meat Loaf show several years ago and was surprised at how much i enjoyed it.
...though my first reaction when his band came out was "holy shit! is that kaseem sultan on bass?!!"...which it was.
47 - Kevin Davis
"The Price You Pay" and "Stolen Car" are two of the really great unappreciated Bruce songs In my opinion.
The River is a wonderful record, but are you familiar with the version of "Stolen Car" from the Tracks box set? In my opinion, it obliterates the proper album version. Highly recommended.
48 - Glen Boyd
I have the Tracks box and Stolen Car is awesome on that record. I still love The River version though. That whole record is just amazing in my opinion.
-Glen
49 - Sean
Various bootleggers have put together the original mix and running order of Darkness. It opens with Don't Look Back and there are different versions of some of the songs which made the album. I think the Promise is on there as well. Jsut by switching the running order and swapping out a few songs, the album is much darker in tone than the version that was released, and I think the released version is pretty grim.
50 - Vern Halen
Glen - I know what you mean - I'd love to tell you that normally I wouldn't tamper with the artists' running order, but I do it all the time. Side 4 of the River just doesn't wrap it up for me - even if you don't use Candy & Racing, there' still lots of outtakes from the River sessions to fill it. Having said that, however, I think Springsteen probably agonised over how to end the monolithic collection, so I can't help but think his version is definitive - mine's simply "alternate reality" or whatever you want to call it.
Would loved to have sat in on those sessions, though.
51 - zingzing
i'm a big bruce fan... but i have to admit that his 70's work never did so much for me. born to run is solid... and huge... (and i like the ablum, but i'm going somewhere else...)
i'd have to say that of his earliest stuff, i only like "it's hard to be a saint," and i like the bowie version better even then. darkness is good, but the production is a letdown. the river's production is supurb, but the songwriting is weak... i don't think bruce got it all together until nebraska and born in the usa, where the songs, production and voice all came together into something perfect.
52 - Vern Halen
Well, zinger, I'd have to disagree with you there. I thought USA was the beginning of the end for our hero, especially since there were so many great outtakes from those sessions (I think about 80 songs were recorded for USA, but only about a dozen or so used). He chose the right ones for building a blockbuster, but I think he could've had a not necessarily better but different album with some other choices, Frankie, My Love Will Not Let You Down, & the original version of This Hard Land.
Still, I can't deny the commercial success of Born in the USA, so maybe it was the right thing to do at the time - it gave him the platform to walk the world stage like a giant.
53 - zingzing
i think it's a great album, perfect in many ways, but i had no idea he recorded so much for it. i'd like to hear some of that.
that said, my main problem with the early bruce stuff is that i find it kind of bloated. i like art-rock, but it's bloat is its main problem, and i like my bruce lean and mean. i want him rockin'. he's not someone i go to to have my preconceptions blown away, because he's not that type of artist. he's the everyman. give me what i want. i think he got progressively better about clearing away the bloat from born to run on, but born was still a bit bloated, and his songwriting/production failed him until nebraska.
i'm very critical of bruce. maybe it's because i love him so much when he gets it right.
54 - Vern Halen
Some of the outtakes I believe are:
Pink Cadillac
Stand On It
Johnny Bye Bye
This Hard Land
Murder Inc.
Frankie
My Love Will Not Let You Down
Janey Don't You Lose Heart
Shut Out the Light
Cynthia
Plus whatever I forgot and whatever else is on the box. Y'know, most artists would give an eyeball to have written Pink Cadillac - Bruce pulls it off the album at the last minute and relegates it to a B-side. Must be nice.
55 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Great comments from all, and I think I'm about ready to tamper with running orders--never had done that. Also the description of "space" is apt, and a great way to articulate the differences.
I thought Darkness sounded nothing like Born to Run, and I was glad to the leaner, meaner sound--a deliberate and healthy change--rather than Son of Born to run. Born in USA was inconsistent to me--didn't care for Glory Days but love Cover Me.
And Meat Loaf again? Always seemed too bombastic to me, but then I can see how other artists at the time had mistaken bombast for Born to Run-like breath and depth--hard to pull off, and many missed the mark or were too blantantly derivitive (Meat Loaf, John Cafferty, some Boomtown Rats, some Bon Jovi).
I getting back into the very distictive second LP (Wild, Innocent) and that's a great and varied listen (including some traces of Van Morrision)--I think I'll be writing that up soon. Watch This Space.
56 - Henz
God Bruce Springsteen sucks. His songs are simple and boring. His voice sounds like he has throat cancer. There's nothing catchy, clever or anything remotely musical about any of his crap.
He's just an East Coast Hack. He sounds like he's only been playing for two years. He's really narrow scoped, and has very little understanding of how music and harmony work. All his music is crap.
57 - GL Hauptfleisch
Thanks Henz! So exactly how much ice water do you have in your veins?
58 - brucehater
Bruce's music sucks. It's not even rock. He looks and sounds like he is constipated when he sings. Why is he called "The Boss"? As far as I'm concerned, He is "The Boss of Crap". I can't think of another musician worse than him. Even Ringo is better.
59 - d alper
WOW! almost 60 comments Gord guess you hit a nerve, Darkness is indeed my favorite Boss album-cover to cover it hits every mark. And I'm not a huge Springsteen fan but feel this effort defines Bruce in that he had such huge expectations thrust upon him after BTR (see the covers of Time and Newsweek ca. 1976) that he delivers in such a commanding way is impressive. He even cemented this impression with me on his recent solo tour when he re worked Racing in the Streets as a quiet piano dirge rather than the River like ballad he initially envisioned the song to be. Great job
60 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Thanks, d alper, I appreciate the comment.
61 - brucehater
Bruce Sucksteen is probably one of the most overrated musicians in music history. How he became so popular is beyond the comprehension of any sane person. All of his so-called music is crap. The only people that sing worse than he does are: Bob (I can write songs, but I should never sing them) Dylan and Neil (Am I ever in tune?) Young. Also, his guitar is mostly just a prop. He thinks he needs one strapped on to look cool. He probably knows about three chords and most likely his guitar isn't even turned on in concert. He plays guitar about as good as that other suckwad Rick Springfield. Retire already, Bruce!
62 - jon
Badlands is just a bad ass song...unreleased versions are spectacular
63 - Kelley68
Wow. How did Rick Springfield's name come into that comment?! He is the furthest thing from Bruce there's ever been. There not even in the same league for that matter. I don't care for Bruce, but I am still hooked on Rick's guitar playing and writing. He is still producing music, great music...btw. And I'm thinking that maybe, just maybe you haven't heard any of Rick's guitar work or seen him live on his guitar. The man is a guitar MASTER!!!! I dare you to go take a look at him playing and see if your feelings change! :-)
Kelley
64 - brucehater
I stand corrected, Kelley. I went to YouTube and checked out some of Springfield's stuff. His songs are actually pretty good (way better than Springsteen's) and his guitar playing is really pretty good too. I was wrong to use Rick as a comparison because he is in a different league than Springsteen (a better one). No one, however, will ever be able to convince me to change my mind about Bruce Springsteen.
65 - Andrew
I heard the song "Born In The USA".
It is the most God-awful piece of crap I've ever heard in my entire life.
66 - IHateJuice
Springstein sucks. But he is a jew. That's why he's famous. Not because he's good, but because the jews need a super jew rock star and they own the recording industry, hollywood, and most of the mass media.
Springstein is a fake just as Einstein was a fake.