[Daniel J.S.]

I was listening to The Wild, the Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle and I was thinking to myself, why does this record not get as much attention as some of his other albums? The Springsteen faithful no doubt know every note of this disc, but I don't see much mention of it anywhere else. Whenever all-time great records are discussed, the expected choices like Born to Run, Abbey Road, Exile on Main St. and many others come up, but this one always gets short shrift. Sure, the drumming is terrible (thank god Bruce sacked Vini Lopez and brought Max in) and Bruce is singing in that way too restrained voice that he didn't ditch until The River (on the studio albums anyway), but these songs are some of his all-time best. They were examples of that romantic boardwalk rock that he never does anymore (except for "Mary's Place") and unlike most of those prog-rockers, the lengthy songs actually went places and didn't sound full of themselves. The second side, consisting of "Incident on 57th Street," "Rosalita," and "New York City Serenade" is one of the greatest sequences of songs committed to tape. In a nutshell, I find this album to be a forgotten masterpiece and I think Bruce should resurrect some of these songs live. Who agrees with me?

[Henry Gale]

Quote:

but this one always gets short shrift.

J.S.,
I don't agree that this is a "forgotten masterpiece." That's not really possible with a fan base the size of Bruce's.
You'd have to delve a LOT deeper into musical esoterica to find, "forgotten,"

Here's just one of many reviews of the work in question.

Enjoy...



There is a conventional wisdom that has gained credence in hindsight, following the personnel changes in the E Street Band in 1974 and the popular breakthrough of |Born to Run| in 1975; it suggests that The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle is marred by production lapses and performance problems, specifically, the drumming of Vini Lopez. None of that is true. Lopez's busy, Keith Moon-style drumming is appropriate to the arrangements in a way that that of his replacement, Max Weinberg, never could have been. The production is fine. And the album's songs contain the best realization of Springsteen's poetic vision, which soon enough would be tarnished by disillusionment. Later, he would make different albums, but he never made a better one. The truth is that The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle is one of the greatest albums in the history of rock & roll.

- William Ruhlmann, The All-Music Guide to Rock.

[Daniel J.S.]

Sure, it's been critically lauded, but I still think this record doesn't have the reputation it deserves. You don't see it too much in greatest albums lists and I don't hear the songs played on the local classic rock stations very often. Hell, even Bruce is short-changing these songs as he doesn't play them much live anymore. I sometimes wonder how much of his fanbase are still people that think Born to Run and Born in the U.S.A. are the only records he put out. If you rounded up a bunch of fans, would be guaranteed that all of them would know "4th of July, Asbury Park"? I still say that in many ways, this record is forgotten, although I'll agree that it's not forgotten to the degree that say, The Shaggs records are.

[MatS]

Quote:

Who agrees with me?

I do

I too always ignored this record in favor of others for the longest time, but I always find myself coming back to it (with Kitty )

[Michael Varacin]

I always thought "Nebraska" was the greatest.

Maybe it's just the psychopathic part of me that takes refuge in the actual song Nebraska:


I saw her standin' on her front lawn just twirlin' her baton
Me and her went for a ride sir and ten innocent people died

From the town of Lincoln Nebraska with a sawed off .410 on my lap
Through to the badlands of Wyoming I killed everything in my path

I can't say that I'm sorry for the things that we done
At least for a little while sir me and her we had us some fun

The jury brought in a guilty verdict and the judge he sentenced me to death
Midnight in a prison storeroom with leather straps across my chest

Sheriff when the man pulls that switch sir and snaps my poor head back
You make sure my pretty baby is sittin' right there on my lap

They declared me unfit to live said into that great void my soul'd be hurled
They wanted to know why I did what I did
Well sir I guess there's just a meanness in this world



Copyright © Bruce Springsteen (ASCAP)

[Angelo.M]

Quote:

...I find this album to be a forgotten masterpiece... Who agrees with me?

Not me.

It's a gem, for certain, and, arguably, a masterpiece. But 'forgotten'? Don't think so. It's likely that younger fans and casual fans haven't discovered it, or plumbed its greatness, but it is anything but 'forgotten.'

[Josh Steinberg]

It's a great album, which sounds even better in concert.

Actually, between shows in 2000 and 2003, I've heard Bruce play more than half of the tracks on it:

The E Street Shuffle
Kitty's Back
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
New York City Serenade


...if you see him on this summer tour, you're almost guaranteed to get Rosalita, and Incident on 57th Street, Sandy, and Kitty's Back have been popping up here and there.