Hammersmith Odeon, London '75 -2CD-

Magic Thirty-five years as a justifiable rock musician allows Bruce Springsteen an opinion on the state of over-the-air radio, and he takes it--and takes the medium to the woodshed on the ruthless "Radio Nowhere." The opening smash sets the tone, with the ageless Boss wondering, "Is th...	Born To Run: 30th Anniversary 3-Disc Set (CD/2DVD) The first retooling of any album in the mighty Springsteen catalog is an exemplary labor of love by Columbia. The original 1975 release was the make-or-break record of Bruce's career and arguably still his best collection of material. It is presented here on one disc unsullied by...	Live In Dublin The last time Bruce Springsteen gave up E Street for Folk Street, the band of fiddles, banjos, and accordions--sans audience--was recording 2006's We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions in the informality of his living room. This time the Boss takes his American-music foray to Ir...	Live In New York City (2CD) If Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band were a playground basketball team they'd be the one made up of local legends that don't have as much spring in their legs as the young bucks, but get by on guts and guile. Culled from the two Madison Square Garden shows that closed out the...	Live: 1975-85 (3CD) To say that Springsteen's live shows with the E Street Band were legendary is the height of understatement. On a good night, the set might extend to three and four hours of exhilarating, pulse-pounding rock & roll. How best to capture that on CD? Or was it possible at all? As it ...
Tracks (4CD) Next time you find yourself debating the worth of Bruce Springsteen, pull out this brilliant four-disc outtake set. With a flick of his grease-monkey wrist, Springsteen proves--simply by issuing long-unreleased material--why he's the most consistent (read: important) composer in ...	Darkness on the Edge of Town The pain of a protracted legal battle with his former manager and the release of being allowed to record again after a three-year layoff are equally apparent from the piercing hard rock and harsh lyrical content of Darkness on the Edge of Town. Betrayal and hard work that comes t...	The River Despite the acclaim accorded Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town, this is the album that broke Springsteen into the big leagues, thanks to "Hungry Heart," then his most pointedly commercial song; it had new fans swooning but some old ones grumbling for the "poetic" Sprin...	Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.	The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle If Springsteen's debut, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. revealed just how ambitious a talent he was, it also fell just short of realizing those ambitions. No such problem with this, his second album. The Dylanesque wordplay is there, but with more narrative detail, as on "4th of...

The most overlooked springsteen album
Filled with over two hours of spectacular music, the Hammersmith'75 CD is worth every penny. Springsteen is a genius at putting together longer songs with the E-Street band. The 13-minute rendition of "E Street Shuffle/Havin' A Party" and the 17-minute 'Kitty's back" are worth the purchase alone. This is a very carefree, enjoyable album with different versions of his more popular tunes. It's all about a young Springsteen doing what he loves best: having fun, telling a story, and rocking out all night.

Rocks the house down
Like everyone else, Bruce has the "best live show ever". And if this and Live 1975/1985 are any indication, he deserves that reputation. Think "sheer, combustible energy". So if the bombastic arrangements of Born to Run weren't to your tastes (though they certainly are to mine!), this album is for you. For instance, "Thunder Road" becomes a bare-bones piano/harmonica ballad, and it works very well. And how about that energy? Well, Clarence Clemons manages to take the place of the entire horn section on "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out", which is also given a more prominent guitar part, and "Spirit in the Night" becomes a swinging, nervy dynamo. "She's the One" ends up so frenzied you can barely understand the vocals, but it's so good you won't care. I also think this version of "Born to Run" embodies rock `n' roll even more than the original does, because it takes away the Spectoresque production. Of course, the original's great, but this one might be even better. They also instill "It's Hard to be a Saint in the City", never one of my favorite Springsteen songs until now, with all kinds of life. And you thought that "Lost in the Flood" was intense originally? You haven't heard this version. Give a listen to Bruce's howls... it's creepy stuff. Ironically, Bruce takes one of his most energetic songs ("The E Street Shuffle") and slows it down to a moderate, bluesy pace. But it sounds just great! On the other hand, "Backstreets" doesn't sound much different than the original (though the piano fills are different from the original version - and yes, I have heard "Backstreets" enough to know the difference), but it still sounds good, even though I'm generally opposed to people playing live like that. Now, allow me to stop raving for just a second and concentrate on criticizing one song. "Kitty's Back", taken out to seventeen minutes and change, is just too long. I like parts of it, especially the sax soloing near the end, but it really throws off the momentum. So the train temporarily becomes derailed, but it's brought back on track by a powerful "Jungleland" and a rousing "Rosalita". Oh, and "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" is awesome, as always. Other than the accordion. The biggest surprise is "Detroit Medley", a fun medley of Mitch Ryder hits. Then it settles down with another excellent sparse piano ballad, a long but worthwhile rearrangement of "For You". The concluding doo-wop cover "Quarter to Three" revs things up once more, and is quite good, complete with a fake ending. This is pretty much an essential live album.

A Religious Experience
This is my favorite rock and roll album of all time. An electrifying, hungry, and unforgettable Bruce Springsteen performance as he and the E Street Band are on the brink of greatness in their first overseas gig: London in November 1975. The energy of the crowd, the time and place in history, the band, and the Boss rushes out of the CD and, as your heart begins to race, you feel as if you are truly there. I have never felt so alive listening to an album. To Sony: please release more Springsteen concerts from the archives. His place in music history demands it.

Please!! Bruce
Bruce, please release your Tom Joad live tour. My bootleg was stolen from my car, and I think it's your best ever. A spiritual experience! Please Bruce, we all beg you. You'll make a bunch of money!!!!! PS Live in Dublin is life-changing!!!!!

"Hey man, did you see that?"
This is actually not my favourite Springsteen-period; I prefer the 1978 and 1981 tours and the material from "Darkness on the Edge of Town" and "The River". (For God's sake, Bruce, release the 1978 Passaic concert on CD and DVD!) But this is just such a phenomenal concert, so full of energy and power and intensity. Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band play like there's no tomorrow, and the sound is magnificent, clear and crisp and probably better than what the 5,000 people at the Odeon in West London heard on that night more than 32 years ago. The music encompasses both the grand and the gritty, moving effortlessly between tender, soulful piano ballads and furious, breathless hard rock. Pushed forward by the keyboards of Roy Bittan and Danny Federici and the pounding drums of Max Weinberg, the E-Street Band tear through pulsating, burning renditions of "Lost In The Flood", "She's The One" and "Born To Run", and swing and swagger on the Van Morrison-inspired Jersey soul of "Spirit In The Night", "Backstreets", "Rosalita" and "Sandy". There's even a bit of actual Van Morrison tacked on to the 17-minute "Kitty's Back", a snatch of his classic "Moondance" from the album of the same name. The set opens with a sparse, tender and desperate "Thunder Road" and closes with a tough, driving and slightly ragged "Quarter To Three", propelled forward by Clarence Clemons' sax. Great, great stuff. And just about everything in between is equally great. Some may find that a couple of numbers are overlong, but with performances like these you can surely forgive a couple of minutes of indulgence. Four and three quarter stars. A magnificent live recording.