Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band "Live 1975-85" (1986)

This box contains 5 LPs, and me and my brother bought it together for our mom at Christmas, the year of the release. It was a serious and expensive Christmas gift, I was only 14 years old, my brother five years older, and neither of us had a lot of money. But we knew our mom liked Springsteen, so together we managed to cough up enough money. It felt good to be able to give something so colossal as a gift. I had just passed the age when the presents one gave were 10-minute drawings, or "beautiful" handicraft done in schools's art class.

The box contains more than 3.5 hours of music, and although our mom liked Springsteen, I realize now that the passion might not have been so strong that she would listen for 3.5 hours of him very often (she only had Born In The USA, so she was no fanatic). But this means that the albums today are in top condition, NM (Near Mint), as it's usually called in vinyl circles, as they probably only have been played a few times. Like some other albums in the collection, this was saved when my parents were to get rid of their entire collection. I couldn't let such an item be lost.

For a Springsteen fan this box is a must in the record collection, I suppose. Many fans had long been waiting for a live album from the Boss, and when it finally came, it delivered, both in quality and quantity. There are songs from all of his career, up to 1986 of course, the sound quality is great, and there's a clear live feel. Three songs were previously unreleased - Seeds, Because Of The Night and Fire. It beat the record of pre-orders in terms of worth of dollars, and it went straight to Billboard's number one.

Personally, I'm not a big Springsteen fan, although many songs are qualitative, and his lyrics are often well written, his straight rock n'roll - bar rock, as it's often called - is not my thing. Lots of guitar, saxophone and powerful singing, it's often loud and uptempo. However, I like his calmer and darker side that sometimes appears, such as songs from the Nebraska album, or I'm On Fire, another old favorite just like The River. In songs like these, the sadness, melancholy or nostalgia that is found in the lyrics, really moves me. Sometimes I'm almost brought to tears when I read the words as I recognize the feelings.

As it often was at this time, there is a pamphlet in the box informing the buyer of other records that one could also purchase. I think these were adapted a little bit to the album, to maximize the outcome (a rock n'roll album's accompanying sheet should primarily display other rock n'roll albums). The pamphlet in this box featured names like Steve Tibbetts, Keith Jarrett, Jan Garbarek, Pat Metheny and other similar artists. Almost as far from the Boss you as you can come. A little odd.

In summary, a good overview of Springsteen's career, up to 1986, and although I'm not really in the target group, I'm still glad I've got it. First of all, it's fun to have a box of five LPs, but also for the calmer parts on the albums that I think are beautiful.


Tracklist

Side A
1 Thunder Road 5:41
2 Adam Raised A Cain 5:25
3 Spirit In The Night 6:22
4 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) 6:29

Side B
1 Paradise By The "C" 3:34
2 Fire 3:12
3 Growin' Up 7:57
4 It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City 4:37

Side C
1 Backstreet 7:27
2 Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) 9:59
3 Raise Your Hand 5:10

Side D
1 Hungry Heart 4:28
2 Two Hearts 3:05
3 Cadillac Ranch 4:50
4 You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch) 3:51
5 Independence Day 5:09

Side E
1 Badlands 5:15
2 Because The Night 5:18
3 Candy's Room 3:09
4 Darkness On The Edge Of Town 4:28
5 Racing In The Street 8:13

Side F
1 This Land Is Your Land 4:17
2 Nebraska 4:16
3 Johnny 99 4:21
4 Reason To Believe 5:15

Side G
1 Born In The U.S.A. 6:07
2 Seeds 5:13
3 The River 11:37

Side H
1 War 4:51
2 Darlington County 5:12
3 Working On The Highway 3:59
4 The Promised Land 5:32

Side I
1 Cover Me 6:58
2 I'm On Fire 4:23
3 Bobby Jean 4:27
4 My Hometown 5:08

Side J
1 Born To Run 5:02
2 No Surrender 4:42
3 Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out 4:18
4 Jersey Girl 6:31