We Drove Down South With Just Spit and a Song: Live with the E Street Band 75 – 85 (1986)

Tonight!

(1986)

Bryan: Let's just jump right into it. I’m here once again with Bryant, He Who Walks Behind the Blogs.

Bryant: E Streeter! We have your woman, E Streeter! (Boy, if only…!)

Bryan: I remember a bus ride to school where the DJs had a contest over who was bigger, Elvis or Springsteen. This was probably October or November 1986, so right before this Live set came out. I told my parents, and they were quick to say the question was silly - Bruce was popular but Elvis was Elvis. They didn't grok the religious iconography of Bruce and the boys, the way Stephen King and so many critics and zeitgeist-watchers did. I’d say “and the way I did too” except I only grokked it in the way 12 year old boys grok anything: very sincerely, but lacking any of the context/ timeline to qualify the assertion beyond that sincerity. Still, it seems funny looking back on it – the question would likely elicit a shrug nowadays, possibly even a harangue. But it is mild anecdotal evidence of how truly huge Bruce was in 1986, as well as the anticipation in DJ-land for this live set.

Bryant: And, see, I missed out on all of that. I was familiar with the hits, of course, and liked them well enough -- I just never turned into an actual fan until I was in college.  What a shame! I can absolutely imagine how the anticipation for that box set must have been cataclysmic.

In the Elvis-versus-Bruce competition, I think Elvis casts a longer shadow over the culture, but Bruce's work is more interesting. Very different artists and very different eras, though; I love 'em both. As for popularity ... gotta be Elvis, right? But Springsteen is certainly on the list of his serious challengers.

Bryan: Perhaps not the real world distance between a monarch and a “boss,” per se, but yeah, Elvis all the way on that one. Try telling 13 year old Bryan that, though! "Your time is through, old man - Springsteen forever!!" I took that really seriously, like, wow, I'm in on something that's bigger than Elvis. The 80s had all these sequels to 60s stuff and I always felt like my / our generation was improving on the 60s one. Especially with stuff I was into, like the Trek movies and Marvel comics, etc. (I even felt that way about the 80s Twilight Zone at the time, but that was because I hadn't seen any of the original TZ.) I feel differently about both my/ our generation and the 60s, now, of course, but my junior high self felt like I was part of a movement – the movement - with this album.

Bryant: That makes a lot of sense to me. It's satisfying to feel like you're a part of something big like that. And you know, in a way, Bruce WAS as big as Elvis. I don't know that the magnitude of that popularity lasted for more than a couple of years, but so what? Merely attaining that peak is quite an achievement; and it's not like he fell off the mountain or anything, he climbed back down more or less of his own accord. As for seeing the generations you mention differently, at this point I feel like ALL generations are pieces of shit. And also kind of great. I guess what I mean is that every generation has a lot of buttholes in it, but also some elements that are worth making myths about. It's mostly nothing more than a myth, though, or at least that's how it feels to me right now.

Before we begin the scoring, I may as well admit to you that I tend to hold a heavy bias for studio versions. I won't say I never prefer a live version -- but I will say that it's rare.  This is not to suggest that I dislike live versions or hold them in contempt or something like that; it's just to offer a bit of context for the fact that I am almost certain to be lower than the studio versions on virtually all of these tracks.

Bryan: Normally I'm with you on preferring the studio to live versions. But for most everything on here that wasn't on Born in the USA, this was my first exposure and so I’ve got that first-time association thing going on. The studio versions never sounded “right” to me, even though of course, it should’ve been the other way around. (I have this same problem with every Grateful Dead song that isn’t on Without a Net.)

So yeah, I got this for Christmas of ’86 - 3 cassettes suspended in foam packaging with the cover you lifted off like a gift box. I remember playing computer games on my old Apple IIc with a friend all that winter listening to it. 

Bryant: The allure of box sets was something else, wasn't it? I had a few great ones. That big Led Zeppelin one that came out was the one that probably fired me up the most, but the first big Elvis box set was also one that I loved. My favorite, though, was a four-disc box of Star Wars music; of all the box sets I had back then, it's the only one that survived the trip into the future with me. But I loved them all, and it was the packaging that had a big part of that; turned a love of the music into a sort of fetishization of it. I guess there must be ways of doing that with MP3s, but without a tactile thing to be able to have and hold, I just don't see how it can possibly scratch the same itch.

Bryan: I bet that’s a big part of the death of album sales. It’s so much easier to store music digitally, but sheesh – the satisfaction of downloading a new album is just not the same total-package-enjoyment, even when the songs are great. As per always, though, convenience and cost-effectiveness kills Main St. in favor of the online mega-giant.

And on that depressing note:

DISC ONE

"Thunder Road"

Bryant: 4.45/5 I'm finally breaking out the non-quarter-based points here on account of the fact that while I can't quite bring myself to say this is AS great as the studio version, I can absolutely bring myself to say that it's within a hair's breadth of it. It's simultaneously very different and exactly the same as the studio version, which is a magic trick. I still give the studio version the priority, though, because without it as context then this version misses something in implication. Although one could argue that that works in both directions, too, I think.

Bryan: 4/5 I just discovered that this song is not based on the old Robert Mitchum movie. I guess Bruce was inspired by the poster for the film but never actually saw the picture. Never too late to correct a mistaken assumption, world.

"Adam Raised a Cain"

Bryant: 3.5/5  The vocals -- lead AND backing -- on the chorus are slightly problematic, but otherwise, this is great.

Bryan: 4.25/5 Here’s the first of songs that when I heard the studio version was just like “What is this?” (A question I can no longer ask without adding “A CENTER FOR ANTS?” in my head.) I’ve grown to like the studio version quite a bit, but back in the day, it was the Live 75-85 version or nothing.

"Spirit in the Night"

Bryant: Jeez, did I really give the studio version of this a mere 3.5?  Man, I might need to redo those scores.  Anyways, I'll give this live version a 3.45/5, which actually seems a bit low.

Bryan: It is too low for me; I’ll go up to 4.15/5.

"4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)"

Bryant: Another 3.45/5.

Bryan: I’ll go all the way up to 3.75/5.

"Paradise by the C"

Bryant:  3.25/5 I'd happily have listened to half a dozen albums full of instrumentals that just let the Band do their thing. I say "half a dozen," but I mean as many as they had wanted to put out.

Bryan: 4/5 Totally! I’m Ed MacMahon-ing you so far – you are cor-rect sir! – but it’s all true.

"Fire"

Bryant: 3.75/5 I saw the Pointer Sisters open for Lionel Richie in Tuscaloosa – at Memorial Coliseum! – circa 1984, so I'm sure I heard them do this song. I don't remember anything about the show, so who knows for sure – but it seems likely. Bruce's version here is solid, but there are better versions on YouTube. You probably know this, but Bruce wrote the song intending to give it to Elvis, but the King died just a few days later.  What a bummer!  Elvis would have ripped this song to pieces and probably kick-started a whole new phase of his career.

Bryan: That bums me out. What a damn shame they couldn't make that happen. I'm sure this would have led to the "Working on the Highway" movie, too, eventually! I love Val Kilmer's Elvis in True Romance, and it just dawned on me had all of this gone down with an Elvis/ E Street hook up, the King could've snapped and pointed over at Big Man: "I love you, Clarence - always have, always will." This movie that is playing in my head is epic and I want instant access to the level of Tower that takes it for granted! "Oh that's just another Elvis/ Clarence Clemens movie/ project, no big whup." Damn you all to hell, you maniacs...

3.5/5 from me. I'm glad these Bruce versions of songs he gave to others are on here, but this version underscores how smoother it sounds coming out of the Pointer Sisters.

"Growin' Up"

Bryan: 3/5 This is all E Street Band on this one.

Bryant:  I'll give this one a 3.25/5, which is higher than my studio score. But I like Bruce in storytelling mode, so I think this is actually preferable to the studio version.

"It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City"

Bryant:  Another 3.25/5 that tops the studio version. The vocals are spotty, but the band is so good that they make up for it.

Bryan: Agreed. The song itself is growing on me - only took 30 years – but my score here (3/5) is almost all E-Street-Band based. They’re rocking here pretty rockfully.

"Backstreets"

Bryant:  3.25/5 Doesn't hold a candle to the studio version in my opinion. That's an unfair way of looking at it, of course, but I'm going with my gut, and that's what it tells me.

Bryan: 4/5 Yeah it’s hard to beat the studio version. Here’s one that I had the opposite reaction to when I first heard the studio version – it took a decent track and revealed how awesome it actually was to me. As a result, I now like this live version even more. Not more than the studio – I mean more than I originally did as a youngster.

"Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)"

Bryan: 4/5 The autobiographical and chronological quality of this live set always delights me. I appreciated it at the time but even more now. I love the band intros here.

Bryant:  Me too. 4/5 I'm a sucker for Bruce-introduces-the-band interludes, and this one is a classic.

"Raise Your Hand"

Bryant: 3.25/5 This could pass for a River-era rocker that Springsteen wrote himself. It's a cover, of course; not sure I've ever heard the original version, but this one is solid.

Bryan: 3.5/5 Like "Paradise" this is a good window unto the band's backstory/ evolution.

"Hungry Heart"

Bryant: 5/5 If the first minute or so of this doesn't put a smile on your face, you're either dead or you don't know the song. Why did this not open disc 2?  You can't ask for a better disc-opener than this.

Bryan: 5/5 It’s a good question. Bruce does that sometimes. Or, I should say, for as many times as he chooses the perfect opener/ closer, just as often there’s the more obvious choice that’s chosen second-to-last, like here, or second on side 1, like “Cadillac Ranch” or “Tougher Than the Rest” or plenty of other places.

"Two Hearts"

Bryant: 1.95/5  An odd choice to end disc 1.  I can't agree that this live version is superior to the studio, but it gets close; it's a soft disagreement from me.

Bryan: 3/5 I still say it’d have made a better Tom Petty song. (Written before the sad news, while we're here. Bruce said it better than me: “Down here on E Street, we’re devastated and heartbroken over the death of Tom Petty. Our hearts go out to his family and bandmates. I’ve always felt a deep kinship with his music. A great songwriter and performer, whenever we saw each other… …it was like running into a long lost brother. Our world will be a sadder place without him.” So say we all.)

Disc One Totals: 49.4 (Bryan) 45.85 (Bryant)

Disc One Avgs: 3.8 (Bryan) 3.53 (Bryant)

DISC TWO

"Cadillac Ranch"

Bryant: 3/5 Vastly inferior to the studio version, in my opinion.  But great nevertheless -- everyone sounds a little worn out, albeit as if they know they need to rise to the occasion.  And they mostly do!

Bryan: 4/5 It is, you’re right – and I’m taking a point off my score to honor the Hebrew God whose ark this is – but another one where it forms my first and best impression of the song. I linked to it last time, but the sort of fun-time E Street Band choreography on display in this live performance is so much fun. Perfect song for it, too. I can’t tell who’s wearing the big hat, there – Garry? Might be Nills. I can’t quite make out whether he’s holding a bass or electric guitar.

"You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)"

Bryant:  2.75/5  Good energy, but Bruce sounds like he's on the verge of collapse.

Bryan: 3/5 That particular aspect of Bruce's live shows, that "play and scream til you can't stand" seemed to be a big part of the therapy and self-analysis Bruce (admirably) began in the 90s. He talks about it a lot in one of the Rolling Stone interviews, but I neglected to grab a quote. (Or even note which RS interview it was – he’s done quite a few of them.) But yeah: it's almost part of the appeal, how close Bruce or the band gets to death at whatever show. This rock and roll is like Anthony Hopkins in The Edge, walking up to the bear and arrogantly slapping him in the face. Tonight! We’re gonna kill that motherfucker.

Bryant: That also kind of puts Nebraska into a different light, doesn't it? I'm glad Springsteen was able to yank himself back from that edge, of course, but I suspect that drive is a big part of what forms the thing we think of as "Bruce Springsteen," so I'm also glad he walked up to that edge and teetered for a while.

"Independence Day"

Bryant:  4.5/5 Pretty great, no doubt about it.

Bryan: 4/5 I wish I had a clear memory of this song hitting me back when I was 13 and 14, but I don’t. Love it, though.

"Badlands"

Bryant: 4.5/5  Ditto.

Bryan: 5/5 That version from the Darkness blog is a straight-up 7, though. (Here’s the link again, why not. Can you ever have too many blistering “Badlands” links?)

Bryant:  You probably CAN, but only in a theoretical sense.

"Because the Night"

Bryant: I will go ahead and tell you now: this is one of my favorite Springsteen songs. Not this version (which uses Bruce's own lyrics), or, indeed, Bruce's studio version (which uses Patti's lyrics)-- both of those versions are fine, but thePatti Smith version murders me. I would give that a 6/5. I do like this live version, and will give it a 3.5/5.  But I cannot tell a lie: it mainly just makes me want to put Smith's version on and listen to it two or three times.

Bryan: 3.5 I’m in the same boat but not for Patti Smith’s – which is great, no argument there – but for the 10,000 Maniacs one. It fits Natalie's voice so perfectly. That'd be my go-to of all of them.

"Candy's Room"

Bryant: 3.5/5  Great energy on this one.

Bryan: 4.5 Agreed – great. Max’s big moment! 

"Darkness on the Edge of Town"

Bryant: 3.75/5  Nothing wrong with this one, but it doesn't do anything for me that I don't get more fully from the studio version.

Bryan: 4/5 I'm with you. But I'll add the ol' quarter-point for first-dibs in the McBrains.

"Racing in the Street"

Bryant:.75/5  I think this version really highlights the wistfulness of the song, mostly via Federeci.  Federeci was always good for that role, though; he's one of the most unsung heroes of Springsteen's career.  [Question: that IS Federeci I’m hearing, right?  I’d hate for it to actually be Roy Bittan or somebody else and me be robbing them of credit in this venue.]

The eternal dilemma.

Bryan: 3.5 I like the swaying-ness of this live.

"This Land Is Your Land"

Bryant: 3/5  A very credible performance of this song.  I don't know that much about Guthrie, apart from his early impact on Dylan; but maybe one of these days.

Bryan: That Joe Klein book Bruce mentions here is dynamite -  I read that one on what has (so far) turned out to be my last long interstate bus trip. I should re-read it. I respect this version but it reminds me of what Patrick Stewart said about too much family emphasis in Star Trek - aftre awhile you end up singing "Row row row your boat" around a campfire. It's good to know when to pull back. I almost - but not quite; i.e. I do not think this - think this is right there, like okay, with the mythology and timeline of Bruce, "This Land Is Your Land" is just a touch over the line. Is this the Star Trek V of the Live Set? Not at all. I'm throwing darts at my point but not quite hitting it. Anyway: I think he still plays this from time to time and the crowd goes wild, so whatever the cogent version of these remarks is, I'm clearly in the minority. But 2.5/5 for me. It does, however, transition eerily into:

"Nebraska"

Bryan: Which was likely the point of it – the set-up and then the spike. If you can call the morphine dirge of “Nebraska” to a spike. Different kind of spike, I guess. 4.5/5 – Not quite the impact of the studio version for me, but what a great tune.

Bryant: 4/5 I like to imagine drunken girls in tank tops standing in the crowd looking confused while Bruce is playing this.  Why would such a thing make me happy?!? Beats me, but it does.

Bryan: With Nancy and Ronnie in attendance, maybe.

"Johnny 99"

Bryant: 3.5/5 This is great, but we're mirror images in that I prefer the studio version. But I totally get how the version you encounter first is often the one that sticks with you. That might explain my preference for Patti Smith's "Because the Night," actually. Or not; I actually heard the 10,000 Maniacs version of that one first. (And I dig that one quite a bit, too, although it doesn't have the edge of Smith's.)

Bryan: 4/5 One thing that was decidedly not that band’s forte was “edge.” Which is not to say they were dull – I like them or liked them just fine. I listened to that Unplugged version of “Because the Night” an awful lot during a very specific time of my life and it’s more or less imprinted on the brain. But not for its edginess, to be sure. Anyway! It’s almost exactly the same version as appears on Nebraska, but something about it here makes me score it less.

"Reason to Believe"

Bryant: 4/5 The guitar -- Bruce I assume -- is great on this one, especially toward the beginning. More images of girls in tank tops bemusedly pondering the notion of dead dogs in ditches while waiting for "Dancing in the Dark" to happen.

Bryan: 4.5/5 I love that image. And I love this song.

"Born in the U.S.A."

Bryan: 4/5 Fantastic performance of this one. That discordant soloing is my favorite part.

Bryant: 4/5 I'm glad you pointed out the soloing. That sort of punk sensibility in the midst of this song makes a lot of sense.

"Seeds"

Bryant: Here’s the track that provides the title for our post. I'd love to hear the studio version of this, assuming there is one.  It feels like a reject from Nebraska, but I don't really know. 3/5 from me; it's good, but not a favorite.

Bryan: 5/5 for me. Just think this one is perfect. For awhile this was my favorite tune from the whole Live Set, even more than “Born to Run” or “Hungry Heart.” Now it’s probably number 2 or 3 behind those, or perhaps even further down than that. Brutal lyrics.

Disc One Totals: 56 (Bryan) 50.75 (Bryant)

Disc One Avgs: 4 (Bryan) 3.63 (Bryant)

DISC THREE

"The River"

Bryant: 4.95/5  The storytelling into of this one gets me every time.  The rest of the song is a bit of a dropoff for me, but I like the intro so much that I'm close to going a full 5 on this one.

Bryan: 4/5 So like I said at the beginning, I got this for Christmas ’86 and spent a lot of time playing computer games (Winter Olympics – on floppy discs! - Syzygy, Lode Runner, Montezuma’s Revenge, plus Lemonade Stand and a bunch of MDOS quiz / trivia games I hadn't thought about in decades until writing this post) with one particular friend. He talked all the way through "The River," like every time, and it took me forever to hear the story that Bruce was telling. I mean, we were junior high kids, playing videogames, so of course we were talking and joking and not paying close attention, but damn it, I knew he said something at the end that made the crowd go wild but could never hear it on account of the yapping. And you know how it was – rewinding tapes to get to specific things was annoying. I finally told him to shut the hell up and swear to God I think this was the end of our friendship. I don't know if it actually was the catalyst but looking at the timeline this particular friend and I hung out all the time fall and winter of '86 and then practically never again after that. I'm going to retcon this to say officially our friendship ended because he was improperly respectful to the Live Set.

Bryant: A silly thing to end a friendship over, I guess, but it seems perfectly reasonable to me. I'm a deeply silly person, though, so of course I'd think that.

Bryan: What's even sillier is how often I've discovered this sort of thing in exploring these sideroads of yesteryear, music, comics, cinematic or otherwise. Like ‘Oh hey I remember that guy – whatever happened to him? Oh yeah I showed him such-and-such and he failed to properly appreciate it and I let it drift.’ So it goes! Before facebook, this was just how things went. You outgrew people, and the media you loved and collected had a lot to damn do with it.

"War"

Bryan: 3/5 I remember the appearance of this on American Top 40 and how it was underwhelming. I learned from the Carlin book that this was intentional.

Bryant: I like this one more than you do, to the tune of 4/5. What did Carlin's book have to say about it?

Bryan:  Landau’s – and Bruce’s, obviously – plan, album by album, tour by tour, was to get Bruce to the point of Born in the USA, that mega-stardom level. Do everything necessary to command the world’s attention, then unleash the Kraken. But once attained, like so many things in life, Bruce felt megastardom would rob him of too much to sustain it. So he (and Landau and the rest) intentionally began scaling it back, to puncture the myth (again. Seriously, sometimes it feels like with each album Bruce and Jon set out to "rewrite people's idea of Bruce Springsteen" - I'm glad it eventually fell to the wayside and just emphasized the songs). Anyway, they chose "War" and "Fire" as the singles as they didn't think radios would want to overplay them. And they were right - the period of time when both were singles corresponds exactly to when I was a steady commercial radio listener, and I remember how odd it was to only hear those once or twice a day but "Shot Through the Heart" a gazillion.

Bryant: A fascinating process, and one that, in a way, is just as worthy of exploration as the songs themselves. They are inextricably linked, in fact, at least in my mind. That's probably why as great as some of the b-sides and lesser-known songs are, they don't carry the same punch as something like "Born to Run." It's that simple -- "simple" being very relative -- matter of there being guys out there telling you just HOW great "Born to Run" is. Your ears know it, and would know it even if those guys didn't exist; but the fact that those guys DO exist gives it that added dimension, and probably results in your hearing it more often, so that it then actually attains an extra dimension that, say, "New York City Serenade" does not have. But then I'm equally fascinated by the way a song like that one can creep into your brain without any push from anyone else.  And then THAT sort of comes with its own isolated sort of mythology; but it's one you give it yourself as opposed to one somebody else gives it for you. It's weird to think that every song of his must have people who have embraced it in precisely that way, but I instinctively know that to be true, even of something -- maybe ESPECIALLY of something -- like "Mary, Queen of Arkansas." And hey, why not?

The video nevertheless got played a lot. America had Vietnam-fever in the mid-80s, as Bruce explains in his opening remarks.

The video ends where it began, with the war on TV, although this time, the boy is gone.

"Darlington County"

Bryant: 3.5/5 I have deducted the standard-for-Bryant one-point live-version tax compared to my studio score.  I do like this a lot, though.

Bryan: 4/5 I just gave this and the next one:

"Working on the Highway"

Bryan: 4/5s, because the songs are too cool for me to notice otherwise. Agreed tho that the studio versions are better. This one stumbles a little at the beginning, but then they pick it up.

Bryant: 3/5 I can't decide how I feel about Nils's guitar on this one; I think I like it, but I'm not really sure. And Patti's backing vocals seem mildly out of place. (I'm assuming that's her; it might not be.)

Bryan: I think it is, yeah. 

"The Promised Land"

Bryan: 4.25/5 Hmm. Looking at my notes, here, I don’t see commentary from either of us on this song, just the scores. Maybe we were in the gift shop.

Bryant: 3.25/5 In my case, I think I just had nothing to say. Good version of a great song; beyond that, shrugs.

"Cover Me"

Bryant: Why does he say "Shover Me" at the beginning? Was he doing a Michael Jackson "shome on" sort of thing? Shome to think of it, why did MJ do that?!? I'm confused by it all. I kind of like the intro, though, although I'm indifferent to Patti singing a bit of "Nowhere to Run." I'll give this one a 4/5.  It really is pretty great.

Bryan: I have no damn idea, but that’s as likely a reason as any. To me it almost sounds like “Shmo-ver me!” which is even weirder. Who knows. I love this though. 4.75/5 for me – epic solos, epic ending and beginning.

"I'm on Fire"

Bryant: Oh, the cigarette lighters in the air; I can practically see 'em. 4/5 from me.

Bryan: Tough to pull off the vibe from the record in a live setting, I imagine, but they do it. A step down but not significantly. (I mean, it’s a step down from like the greatest song ever made, so hey.) 4/5

"Bobby Jean"

Bryant: 4/5 Clarence kills it on this one. I don't see a score from you on the spreadsheet, so I assume it ranks so high that it can't be charted. If so, I can't say I blame you.

Bryan: I did neglect "Bobby Jean," oops! I'll go with 4/5, too. I agree - this one is Bruce's goodbye to SVZ but when that solo starts it feels like Clarence is saying a few things to him as well.

Great CC song.

There should be one day per year where we all have to wear this outfit.

"My Hometown"

Bryant: 3/5 I wish I liked this song a little more than I actually do. I approve of you docking the studio version's score just to give the live version preferential treatment; that's the kind of book-cooking that I admire in a project like this one.

Bryan: Bryant refers to my original score, but I’ve since downgraded it to a 3.5/5 after a few listens. This song gets stuck in my head too easily, and I end up getting annoyed, rather than happy the way “Pink Cadillac” getting stuck in my head does.

"Born to Run"

Bryan: Born in the USA made me a Springsteen fan, but the Live Set took it to a mythical level. None moreso than this song. Meant the world to me back when the video was in heavy MTV rotation. 6/5

Bryant: 4/5 Great stuff, and I bet I'd give it that point back if I had video to go with the audio.

"No Surrender"

Bryan: 4.5/5 This acoustic version was my favorite thing ever for a short period of time. Eventually I rediscovered the album version and I grew to like that one even more. Previously it hadn’t been a fave. Yet another example of the Bruce-related alchemy Live 75-85 worked upon me in my youth.  

Bryant: 4.85/5 I agree the studio version is better, but this is thoroughly agreeable to me.  To some degree, this box set marks the end of the E Street Band, doesn't it? If so, then this song serves almost as its mournful send-off.

Bryan: Absolutely. I’ve never really seen this confirmed or even suggested, but this seems like Bruce's "cash bonus," so to speak. Like, okay boys we made it, I'm going to go this way now, but before I do, let's release this triple live set at the height of our selling power. I don't know what the royalty set-up was - and I am in no way impugning anyone's integrity or questioning anything - but it sure seems like the cool thing to do for your band in such a scenario. I know there are some more negative takes on how Bruce treated the crew/ E Street guys out there, but that seems more the disgruntled remarks of individuals, not an honest reflection of business practices from this era. Anyway, good for whomever made the decision to release this in '86; it was the right place right time.

(Especially for a young Bryan McMillan! But I mean royalties-wise for the fellas.)

Bryant: If that's true -- and it does feel true -- then that's a very good thing for a Boss to do for his staff. And as cash-grabs go, that's an awfully fine one; that's a thing people actually WANTED, as opposed to most cash-grab products. It might well have been sheer accident, but my guess is that Springsteen knew his career had to go in a different direction, lest it begin to seem like a parody, and therefore something less than genuine.  He'd wisely planted the seed for that with Nebraska, and while his ultimate direction wouldn't be quite that severe, it was definitely a different trajectory. I'm guessing he felt that more innately that consciously, but who knows? It's all worked out pretty well.  Prince did a version of the same thing, if you think about it.

"Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"

Bryan: 4.75/5 Really, this should be a 5. What's my problem? I don't know.

Bryant: 4.74/5 Why DON'T you give it a 5? I think you want to, so give in to the temptation. I had the same temptation with the studio version and settled for a 4.75. I can't bear to say this version is better, but it sure is close, so I've scored it as close as I can. What a showstopper!

"Jersey Girl"

Bryan: 3.5/5 This used to be a bigtime 5 for me, but I don't know, kind of too much for me now. My score is enjoyment, you understand, not my estimate of its songwriting worth/ performance, which is as good as anything else on here.

Bryant: Tom Waits is a near-complete mystery to me, so I don't know if he wrote this as a conscious Springsteen pastiche, or if Springsteen merely makes it sound that way, or if they share a similar sensibility, or some mix of all/some of those things. I do like this a lot. I hope it turns back into a 5 for you one of these days! I give it a 4.25/5.

Disc Three Totals: 54.5 (Bryan) 51.54 (Bryant)

Disc Three Avgs: 4.19 (Bryan) 3.96 (Bryant)

FINAL THOUGHTS

Bryant: 148.09 total, 3.70 average, which puts it about where it feels like it needs to be for me. A bit more than a point beneath your score, but that's been fairly consistent across the box set, so, again, it feels about right. And if you actually dig it that much more than I do, I envy you that listening experience, because I dig it quite a bit!

Bryan: 159.9 total, 4 average. That feels right to me, too, in my own personal reckoning of where these albums all lie. I was thinking of saving all the albums-rankings until the end of this project but it might be better to post an updated list as we go along, You Only BlogTwice-style. Here’s what we have so far (ranked by Averages.)

Bryant:

Greetings from Asbury Park 2.75

The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle 3.68

Live ’75 - ‘85 3.7

The River 3.39

Born to Run 4.35

Darkness on the Edge of Town 4.4

Nebraska 4.63

Born in the USA 4.88

Bryan:

Greetings from Asbury Park 2.19

The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle 3.43

The River 3.71

Darkness on the Edge of Town 3.82

Live ’75 - ‘85 4

Born to Run 4.41

Nebraska 4.5

Born in the USA 5.44

NEXT: Tunnel of Love (1987)