Master Index of Archived Threads
The Promise
| John Cougar Lunchbucket Nov 22 2010 07:49 AM |
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What do we think of the "new" Bruce album? And, how "new" is it to you uber Bruce fans out there (Gwreck)?
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| LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Nov 22 2010 09:32 AM Re: The Promise |
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Caught a bit of it. Need to sit with it a little more. I'm sorry, but I'm just thinking of the right words to say.
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| Fman99 Nov 22 2010 10:29 AM Re: The Promise |
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Not a Bruce fan, so I'm going to suggest that it sucks The Cock.
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| Frayed Knot Nov 22 2010 10:45 AM Re: The Promise |
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I saw the HBO show - essentially old films of Bruce & the band in a make-shift studio rehearsing and experimenting while he was legally prevented from doing actual studio/recording work during the time lawsuits were flying back and forth, augmented by up-to-date interviews of much of the same cast of characters including both the outgoing and incoming managers. Basically Bruce had written a ton of material and was driving everyone else nuts as he was re-writing and re-recording some songs on the fly and was tossing other stuff away depending on whim and also on his determination not to make the next album into 'Born to Run II'
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| A Boy Named Seo Nov 22 2010 11:47 AM Re: The Promise |
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Started it, but couldn't dig in. Later. A lot of horns early on. Wasn't vibing that.
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| LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Nov 22 2010 11:49 AM Re: The Promise |
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Yeah, the horns are a little... em... not so fresh.
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| Gwreck Nov 22 2010 12:19 PM Re: The Promise |
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There are two versions: 1. A 2-disc set of songs from the Darkness on the Edge of Town (and pre-Darkness) period; and 2. A super-deluxe package that includes a remastered Darkness, a documentary, a DVD of a complete show from the Darkness tour, another video rarities disc, and the aforementioned "new" songs. It's an amazing package but obviously only really for the "uber" fans (it'll run you $100). --- Of the 21 "new" songs, there are 4 that have been heard before on live albums, plus 2 of them are radically different versions of songs that are on the Darkness album. The rest are previously-unheard, unless you're a serious bootleg collector. I haven't had the time to do more than an initial listening but my impression is that there are some really good songs in there together with a couple of clunkers. --- As for the rest of the stuff? The documentary (as described above, which also aired on HBO) is fantastic. Although -- point of clarification -- the historical footage was mostly taken from the actual recording sessions for the album, once Bruce's lawsuit with his former manager was resolved. The video of the live show in '78 is essential and has crossover appeal to the non-uber fan as well -- shame that it was only available in the "deluxe" box.
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| John Cougar Lunchbucket Nov 22 2010 02:26 PM Re: The Promise |
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I guess there's something weird about being told I gotta get this collection of songs that weren't deemed worthy for the album.
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| TransMonk Nov 22 2010 02:49 PM Re: The Promise |
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I saw the HBO movie and it was indeed fantastic.
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| Frayed Knot Nov 22 2010 02:51 PM Re: The Promise |
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Yeah, usually you have to wait until the artist/actor dies before his "lost" episodes/songs come to life -- at a store near you! -- at which point you quickly realize why they were lost in the first place. I guess the comeback to that argument in this case is that these songs weren't deemed trash necessarily - as several members of the band kept remarking how some of their favorites from those sessions were the ones being tossed - but that they simply didn't fit in as well to Bruce's 'vision' of the album. At least part of the whole lawsuit deal was due to the fact that not only did early manager Appel have a lot of business control (probably not atypical for a 1st contract signed by a young artist) but that he also had a lot of artistic control as well and even Appel admits in one of the sound bites that his ideas didn't always match up with Bruce's particularly as Bruce wanted to get away from the 'wall of sound' sound in BtR and onto the starker, more stripped-down feel of Darkness. Not having heard the cuts on the album, I'd venture a guess that some of the horn-heavy stuff mentioned above are examples of what he was trying to leave behind as sounding too much like Born to Run-The Sequel and not what he wanted in the more horn-less Darkness..
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| soupcan Nov 23 2010 08:18 AM Re: The Promise |
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Yeah, this is kind of where I am on it too.
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| John Cougar Lunchbucket Nov 23 2010 08:28 AM Re: The Promise |
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I've since listened more and it's not bad.
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| Gwreck Nov 23 2010 07:43 PM Re: The Promise |
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I doubt I have a lot of objectivity but I don't think that's a horrible place to be in necessarily. I might be a huge Springsteen fan but there are plenty of other bands that I enjoy but don't appreciate on the uber-fan level. Just because I might go to 5 (or 10 or 15) live shows per tour doesn't mean that that's a number a "casual"* fan also needs to match. I suppose the NY concert market (Springsteen's strongest) is bit of a problem. If you lived in St. Louis, you'd have no trouble getting a ticket. But still, I urge you to go once the next time he's around. It's still the best show going** and at what I'd consider a reasonable*** price. * Not meant as a derogatory term ** Obviously not if you completely hate everything he does (even without hearing it), Fman style *** $100 a ticket. It's not cheap but I don't think it's unfairly priced.
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| Edgy DC Nov 23 2010 10:01 PM Re: The Promise |
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When "She's the One" comes around on my playlist, I forgive a lot of sins Springsteen has commiitted, may have committed, or may yet commit.
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| batmagadanleadoff Nov 23 2010 10:10 PM Re: The Promise |
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Mind if I join you guys on this one? I can ask my buddy Keith Richards to join us as well: ”If there was anything better around, he’d still be working the bars of New Jersey” (Keith Richards on Bruce Springsteen, recent New Yorker article.) Me -- I don't get him. Especially the fuckin' horns. I bought four of his CD's last year (Greetings from Asbury Park, Darkness on the Edge..., The Wild, The Innocent ... and Nebraska) but only because they were in the $5 and under bargain bin of a supermarket I occasionally shop in. I like some of his songs but I still don't get the monumental critical acclaim he's received.
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| Gwreck Nov 23 2010 11:44 PM Re: The Promise |
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I'm not interested in proselytizing but the answer to your question is: Clean-cut image + unsurpassed live show + moderate-to-major popular success + continued-output-of-new-material-when-his-contemporaries-haven't-released-anything-new-in-25-years. Given his recent explicit political activities, you could even add one part liberal media bias if you're so inclined.
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| TransMonk Nov 24 2010 07:16 AM Re: The Promise |
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I think Nebraska and Born to Run are great albums. Born in the USA was the soundtrack to my pre-teenage youth. The other albums before USA I can take or leave and I've never liked any of the post USA albums.
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