ok, next... THE WILD, THE INNOCENT, AND THE E STREET SHUFFLE Released November 11, 1973 Recorded at 914 Sound Studios, Blauvelt NY, summer 1973 Produced by Mike Appel, Jim Cretecos, engineered by Louis Lahav Side One The E Street Shuffle Fourth of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) Kitty's Back Wild Billy's Circus Story Side Two Incident on 57th Street Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) New York City Serenade The follow-up to the big debut. Got even less promotion from CBS than Greetings. To me, a stone cold classic. Side two is one of the greatest sides in rock history IMHO. This is where Bruce Springsteen finally sounds like himself, and really starts gaining altitude. One of the great 'summer' albums of all time. Side one is a summer day at the Jersey Shore, side two is a summer night in New York City.
I first got into Springsteen in 84-85 when I was 12. After hearing me play BITUSA too much, my dad gave me his tapes of the Passaic 78 show. Then I went through his record collection. He didn’t have Greetings, so I ended up buying a cassette of it at some point. Lost In The Flood was the unknown track (to me) that really stood out. I agree, it isn’t the best Vietnam vet song ever, but it does have some powerful lyrics and an interesting musical structure behind it. I like the extended piano intro and outro from live versions. Over time, For You has become my favorite. The up-tempo studio version is better than any live performance (of the full band arrangement). The solo piano versions are really mesmerizing. Maybe Hammond was right and Bruce should have stayed a singer-songwriter?? The commonly played tracks (Spirit, Saint, Growin) are so well represented live that they no longer stand out on this record. Blinded also remains a consistent favorite. I rewound that tape hundreds of times trying to get the lyrics straight. This was a very strong debut album which has aged well. My album rankings (up to the band firing): Born to Run Wild, Innocent (I listen to this more often than BTR) Nebraska Darkness Greetings The River BitUSA Tunnel of Love
Sorry - temporarily blinded. Yeah - I agree that side 2 is all class. I came to both the first and the second albums well after the event but you do sense a development on the wild and the innocent. It has a summer Sunday afternoon sound to me. Strangely, I heard the 1975-85 box before I ever reached these first two albums so the overall effect was - these are interesting and have some great tracks esp. Blinded for me, but the live versions seemed definitive.
Of all the Springsteen albums I'd consider real classics (the first 8), this one took the longest to grow on me. I really didn't care much for it when I first heard it... But then I started to love Sandy and I gradually came to appreciate that beautiful three-song-suite that is the second side of the record, and after about a dozen listens I finally saw this album for what it really is: another Springsteen classic and perhaps the most fun album he's ever released! My favourite track is definitely Incident on 57th Street, especially this live version with a great guitar solo at the end: Does anyone know if that's actually Bruce playing the solo, or could it be Van Zandt?
Pretty sure it's Bruce. He usually takes that solo, and its got that Telecaster buzz. (Best B-side ever)
This is the first record of Bruce's that really showed his potential if you ask me. Some of the songs are just stellar and I especially like the second side. David Sancious is a real treat on this record. One of the thrills of my life was to see Bruce in his home state of New Jersey (1992) and see him perform "Sandy".
Pretty much a perfect album that really doesn't need any tweaking. Kitty's Back is probably my least favorite track (although still a very good one). For a meandering r&b jam, I would have probably preferred Thundercrack, but that's nitpicking. Zero & Blind Terry, Santa Ana, and The Fever were also recorded during these sessions. None of those are slouches either. Only Springsteen album with no lyric sheet included. He was persona non grata at CBS at the time.
I have always found this album, and the live period that came after it, the most fascinating of Bruce's career. Like most, I came in at BTR/Darkness and worked my way back. Bruce at his most Van here, and since its 73/74, the band must legally "flirt" with their version of jazz fusion with the addition of Sancious. The live boots from 74 really show what they could do with these great songs. I LOVED the slowed down E Street Shuffle/Having a Party version of the song, and thought nothing touched the live Sancious piano opener versions of Serenade. Always been curious as to why it gets a bad rap from a recording/production standpoint. Did people feel it didn't capture the intensity of the live band (what could?) , or is it really badly recorded/produced? How would you make it better? Since I bought it after BTR, it always acted as foreshadow as to what was to come. Not sure if he was referring to money he got to record the first two, or if it was for BTR, but the line about getting the "advance" in Rosalita is as close to biblical prophecy as you can come for me.
Me too. I love its sound. In fact, I would argue it has aged as well as any of Springsteen's records. It's loose, organic, spirited, colorful. To me, it sounds timeless. Now, if you set a metronome to Lopez's drumming, it would go off the rails after about 30 seconds, but that's not the point. And yeah, there's a barely audible creaky piano pedal. Who cares. Mike Appel made the most out of a ridiculously tight production budget. I think JL beat the "bad production" drum because he wanted to get in the driver's seat.
One of my best friends likes only one Springsteen album and, in fact, he genuinely loves it. This is that one.
Eventually CBS came around on the lyrics when the momentum started to build. Somewhere in my files I have a copy of the lyrics that CBS had printed up to distribute to critics. Nothing more than mimeograph sheets - not even professionally printed.
Love it Second side is one of my fav second side ever along with "On The Beach"s.s, and "Saint Dominic's Preview"s.s. Incident,Rosie,Serenade...just perfect
I would replace NYC Serenade with The Fever. I’ve never really cared for it, and it is the weakest track on one of my favorite albums. The city saga is better represented with Incident, and NYC Serenade always seemed superfluous. Make side 2 Fever - Incident - Rosalita I disagree about replacing Kitty with Thundercrack, if only because the shout chorus of “Here she comes now” is better than the falsetto “round and round and round and round”.
It was wonderful to watch this thing take hold in HS as more and more people became totally enamored of this album (except for Wild Billy of course). You could dance to it, listen to it, get stoned to it. It was at every party senior year. Rosalita is an example of why people are Bruce crazy. the song is in your bloodstream. It represents that time when being young was important and vital. It was nights in a car, the girl you fell for, cold beer on a hot night, watching out for cops, and wind in your hair. The song represents so much more than the sum of its lyrical and musical parts. And NY Serenade--damn, how I love this song. Bruce will never cede so much control to a band member ever again. It's like a Leonard Cohen impressionistic song. Like smoke curling over a shoulder and when it clears, you see something briefly, then something else. Small scenes from some movie. You don't know much of the story, but what you know is fascinating as hell. Parts don't fit together, but it doesn't matter. I think Lester Bangs at the time called it either a perfect work of a flawed genius, or a flawed work from a genius. And the 20 minute Kitty from the Roxy bcast might be my favorite piece of music, period.
Concurrent with appreciating the first two Bruce albums, I also started to discover the live recordings (Bruce was no Frampton - he waited twelve years to put out a live album). I think the Main Point show from 1975 probably blew my mind somewhere along the way. In fact, I heard it first on the You Can Trust Your Car To The Man That Wears The Star vinyl boot only to discover years later that the boot only covered the first half of the show/broadcast.
My personal fave for its unabashed romanticism, its loose swinging R&B feel, and its strong sense of place.
Great influences abound on this one...Van the Man (E Street Shuffle, Kitty's Back), The Band (Sandy, Wild Billy), Bob Dylan (Incident on 57th Street), I even hear a little Lou Reed/Velvet Underground on NYC Serenade. Often artists struggle with their second albums. Not this time.
