I have always wanted Bruce to release official live recordings of classic shows. I have bought all of them so far in normal def. flac and they sound good (not amazing) with the 88 show sounding the best IMHO. Maybe it's because I had good quality boots of all but the latest, I have found that I play 'em once and they sit on the digital shelf. I've been a big fan since 78 and I still play the albums up through TOL not infrequently and some of the newer stuff as well. I just can't seem to get into these recent releases. As a contrast I play live Dead releases all the time. I especially like the more formal live releases such as Sunshine Daydream and the more recent Wake Up To Find Out. Maybe it is the superior sound quality over the Dick's and Dave's picks. I'll probably keep buying the Springsteen archive releases because, well that is what I do, but I am just not as excited about them as I was in November. I'm not looking to start a Bruce love him or hate him thread, I have just been wondering if these releases have left others feeling the same way I do.
I think my thoughts are similar to yours for the Nassau show. He's my brief summary of the ones I've downloaded. Tower 75: Was great to get this full show after having about half of it in release quality. Love this mix! "10th Ave" is simply gorgeous and the rave-up version of "Does This Bus Stop" is really fun. On "Sandy", Bruce sounds like he uses a different inflection on many of the lines, which was new to me. This complements the official release of the 1st Hammersmith show nicely as he's much looser. My only complaint is that the mastering sounds a little hot at times, and the opener, "Night" sounds a bit cacophonous. Nassau 80: I listen to this one the least. Guitars are way too low in the mix for me. I'm really hoping for another shot at a show from the River tour at some point via the archives series or a box set. Definitely the most 'disappointing' release for me so far, but that's a relative term. Meadowlands 84: This surprised me the most, and has kindled an interest in the Born In The USA shows for me. I had previously heard some audience recordings and that booming sound with the mid-80s instrumentation wasn't a good combination for me. But on this release, Bruce sounds so fresh, singing very well and letting me hear the early 1984 tour for pretty much the first time. "Atlantic City" is stellar as is the opener. A very good 1st set that I keep coming back to, especially those Nebraska songs. I love how loud and clear Clarence is when he says, "Kid you'd better get the picture!" LA 88: This one is another eye opener, even after owning Roses And Broken Hearts for so many years. I am really enjoying this quite a lot. Bruce is vulnerable and has open wounds, and we get a big chunk of the Tunnel album done live (along with a lot of other 'new' songs). I only wish we could have this in sound that rivals the Chimes Of Freedom EP. Bring in Bob Clearmountain to work his magic and make this baby a full-on live album (and video). May I suggest the April 27th show, which was the source for 2 official music videos.
The issue I have is that I skip through his extended raps and the expansive Motown/R&B encores, so I do not find it compelling to listen to a handful of the shows from start to finish.
I bought the Cleveland '78 show and love it! That and 'Winterland' cover the best of Bruce live for me. I don't really need any others.
VALENTINE'S DAY IN SEPTEMBER Archive Series returns with a Devils & Dust tour standout After a summer lull, Bruce Springsteen's archive download series is back, leaping forward two decades for the release of Columbus, July 31, 2005, one of the finest performances on the Devils & Dust solo tour. Springsteen's 24-song setlist at the Schottenstein Center's Value City Theatre is a doozy and loaded with true rarities, from the set-opening world premiere of "Lift Me Up" to one of but six known performances of Tunnel of Love’s closing masterpiece "Valentine's Day," preceded by its TOL emotional companion, "When You're Alone." And that's just the beginning. Columbus also features the tour premiere of "Back in Your Arms" on electric piano, piano readings of "For You" and "Lost in the Flood," the Born in the U.S.A. outtake "Cynthia," and "State Trooper" among numerous highlights. It's available today on Brucespringsteen.net, powered by Nugs.net. Nugs.net's Brad Serling tells Backstreets that, given its bounty of rarities, Columbus came up repeatedly as a worthy candidate when Toby Scott sought the input of "the electorate" to choose a show from the Devils & Dust tour. The performance is but one special night in a run of magical shows in the Midwest that fans have often cited as the tour's apex. The entire D&D tour was captured live to 24/96 digital multi-tracks. To create the Columbus release, Scott loaded the raw show recordings into ProTools and used an analog mixing board to create the release mix, which was then captured high-res via a two-track DSD recorder. The DSD files were mastered, like other titles in the series, by Adam Ayan at Gateway Mastering for all formats. The live download store on Brucespringsteen.net will release Columbus in standard and high-res (24/96) formats, in addition to physical CDs, which will ship in the coming weeks. Outside of the initial Apollo Theatre offering, Columbus is the first Archive release from this century, representing a tour many current fans will have seen in person. And fine audience recordings aside, this period of the Devils & Dust tour has never been heard before in this quality, another reason why the show was chosen. As for the longer span between releases, Serling explained that stakeholder vacations did slow the pace a bit, and horses also changed in midstream: an initial plan for the next release was a show from the 1995 Tom Joad tour, which got as far as mixing before being set to the side in favor of 2005. But he reiterated that the goal remains a steady and consistent stream of archive releases. "We're independent of the Sony world (schedule-wise)," he assured, before hinting that consideration of titles for the next wave is already underway. Serling also reminded us that while Devils & Dust was a solo tour, Columbus does feature one additional musician: Alan Fitzgerald, Springsteen's keyboard tech, who contributed off-stage keyboards and gets due credit here. - September 25, 2015 - Erik Flannigan reporting - Columbus photograph by Christy Osoling SCHOTTENSTEIN CENTER COLUMBUS, OH SHARE Bruce Springsteen - Vocal, Acoustic Guitar, 12 String Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Harmonica, Wurlitzer Electric Piano, Acoustic Piano; Alan Fitzgerald - Keyboard accompaniment (off stage) Recorded by John Cooper July 31, 2005 Columbus, OH on the Devils & Dust Tour Mixed to DSD by Toby Scott from 24 bit / 96 kHz 24 channel multitracks at Stone Hill Studio, August 2015 Mastered by Adam Ayan at Gateway Mastering HD Files are 24 bit / 96 kHz. Also available in DSD - a high resolution audio download format. For playback software please see the FAQ CDs will start shipping October 12 PERFORMED:July 31, 2005 ↓BUY SHOW PREV NEXT SET ONE 1. LIFT ME UP05:31 2. REASON TO BELIEVE05:50 3. DEVILS & DUST04:33 4. LONESOME DAY05:02 5. LONG TIME COMIN'05:05 6. BACK IN YOUR ARMS04:50 7. FOR YOU05:41 8. STATE TROOPER04:18 9. CYNTHIA05:24 10. ONE STEP UP04:46 11. RENO04:30 12. WHEN YOU'RE ALONE04:15 13. VALENTINE'S DAY04:36 14. LOST IN THE FLOOD05:34 15. THE RISING05:09 16. FURTHER ON (UP THE ROAD)07:43 17. JESUS WAS AN ONLY SON04:22 18. TWO HEARTS04:39 19. THE HITTER06:28 20. MATAMOROS BANKS06:46 ENCORE 1. RAMROD04:20 2. BOBBY JEAN04:52 3. THE PROMISED LAND08:25 4. DREAM BABY DREAM
There are soundboards available one just called Sony Studios and one called Blood Brothers: The E Street Reunion
Thanks for posting that this was out! Total surprise today, and what a great show. I'm a little disappointed they passed over the Joad era, but this is pretty freakin close!!
Backstreets say they had a Joad show ready to go, then changed their minds for the Devils & Dust show so they have one ready to go. I wouldn't expect them to put out two solo shows in a row though.
Cool, thanks for that info. Good to know it's on the horizon at some point. I used to listen to Joad a lot in deep winter (January/February), so it'd be nostalgic to get a live recording of that around the same time!
I am passing on this one. Solo acoustic Bruce just doesnt do it for me, but I hope all the fans that are into it enjoy this release. Keep the shows coming and hopefully the wait between releases won't be as long. I will be curious to see how this one sells vs the previous ones.
I liked the Joad concerts I saw because the new songs were featured so much. However, the Devils and Dust tour is more musically interesting to me with Bruce playing different instruments and playing more form his catalogue of songs.
The 75 is complete and the 88 is a huge upgrade from any 88 boot. The rest are all shrugworthy, to me, anyway. Overall I think as much thought and care goes into these as his official live releases.
After immediately picking up the 75, 78 and 80 shows, I've cooled off. The 78 show makes my ears bleed and I agree with the criticism that the 1980 show has the guitars buried in the mix. Has the sound quality improved on the BITUSA and TOL releases? I'll grab the D+D show simply because I have never listened to anything from that tour. As i understand it, there are supposed to be more shows released in a more "official" format in the future. Unless some of these official boots are improvements over the hundreds of hours I already have, I'll wait for a superior product.
The BITUSA show is mastered just fine. The mix isn't anywhere near as bad as NYE 80, but I'd still like to hear the guitars up-front a little more.
