Springsteen

[metirish]

I'm curious and I've looked, and apologies if I have already asked this , whee is the ranking from? How do you choose what songs to post ?

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Yeah that's a good question. The list of songs was a ranking published here: https://www.vulture.com/2016/06/every-b ... anked.html

That establishes the order. I use a random number generator set at 340 and pick every morning. I have a hard copy and I highlight each song as we review 'em

Look it's the magic sheet!

[metirish]

Oh very cool, good read

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

228. It's our second highest-scoring track yet, the inspirational and aspirational "Badlands" ranked No. 4 (maybe a little too high for me, dog).
Have your facts known real good: This was the second single from Darkness but stalled out at #42; European audiences loved this one more than most.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

229. "Two Faces" is an underestimated cut from Tunnel of Love. Bruce knows he's a dead man. Like the spooky organ solo at the end. Rated 161

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

230. "Save My Love" dates back to Peak Springsteen Darkness sessions but wasn't released until The Promise in 2010. I didn't know this but it was released then as a single and had its own video mixing footage of then and then. Nice song. Ranked #197

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, that's a pretty solid reject. His vocals get much clearer about halfway through in the verse coming out of the bridge. Are they mixing older and newer audio tracks to get the final cut?

Also about halfway through, shortly after you get a shot of BS' full nekkid torso, you get a front row denizen rocking a Chicago t-shirt.

It's not typical E Street arrangin' that the vocal line and piano line follow each other like that.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Yes I think this and other work from the Promise was completed from unfinished work or in some cases recorded all-new. Some of it is also completed recordings from the old days

[Edgy MD]

Please remind me, as a guy who never saw BS live, what was the song, before "Dancing in the Dark" came along, that he would choose to dance with an audience member?

Did that then get retired as the dancing song, or are more than one song used?

[Gwreck]

He would go out into the crowd during Spirit in the Night in the late 70s, and during Tenth Avenue Freeze-about at times as well during the early 80s, but pulling-someone-up-to-dance during Dancing in the Dark was an 1984-88 and thing (and again from ~2008-16). It was mercifully done away with in recent years.

—-

As for “Save My Love” - while written in the 70s, it was re-recorded in 2010 from scratch; there was no suitable vintage recording. Bruce’s first significant dip into the vaults in 1998 was a four-disc box set that contained mostly unreleased material that had been completed at the time but left off various albums. When he dug another level deep into the archives for the Darkness On the Edge of Town box set and accompanying outtakes album “The Promise,” that was primarily stuff that had been never been finished back in the day, and got finished in 2009/10 - some fixed vocals, instrumental parts, etc. (That happened too with the 1998 box set, but to a lesser extent).

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

231. "stay hard, stay hungry, stay alive." Wasn't that a gwreck signature line? I wasn't sure where that came from until listening to today's song "This Hard Land," which appeared on the 1995 Greatest Hits album (with a predecessor version written and recorded in the Born in the USA recordings of 1982). Dylany. Called "One of the most unknown, underrated songs in the non-diehard catalogue," by our reviewer who puts it way the hell up there at #11. Take that, "Rosalita!" Eat shit, "Darkness of the Edge of Town"!

[Gwreck]

231. "stay hard, stay hungry, stay alive." Wasn't that a gwreck signature line? I wasn't sure where that came from until listening to today's song "This Hard Land," which appeared on the 1995 Greatest Hits album (with a predecessor version written and recorded in the Born in the USA recordings of 1982). Dylany.

I used the title for a blog I wrote during one of the better Springsteen tours a number of years ago. It’s a great line, and the crowd always sings that part back to Bruce at the end of the song. He pulled it out one night in 1993 and it became a live favorite, although it’s not played a lot these days.

Bruce has described it as “a song about faith, hope, love, brotherhood, sisterhood, the possibility of some kind of strange community, a little tequila on the side, every Western I’ve ever seen, about good longtime friends, and how it ain´t over till it´s over.”

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Ah yes I remember. How much were you able to follow him around back then and how did you afford it?

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

232. I've always liked "Human Touch" -- its urgent, its stylish but well crafted, Patti provides great harmonies, there's real excitement in the guitar break, and a trim, medallion-wearing Bruce goes shirtless in the video. Ranked #38-the only HT or LT tune in the top 66

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

I like this one. I think both of those discs are underrated. I remember one snobby reviewer wrote that he heard this song once and has no desire to ever hear it again, and I couldn't understand the vitriol.

[Edgy MD]

My favorite video of his, and his best collaboration with Meiert Avis, who took over as his prime video guy from John Sayles.

(Also, "Meiert Avis" reads like an anagram of a more common name.)

Both the song and the video end up kind of feeling like "Tunnel of Love" sequels.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Bruce is always aligning his jokey upbeat retro party songs to pitiful guys in bad relationships. "Ain't Good Enough for You" checks in at #206. Check out his jewfro in the video

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

234. Change you clothes. Your hair. YOUR FACE!

I always found the sound of "Dancing in the Dark" way too artificial and Bruce's dancing totally cringe. I just wasn't ready to hear this kind of slickness from Bruce. But I can relate to the grouchy sentiment at its heart and the sax solo is good. Ranked #30

[metirish]

I was 11 when this came out in 84, loved it , I guess looking back this was a typical video for bands trying to navigate the new reality of music videos , Bruce looks very uncomfortable

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

I think Mat Kearney is great, and he has a slow, acoustic version of "Dancing in the Dark." I like it. My wife thinks it's awful.

[Gwreck]

Ah yes I remember. How much were you able to follow him around back then and how did you afford it?

It was a lot, although Bruce’s regionalized fanbase makes it easier to get to many shows if one is situated on the East Coast. The big difference was that tickets were cheap back then. Aside from a few shows in Europe, I think the face value for top-price tickets was always under $100.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

235. "Sad Eyes" is an interesting outtake from 1990, a sad pop-soul song with Bruce croo-oo-ooning unlike he usually vocalizes. This sounds as though it would have been a hit for a soft-rocker or R&B stylist. Our reviewer doesn't like the sentiment expressed in the lyrics and ranked it #326

[Gwreck]

This sounds as though it would have been a hit for a soft-rocker or R&B stylist.

I believe Enrique Iglesias covered it.

[Edgy MD]

(Also, "Meiert Avis" reads like an anagram of a more common name.)

I've got it. I bet "Meiert Avis" = Steve Raimi.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

236. Bruce suffers the pain of the I'm-in-denial breakup in "Fade Away." Got that Jersey Shore Soul sound with the organ and a strong backing vocal from Van Zandt. Southside Johnny would have killed for this one. Ranked #39