Landau, Saint or Sinner??

I would (somewhat) understand if he didn't want the concert to stream because live DVDs were on the way, but we all know that's not happening.

When you look at Tracks and think of the albums The River and BITUSA could have been it can make you cry. For that alone you can stone him. Add in the mindless hoarding of live material for no particular reason, that Live 75-85 was a conceptual mess, that there is no live document from CBS of the BITUSA tour when he was more popular than God and on and on and on. I honestly think his core fan base will be in its sixties-seventies by the time any of the good stuff comes out 'cause it'll take that long for him to croak. I hope I can still feed myself while watching Darkness 25. Sinner.

he is a saint but if he fu*ks around with the BBC HD broadcast from Glastonbury then I will start posting more pictures!!

Jon Landau when he managed the MC5 (late 60's)

The best words that come to my mind to describe Landau are "artistically useless".
Apart from a sentence or two that I read on Marsh's "BTR", I don't recall Bruce ever endorsing him over any particular influence on his songwriting.
Nevertheless his influence has had a plain impact on Bruce's catalog as we know it, and consequently on his commercial success.
You can either thank or curse him for the existence of "Dancing in the Dark" or "Hungry Heart".
And you can almost certainly curse him for the NON existence of "Because the Night", at least in the studio catalog.
But even that aspect of his presence has faded over the years, particularly after BITUSA, when Bruce drastically reduced his studio time and started taking different artistic directions, clearly regardless of pressions from ANYONE.

In my opinion it's easier to blame him for some questionable aspects of Bruce's live catalog rater than asking ourselves some questions: did the average 1986 fan want to hear a 12 minute version of "Prove it all night"?
Would Fenway '03 have sold the same or more copies than the released DVD even if fans hadn't previously watched it on MTV?
...
BTW I may mistake but from Tunnel of Love afterwards I see Landau more as a p.r. director than a real manager...

It seems to me that once again the suggester is being blamed for the decisions of the decider. As Roland said, from TOL onward, Springsteen was a functioning adult - making his own artistic decisions and Landau was more of Bruce's facilitator, less his collaborator. The first time I watched Blood Brothers - I remember thinking that he and Charlie's main role was that of syncophant/yes man whose main job was to reinforce Bruce's own, already developed opinion. So, the question - Saint or Sinner? Saint. he did dumb it down for mass consumption - Like Elvis or any other of the great, white rock-n-roll acts - there is still artistry there - 41 shots (American Skin), Brillant Disguse, The Rising, Streets of Philadelphia, MCOR, re-workings for the Sessions Tour of original music - the list goes on - however, BRUCE is the decider and he wanted to live forever and be famous and rich. Not a bad decision personally, but it did force him to the road more often travelled, and made for more conservative artistic choices for the most part. Landau chose to go along for the ride - a good decision and a profitable one . But, I really believe he had never held sway over Bruce to the point of influencing decisions / final choices that Bruce was not already headed for . No one would allow another person that sort of power of their life and legacy.

there won't be a broadcast (unfortunately)

That's OK. It would have ended up muffled anyway if he held the mic to his bellybutton like that.

From 1974 to 1982, Landau had a huge positive influence on Springsteen's career. By all accounts ,he taught Bruce how to make records, how to have a world view, and how to think.

As the story goes, Landau introduced Springsteen to "The Grapes of Wrath". Had he not done that, 1/2 of his great songs, from Darkness to Nebraska to Joad, may have never been written.

Saint.

However, from 1983 onwards, Landau pushed Springsteen towards maximum commercialization. Springsteen agreed, and everybody made a ton of money.

Before 1983, Bruce never played outdoor stadiums, never did an embarassing video like DITD, and never sold CD's exclusively for Wal-Mart. Now these occurrences are fairly routine.

Sinner.

Nice summary. Hard to see how the commercial Bruce and Landau combination can't buy into the idea that a webcast will probably contribute to an album sale or two.

Neither Saint or Sinner but one rich opportunist capitalist pig.

I think his one mistake was not trying to have Bruce see the light and create other musical outlets for the live performances.....
Like a pared down E street band or take the Seeger Session people and have them play some of his new work.

I think if he is 65 and still banging out "Badlands"
Does that still connect ??

Why would Landau cut out the middle man when he and his company are the middle men? He just makes sure the Golden Goose keep laying eggs.

yuck! who authrized the posting of this disgusting photo?

do you want me to throw up?

dear god.

I'm surprised that no-one has mentioned the scene in the blood brothers film, where Landau is shouting about tracks on the greatest hits, when he is preparing the press release and he makes a bold statement and Bruce just looks at him with utter bemusement, therein in lies the truth, Landau is the business manager with an opinion on the art, an opinion just like Patti's or Steve's ultimately it is Springsteen's decision. I think as a business manager Jon Landau is the envy of the music industry, his client has played to over 2 million people this year in person, and a world wide tv audience of hundreds of millions, as Bruce approaches 60 he has a profile as high now as it was in the mid-eighties and that is no mean feat by artist or management.
We would all love to see a tracks 2 or the Darkness boxset, but the fact that they did a great job with the BTR set leaves me very confident that these will see the light of day in the near future when BRUCE feels they are ready.

when he feels they are ready some of us will be no more - unfortunately