That doesn't make any sense though. Any official live releases; '75-85, NYC 2000 that feature Born To Run have the main riff high in the mix. It was recorded with the main riff high in the mix; in fact the riff is one of the main hooks of the song! To bury it so far that it is virtually absent would be a really strange mixing choice. I haven't even mentioned the solo during the break down of the song! The same to a lesser extent with Darkness, and there is no version of The River I have ever heard before where the piano is louder than the acoustic. That also doesn't explain why the guitars get louder as the set progresses. Again, it just makes for interesting discussion. It would be nice if the releases came with a disclaimer along the lines of, 'The source tape wasn't in mint condition', or 'the guitar track was faulty', it would at least save us all scratching our heads wondering if these were deliberate mixing choices. Generally speaking I find the Altschiller mixes vastly superior to the mixes done by Toby Scott who bordered on the unlistenable at times (Rome 2013 anyone?) but this '81 release could have been done by Scott. On a positive note, really powerful version of Johnny Bye Bye, and who doesn't like Bruce covering I Fought The Law?!
The only track I wished we had gotten in the latest release was Trapped. Far prefer the 81 version over 84. I guess we do have to remember that these tapes are decades old, recorded with decades old technology. Plus, as we know from the historical accounts, springsteens production team wasn't exactly at the forefront of audio engineering ("Stick!")
The series hasn't really got me with some of the mixes. Passaic 78 is great. This thread has gotten pretty cantankerous recently . I'm all over the place with these concert releases too. I've had issues keeping them active or accessible after downloading a few of them also. Do I get them from Nugs or LiveSpringsteen whatever it is, why 2 choices lol. I have a feeling I will be more interested in the series at a later date for some reason. There seem little consistency except too many mixes sound like BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN and the e streeet band. Too much vocal, not enough electric and bass guitar and drums in too many cases I've heard. Sorry, am venting in public. Some of The River full album tour shows seem mixed better than the archive series shows. I've lost a few downloads I paid for as they don't seem to stay saved in my iTunes library. What else is confusing, I'm easily confused, is one month its 1996 and another its 2009 and another its 1977 (thank you for those). Ha, I will stop now, ! Getting goofy I guess...
It's probably something simple like the feed just wasn't recorded that well for whatever reason on a particular night a hundred years ago. Bruce's guitar or Danny's organ or whatever. It would be overdubbed if they used it for a live album, but these nugs things are mostly as is.
The best comparison is probably Dylan's bootleg series. I have them all. Depending on the era, tour, venue, there are very substantial differences in the mixes and overall sound quality. I suspect the Dylan series has a bigger production budget, plus they have the very talented Jeff Rosen overseeing everything. But it's not all that different from Springsteen's series in terms of sound variation.
There are so many mixes with low guitars so I don't have a hard time believing that it could be a mixing misstake
I know nothing about recording or mixing. But my band's audio engineer does. Ive learned from him that in live recording, the number of variables from night to night are virtually endless. The frozen piano during the 1980 Nassau stand is just one example.
More refreshing. People are free to hate Patti if they want, but I think those comments got old years ago...
I agree that they probably have the whole show's audio on multi-track. Regarding what they filmed, it does seem to be mostly what was on the Darkness box (5 songs), plus a little more. There are clips of "Raise Your Hand" out there, and some other stuff from the encores without sound, perhaps from "Quarter To Three" or between songs. Stuff like guys climbing up on stage to shake his hand and and give him a bow (as opposed to the girls who did it during "Rosalita").
That was a good old fashioned mauling at the end of Rosie. My Ed Sullivan moment. I remember thinking to myself "that all looks like a lot of fun"
I was riffing on the title of the other current Bruce thread, which I assume most of us here are also reading. "Bruce Springsteen - The Candid Discussion." I have my own thoughts about Patti, but as you said, it's all been said before, and unless it's in the context of one of the live archive releases, I don't see the point.
Don't trust your iTunes library with anything! It will delete stuff and replace it with a different version if it wants. Once it's saved in the iTunes library it's at the mercy of apple updates, ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS keep a separate back up.
Turn off automatic syncing of your iTunes library and you will have complete control over it. It's allowing Apple to sync automatically that causes disappearances and unwanted replacements. I've never had automatic syncing turned on, and I've never had a single track go missing. But yes -- always keep a backup anyway!
However, there really isn't a discussion about poor sound quality for The Bootleg Series because we know the sources for all the recordings. The sound is either excellent, or as good as the source allows it to be. For instance, on the last installment, Trouble No More, we know that some recordings where taken from the soundboard and couldn't be remixed, some were professional recordings, and some were multitracks. If you think of any of the releases that have multitracks the sound quality is uniformly excellent, and that isn't the case for the Archives. Why does Dylan's 1975, or 1980, professionally recorded gigs sound vastly superior to Springsteen's? Part of it is budget, part of it is time, but that shouldn't be an issue for someone of Springsteen's stature. The Archive is a great idea, but personally I'd be happy with less releases and greater quality. They only seem like value for money in isolation. Once you compare them to how other artists are running their archival releases then they really aren't.
Agreed. I propose a rule: no Patti bashing unless you have listened to Rumble Doll at least once. That is one excellent album.
I was pissed when she played and sang a song at he Springsteen show I saw in 2008. It was a disappointing show to begin with and then.....
