An unrequested update on my exploration of the Boss' music.
Eventually I came up with my own compilation to keep on my muuuusic playeeeer and to carry around, made up from the original "Essentials" greatest hits, and filling it up with other songs from which you'll surely recognize some of the previous suggestions.
So, clocking it at 2 hours and 3 minutes, for now my own compilation looks like this:
01. Born to Run
02. Thunder Road
03. Jungleland
04. Badlands
05. Darkness on the Edge of Town
06. The Promised Land
07. The River
08. Atlantic City
09. Born in the U.S.A.
10. Downbound Train (live 2013)
11. Dancing in the Dark (live acoustic on Broadway)
12. Human Touch
13. Lucky Town
14. The Ghost of Tom Joad (heavy version from High Hopes)
15. The Rising
16. Further Up On (Up the Road)
17. Lonesome Day
18. American skin (41 Shots)
19. Radio Nowhere
20. Girls in their Summer Clothes
21. Outlaw Pete (live in Hyde Park 2009)
22. Because the Night (The Promise version)
23. American Land
24. Land of Hope and Dreams (studio version from Wrecking Ball)
Some comments about it:
- This compilation is meant to be, for me, a "best of the best", the stuff I prefer the most and that is always a guaranteed pleasure to listen to when I'm out for a ride, be it the car or the bike in these summer days. It's not a condamnation or rejection of the songs from the original greatest hits that didn't make the cut, for example I don't think the first two albums suck - I just happen to like these songs I listed here more, that's all.
- Having removed the first two albums' songs from the list, didn't like starting with Thunder Road so I placed at the spot of honor Born to Run, one of my very favorites.
- I don't really like the studio version of Dancing in the Dark, too poppy, that's why I went for the acoustic one. From the same Born in the USA (the album) full performance that gave me Downbound Train I already noticed however that there's a slighty heavier live version, so I might switch to that.
- On the other hand I like just as it is the original version of Tom Joad - I find however the duet with Tom Morello more interesting, hence the swap.
- On Because the Night I kinda cheated but what the hell, it's one of those songs everybody likes so it's not a crime to put it there.
- Maybe some of you will be surprised at seeing a "weird" track like American Land in here, but since I like folk metal and irish rock music, this was a no brainer for me
no wonder Dropkick Murphys played it with him in their Fenway stadium empty concert.
This is not the end of the road for me, for sure I'l continue to explore Springsteen's music, but for now this is where I am. It's funny how you can go years and years without caring to explore a famous artist, and then one day it just happens. For example I always knew about Alice Cooper but never cared in the slightest - then I heard a Sonata Arctica cover of Hell is Living without You, I heard the original, realized it was on the same album as Poison and thought "hey, I might as well check it out", and some months later I had heard all of his albums.
Same with Bruce (feels weird to talk about a "Bruce" who isn't Dickinson, guess I'll have a second Bruce in my life now), I don't remember if I was already hearing other stuff on YouTube, but then some of his songs came up in the suggestions and I heard Darkness on the Edge of Town just because I liked the title, then I liked the song and a lightbulb turned on in my head... "why the hell I have never bothered with him?"... well, now I did!
I always knew who he was, but his music was virtually unknown to me, The River and The Ghost of Tom Joad aside. I'd say that the only song of him I knew and that I could hum was Born in the USA, and by reading about it in articles about Bon Jovi (himself a big Boss fan) I at least knew, by title alone, that the songs Badlands and Downbound Train existed. And probably I could have heard Born to Run someway and somehow. For the rest I didn't really know anything about him, so going through his songs was basically a 90% unspoiled experience.
Born in the USA is probably his most famous song in the masses, but while I like the song, I'd daresay that Born to Run, the three Darkness songs mentioned in my list and probably even Downbound Train are far superior to it. Same for The River of course, absolutely fantastic and stellar song.
Where will I go from now on? dunno, for now I have still a lot to digest, I'll either go, as it has been suggested, for the 3 discs live compilation '75-'85 (I assume I'll find there more live versions that are "better" than the original) or listen to some of the "big four" albums (River, Darkness, Born and.... Born), or maybe one of the newer ones (in that case I'd start from The Rising).
Pity however that the acoustic songs didn't click with me - potentially I welcome acoustic folkish music very gladly, but the songs here and there I sampled from Devil & Dust and Western Stars didn't really grab me. Maybe I'll eventually change my mind.
Topic: Bruce Springsteen Thread (Read 14479 times)
