Your Friday Bruce Fix

Bruce Springsteen, The Wish, My Hometown, Real World, Tenth Avenue Freeze Out

Sometimes I have a plan in mind for these weekly fixes of mine and this was one of those times. If you've been following along, you no doubt noticed that the last two weeks I've featured performances from Bruce Springsteen's appearance at the Christic Benefit in Los Angeles in 1990. I had planned this as the last of 3 weeks of such videos.

Then, late Wednesday I got my first sniff of the fact that Bruce had released the first single off his upcoming album 'Wrecking Ball', which itself is due to be released on March 6th. I started to contemplate changing my Christic Benefit plan to instead feature the new single 'We Take Care of Our Own'.

By Thursday morning, all hell had broken loose on the internet. "Bruce Springsteen" and "Wrecking Ball" were both trending on Twitter, and I realized that by Friday all of this would be old news. So, I've reverted back to my original plan. After all, this blog isn't about me trying to break the latest news on Bruce Springsteen. It's just about getting our Friday Bruce Fix. So, here's hoping this week's fix fixes you up real good. (but, do keep an eye out for that Wrecking Ball...)

I read at Springsteenlyrics.com that at one point Bruce and manager Jon Landau were considering releasing an album culled from the two nights of performances at the Christic Institute Benefit shows. I think it would have made for a great album and who knows, maybe one day we'll have the pleasure of such a release. I especially love the solo piano performances and Bruce is in great voice on these. Today's fix has three such examples for you.

'The Wish' was recorded for 'Tunnel of Love' in 1987, made its debut at the Christic Benefit, and was released as part of the 'Tracks' 4cd box set.

'My Hometown' was released in 1984 on 'Born in the USA'. It seems there may be a 'Wrecking Ball' connection as there will be a song called 'Death to My Hometown'. It will be interesting to hear whether this new song will update or reference the old one. I'm thinking it will.

'Real World' was released on 'Human Touch' in 1992.  I believe this standout performance was its debut. I wish he would have released a rendition just like this one on 'Human Touch'.

'Tenth Avenue Freeze Out' from 1975's 'Born to Run' hardly needs an introduction. With a new tour just around the corner, this story of the E Street Band coming together reminds us we've lost a couple of key members in recent years and it will be particularly interesting to see how Bruce fills that Big Void.

Happy Friday!

Bruce Springsteen, Reason to Believe, My Father's House, Atlantic City

How are you? I hope you’ve had a great week. I for one have had a difficult time letting go of the greatness of those Christic Benefit video clips from last week.  So, in the hopes you enjoyed them as much as I did, and to help us all ease ourselves into the weekend, I’m going to give you three more Christic videos this week.

As Bruce Springsteen says in his spoken intro to ‘Reason to Believe’, “this song is about the price that blind faith and refusing to give up your illusions extracts from you”.

Bruce’s into to ‘My Father’s House’ is much too long for me to transcribe, so you’ll just have to listen to it yourself.  It’s a good one.

No intro whatsoever on this one, just a great opening line “Well, they blew up the chicken man in Philly last night”.

Happy Friday!

Bruce Springsteen, You're Missing, My Hometown

On October 5, 2002, Bruce appeared on Saturday Night Live while in the midst of his tour in support of his CD ‘The Rising’.  Like most of SNL’s musical guests, Bruce was given two time slots to fill.  In the first slot, Bruce and the E Street Band performed ‘Lonesome Day’, the opening track from ‘The Rising’. Later in the show, Bruce took the stage by himself, sat at the piano and performed ‘You’re Missing’.  I enjoyed both performances, especially ‘You’re Missing’, which is a song I’ve loved since the first time I heard it.

I’ve occasionally seen video of that performance, and I may actually have it somewhere on VHS, but the odds of my actually finding it are slim at best.  I have seen that performance of ‘You’re Missing’ on YouTube, but any such clips tend to vanish as quickly as they appear, likely due to copyright infringement.  A couple of days ago, I stumbled upon a Bruce Springsteen video I hadn’t yet seen, and that video inspired me to snoop around a bit to see what I could find.

Here’s the video I stumbled upon featuring Bruce rehearsing for the show later that evening.  This clip cuts in towards the end of ‘You’re Missing’ and then follows up with an abridged but lovely ‘My Hometown’.

Then I found this next rehearsal clip which features a full rendition of ‘You’re Missing’.

I thought I was going to be forced to give you an audio only version of his live performance on SNL, and then I found this video:

You're Missing - solo - bruce springsteen by runawaydream

But in case that video somehow disappears, here’s an audio only clip of the same performance.

Happy Friday!

Bruce Springsteen, The Promise, It's My Life

This week’s Friday Bruce Fix revisits the period of time between the Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town albums when Bruce Springsteen was embroiled in a legal battle with his outgoing manager Mike Appel, which prevented him from recording with his incoming manager, Jon Landau. 

To make ends meet and feed himself and his band mates, Bruce took the band out on a few short tours in 1976 and 1977.  In early 1977, while on what became known as the “Lawsuit Tour”, Bruce often performed ‘The Promise’.  Likely because this song surfaced a year or so earlier during this difficult time in Bruce’s life, it has often been interpreted as being about inspired by if not about his battles with Mike Appel.  Bruce has denied that the song is about the lawsuit, and introduces it in this clip as a return to Thunder Road.  For more about the song, there’s a great description and probably everything you'd ever want to know about 'The Promise' at Springsteenlyrics.com.

On this tour, Bruce also covered 'It's My Life', written by Brill Building writers Roger Atkins and Carl D'Errico, and originally recorded by The Animals. Given the passion and defiance in Bruce's performance of this song, and all that he was going through at the time, I do wonder if his legal battles inspired his decision to perform 'It's My Life'.

Happy Friday.

Bruce Springsteen, George Harrison, Something, My Sweet Lord, I Saw Her Standing There

10 years have passed since we lost George Harrison on November 29, 2001. I thought it would be appropriate to pay George a visit, through Bruce Springsteen.

Like most musicians of his generation, and so many in the generations that followed, Bruce was influenced by the Beatles, although not as directly as he was by others.  Still, now and then over the years, Bruce has covered Beatles tunes.

Today's Friday Bruce Fix leads off with a video you have no need to watch. Just hit play and listen to George's great composition 'Something'. The audio comes from The Convention Hall in Asbury Park, NJ, on December 3, 2001, just a few short nights after George died.

Bruce opened the show with 'Something', followed by 'My Sweet Lord'.

I'll keep this week's fix short after two very long ones in the past two weeks. This closing video features Bruce Springsteen and George Harrison on stage together, perhaps for the only time, along with a whole bunch of other people you might recognize, doing The Beatles' 'I Saw Her Standing There'.  This is from Bob Dylan's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction on January 20, 1988.

Happy Friday, and thanks, George!

 

Bruce Springsteen, Thunder Road X 11

November 11th is a special day every year, being Remembrance Day in Canada, Veterans Day in the US, the first day of Carnaval in Mainz, Germany (starting at precisely 11 seconds after 11:00am), or who knows what in other countries.  The maple leaf in the Canadian flag has 11 points, and today is also the debut of the movie 11/11/11.

Today is extra special because it is one of those rare days on the calendar, 11/11/11, where all the numbers line up, and if you happen to be looking at a digital clock at precisely the right time, say 11:11:11 am or pm, well all I can say is enjoy it, and maybe do something special, because you won’t be alive the next time all those six 11s, or 12 1s come around.

So, in honour of this extraordinary moment in our lives, what better way to celebrate than with 11 versions of Thunder Road, the one Bruce Springsteen song that most often comes to mind whenever someone presses me to come up with my number one all-time favourite song.  Since we have a lot of music to get through today, let’s get right to it.  My sincerest apologies to your boss/partner/spouse or whoever will be pissed off about your loss of productivity or attention.  Here's my #1, 11 times.

Please note that I've given each version a name, and if you'd like to vote on your favourites, you can do so here: 

Wings For Wheels, Main Point, 1975 (Angelina instead of Mary)

Acoustic Guitar, Studio Outtake, 1975 (Christine instead of Mary)

London, 1975

St. Paul, MN, 1977

Passaic, NJ, 1978

Landover, MD, 1980

Paris, 1985

Stockholm, 1993

 

Napoli, 1997 (Hotel Balcony)

 

Barcelona, 2002

 

VH1 Storytellers, 2005

Happy 11/11/11 – 11:11:11 Friday!

Bruce Springsteen, Downbound Train

By most normal standards, I'm a pretty big Bruce Springsteen fan. My friend Howard, who saw Bruce live before I ever did, who has seen Bruce more times and in more places than I have, and who has a vastly bigger Bruce bootleg collection than I do, and who in fact, along with my other big Bruce fan friend Jeffrey is/was the source of most of the bootlegs in my collection, is arguably a bigger fan.  (All he needs now is weekly blog about Bruce.... naw... that would be a bit excessive.)

So when Howard called me out of the blue last weekend to tell me that 'Downbound Train' was one of Bruce's most overlooked or underappreciated gems, or something to that effect, he got my attention. I considered his point of view for all of about 2 seconds and quickly agreed. 

As with most great Bruce Springsteen songs, 'Downbound Train' is filled with great and memorable lyrics. My favourite, which immediately pops into my head when I think of this song, is "Now I work down at the carwash, where all it ever does is rain". Another characteristic this song shares with other great songs is how its greatness shines through in different arrangements.

'Downbound Train' was originally recorded for 'Nebraska' and thanks to one of the many other big Bruce fans out there, that recording has been posted for us on YouTube.

Here, from Paris in 1985, is a live performance of the more familiar arrangement that made it onto 'Born In The USA', featuring some fine work on the synthesizer by Roy Bittan.

Just so I don't leave you on too high a note to end your work week, here is a lovely dark and depressing reading of what was already a pretty bleak downer of a song, featuring Bruce on pump organ during the 'Devils and Dust' tour.

"Now I swing a sledge hammer on a rail road gang, knocking down them cross ties working in the rain, don't it feel like you're a rider on a downbound train."

Now get out there and have a Happy Friday!

Bruce Springsteen, Lady and The Doctor, Baby Doll, Border Guard

First things first, happy birthday Bruce! I don't have any special greetings or a special birthday edition Friday Bruce Fix for you today, but you know we're all wishing you the best.

Today's Friday Bruce Fix digs way down deep into the archives to the first half of 1972, likely around the time then manager Mike Appel managed to arrange an audition for Bruce with CBS' legendary A&R Manager John Hammond. 

This was a prolific songwriting period for Bruce, and he recorded demos of quite a few songs that never made the final cut for inclusion on 'Greetings From Asbury Park". Today's fix features three of these songs.

Here are 'Lady and the Doctor', 'Baby Doll' and 'Border Guard'.

 

Happy Friday!

Bruce Springsteen, Promised Land, Restless Nights

Now and then I run into what I would call a novelty Bruce Springsteen video or two which I generally don't bother sharing with you. I thought I'd share two in this week's Friday Bruce Fix, just because they are so well done.

If you have kids, or if you've ever been a kid, or if you are still a kid (possible despite your advanced age) you may have played with a Lego block or two at some point. Well, some talented big kid went to a lot of trouble to create and animate the E Street Lego Band and give us this stirring performance of 'Promised Land'.

As if a Lego Bruce wasn't enough to make your day, how about Bruce in clay?  I'm just guessing clay, but I have to say that whatever filmmaker Roberto Ciriani used, the results are pretty astounding.

Check out the lighting, variety of camera angles, the mouth movements and shapes to match the vocals, the guitar playing, the leap onto the piano, clay Bruce's moves, all the little details, etc. Roberto is quite talented and clearly knows his Bruce. 

His choice of songs is interesting, too, as 'Restless Nights' is quite obscure and may have never been played live, that is until Steve Van Zandt requested it on his birthday, in Buffalo, NY on November 22, 2009.  This is the first ever Friday Bruce Fix appearance for 'Restless Nights', so a second play, this one from that night in Buffalo, seems like a good idea.

Happy Friday!

Bruce Springsteen, Dancing In The Dark

I told myself I wouldn't bow to the pressure, but here I am bowing. Everywhere I look this week, at least on the internet, I see people talking about the footage that surfaced this past week or so of that dancin' fool named Bruce Spingsteen.

So, I guess we have to think back, way back to the spring of 1984, when Bruce was about to release his mammoth 'Born In the USA' album. I don't know if anyone knew how mammoth it was to become, with 7 top 10 singles ('Bobby Jean' could have been #8) but with 'Dancing In The Dark' about to be released as the first single, everything was about to change.

Camp Bruce was probably trying to figure out how to break through the clutter to get some attention for what they knew was an album with 'hit' written all over it. They had picked the first single, now they had to create a video for the emerging force that was MTV. They brought in director Jeff Stein for the job.

This week, some video emerged (or at least came to my attention) of what were essentially rehearsals or dry runs for the upcoming 'Dancing In The Dark' video. If you tend to follow Bruce news, you've likely seen some of the footage below. 

If you haven't, let me warn you. This is not easy viewing. I have to say that it might not actually be possible to get through the whole video. I couldn't do it. No way. It's just too painful, yet at the same time, kind of funny and entertaining in a watching a train wreck sort of way. 

Here's the video that all the fuss is about this week.  It appears to be an attempt to record some video footage that could be used in the music video for 'Dancing In The Dark'.  Bruce gamely does three takes.  Can you watch all three?

Here's another clip that has actually been around a whlie, but doesn't seem to have received as much attention, at least not until now!  It apears to be a rehearsal for the previous clip.  This is a bit easier to watch.

Finally, here's proof that cooler heads prevailed, and none of the above footage was used. Brian De Palma was brought in to direct, Courtney Cox was hired to smile and dance, and well, here's the familiar result.

Happy Friday!