Bruce

[JGriffin]

Tape was king! This stuff should sound GOOD!

One has nothing to do with the other. Plenty of bad-sounding records have been made on tape.

[Fletcher]

I dare say many more shitty sounding records have been made on tape... and I'll also say that my favorite Springsteen song is "I'm on Fire" [because it's the shortest].

The fact remains that neither tape nor my personal distaste for the music and recordings of 'Bruce Springlawn; winner of the 1975 "Robert (Don't call me Jesus) Zimmerman Pop Star Messiah Award" of the decade [as picked by TIME, Newsweek, and a hip NY radio station] are germane because for all we know "The Boss" and crew could have hit their intention spot on target.

For all anyone here knows that could very well THE sound they had been imagining since first getting together in some New Jersey basement [or where ever dreck like that is born].

The fact of the matter is that no matter my personal sense of aesthetic... that is the presentation of the music as it was released... but [insert fave diety figure here] knows there has been more than ample time and money available to correct any flaws that the artist may have perceived in the final release so I would guess it's safe to say that the sound of the released product was indeed the artist's intention.

All "Brooce" bashing aside... 'Racing in the Streets' is a pretty cool song... I could have lived very nicely without the rest... but 'Racing in the Streets' brings back some excellent memories [there are very few feelings like taking about 380HP of '68 Camaro off the line on the service road for the Clearview Expressway].

[;ivlunsdystf]

(concedes the all-important 'last word' to Fletcher)

[Fletcher]

http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopi ... 5&start=15

(concedes the all-important 'last word' to Fletcher)

Didn't realize I was being a tool.

[Scodiddly]

I much prefer the first couple of albums, "Greetings from Asbury Park" and "The Wild, the Innocent, and the E-Street Shuffle" - probably because Bruce hadn't gotten all serious yet, and almost certainly because it was Vini Lopez instead of Max Weinberg on the drums.

But "Born to Run" is a cool album. A few incredible songs, a bit of filler, definitely a wall of sound at points. The piano voicings in the title track are extremely cool, something I had only noticed in the last year.

[@?,*???&?]

http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopi ... 5&start=15

(concedes the all-important 'last word' to Fletcher)

Didn't realize I was being a tool.

Not a tool so much as a unit.

[creature.of.habit]

mixing wise, in my limited views, there are a couple of things i dont understand in his records..for me it's kind of a contrasense that in his acoustic (only) records, the acoustic guitars are always very low, almost as he's ashamed of what he's playing..i dunno how a mixing decision like that could fly, honestly...i dont see how...the ghost of tom joad record is the best example i can think of...one thing is nebraska, where that kind of suits the rest of the mood, and the record aint all that high to begin with, but on the ghost of tom joad, there's no presence to the guitars whatsoever..i just dont understand that in an all acoustic record...

in general, i can see what most of the folks here are saying...the stuff sounds extra bright, crisp, and not in a good way...maybe a way to make up for the lacking of freq. response from vynil or tape at an earlier mixing stage. im not really into his later records so i dunno how things are now..but i can def see something like that on "the river"...that song about stolen cars is something else though..

with that said, someone that can make a 144 recording with nothing but a 57 sound like that, has my vote.

i wish that guy never did quit talking about cadillacs and burger stands. but i think his other problem, not mixing wise, is that safe for the smiths, everyone else that peaked creatively in the 80's was pretty much screwed.

and the fact that at some point in time he felt that he always had to have 9 or 10 instruments per song, is pretty bad as well..maybe if the albums were "soberer" in that sense, mixing and mastering wouldnt matter so much in his stuff..and the trully important instruments would have more breathing space..i dunno..

for the life of me i will never understand that sax..sometimes a sax can suit a rock n roll band, but usually...no... but that's me, i dont like crowded records/songs..

with that said, the reverb he sometimes used in those middle albums is pretty bad and pretty badly used i think, imo.

[knapus]

just watched the documentary of the making of "Born to Run" today, I think it's called Wheels to Wings or something like that. Pretty interesting. You get to hear some unused tracks, different takes, watch Bruce micro-manage a lot of the performances (not that I particularly have an opinion about that). I haven't listened to the album lately but apparently the mixing came and the end of an excrutiatingly long tracking period and was squeezed in right before the tour (literally up until the day of) so I wouldn't be surprised if some of the choices were less than stellar. I would guess that this same kind of thing happened to the mixes on more than one well loved/hated record.

[creature.of.habit]

following on that, i think some of his best songs are outakes...

there's the alternate version of born in the usa (acoustic only and with a crazy delay on the guitar), waiting on a miracle (very lofi, but great slide guitar there and the mood totally fits the song) and growing up (much better than the band version)..tons better actually.

[LeedyGuy]

a guy in my band who is big on Bruce told me that he carried around Nebraska on a cassette tape in his pocket for about a year or so and that he recorded it on the first rack mount porta studio type thing, then he released it. whenever he got an idea, he would just put it down on this 4 track cassette. he mixed it and mastered it and put it out like that. after it got released, he got HAMMERED in the press because of how its so not rockin or whatever, so he had to make a CHEESY super CORNY record like Born in the USA to get back in the good graces.

hmmmm

[;ivlunsdystf]

a guy in my band who is big on Bruce told me that he carried around Nebraska on a cassette tape in his pocket for about a year or so and that he recorded it on the first rack mount porta studio ... CHEESY super CORNY record like Born in the USA to get back in the good graces.

hmmmm

http://www.tascam.com/Press/UserStories ... raska.html

[LeedyGuy]

wow...so it is true...thats great.

[LeedyGuy]

The music was dreamt up, conceived, played, recorded, and mastered for LP listening. Anyway, the rough/raw sound of those rockers, especially "Darkness.." is why I keep going back for more Bruce...

maybe i need to check it out on LP as soon as i get my new record player and then get these things on LP. when i was little, i loved them ALL on cassette. that was around....1983 or so. i havent listened to any of it in 20 years!

[LeedyGuy]

now this is HOT. recorded live in someones living room...im not sure if the video is of actual takes that are going to be on the record, but its possible, right?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EU ... nce&n=5174

[soundguy]

the sound on that video clip certainly matches the room...

dave