#Springsteen from his album “The Wild and the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle”

[distilled-prose]

"Sandy, the fireworks are hailin' over Little Eden tonight."

The lyrics lately come out of nowhere, sometimes driven, sometimes for no reason, each day a memory or an instigation.

[cpmhew]

tagged by the wonderful @awildwickedslip ✨ tagging (no pressure) @r-dtoblack @spiders-hth-is-an-outlier @bredalot @bripops @highkingpenny @thegingergal @buckthefutcher and anyone else who'd like to share!

last song - Night by Bruce Springsteen 🎶 with your faith in your machine off you scream into the night / and you're in love with all the wonder it brings 🎶

currently reading - I've been reading a bunch of romance novels about people falling in love while filming reality tv shows lol. I have bad brain fog and fatigue right now so I can only handle things where if I miss out on some of the depth/complexity I can still follow well enough. I am a romance novel enjoyer anyway but I am appreciating them extra lately for their predictable structures and reliably happy endings!

currently watching - BBC Merlin and Twelfth Doctor era DW. I don't really like these seasons very much but I'm rewatching all of new who and it's been fun to revisit episodes I haven't seen in years. can't wait to get back to Thirteen though!! and soon on to Ncuti 😍😍

current obsession - two Bruce Springsteen albums: The Wild, the Innocent, and The E Street Shuffle and Born to Run. I never listened to his music til this summer when I finally decided it was time to give it a try and holy hell. I listened to Wild/Innocent almost every day from the beginning of July, usually more than once, and finallllllly took a break from it last week to try BtR and now I've listened to that at least twice a day since then. I don't usually get obsessed with albums like this so it's kinda a fun novel experience. I want to listen to more of his music but it'll probably be at least a couple weeks til I can tear myself away from BtR to try a new album!! part of me keeps saying "I can't believe I've been missing out on this my whole life!" but also I think now was just the right time for me to start listening to him. I think this music speaks to me now in a way it wouldn't have a few years ago! I would have liked it, but I don't think it would have resonated as much as it does. I'm just looking around me going "oh my god, are you guys hearing this?? hello???" and meanwhile everyone HAS actually been hearing it. for fifty years. lol. the first time I heard Rosalita, I literally burst into tears because I just *liked it so much*. I don't think a song has ever done that to me before. I immediately listened to it like four more times then googled it and discovered... yes. everyone loves this song. but that's really fun to me! I feel late to the party but it's a fun party and I'm thrilled to be here.

[90363462]

happy birthday Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American rocksinger, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", he has released 21 studio albums during a career spanning six decades, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Springsteen is a pioneer of heartland rock, combining a commercially successful rock sound with poetic and socially conscious lyrics reflecting the issues of working class American life. He is known for his descriptive lyrics and energetic concerts, which sometimes last over four hours

Springsteen released his first two albums, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. and The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, in 1973. Although both were well received by critics, neither earned him a large audience. He changed his style and achieved worldwide popularity with Born to Run (1975), followed by Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) and The River (1980), Springsteen's first album to top the Billboard 200 chart. After the solo effort Nebraska (1982), he recorded Born in the U.S.A. (1984) with the E Street Band, which became his most commercially successful album and the 23rd-best selling album of all time as of 2024. All seven singles from Born in the U.S.A. reached the Top 10 of the BillboardHot 100, including the title track. Springsteen mostly hired session musicians for the recording of his next three albums, Tunnel of Love (1987), Human Touch (1992), and Lucky Town (1992). He reassembled the E Street Band for Greatest Hits (1995), and recorded the acoustic album The Ghost of Tom Joad(1995) and the EP Blood Brothers (1996) solo.

Springsteen dedicated The Rising (2002) to the victims of the September 11 attacks. He released two more folk albums, Devils & Dust(2005) and We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (2006), followed by two more albums with the E Street Band, Magic (2007) and Working on a Dream (2009). The next albums, Wrecking Ball (2012) and High Hopes (2014), topped album charts worldwide. In 2017, 2018 and 2021, Springsteen performed the critically acclaimed show Springsteen on Broadway, in which he performed songs and told stories from his 2016 autobiography; an album versionfrom the Broadway performances was released in 2018. He released the solo Western Stars (2019), Letter to You (2020) with the E Street Band, and a solo covers album Only the Strong Survive (2022). Letter to You reached No. 2 in the US, making Springsteen the first artist to release a top-five album across six consecutive decades.

One of the album era's most prominent musicians, Springsteen has sold more than 71 million albums in the U.S. and over 140 million worldwide, making him the 27th best-selling music artist of all time as of 2024. His accolades include 20 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes, an Academy Award, and a Special Tony Award. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2009, was named MusiCares person of the year in 2013, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016 and the National Medal of Arts in 2023. In 2010, Rolling Stone ranked Springsteen 23rd on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time", describing him as "the embodiment of rock and roll".

Favorite song/album?

[abracazabka]

hi dre :))) i was wondering if you had any bruce springsteen recs? i listened to some of his older stuff (born in the usa and born to run albums) for most of my childhood bc my mom liked him so i was thinking of listening to his other stuff but he has A Lot of songs so idk where to start lmao

also, off topic, but listened to a new song recently and thought it was maybe something you'd enjoy? it's Young In America by Barns Courtney :)

to answer in reverse order:

I probably would very much like that song & will check it out, because I like a couple Barns Courtney songs, namely the song called "99," which is good if you haven't heard it! ty for the rec!! :))

Now, onto Brucie:

My favorite albums of Bruce's are (though I of course love the albums you mentioned) Darkness On the Edge of Town & The River.

Though, Bruce's earliest stuff is good too, if you want to go chronologically! He's got two albums from around '73 (Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. & The Wild, The Innocent, & the E Street Shuffle) that are great & are full of instrumental emphasis, which I personally love.

I personally prefer Bruce's "prime," I guess you could say, which was the late 70s into the 80s.

His newer (late 90s & on, I guess) stuff sometimes gets more country, which I like (The Ghost of Tom Joad & Devils & Dust has some good stuff)! But some people prefer the more rock sound, or jazzy ballad sound - I prefer such sounds, so it's fine to not have a favorite in the recent stuff, haha, I'm all for older sound.

With Bruce, you gotta get into the vibe of an album, he has a lot of different aesthetics, so to highlight some of those...

Individual songs that are my favorites & not on the albums you mentioned:

"Adam Raised a Cain" (Darkness On the Edge of Town)

"Hungry Heart" (The River)

"Fire" (The Promise)

"High Hopes" (High Hopes)

"Tougher Than the Rest" (Tunnel of Love)

"Waitin' on a Sunny Day" (The Rising)

"Better Days" (Lucky Town)

"Human Touch" (Human Touch)

"My City of Ruins" (The Rising)

"Working On a Dream" (Working On a Dream)

"State Trooper" (Nebraska)

"Turn Back the Hands of Time" (Turn Back the Hands of Time)

"The Ties That Bind" (The River)

"Girls In Their Summer Clothes" (Magic)

"Open All Night" (Nebraska)

"Badlands" (Darkness On the Edge of Town)

"The Price You Pay" (The River)

"Candy's Room" (Darkness On the Edge of Town)

"Atlantic City" (Nebraska)

"Devils & Dust" (Devils & Dust)

"Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" (The Wild, The Innocent, & the E Street Shuffle)

"Racing in the Street" (Darkness On the Edge of Town)

"Blinded By The Light" (Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.)

"Cadillac Ranch" (The River)

"The Promise Land" (Darkness On the Edge of Town)

"Ghosts" (Letter to You)

"The River" (The River)

there's a TON of great singles too, & songs I did not mention (I can't go on naming favorite songs forever, since I'll name almost his whole discography, LOL)

so take this! my BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN FAVORITES playlist, which features all these songs & more:

This is a long post, but I'm not normal about him, sorry! Ty for giving me an excuse to ramble about him!!

Hope this helps!!! ❣️💜

[gerogerigaogaigar]

Stevie Wonder - Music Of My Mind

Fourteen entire albums into his career Stevie Wonder finally renegotiated his contract and began his classic era and the greatest five album streak in musical history. It may lack the smash hits of his other classic era records, but it does have beautiful lengthy soul explorations and the smooth synth sounds that would become a staple of his music for the rest of his career. I could say more but let's be real the, rest of his classic albums are gonna be on this list so I'll see you again when either Fullfillingness' First Finale or Innervision come up.

MC5 - Kick Out The Jams

There is no one birthplace of punk rock. The Sonic's Strychnine? The Trashmen's Surfin' Bird? OR maybe it's MC5's Kick Out The Jams. It's none of these, but for when it came out Kick Out The Jams was the most punk rock song 5hat had ever been written. Heavy distorted guitars, nearly unintelligible lyrics and an attitude that got them banned throughout the US. They have the zero fucks about production quality attitude of their early 60s predecessors but with a heavy raw energy that was brand new for the time. Plus these guys were hardcore leftist anarchists and some of their lyrics reflect this. So that's pretty great.

Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator)

It's hard to describe the exact way Gillian Welch handles time as a theme on this album. Only one song really goes for a 'can never get back the past' kinda vibe the rest treat time like a place you can visit. A loving detachment might be the right way to put it. When she sings about Elvis the song is about his debut tv appearance, but is sung with all the hopefulness of someone who knew and loved him and all the despair of someone who already knows where he'll end up. In April The 14 Part I and Ruination Day Part II she sing about three different tragedies that happened on April 14, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the sinking of the Titanic, and the black Sunday dust storm of the great depression. These events are unrelated, but sung about as if there is some deeper meaning to it all. As if people need to make a connection or else what was the point? If they aren't linked in some magical way then they are just horrible tragedies with no purpose. Welch uses time to make some meaning in these events. It's an album that is stuck in the past from the subject matter to the style. And there are no rose tinted glasses, some things are sweet and some things are horrible but they are all a little distant from us in the present and Gillian Welch captures that distance in a way that I didn't even know was possible.

GZA - Liquid Swords

Every Wu-Tang solo album may have featured every member of the crew, but that does not mean they all sound the same. RZA crafted beats for individual members to suit their aesthetics and my god does that mean this album has kung Fu movie samples. GZAs flow was probably the tightest and punchiest so his album has these striking synth strings and stark beats. And the attention to detail is amazing, for example the most notable vocal samples are in the beats for Living In The World Today and Shadowboxin' the two song featuring Method Man, whose solo work has a lot more vocal samples. It might seem like 8m hyping up RZAs work on this GZA album, but cmon you know that GZA raps good. I'm telling you why this album is as good as all the hip hop nerds say it is.

Arctic Monkeys - AM

I like Arctic Monkeys just fine, but this album just isn't the one. Their first two are great bubbly punk records and the one directly after this nails the Bowie-esque art rock much better than AM does. It's not strictly bad, but I forgot that it was playing and only really perked up after it was over when Spotify started auto playing a track from their first record.

Bruce Springsteen - The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle

This is the real start to Springsteen's career. His sophomore release sees him explode into his street fairytale working class poet self. This album sees Springsteen and his E Street Band in their element, writing songs that run between four and a half and ten minutes. Gone are the solo tracks of his debut instead showcasing a full band on every track providing dramatic backing and dynamics like an E Street opera. And let me tell you, this is one of his weaker albums. Springsteen is a beast and always a treat to listen to.

Toots & The Maytals - Funky Kingston

Oh Rolling Stone, how badly you have fucked up. I'm so excited to tell you how ignorant these fuckers are 😈. Funky Kingston is a 1973 album by Toots & the Maytals. The Rolling Stone list gives this 1973 date for the album's release. But what they reviewed seems to be a completely different album. Pressure Drop? Take Me Home, County Roads? Those songs aren't on 1973s Funky Kingston what going on? Well you see in 1975 an album titled Funky Kingston and sporting the same cover art was released for American audiences. That album contained three tracks from the og Funky Kingston, Pressure Drop from The Harder They Come soundtrack, and the rest from In The Dark. This is the album they actually reviewed. They said they reviewed 1973 Funky Kingston but it was actually 1975 Funky Kingston! I'm so sorry Toots Hibbert that your review was just me dunking on Rolling Stone. Listen to Funky Kingston, In The Dark, and The Harder They Come. They're all really good.

Sly & The Family Stone - Greatest Hits

Why don't we get any greatest hits from white artists on this list? Why is it only black music that gets an overview instead of a deep dive? Listen to Stand! and There A Riot Going On. I guess this has some value since Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) was only released as a single.

The Beatles - Let It Be

So I guess I should reveal to y'all that I am not a hater. I actually like The Beatles so if you wanted to see me roast them well sorry. Plot twist! I'm gonna roast Phil Spector. Yeah this album isn't great, but it is largely a matter of production. This was supposed to be a return to their roots for The Beatles so they hired Phil Spector to produce. Unfortunately by 1970 Spector was an out of touch maniac. He tried to remove every hint of imperfection and wound up throwing orchestra where it didn't belong and generally doing a half assed job. The Long and Winding Road is butchered by the production and honestly Let It Be is overproduced as well. There are a few gems though, I think that I've Got A Feeling is one of their best songs and Two Of Us is super charming. Unfortunately most of the album just falls into mediocrity due to poor production. And I know it's the production because there are multiple pre Spector bootlegs that show how this album should have sounded and they're generally fantastic.

[somethingvinyl]

Bruce Springsteen last night, so good it hurts. This was my second time seeing him, first was in 2009… this one was better, and the last one was comfortably in my top 5 shows I’d ever seen. Kitty’s Back was a highlight—I thought going in that the soul from the covers album would bring a special something to the Wild, Innocent, E Street Shuffle songs, and it did! If I Was the Priest was incredible. No Nils Lofgren or Patti, but Little Steven was back. He didn’t share the mic with Bruce, only kept to his own, until Glory Days, when Bruce had a tiny silent argument with him and MADE him come to the mic. So if Bruce is out with covid soon, sorry Austin…

I’m with @brucespringsteen wishing that Western Stars songs were in the set list, but oh, I also wouldn’t change a thing…

[tinytimism]

personally my favorite springsteen album is the wild, the innocent & the e street shuffle. i know critics back then (and even now) thought he used too many words in his early lyrics but i'm a sucker for words, the more the better. the songs themselves are musically a bit more interesting than his later work, less straight up rock and with more influences from other genres.

noted, ty!

[itwas50yearsagotoday]

11/5/23: It was 50 years ago today, November 5th, 1973, Bruce Springsteen would release his second album (second this year, in fact) The Wild, The Innocent & the E Street Shuffle. I like the Boss... I do like the guy genuinely. I wish I could get into his music more... this album is only slightly better than the first album, but that's only because of exactly three songs that do anything for me: the absolutely awesome album opener 'The E Street Shuffle', 'Kitty's Back', and, of course (almost by default) 'Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)'. If only there were more Springsteen songs like 'Shuffle' and less like the endlessly boring album closer 'New York City Serenade'; 'Shuffle' is just a TON of fun, upbeat, almost funky even, and then it has what may be my absolute favorite coda of all time... thinking about it give me goose bumps... if I'm driving a car, I must look like a freakin' loon jamming out to this tune. 'Kitty's Back' is almost as good... a rare Boss story song that has some fucking energy (IMO, I know), shifts in musical styles, great use of sax, some whisper-y scat from Bruce ('here she comes here she comes here she comes')... worth the seven minute-plus listen. 'Rosalita', also just over seven minutes, is certainly the most well-known song on the track-- when the Born In the USA album came out in '84, MTV played a few old concert song videos, including one of a much hairier Bruce playing 'Rosalita'... didn't think much of it then, but it's a pretty good song-- maybe not the anthem everyone seems to think it is, but yeah another song where I like the story element also. That leaves us with the remaining two-thirds of the record where everything is just... sorry... mostly slow and boring. 'Lyrics people' (like my ex-gf) might think I'm stupid and lazy, and maybe they're right... but I want music, I want melodies, I want hooks... and the rest of this record is more like the first album, kinda hook-less. That said, most certainly you should give this record a chance, especially if you're not familiar with the Boss beyond the Born to Run through Born in the USA era. It's on Spotify, give it a try. Oh yeah, and I wanted to show the intersection of E street and 10th Avenue in Belmar, NJ... E street from this record, and the 10th Avenue in 'Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out' from his next album; if you check out the corner on Google Streetview, you can see a little guitar shrine has been put together... pretty cool!: https://www.google.com/maps/@40.1789622,-74.0235995,3a,27.1y,170.69h,84.93t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sjTyI9wsC8X-Vuuvgg06QXA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu

[cyarskj1899]

9/23/49 #BruceSpringsteen

#HappyBirthday to Bruce Springsteen he turns 74 today.

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums during a career spanning six decades, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. He is an originator of heartland rock, a genre combining mainstream rock music with poetic and socially conscious lyrics that tell a narrative about working-class American life. Nicknamed "The Boss", he is known for his descriptive lyrics and energetic concerts, with performances that can last more than four hours.

Springsteen released his first two albums, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. and The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, in 1973; neither earned him a large audience. He then changed his style and achieved worldwide popularity with Born to Run (1975). This was followed by Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) and The River (1980), which topped the Billboard 200 chart. After the solo album Nebraska (1982), he reunited with his E Street Band for Born in the U.S.A. (1984), which became his most commercially successful album and one of the best-selling albums of all time. All seven of its singles reached the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, including the title track. Springsteen mostly hired session musicians for the recording of his next three albums, Tunnel of Love (1987), Human Touch (1992), and Lucky Town (1992). He reassembled the E Street Band for Greatest Hits (1995), then recorded the acoustic album The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995) and the EP Blood Brothers (1996).

What is your favorite song from Springsteen?

[cafffine]

OH king do u have any springsteen recs. ive been listening to thunder road n born to run but i dont know where to go from there

Oh my god YES I GOT YOU

edit ok I put the list together and it's a little overwhelming I am sorry. I would recommend just starting from the top and working down since I put it in chronological order. And I mean... he's famous for his 70's/80's stuff anyway (all my links are gonna be to spotify hope thats ok):

Album: songs

Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. : Blinded By the Light, For You, and It's Hard To Be a Saint In The City - live version is .. way more fun)

The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle : Rosalita (come out tonight) (on my top 5 for sure. also have to mention that it's amazing live)

Darkness on the Edge of Town: Badlands, Candy's Room, The Promise Land, Prove it All Night, and the title track are!!!!!!

Born to Run: Jungleland is almost ten minutes long but a damn good time (The saxophone ... mr clemons kill me)

The River: Sherry Darling, Hungry Heart, You Can Look (But you Better Not Touch), and The River. (plus Cadillac Ranch off the second disc is so stupid I'm a little obsessed)

Nebraska is his emo album. Literally every song is extremely sad and fucked up but Atlantic City and Reason to Believe do it best.

Born In the USA coming out after Nebraska is the most dramatic turnaround in music history. I'm on Fire, No Surrender, Glory Days, Dancing in the Dark, and the title track are all hits for a reason.

Got to plug his massive Live Album - just play anything that looks familiar but especially the live version of Thunder Road it makes me cry 😌 and Growin' Up bc he talks to the crowd and it's very dorky

You can ignore Tunnel of Love his label wanted him to be an 80's heartthrob and it sucked. Also kinda any 90's album is either very brooding or ?? just weird?? I'll give him Human Touch's 57 Channels (And Nothin' On) though, it does grow on you.

Ok back on track: He won an OSCAR for the song Streets of Philadelphia which was a big deal because it was for 'Philadelphia' - a movie about the AIDS crisis, and I can't listen to it on the bus cause I'll cry

Lighting round modern Springsteen:

The Rising: Waitin' on a Sunny Day, Mary's Place (warning this album was written immediately after 9/11 and it's very obvious)

Magic: Radio Nowhere, Livin' in the Future, I'll Work for Your Love

Wrecking Ball: We Take Care of Our Own, American Land (king of writing songs that seem patriotic but are about hating america)

And finally if you celebrate Christmas he does the only version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town that matters

Ok I hope that was helpful!! Also thanks for asking me I could talk about this man's discography all day 😁💓

[cadecaptain]

The Post Everyone Has Been Waiting For: Cade’s Top 10 Albums of All Time

Honorable Mentions:

The Beastie Boys Paul’s Boutique (1989)

A few years ago this album would have definitely cracked my top 10, and it is still so solid. The production on this thing is out of this world, and if you ever have a day to kill, listening to this Spotify playlist that has all of the samples Paul’s Boutique holds is an adventure, and truly shows what a labor of love this album is. 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/59FdNgdN0lHFNdr3ZsTTPa

Best Song: High Plains Drifter

The Rolling Stones Exile on Main St. (1972) 

As a general rule of thumb, I don’t like long albums. Blame it on my short attention span, but it is hard for me to believe any album over 11-12 songs couldn’t have anything cut. This album is one I can easily have on repeat, despite its 18 song tracklist. Truly the best of the Stones. 

Best Song: Tumbling Dice

10. The Black Crowes The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion (1992)

Bringing 70′s rock back to the 90′s, this is one of the first albums I remember loving as a kid. It is the epitome of Dad Rock, and each song has the entire band firing on all cylinders. Chris Robinson’s vocals on each and every track gives me chills, as he wears his heart on his sleeve with an emotional and powerful delivery with each lyric. Every time I listen to this record I come away with a new favorite track. 

Best Song: Thorn in My Pride

9. Only Real Jerk at the End of the Line (2015) 

Every time I tell someone about this album I always say “This is what Ed Sheeran would sound like if he was actually good”. He has the British, fast speaking, break-up sound down to a science, with each track feeling like it was meticulously crafted both lyrically and production-wise. This album had such an impact on me in high school that it is hard not to have it higher. If Only Real dropped a new album, y’all wouldn’t hear from me for a few days. 

Best Song: Cadillac Girl 

8. Alvvays Self Titled (2014) 

So up until about a year and a half ago, I swore up and down that the newest Alvvays record, Antisocialities, was better than this one, their first, self-titled LP. I have been fully converted by my girlfriend (@peppermoths​) that this is the superior album. This album feels like a gloomy summer night in the best way possible, and has a diverse tracklist of songs that make me feel sad, happy, and like riding a bike.

Best Song: Next of Kin 

7. Billy Idol Rebel Yell (1983)

This is the album I have based my personality on this summer. This, to me, is the quintessential album of the 80′s, with every track feeling like it could be playing in the background of The Lost Boys. I love everything about it. Every time I listen to this album, I realize how similar it is to David Bowie’s Let’s Dance both in length and general 80′s feel. 

Best Song: Eyes Without a Face

6. Camp Lo Uptown Saturday Night (1997)

It is impossible to not have fun listening to this record. One of (if not THE) most slept on 90′s hip-hop albums. It is a shame there aren’t more 90′s Camp Lo projects, but at the same time, this album is so flawless to me that I would be worried it would make their image less cool. USN has every kind of song you need off a 90′s album, and it always makes me want to boogie. 

Best Song: Tied: Sparkle & Killin’ Em Softly 

5. Parliament Mothership Connection (1975)

What is there to say about any George Clinton project that doesn’t include: AHEAD OF ITS TIME. Mothership Connection is the epitome of this. I have always claimed that this is the album that got me out of my emo music phase, as my cousin played it for me once and I fell in love and ditched Fall Out Boy. This album is short but it doesn’t feel like it, and every song will make you get up out of your chair. (Also, if this was a list of best album covers of all time, this would probably be #1). 

Best Song: Handcuffs 

4. David Bowie Young Americans (1975)

I’ll die on the hill that this is objectively the best Bowie project. This album is stacked without a single skip, and is the perfect length at a meaty 8 songs. From beginning to end, Bowie is able to construct an album that is as diverse as it can get while still feeling the most consistent out of any of his albums. You can tell that Young Americans had a lot of work put into it, and it paid off. 

Best Song: Right 

3. Grapetooth Self Titled (2018)

Do you ever hear a song and think...wow...I wish I had wrote that? That’s how I feel with every track on the Grapetooth self titled. If you are a Twin Peaks fan, you should hear a familiar voice gracing the tracklist, and the iconic sound of Clay Frankel’s voice is put on full display on an album straight out of 1985. There isn’t a song on this LP that ever stops growing on you.

Best Song: Tied: Violent & Hangover Sq. 

2. Bruce Springsteen The Wild, The Innocent, & the E Street Shuffle (1973)

This is an album that requires about 10-20 listens to fully appreciate. The tracklist is short, at only 7 songs, but the average length of a song on Springsteen’s sophomore LP is around 6-7 minutes, so it is still about a 50 minute listen. I heard in a Bruce documentary that this album was considered a flop because of this exact reason; they couldn’t play these weird, long songs on the radio. However, I genuinely think this is Bruce at his finest, spinning a complex lyrical web that makes you feel like you are 17 and on the boardwalk. This was the album right before Born to Run, so it is often overshadowed, but don’t tell me listening to Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) doesn’t make you want to speed down the highway. Also, Bruce looks very sexy on the cover. 

Best Song: Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) 

1. The Sundays Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic (1990)

I don’t even know how to do this album justice with words. I have never found an album with as much lyrical depth, ear-worm, jangly, timeless instrumentals, and repeat value as this one. Everything that this album is is sold by lead singer Harriet Wheeler leaving nothing to be desired with a perfect vocal performance on every single track. I could listen to this album for a week straight and never get tired of it. I have pretty much done that all summer, and I’m still not sick of it. Please go listen to this album if you haven’t yet.

Best Song: I could not choose one if I tried. Literally all of them. 

[stuonsongs]

My Top 10 Favorite Songs of All Time - 2006 Edition

2021 Editor’s Note: I was looking through some old files and found this thing that I wrote sometime in the summer of 2006 at age 22. For all I know, it could’ve been 15 years to the day! Looking back, I’m not sure how many of these songs would still make my top 10. Don’t get me wrong, I still love all of these tunes, but I’m sure you know how it goes - You get older, you get exposed to more things, and your idea of good music expands. Anyway, I thought it might be nice to share with anyone who still uses this site. I present it in its original format without edits to my writing. I ended up writing full posts in this blog about some of these songs if you go through the archive. 

Stu’s Top 10 Favorite Songs…Ever

Let’s start with some honorable mentions. These were so close, and I thought about it for so long, but they had to be left off.

Honorable Mentions

All Summer Long – The Beach Boys

All Summer Long. 1964. Capitol

This song has been described so many times as being “the perfect summer song.” When you listen to it, you can’t help but smile from the opening marimba intro, all the way through. It just screams “summer” and it hurt me to leave The Beach Boys off my top 10.

Bleed American – Jimmy Eat World

Bleed American. 2001. Grand Royal

So full of energy, so rocking, and so what would’ve been the most recent song on my list. I wanted to keep it in the top 10 just so I could have a song from the ‘00s, but it wasn’t meant to be. When the chorus kicks in, I can’t help but headbang.

Marie – Randy Newman

Good Old Boys. 1974. Reprise

Randy has said that a lot of young composers pick “Marie” as their favorite Newman song, and I can see why. The idea of a guy having to be drunk to tell his wife that he loves her is pretty funny, and throughout the whole song it’s just the beautiful melody with tons of strings, all to a tune about a guy ripping on himself as he comes home drunk to his wife.

Does He Love You? – Rilo Kiley

More Adventurous. 2004. Brute/Beaute

I guess this is newer than Bleed American, so it would’ve worked too. This is another more recent song that it killed me to leave off the list. The outro is an arrangement of the main tune with a different chord progression performed by a string quartet. Very beautiful. Also when Jenny Lewis screams “Your husband will never leave you, he will never leave you for me,” I get chills every time.

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So here it is. After a long day’s work, I’m finally finished. It actually turned out much different than I was thinking when I first started. The number one wasn’t really even in my top five when I started, but I slowly realized I loved it so much. I also left Ben Folds (Five) off this list completely, and I don’t know, I just feel the whole catalogue of Ben is so solid, none of the songs stick out to me that much. But anyways, here it is! After the break of course…

Stu’s Top 10

10.

(Love Is Like A) Heat Wave – Martha and the Vandellas

Heat Wave. 1963. Motown.

This one beat out “Bleed American” just barely. The reason being that somehow, despite being nearly 40 years older than Bleed American, it still has so much energy that it kills. Dan Bukvich once told our Jazz Arranging class that you can boil all the oldies you hear on the radio down to three categories: 1) Great Song. 2) Great Performance. 3) Great Arrangement. This song is one of the great performances. The handclaps throughout, combined with the driving baritone sax behind everything and constant snare drum action will keep anybody with blood running through their veins dancing all night long.

9.

Bodhisattva – Steely Dan

Countdown to Ecstasy. 1973. MCA

This song is my Freebird. It’s just a basic blues progression song at its core with some minor changes at the end of the form. The real kicker that drives this song home is the three minute guitar solo in the middle that isn’t nearly as rocking as Freebird, but it is highly proficient and takes me to places that just make me want to play the song over and over again. I have no idea what this song is about, probably Buddhism, but hey, this once again proves that lyrics rarely matter and the music itself is the core.

8.

Zanzibar – Billy Joel

52nd Street. 1978. Columbia

This song reminds me of long car rides on vacations down the west coast with my parents growing up. They used to play a tape of 52nd Street, or at least their favorite selections, constantly on these trips. I didn’t hear this song again until early in my senior year in college and remembered why I loved it so much. The song has a heavy jazz influence, displayed in the breakdown where Jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard does a solo. The best part of this song though is at the end of the 4th line of each verse, Billy does this “Woah oh oh!” thing that just makes me want to sing every time. It was between this and “Miami 2017 (Lights Go Out On Broadway)” which is also a great song, but the “Woah oh oh!” is too much for ol’ Stu boy.

7.

Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) – Bruce Springsteen

The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle. 1973. Columbia

Early Bruce Springsteen records have something that very few other artists can ever pull off without sounding cheesy or forced. It has this undeniable sense of urgency, like the world will fall apart and life will crumble through your fingers if this one moment in time doesn’t work out the way Bruce describes it. There are so many early Springsteen songs that just set a scene of “We have to get out of this town right now girl before it kills us, no matter what any of our parents, friends, anybody has to say.” There’s a line that kinda sums it up: “Well hold on tight, stay up all night ‘cause Rosie I’m comin’ on strong. By the time we meet the morning light, I will hold you in my arms. I know a pretty little place in southern California down San Diego way. There’s a little café where they play guitars all night and all day. You can hear ‘em in the back room strummin’, so hold tight baby ‘cause don’t you know daddy’s comin’.”

6.

I’ve Got You Under My Skin – Frank Sinatra

Songs For Swingin’ Lovers! 1956. Capitol

This song falls into the category of great arrangement. This Cole Porter classic tune was arranged for Sinatra by Nelson Riddle. The story goes that he was still copying down parts for the players while riding in the cab to the recording studio on the day of recording. After the players ran through it once with Frank, they stood up and applauded. The Baritone sax takes control here, outlining a Db6/9 chord throughout the intro. Of course, Frank’s vocal delivery is spot on and goes up and down in all the right places for the biggest emotion impact. It’s amazing how a song with no real chorus can be so good.

5.

A Change Is Gonna Come – Sam Cooke

Ain’t That Good News. 1964. RCA Victor

This song was not even going to be on this list, but then I ran across it while scouring my collection of music and remembered how good it was. Then I listened to it and was blown away by the level of detail that went into this arrangement. Sam’s vocals soar above the mind blowingly beautiful arrangement. The lyrics to this one actually add to the tune itself, speaking of wrongdoings in the world around him, and how social change is on its way in the form of the civil rights movement. The song flows with such ease out of Cooke that one might forget the weightiness of the content, but the song’s content is just so heavy that it’s impossible to deny it.

4.

Whatever – Oasis

Whatever EP. 1994. Creation

This song was released as a Christmas present to the U.K. from the Gallagher brothers and company. It never appeared on any full album, only being released as a single, and amazingly, it blows away anything else they’ve ever done. Think “All You Need Is Love,” but with tons of rocking energy and a snide, nonchalant attitude. The chorus speaks, “I’m free to be whatever I, whatever I choose and I’ll sing the blues if I want. I’m free to be whatever I, whatever I like, if it’s wrong or right, it’s alright.” Not exactly poetry, and the song isn’t exactly breaking any new ground either, but the song is absolutely perfect in every way, and it was going to be my #1, but perhaps the only reason it’s not at number one is because I’ve played this song so many times that at the moment, these next three are beating it, but who knows how I’ll feel in a few months. This song also pulls the same “outro performed by a string quartet” thing as “Does He Love You?” but even better. It’s so simple, but I can’t get enough of it.

3.

Mr. Blue Sky – Electric Light Orchestra

Out of the Blue. 1977. Jet

This is obviously the best Beatles song that the Beatles never wrote. The staccato guitar during the verse combined with the strings present in just about every ELO song combine to make a force that is undeniably catchy and musically challenging at the same time. This is really what makes ELO so good. I didn’t discover this song till probably Nov. 2005, and it was one of the best days of my life. I didn’t want to include two songs by the same artist in my top 10, but if I did, I probably would’ve added “Turn To Stone” on this list too because it is almost as awesome as this one. It’s a shame that just like Billy Joel, most critics at the time hated ELO for being overly creative musically (they called it pretentiousness). These days we have acts that really are pretentious (see Radiohead), but everyone loves them, even critics. I’m not knocking all Radiohead, just most everything post OK Computer. Sorry, got a little sidetracked there.

2.

Only In Dreams – Weezer

Weezer. 1994. Geffen

This has been my favorite Weezer song since about a month into me picking up Weezer’s debut album back around early 2000. It has this ostinato (a repeated motif over and over again) in the bass throughout most of the whole song, never even really resolving to the Gb major chord (excluding chorus, which never really resolves) that it wants to until the end of a 3 minute contrapuntal guitar duet when everything dies out except the bass which just retards on its own until it finally plays the single Gb we’ve all been waiting for. The song on the whole up until the guitar duet is pretty tame, but once those contrapuntal guitar lines start intertwining, my ears perk up every time. I can sing both lines at separate times upon request and when the drums finally kick back in fully at the climax of the song, I let out a sigh of relief or bang on my car wheel in exultant joy, whichever is more of an option at the time.

1.

All Is Forgiven – Jellyfish

Spilt Milk. 1993. Charisma

I always loved this song from the first time I heard it, but I didn’t realize how much I loved it until maybe April 2006. I found out about Jellyfish first semester of college in the Fall of ’02 and heard this song, and knew it was great. The constant tom-tom driven drums, the fuzzy, almost white noise distorted guitar, and the half time bass throughout. It was great. Then in April I put it on my mp3 player for the walk to school, and then I listened to it for about two weeks straight. Seriously. It runs into the next song entitled “Russian Hill” which is almost as good, but because it’s a separate song, I couldn’t include it on the list, but in my mind, they always run together and are basically one long 9 minute song. The ending just gets more and more white noise filled until you can barely take it anymore and then it just cuts off completely into the slow acoustic intro for Russian Hill. It’s perfect in every way. I think this would fall into the category of great song. And the way the song builds up right to the middle of the song and then cuts out completely except for some very VERY faint xylophone noodling, and then busts back in with some feedback directly into guitar solo. Man I love this song.

[frankiefellinlove]

If you read Brice’s autobiography you would know all about these interesting men.

STEEL MILL days

These 2 fine men were an integral part of Steel Mill:

Carl "TINKER" West and Vini "MAD DOG" Lopez (left to right).

Each of Bruce's early managers made their own unique contribution to Bruce's Success. TINKER wore three hats:

1) Bruce's manager, 2) "Sound by West" as a sound engineer and 3) a Surfing Legend as proprietor of "Challenger Eastern Surfboards."

Vini Lopez began his Bruce days as the drummer for Steel Mill. Vini was a significant contributor to Bruce's music in the early days. Lopez was the drummer on Bruce's first two albums "Greetings from Asbury Park" and "The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle."

From BruceBase:

Steel Mill initially consisted of Bruce Springsteen (guitar & vocals), Vinnie Roslin (bass), Vini Lopez (drums) and Danny Federici (keyboards); the band was formed in November 1969. Previously named Child, they decided to change to Steel Mill when another band released a record under the same name.

In February 1970 Roslin left the band (his last performance with the group was on February 28) and was replaced by Steven Van Zandt, while vocalist Robbin Thompson joined on August 25, 1970. Thompson was previously lead singer of Mercy Flight. During September 1970, Mercy Flight drummer Dave Hazlett also substituted for Lopez while the latter sorted out legal issues. Springsteen announced his decision to leave the band in December 1970, and they played their final gig as Steel Mill in January 1971 at the Upstage in Asbury Park.

[greyslogo]

Wild innocent e street shuffle album

The added instrumental density is beautifully handled the textures overall are still reminiscent of Highway 61, but they go light years beyond it, into something I can only describe as the Coasters on Abbey Road. There's a good deal more overdubbing her, too. Bruce is playing electric guitar now (there was very little on Greetings), and he's superb, both as a rhythm player and as a soloist (check out his highly charged lead at the end of "Incident on 57th Street" and see what I mean - you'd have to go to Robin Trower for comparable intensity). Good as the debut set was, this new one is a staggering advance. Clearly, we are dealing with a highly individual auteur, and I might add, the first big American rock talent since John Fogerty. In fact, not the least of the pleasures of The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle is that with it he has permanently laid Zimmerman's Ghost to rest. I am pleased to report that, despite Columbia's monumentally ill-advised "New Dylan" hype, Bruce Springsteen has come up with a sensational follow-up to his Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. Instead he milks it for all it's worth, wrapping up all the song's movements and juxtapositions with his unabashedly melodramatic and loonily sotted Sloppy Joe voice. Springsteen never resolves the conflict (if he ever does his music will probably become less interesting). There is an occasional weak spot or an awkward transition, but for the most part it works spectacularly, and nowhere to more dramatic effect than on "Incident on 57th Street," the album's most stunning track, a virtual mini-opera about Johnny, a "romantic young boy" torn between Jane and the bright knives out on the street. The best of his new songs dart and swoop from tempo to tempo and from genre to genre, from hell-bent-for-leather rock to luscious schmaltz to what is almost recitative. Springsteen is growing as a writer of music as well as of words. Springsteen himself is an undistinguished but extremely versatile guitarist, which he needs to be to follow his own changes. They're essentially an R&B outfit - funky-butt is Springsteen's musical pied-a-terre - but they can play anything thrown at them, be it jazz or Highway 61 Revisited. Sancious on keyboards and Clarence Clemons on saxes, cook with power and precision, particularly on "Rosalita" and "Kitty's Back," the album's outstanding rockers. In the midst of a raucous celebration of desire, "Rosalita," he can suddenly turn around and sing, "Some day we'll look back on this and think we all seem funny."īut none of this would matter if the music were humdrum - it isn't. They're striking amalgams of romance and gritty realism: "And the boys from the casino dance with their shirts open like Latin lovers on the shore,/ Chasin' all those silly New York virgins by the score." The loveliness of the first line, the punk savvy of the second, and the humor of the ensemble add up to Springsteen's characteristic ambivalence and a complex appeal reminiscent of the Shangri-Las. Like Greetings, the new album is about the streets of New York and the tacky Jersey Shore, but the lyrics are no longer merely zany cut-ups. Having released two fine albums in less than a year, Springsteen is obviously a considerable new talent. The songs are longer, more ambitious and more romantic and yet, wonderfully, they lose little of Greetings' rollicking rush. The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle takes itself more seriously. Springsteen was rhyming and wailing for the sheer fun of it, and his manic exuberance more than canceled out his debts to Dylan, Van Morrison and the Band. Most of it didn't make much sense, but that was the point. Greetings from Asbury Park, Bruce Springsteen's uproarious debut album, sounded like "Subterranean Homesick Blues" played at 78, a typical five-minute track bursting with more words than this review. The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle Bruce Springsteen - The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle

[soctrust]

Wild the innocent and the e street shuffle

The opening E Street Shuffle sets the tone, and gives way perfectly to 4th of July Asbury Park (Sandy), which eases along in its own way. Shane Reho: After a rather spotty (in my opinion) debut, Springsteen aims high and comes out with a masterpiece. That said, if someone asked me to name a song that sums up the energy, the bollocks and the sheer fun of rock music I'd be hard pressed to name a better song than Rosalita. Although I like a lot of his stuff I don't buy into the whole Landau "future of rock and roll thing about Springsteen. Incident on 57th Street lays the foundation of atmosphere and dynamics that would build Thunder Road and Jungleland.Īnd Rosalita? Entire careers have been pegged on songs half as good. It's maybe that striving that leaves me feeling this is an album that tried too hard at times. You can hear The Boss reaching for the heights he would scale on his next album. Because listening for the first time here and now in 2018 it's almost impossible not to hear it through the filter of what came after it. I'd love to go back in time to '73 and hear this album in its own right. B+." ( Robert Christgau (opens in new tab)) What you said The kind of album that will be fun to go back to if he ever gets it together enough to make us care. "The size and style of Springsteen's talent is suggested by the title, which I like, and this is very good in spurts, but it never coalesces. The truth is, The Wild, The Innocent & the E Street Shuffle is one of the greatest albums in the history of rock & roll." ( AllMusic (opens in new tab)) He would later make different albums, but he never made a better one. "The album's songs contain the best realization of Springsteen's poetic vision, which soon enough would be tarnished by disillusionment. While it may not have the same scope and grandeur of the album following it, Springsteen's mega-hit Born To Run, it contains more than ample doses of the lively spirit, youthful enthusiasm, and endearing optimism that made Bruce Springsteen not only a household name, but the epitome of the American experience." ( Sputnik Music (opens in new tab)) "The Wild, The Innocent, & The E-Street Shuffle is The Boss at his finest. Electric Light Orchestra - On the Third Day.Robert Fripp and Brian Eno - (No Pussyfooting).Mahavishnu Orchestra - Between Nothingness and Eternity.Bob Dylan - Dylan Outtakes recorded 1969–'70.Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Brain Salad Surgery.The Beach Boys - The Beach Boys in Concert.But once upon a time, that story was told through the wide-eyed perspective of a 23-year-old kid with a dream and an innate understanding of the hugeness of life’s daily experiences, like the passion of young love, the celebration of relationships, the struggle for survival, and the fireworks on the fourth of July. With his next album, Bruce Springsteen would conquer the world, and he has been telling America’s story with vision and humanity ever since. He would also name his band after the album’s opening track (ironically, it was this album’s keyboardist, David Sancious, whose mother lived on the real E Street in Belmar, N.J., though Sancious would not become a true E Street band member). He would continue bringing Sandy and Rosalita to life hundreds of times on stage, making those two girls the most enduring elements of this album. Perhaps those trippy ’60s records had, indeed, inspired what was his most ambitious and experimental production work, but Bruce Springsteen’s Jersey and New York remained spiritually far away from Pepperland.īruce never returned to such grand pieces, but that was only appropriate to the story he was telling: As life got tougher for his protagonists, so did their stories, their songs. If “Incident on 57th Street” was “West Side Story” in eight minutes, this was “Midnight Cowboy” in 10. The climactic “New York City Serenade” takes rock and roll closer to both classical and jazz than any more ambitious rock opera ever has, doing so with strings and even more characters from the seedier underworld of urban life.

[bigmacdaddio]

STEEL MILL days...remember they played @ Joe’s Nov. ‘69 and February ‘70

These 2 fine men were an integral part of Steel Mill:Carl "TINKER" West  and  Vini "MAD DOG" Lopez (left to right).Each of Bruce's early managers made their own unique contribution to Bruce's Success. TINKER wore three hats:1) Bruce's manager, 2) "Sound by West" as a sound engineer and 3) a Surfing Legend as proprietor of "Challenger Eastern Surfboards."Vini Lopez began his Bruce days as the drummer for Steel Mill.  Vini was a significant contributor to Bruce's music in the early days. 

Lopez was the drummer on Bruce's first two albums "Greetings from Asbury Park" and "The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle."From BruceBase:Steel Mill initially consisted of Bruce Springsteen (guitar & vocals), Vinnie Roslin (bass), Vini Lopez (drums) and Danny Federici (keyboards); the band was formed in November 1969.

Previously named Child, they decided to change to Steel Mill when another band released a record under the same name.In February 1970 Roslin left the band (his last performance with the group was on February 28) and was replaced by Steven Van Zandt, while vocalist Robbin Thompson joined on August 25, 1970. Thompson was previously lead singer of Mercy Flight. During September 1970, Mercy Flight drummer Dave Hazlett also substituted for Lopez while the latter sorted out legal issues. Springsteen announced his decision to leave the band in December 1970, and they played their final gig as Steel Mill in January 1971 at the Upstage in Asbury Park.