Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band- Live 1975/85

It's really pretty crazy that I haven't listened to this box set more often. At least in the last 20+ years. I'm not sure I played it once in that time.

The first official live album from Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Live 1975/85 is a three cassette box set of live performances that was released shortly after the last single from Born In The USA had dropped off the charts. For me it was an introduction to his music before that commercial breakthrough.

I remember reading about the album and how it was going to be a comprehensive live album that documented Springsteen's career and included 40 songs. I was sold on it right away. I'd save up my money from my fast food job and buy the album soon after it was released.

From the first note I knew that Springsteen was much more than the hits machine and ass model he had become with Born In The USA. I liked that album, but I much preferred the quieter, less anthemic songs like "I'm On Fire" and "My Hometown." I'd dubbed Born To Run off of a friend shortly after digesting Born In The USA, but it didn't resonate with me the way the live record did. It would take "Adam Raised A Cane" to do that.

"Thunder Road" warmed me up. I absolutely love the live version that is featured here. I remember sitting in the dark and listening to this on my stereo and being fascinated by it. Maybe most intriguing was why he would choose to say to a woman "you ain't a beauty, but hey you're alright." You could never accuse Bruce of being anything less than honest.

It was that next song that cemented my relationship with Springsteen. "Adam Raised A Cane" is angry and powerful and rocking with all the fury of punk rock, and I couldn't wait to hear what was next.

Listening to the box set again all of these years later it's clear to me that I was interested in Springsteen as a storyteller, and often the monologues between songs were as powerful as the songs. He clearly had issues with his dad, and his story about his dad chopping off his hair while he was lying unconscious in a hospital bed after a motorcycle accident is powerful stuff. Springsteen finds peace with his father through this story though, merging it with another one where he's taking a physical for Vietnam and fails it. His dad had always told him that the army would make a man out of him, but once Springsteen returned home after being gone for three days and taking the physical, when his dad asked him how it went, Springsteen said he failed. His dad's response, "Good. That's good."

In the liner notes Springsteen says that there's a story running through these songs. Besides being an overview of an incredible career, it really focuses on his father issues and expectations about who and what he sound be, and how he eventually finds peace with it. By the time we're hearing the Born In The USA material he is incredibly comfortable (maybe too so) with being a musician and a public figure. The insecurities are gone.

I've always been a fan of the stripped down Springsteen albums. Nebraska is my favorite album of his, and one of my favorite albums of all time. So it was a real treat to listen to the four song acoustic run at the end of the second cassette. In my mind he had E Street versions of the Nebraska songs. Instead we're treated to a heartfelt version of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land," followed by "Nebraska," "Johnny 99," and "Reason To Believe." It's powerful stuff.

"Hungry Heart" sounds great to me. I remember hearing that song on the radio around the time the box set came out. That song and The River in general always reminded me of winter. After checking the release date of Live 1975/85 and finding out in came out in November it's clear why.

Listening to this album in the confines of my bedroom in 1986 I discovered an artist who would continue to resonate with me my whole life. The blueprint was there for Darkness On The Edge Of Town and The River. But what was most surprising to me when I eventually got those records was the absence of songs like "Fire" and "Because The Night." The guy was so good he gave away some of his best songs.

I've never been a big fan of Born In The USA or the whole "Boss" thing (apparently neither is Springsteen. When I saw him in 1996 on a solo tour he started the set by saying "there'll be none of that Born in the USA bullshit here tonight..."). So I was pretty curious to listen to all of the Born In The USA material again and see how it sounded. Most of it sounded about how I'd expect it to, but I was pleasantly surprised by the live version of "Cover Me." It was much more organic sounding than the album version, and made me like a song I previously thought of as just another hit off the album. "Bobby Jean" sounds great here too.

Listening to this album again is really a great argument for finding a digital copy. At 3 1/2 hours long it really would work better small doses. I'd love to have the flexibility to go right to the live Nebraska tracks or the closing Tom Waits song, "Jersey Girl." But part of the thrill of listening to it again is reliving that act of discovery and being blown away again by what a true artist can offer you. And after the one-two punch of "Thunder Road" and "Adam Raised A Cane" it can be tough to shut off anyway.