Springsteen's Letter To You thread (second try)

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If the old songs were so good they would have been released in 1973

 

Ok Ill make an appointment with Dr Dave.
Im sure he thinks its the best Bruce album since the last one.

 

Like the way Blind Willie McTell was released in 1983.

 

Dylan never remade Willie McTell
Came out on a Bootleg Series.

 

Uh, no, clearly you haven't paid close attention to the 1970's and 1980's eras of Springsteen's career and his history of not releasing some of his best music. First-rate compositions and recordings such as The Fever, Thundercrack, Fire, Iceman, The Promise, Because The Night, Rendezvous, Restless Nights, Loose Ends, The Man Who Got Away, Roulette, From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come), My Love Will Not Let You Down, Murder Incorporated, Frankie, None But The Brave, Protection, This Hard Land, etc. (to name a few)....and yes, If I Was The Priest, Song For Orphans, and Janey Needs A Shooter are part of that group.

If I Was The Priest is apparently the one song that blew John Hammond away -- clearly it was a great track even in its 1972 arrangement.

 

If any of the stuff on those Bootleg Series was any good it would've been released before the bootleg series.

 

you can say the same thing about Tracks and many of the Bruce outtake albums including, LTY.
Dylan released as an archival item not as a brand new song. He didnt re record it for Empire Burlesque.

 

If I Were The Priest is a 100 percent Dylan parody just not a very good one. Thats why it was not released back in the day.

"Now if Jesus was a sheriff and I were a priest
If my lady was an heiress and my Mama was a thief
If Papa rode shotgun on the Fargo line
There's still too many bad boys trying to work the same line"

 

First, you haven't pointed to what Dylan material it allegedly parodies. Second, you haven't pointed to any source that backs up your erroneous assertion that Columbia or Springsteen's management chose not to release it due its alleged parody. The reality is that over the years, this song has frequently been cited by Springsteen enthusiasts as one of his best unreleased 1970's era songs.

 

You can paint my back porch green, that don't make it a pickle.

 

Why didnt they release back 50 yrs ago if it was so great? I find it cringe inducing.
"Hard Land" and all that stuff was released as archival material.

His early stuff is all Dylan parodies. Thats no secret, he was one of the New Dylans for a reason.
"Springsteen enthusiasts" think all Bruce songs, with some rare exceptions like Pony Boy, are masterpieces.

 

Off the top of my head, he re-recorded Tight Connection, Born In Time and Mississippi.

 

Not 50 yrs later.
Saved them for the next album. The Bruce songs were FIRST album rejects never
considered for the next album or the one after that etc etc

 

I'm one of the enthusiasts you mentioned. The omission of "I Was the Priest" from Tracks was one of the head-scratchers, particularly when they instead included four demos from the original John Hammond session that were just alternate solo acoustic versions (in otherwise the same arrangement) of songs that appeared on Greetings from Asbury Park. Tellingly, when the Scorpio label released The Genuine Tracks 1972-1996, they opened their set with three much more interesting unreleased tracks from that same era, "If I Was the Priest," "Street Queen," and "Saga of the Architect Angel."

 

What's the statute of limitations on re-recording a song so I can know if it's good or not?

 

I never heard of The Saga of the Architect Angel before:

The architect angel held the straight Judah ranch
Just a dirty mile down on the borderline
Where he mastered blasting and hustled young cattle for slaughter
And dated Judah's daughter

This is one he should let be.

 

I'm pretty sure "If I Was The Priest" wasn't available to release on Tracks in 1998 because the ownership of it and many other songs from the Hammond demos were under dispute. I think only songs that ended up on Greetings were available.

 

Neil Young re-recorded Hitchhiker after keeping it in the vaults for 30 years. Is that one okay?

 

Bruce bought back all his publishing in 1986, who could he have had a dispute with?
Not Appel who he bought out and certainly not CBS

 

At the time Tracks was released, the omission of 1972 outtake material was one of the many notable issues fans had with the box set. Most fans found out later that some of the tantalizing unreleased 1972 recordings were omitted because of a lawsuit. Presumably a number of 1972/1973 era recordings will be issued via Tracks 2 in the future.

 

Bruce is going the Neil route now?

 

IIRC, the lawsuit was against a UK entity that had purchased 1972 era recordings from Cretecos in the mid-1990's. Springsteen owned the publishing, but the copyrights were the focus in that lawsuit and Springsteen was trying to prohibit their unauthorized distribution in the UK. Springsteen prevailed, but because the songs in question were subject to ongoing litigation, they were not included on the 1998 box set.

 

I don't care how old the songs are or when they were recorded, I just don't think "Janey" or "Priest" are anything great.

Totally subscribe to the "there were supposed to be more sessions" theory with this record.

 

Bruce had been bootlegged before.

 

Not sure why that is relevant. Another entity was actually claiming ownership of his copyrights.