Bruce!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (1 Viewer)

[Dan Joy]

Just picked up LIVE FROM NEW YORK by Springsteen. I watched it on HBO this past summer. Even better on DD DVD with additional footage not seen on HBO! BRUUUUUUUUUCE!

 

[MikeAW]

I stopped really enjoying Springsteen after he married Patty Scailfa and the "Human Touch" official album...before "Tom Joad". I was an avid fan of both his official and unofficial..live, and especially studio recordings. Those acoustic, Hits tours did me in.

He got married...for a second time, "lazy" in the head from "success", and too middle class to be relevant anymore...especially to himself. He is extremely testosterone deficient in the lyric department and has to resort to using cloying Show Business cliches, for subjects of his songs to manipulate rather than Inspire. An Old Man, who actually acts his age! Picture him and Billy Joel...another success casualty...sitting on a park bench, sharing snapshots of the kids ?

Listening to his early live recordings...post-Steel Mill, pre-"Born To Run"...these days, it's hard to believe that all of that energetic, hungry, articulate, Promise has been squished and stilled forever...and all for being rewarded for what he once was. The Irony !!!!

While Billy resorts to pairing himself with Elton John to jumpstart his career...for what ? a second time, now...

Springsteen writes "American Skin" for who and what purpose?

To show us he reads the newspapers ?

What gets me is both these guys were once Hungry and genuinely inspiring Artists, and at the top of their Form. Now they are established personalities, they shift into underdrive and become cartoons of themselves. Sad. And a lesson to all.

 

[Dan Joy]

Wow! you really know how to smash a guys thread. (just kidding! I too enjoyed the early Bruce, but also enjoy the latter as well. Without seeing too much into it, I know that when I tune into him (whether live or on dvd) I truly enjoy what I here.

 

[MikeAW]

Dan, it's not against you...he is very disappointing to me...and he let his fans down too.

It would be interesting to chart, just what happened to him here. Unfortunately, to me and maybe others, he has become a trusted commodity you can turn to for whatever....but he has become too predictable. I enjoyed being surprised by his brilliance like in "Born To Run"...especially if you listen to an alternate version of the album, that could have been...and by his simplicity to write a lyric as in "Nebraska".

Maybe a spark is still in there somewhere. Down deep inside.

 

[MikeAW]

No more Springsteen fans here...Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Interesting.

 

[Greg_Y]

While Billy resorts to pairing himself with Elton John to jumpstart his career.

You consider this to be a good movie critical? Neither of those two artists are considered rock n rollers any more; obviously my opinion is that Bruce still is. Billy Joel passed into pop pap around the time of My Life and as I've heard one critic say, Elton John has always been "the Perry Como of our generation."

So I'm a little confused at your entire argument.

 

[MikeAW]

Billy brings in those middle age babes...with husbands, and maybe children, in tow...to these concerts, and it's Big Buck$.

There are some people who still consider these artists relevant...at least their old songs.

 

[Jack Fanning]

Dan you can count me in on loving the LINYC dvd....I saw 10 shows on his 99-00 tour and was overjoyed by every one of 'em. IMO the "Ghost of Tom Joad" tour was an artistic tour de force.

Bruce has got a lot more left in him.

 

[MickeS]

I still like Bruce Springsteen's music, even after Human Touch and Tom Joad. I bet that if you didn't know anything about his private life, you'd still enjoy them too. I don't care what he does outside the recording studio, as long as he's making great music, which I believe he still is.

His songs have always been rather impersonal to me, they have always been about someone he's not, so maybe that's why it doesn't bother me much. In fact, I think that's what his appeal has been to me.

I'll buy this DVD for sure.

/Mike

 

[John Tillman]

Springsteen is obviously man enough to do his own thing. Looking over his body of work, I like the different tempos or styles he went through.

Just when you think he is ready to lay low and fade away, he runs you down and leaves tire tracks on your back with the power of Live in NYC. I got a feeling he'll be doing this when he's 70.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

No more Springsteen fans here...Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Interesting.

Mike, I don't think that's the case. However, since so many of your responses essentially do nothing other than criticize various artists, I believe a lot of folks here don't want to bother to argue with you. I love Bruce's work and totally disagree with your notions, but I don't see the point of getting into the topic with you. Nothing personal, but this is the impression I get...

 

[MickeS]

I actually think that the musical idea sounds like fun. Why would it be in place of a new album? They're using old songs, so it's not like he would have to write new material. I doubt Bruce himself would have much to do with it except approving the script and the use of his songs.

/Mike

 

[Philip Hamm]

Wow! you really know how to smash a guys thread.

He sure does. Colin Jacobson hit the nail on the head.

 

[Dan Joy]

All I can say is from the day my uncle gave me a an old bootleg with a 25 minute growing up rendition to if '''i fall behind, I get that warm fuzzy feeling that say " THIS KICKS A**". The live from new york took me back to all the dozen Bruce shows I have seen since being 12 years old. Besides how mannny old men can kick it for 3+ hours? Hell, nothing against U2( I love em too) but the elevation dvd is what an hour and a half?

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Hell, nothing against U2( I love em too) but the elevation dvd is what an hour and a half?

For the record, it runs 107 minutes, and it DOES omit three songs from the actual concert. As such, a regular U2 show runs just about two hours. Most of Bruce's 1999-2000 concerts lasted in the neighborhood of 2:45, so the discrepancy isn't as large as one might believe...

 

[Kirk Gunn]

If anyone has not heard his first album "Greetings from Asbury Park", you must pick it up. The mastering is not great (unless they've recently redone it), but it is Bruce at the top of his poetic game.

Great comparison with Bruce's current style.

 

[Alex Shk]

The only coment I could make comparing Springsteen shows to U2 shows doesn't concern the length, but the content. U2 stuck to a fairly rigid set list that varied little. They "reworked" the set list in between tour "legs", but the night to night variation was rarely more than a single song - sometimes not even that. Springsteen had elements that he played every (or nearly every) night, however, almost every night featured 4 or more songs that weren't performed at the previous show. He didn't even have a standard "opening" song (BTW - the song he opens the CD/DVD with was actually the second song performed that night, the concert opener was "Code of Silence", a new, still unreleased rocker).

This isn't a negative reflection on U2 - it seems to me that European bands always seem to stick to more rigid set lists than their American counterparts. What do you think?

 

[Rutledge]

I got the SLINYC dvd in November and was immediately stuck by how loudly it was recorded. Way past reference level.

I found it to be a little edgy and strident sounding. Perhaps because it is compressed or maybe it is just the recording level.

To ameliorate this problem i have lowered my center channel from 0db to -4db.

So far widescreenreview is the only mag to mention this problem. And it is a problem.

Because of the way it is recorded i can only take this dvd in 15-20 minute increments.