Live 75-85

lots of edits - backstreets being the worst

drums are re-recorded - everything sounds like 85

guitar solos re-recorded - because the night

lots of classics are not on it, instead there's my hometown, bobby jean, etc - only one track from 75

I like parts allot.

Darkness and Racing are IMHO the definitive versions.

If someone had never heard Backstreets unedited, it would be great.

In the end, it failed due to an attempt to form a cohesive story out of it. It was too uneven.

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The 'LIVE 1975-85' 5-LP Box received very, very positive reviews at the time (1986-88) from the mainstream music press. It wasn't a box set geared for anyone that would really give a shit about whether there were slight edits or overdubs, or whether there were recordings from pre-Darkness Tours (there were certainly songs from that pre-1978 era in the box, they just weren't sourced from early shows). I suspect they were going for audio synergy thru the entire box - pre-Darkness tour audio might not have blended well with 1978 onwards. It may have required more studio work than they wanted to devote, or which the deadline allowed.

As one would expect, there was criticism within hard-core fan/media circles (i.e., those that collected live boots). One of the more common criticisms was that, if it was going to be an "anthology", then it should have been more along the lines of the then-famous 'ALL THOSE YEARS' 10-LP bootleg box set that had been released in mid 1985. That boot was all the rave at the time (although it seems quite dated now due to what has become available in the 20 years since).

Commercially speaking Springsteen/CBS were going for the major market, not the niche market. The LIVE 1975-85 Box set acheived that magnificently - it is has sold about 3.5 million units (13xPLATINUM) in the USA alone (which is among the all-time best for a 5LP (3CD) set.

Personally I would have preferred they include the 11-minute "Incident" (a b-side) - but from a commercial standpoint I can understand why that was bumped for other tracks. Landau/Bruce seemed to be trying to cover Bruce's 1972-85 songwriting, with an emphasis on the better known songs (but not sticking to a strict "live greatest hits" formula).

That's the usual, well-written expository post, with its hint of historical apology, but it begs for a sharper, critical perspective.

Quite simply, Live was the ultimate sellout, capping a 7 year period where money squelched music as the mission of the Landau empire. You say, packaged for the "major market." I say, packaged for the suburban yuppies, i.e. the Reagan youth, who were the antithesis of Springsteen's core values. Songs were edited and sanitized, the price was jacked up, and the same setlist inertia we still get shoved down our throats today was set in stone with that album. Tha album cover itself chose a passive shot, as the statement for supposedly the most energetic, live-performer in the industry. If I had to pick a word for it, I'd choose fraud.

As I type this, I'm listening to Ev2's magnificent "remaster" of the July 7, 1978 radio broadcast from The Roxy in Los Angeles - the concert which provided the bulk of the source material for the Darkness tour selections on Live 1975-85. And while I much prefer the complete Roxy performance to the officially released box set, I would not be listening to The Roxy recording now if it weren't for the Live 1975-85 box set providing me with an excellent introduction to Springsteen's in-concert magnetism.

Yes, in retrospect, there are many things about the box I would have done differently (i.e. fewer Born in the USA tracks in favor of Jungleland, Incident on 57th Street and/or a '78 rendition of Prove It All Night) but, as Earthslayer correctly stated, the box was not designed for the hardcore fans. It was designed to capitalize on the tremendous momentum of the Born in the USA album and tour by introducing the new recruits to Bruce's back catalog (yes, just in time for Christmas '86).

A fraud? No way. It's a complete triumph.

Hundreds of people have come here over the years and said that Live got them into Bruce. Wonderful. I'm just telling you that the core is rotten on that one, and while this and other takes make me sound like a kook, I will tell you that this opinion was not isolated in 1987. Digital remasters are great, but I will say forever that you would not have a digital bootleg age, if not for the courageous work of the analog tapers and bootleggers at the time that Bruce was in his heyday as a phenom.

But hey, who needed the bearded, hungry, ski-capped 1970's Bruce playing to hardcore club fans anymore when you could sell the headband-wearing, MTV mega-stadium Bruce playing Dancing in the Dark to the teeny-bops.

To be fair to Bruce Inc., the thing wasn't entirely a money grab, or it would've included Glory Days and Dancing in The Dark instead of, say, Saint in the City and Candy's Room.

That said, the edits are atrocities (and the fact that Bruce did it again on Live In Dublin even more so)- but hey, if I didn't have boots I probably wouldn't mind. And that's what the box set is for, right? People without boots? So, I never listen to it, but I don't really hold anything against it.

This is an interesting topic.

I could never understand why staples from the man's salad days were skipped over for novelties. Certainly, Prove It and Out in the Street would've been more 'integral' to the decade-long coming of age story Bruce was trying to tell than Cadillac Ranch and You Can Look were.

I mean, they were played at every show from 78-85 and 80-85, respectively.

Same for no Detroit Medley or Jungleland.

The box set is clearly a long way from perfect but, for my money, the versions of Thunder Road, Adam Raised a Cain, Saint in the City, Raise Your Hand, Born in the USA, The River, Tenth Avenue Freeze-out, Cover Me, Jersey Girl and (especially) Racing in the Street, if not definitive, are undeniably top-shelf renditions of those songs. We can quibble all day long about the tracklist but what was included is indeed great and, as intended, makes for a fine introduction to the artist's back catalog. And that was the point of the release.

Absolutely agreed.

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Yes, it's hard to quibble with the balance:

3 songs + 1 b-side...from GREETINGS
2 songs + 1 b-side...from WIESS
4 songs..................from BTR
5 songs..................from DARKNESS
6 songs..................from RIVER
3 songs..................from NEBRASKA
8 songs..................from BITUSA
8 songs + 1 b-side...songs not on any of the above albums

....obviously there is always going to be some fav somebody wished had been included.

I don't even have the box set anymore, don't need it - gave my copy away to a kid years ago as an introduction to Springsteen's music. The kid then proceeded to buy just about all Bruce's albums.

Earthslayer- what are the b-sides of which you speak?

B sides "For You", "Incident On 57th Street"-available on this:



Merry Christmas Baby might be the other song Mr. Slayer is referring to, available here:

Anybody notice the weird edit on 'Racing In The Street'? They seemed to add an extra measure to the Piano bridge in the middle.
Its very weird...

No, but thanks for ruining one of the good ones.

Incident...possibly the best (and longest) b-side ever.

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Yes, the 3 tracks that Eugene notes (above).

There was an obscure interview with LIVE 75-85 BOX co-producer Chuck Plotkin in one of the techo-enginnering/mix magazines (can't recall which one) in late spring 1987. I read it 20 years ago (it may be in with the massive Springsteen-related collection in the Asbury Park Library, not sure).

That interview with Plotkin was not particularly exciting as it was about Plotkin's history, not specifically about Springsteen work...but there were a few questions thrown at Chuck about the (then charting) LIVE BOX and Plotkin did note that there were several tracks that made it to the final shortlist, were mixed and mastered but weren't included in the box (space/sequencing issues and the usual hold off for b-sides thing). However Plotkin did not give the names of those "mixed but unused" tracks (he didn't duck, he was not asked the question by the interviewer).

But you can safely bet that the 3 above-noted tracks were part of that pool.

The others? I don't know.

However I have a hunch (no facts) that "Rendezvous" (Live) from TRACKS and "Held Up Without A Gun" (live) from ESSENTIAL may have been two of the ones that had been prepared and were sitting around for yonkers collecting dust. Both these recordings are, of course, from the same show as the "Merry Christmas Baby" b-side and some others in the LIVE 75-85 BOX.

They may have been forced to use "Rendezvous" (live) on TRACKS because they didn't have a studio take that Bruce could "live with" (to coin Bruce's reason for re-recording "The Promise").

The inclusion of the live "Held Up" on ESSENTIAL was a strange selection in place of what (on the surface at least) seemed the more logical selection - the studio b-side. I have a feeling the live track was stting around, ready to go. Easy.

Thanks, very interesting. Did Plotkin say why "Held Up" sounds like it was recorded on a Dictaphone?

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That's a question you should throw at Toby Scott. It would be an interesting question to ask him too.

Toby came on board in the role of chief recording engineer on Nov 5, 1980 in Phoenix - that was the first Springsteen show he ever recorded (according to Toby)....Toby was in charge of recording on THE RIVER Tour and (I think) all of Bruce's regular Tours since (but I'm not sure if Toby is working on the current Magic Tour, maybe someone else here might know).

Do you know where the live Incident was recorded? Was it Nassau Coliseum in '80?

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Yes, the 2nd show (Dec 29th). All 3 Nassau shows were recorded.

Thanks!

Hey, as long as we're talking about weird editing quirks, how about this....

On the Incident b-side, as the song ends, a smattering of clapping is audible, it sounds almost like its recorded in a nightclub. To me, it definitely doesn't sound like a 16,000 seat hockey arena.

They fake ended it because it led right into Rosalita.

of course thats why. the question is why does the applause sound like its from a high school talent show.

The same reason the drums sound like they're from 1985, I guess. He messes with live recordings for no reason.

Based on how things have turned out here in the 2000's, Live 75-85 would have been a very different kinda thing.

Here's hoping that complete concerts will see the light of day: The Roxy '78 show, and hopefully the New Year's week from Nassau '80.

Spot on with a notable exception for Raise Your Hand which has always been annoying. I too didn't have the awesome pleasure at the time of owning any boots, so this was huge for me back then and got played to death.
Cheers.

And now RS lists it among the 25 best live albums in rock history.

They also have Rattle and Hum on there, so that tells you all you need to know.

I've read all the posts in this thread. Interesting. It's been a long time since I listened to much of it (not decades, I think I played a couple of LP sides this year or last year), but let me tell you:

I recall its release like yesterday. I thought my record dealer would get in on a Saturday, which was the release day. Nope, they got it on the Monday. I rushed from work, grabbed it with a great grin, went hope and turned almost all the lights down - and played it all as loud as I could. I thought it was FANTASTIC! Apart from some bootleg cassette tapes, I had never heard Bruce live before. I still enjoy listening to it - but have too much to play to get it from the shelf more often than very rarely. Racing In the Street - sure! The River - WHAT a story introducing it!

I have "No Private Party" and know how "Backstreets" REALLY sounded - and, yes, it would have made it even stronger. BUT, happily ignorant about this back then, I had a wonderful time listening to it!!

It didn't serve as a vehicle for discovering early Bruce, though, but to hear LIVE versions...

I had a roadtrip today, so I thought I'd dust off 75-85 after years of non-listening. Anyway...

The buried guitars absolutely neuter Badlands and Candy's Room. I mean, what's the point?

Also, I said it months ago, but listening to it recently makes me say it again: What in the world made them think Prove It (they could've picked the short version) and Out in the Street shouldn't get slots? They played them both every fucking night.

Otherwise, Sandy is absolutely perfect and the Nebraska cuts have stunningly good vocals.

Exactly, the Live box to me did an excellent job of introducing me to Springsteen live when somebody gave it to me in the early nineties. Back then I had that stereo type image of Bruce the synth-rocker, the Human Touch album hadn't helped that image. Especially the first few discs, before the collection plunges into BITUSA made a very big impression on me. I played Adam Raised a Cain to death! But especially the River intro was a revelation to me, introducing Bruce as a story teller. On the basis of that set I let myself get dragged to a Reunion show, a happy convert ever since.

As a release at the time I think it made perfect sense. After the BITUSA tour a release from '78 would've been awkward. Too much material from after that period would've been missing. At the same time Bruce had to please the early fans who had been waiting for a release for years and might be very disappointed with a BITUSA release. After all in a lot of peoples minds Bruce peaked years before that album and tour.

Of course the final release leaned a bit too heavy into BITUSA but overall it gave an excellent view of his career and wound up sounding very cohesive because of the, by hardcore bootleg collectors, much hated edits and dubs. But overall I think RS is very much justified by electing it to be one of the essential live releases.