Springsteen -- Darkness Box Set

That was amazing stuff.

 

Not usually a Posnanski guy, but that was excellent.

Got the box today. Have way too much work to do over the next couple of days, but after that I'm gonna hibernate and just pore through the notebook.

 

the hour-long appearance on fallon this morning was a-1 stuff for basic tv. "because the night," backed by stevie, roy and the roots, was rip-roaring rock 'n roll. and fallon as neil young with incognito bruce, in '70s look, doing that awful song that will smith's daughter has made hit, "whip my hair," was a classic bit... ;D ;D ;D

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/the-beat-goes-on/posts/watch-jimmy-fallon-and-bruce-springsteen-cover-willow-smiths-whip-my-hair

 

Love Joe's work. I always thought of all the columnists I've known, he had the best ideas of any. And almost always was pitch-perfect on execution. I heard it was linked on the official Springsteen site so I guess we know what that means. And that Jimmy Fallon show was hilarious. At first, I wasn't sure that was really Bruce doing the bit with him as Neil Young but wow, great. Fallon sounded a lot like Neil Young, too.

 

a side note: 'the killers,' my favorite band of recent vintage, played in jersey last night and offered this song up for bruce fans, a group they include themselves among:

 

I have to say that the 1978 show does not hold up to some of the classic bootlegs from that era.

 

agreed. houston was not into him yet (don't know if they ever have) and he clearly wasn't too into them.

that said, it further verifies my pal, the wild, mad zook (the first bruce fan i ever knew) who claims bruce's albums and shows range from "least great" to "most great."

yes, this was the "least great" '78 show i've heard; yet it's still better than 98 percent of the concerts i've seen...

 

Hey. Houston is one of the first outside-the-East-Coast cities where he caught on (he never visits without mentioning Liberty Hall).

Apropos of nothing, I've been listening lately to Dire Straits, especially "Telegraph Road." The ending is about as Springsteen-like as you could get without a copyright suit:


You know I'd sooner forget but I remember those nights
when life was just a bet on a race between the lights
you had your head on my shoulder you had your hand in my hair
now you act a little colder like you don't seem to care
but believe in me baby and I'll take you away
from out of this darkness and into the day
from these rivers of headlights these rivers of rain
from the anger that lives on the streets with these names
'cos I've run every red light on memory lane
I've seen desperation explode into flames
and I don't want to see it again
From all of these signs saying sorry but we're closed
all the way down the Telegraph Road

 

New video from Asbury Park. Jersey folks will recognize the venue.

http://www.vevo.com/watch/bruce-springsteen-the-e-street-band/songs-from-the-promise-live/USSM21002203

 

Love it. Btw, now that they've fixed that place up, do you think they rent it out for events, like a wedding?

 

Although Roy Bittan didn't play on "Love Over Gold," he did play on the previous Dire Straits album, "Making Movies," and quite obviously influenced much of the music on "Gold," too.

Knopfler was very much Bruce-oriented in his early career -- even "Sultans of Swing" sounds vaguely like an outtake from WIESS.

Bob Seger went through a similar period of Bruce emulation on "The Distance," on which Bittan also played, complete with a Michigan-oriented version of "Thunder Road," "Roll Me Away."