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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | jchasin@nyc.rr.com |
| Subject | overrated thingies |
| Date | Wed, 28 Nov 2007 13:00:16 -0500 |
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I'm in a somewhat unique posiion re: Springsteen because I like him,
but I'm not nuts for him. Usually it's bifurcated; people love the guy
or totally don't get him.
I saw Springsteen a the Palladium in NYC in September of '78, a home
turf small theater gig on what was arguably his best tour ever. And it
was uterly, totally lost on me; at the time I was seeing bands like Yes
and ELP (with orchestra) and Pink Floyd in hockey rinks, wih synths and
lasers and 20-minute songs. Springsteen just didn't add up. Now I have
a whole different appreciation of that show I didn' get, and some
indelible memories of it. The thing about Springsteen is that for the
most part, his records are not what he's about (although Born to Run
has aged on me into a top-tier classic.) It is very much about the
live experience; that and the songwriting (which isn't always best
conveyed on record) and the, I don't know, the earnestness with which
he appears to approach his job. He takes being a rocker very
seriously, believes in the redempive power of rock'n'roll, and that
remains thrilling, I think.
On the other hand, his band today is too crowded-- Nils, Miami Steve,
Patti, and Suzi Tyrell on violin, and for my money there is space in
the mix for 1.5 of them, tops. E Street runs 11 deep now, as compared
to an already-lavish 7 deep in the '75-'84 heyday. And it has been a
while since he's put out a noteworhy record; some liked The Rising, but
subject matter aside I thought the production was thin and cluttered
and I can't tout a record when every time I played it, I ended up
looking at my watch.
Still, he is one of a very small number of artists I would venture into
a hockey rink to see (and at this point, not even the New York Rangers
are on that list.)
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