Its a real bummer to me people have leaked the album. Springsteen and the e street band have always been good to the fans. When western stars came out those of us that bought the more expensive blue swirl vinyl from his website were given complete refunds plus sent a poster as a sorry for the album being delivered a few days late. Now people are leaking the new album.
It's not right to do, but I'm willing to bet most of the people who are listening to leaked versions will still buy the album.
Good lord. It's a songwriting technique. The things expressed in the lyrics are not actually spoken, they're his reflections.
I never thought I would be saying that any version of Shooter matched the outtake from the Darkness period (or, to be accurate, it was NOT an outtake, someone here corrected me. Rather, it waqs a reheasal. An outtake is a song that was seriously considered for an album). But this version is almost as good. Just great arranging and playing. And speaking of arranging (I still think that this is his greatest talent over songwriting), this version of Priest takes a song I thought was just boring and wordy and re-fashions it into something compelling and interesting. I really like this lp.
I think two things really make this version of "Janey" just as compelling as the '79 version: the fact that vocally Bruce sounds great on it, and that they used that take as a blueprint and pretty much made a near copy of it, arrangement and playing wise. Also I agree: the arrangement of "If I Was a Priest" is killer here, especially in how it really emphasizes that brief post-chorus chorus melody (but I will say that I like the original demo, as well).
I am quite sure that this is the case. Listen to Steve's guitar playing on the right channel. He has not been playing that way and with that tone for many many years. Yes, maybe he recovered the style for a bit, but also bear in mind that the song is not included in the doc. Everything points toward some old sounds being used. Also, I am quite surprised at the love that Rainmaker is getting. Sounds pretty boring and generic to me. And the contrary for 1000 guitars. I love it. J
You guys (POB and JJ) may be right about "Janey Needs a Shooter" being at least partially vintage much in the same way Bruce and the band added new vocals and instrumentation to "Meet Me in the City" for The Ties That Bind box set. But to Dr. Zoom's point, the bootlegged version many of us have been listening to for years is indeed a rehearsal recorded with amateur equipment, not a proper studio outtake. In the UK edition of Clinton Heylin's E Street Shuffle: The Glory Days of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, there's an indispensable appendix that outlines every known studio outtake, as Heylin had access to Sony's logs. "Janey Needs a Shooter" is nowhere to be found in those logs save for the 1973 solo piano demo. Then again, "Meet Me in the City" doesn't appear in the logs either (unless "Meet Me in the City" is a new title for a song originally titled "In the City Tonight").
The version Janey we all know was indeed recorded on a boom box (Believe it or not, I know the guy who’s job it was to push the record button on the boom box, among other things) That’s not to say they didn’t record a studio version way back when.
I think Springsteen may have struck gold with this concept: dig out unused stuff from the 1970s, re-record it live in the studio, and release it. I’m not kidding.
Agree - there is nothing more personal or thoughtful than a hand written note. Get a little of that "Human Touch."
Heck, it worked for Van Halen on A Different Kind Of Truth. I would welcome this approach as opposed to churning out songs like "Surprise, Surprise."
I would call the sound of the album a cross between a Bon Jovi and a Patti album. Maybe Bruce should consider a new producer.
How about “...and I wrote it in an email that was never sent”? At least then it makes sense that he’s explaining it. Of course if this is another song resurrected from the ‘70s, then “letter” fits.
