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.

Van Halen- 5150

Hello Baby. It's the opening few seconds to 5150, and with it we are introduced to a new scream. Sammy Hagar in Van Halen 2.0. Van Hagar if you will.

Van Halen will always mean Diamond David Lee Roth for me. I was never into comic books, but David Lee Roth was always a superhero of sorts. He was larger than larger than life. King of cock rock. Lord of adolescent rock star dreams.

I still regret not seeing Van Halen in their prime with David Lee Roth. I begged and pleaded to see them on the 1984 tour, but my Mom said I was too young and could see them next time. She was true to her promise, but little would I know that they would soon be fronted by the "I Can't Drive 55" guy who was so fond of wearing a headset microphone.

I bought 5150 the day it came out, and I had the single of "Why Can't This Be Love?" before that. I remember liking the album better than the single, which remains true today. The keyboards annoy me in the song, but nowhere near as much as that mouth soloing thing Sammy Hagar does during the instrumental break.

The tape played fine, so maybe those early problems were isolated incidents. I played the hell out of this album too. Even though it didn't compare to those David Lee Roth-led albums, I still was quite obsessed with it. So much so that I almost didn't feel like I had to listen to it again for this project, even though I've only played it two or three times in the last 20 years.

The difference between the two eras of the band is even more apparent to me now than it was at the time. 1984 and 5150 sound almost nothing alike. I used to try to imagine David Lee Roth singing "Summer Nights" and it almost works. But beyond that things sound either way too poppy with Eddie Van Halen's interest in synths pushed to the front, or else they rock out in a forced way ("Get Up," "Good Enough"). Still, it's not a bad album. And it was way more successful than anybody probably would have imagined.

Will I reach for this one in the next twenty years? Probably not. But I really don't have to. Whether I like it or not, these songs are burned into my brain.

Genesis- Invisible Touch

This is why punk happened. I'm not talking about the U.K. or the U.S.A. Or the Ramones or Sex Pistols. I'm talking about me listening to one too many records like this and slowly realizing enough was enough and moving on to less mainstream and more interesting music.

I bought Invisible Touch the day it came out. Before 5 of the songs were all over the radio. Before Michelob made "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" into a commercial and started a trend that two decades later is as commonplace as MTV videos were back in 1986.

You couldn't escape Phil Collins if you were a kid in the 80's and it was his solo material that first turned me on to Genesis. While I fear that Hello, I Must Be Going and No Jacket Required are going to emerge from my trunk of cassettes for future postings, I can at least breathe easily knowing that my tastes in music began to shift shortly after buying this record. It was gradual, but there was light at the end of the tunnel.

So what's wrong with Invisible Touch? Nothing really. It's a fine album if you like mid-80's Phil Collins with a dose of experimentation that mostly comes from some unexpected musical breaks and programmed drums. But it's just so damn poppy. And not in a good way. Side one is loaded with hits: "Invisible Touch," "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight," "Land Of Confusion," and "In Too Deep." Side two has "Throwing It All Away." On the second side they try to get back to their prog roots by including a couple extended songs, one of which has multiple parts just like any true prog rock staple. But they still come off sounding as slick as the hits.

In recent years I've gone back and tried to listen to early pre-Phil Collins led Genesis records. In doing so I came to appreciate The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. But after getting into that record it makes it so much harder to understand how an album like Invisible Touch can come about just 10+ years later. Okay, in interest of fairness, the same can be said of Peter Gabriel's So, but Gabriel made art. At this point Genesis was more about product.

It makes me wonder. Did Genesis want Phil Collins to bring his poppy songs in so they could create something similar to his solo albums, although with more synths and less jazz? Or did Phil force this sound on them? There must have been some division within the group. After this one, they only lasted long enough to make one more record together.

But for me and my rapidly changing musical tastes, Invisible Touch was enough.