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Welcome to the very first podcast of mine called "I'm in Love" with that song. Or you could go by the blog that I have written called "Love That Album", but either way you stand your way to the podcast. By the time this gets on iTunes, I'll have decided on the title. My name is Maurice Bischdinsky and thanks for taking the chance to tune in. Basically where I want to take these podcasts is in a similar direction to how I've been going with the blog if you've had the chance to read that. If not, basically it's an opportunity for me to just give a bit of a spin about albums that have met a lot to me over my lifetime. Or if I particularly feel like it on a particular song that's meant a lot to me in my lifetime, what gives me the right to do this? No more other than the fact that I love music and I've got a computer and someone out there has decided that they're willing to listen. So that gives me the right. Enough of that background and let's get on with the show. For this first episode, I am highly thrilled and very excited to have with me Melbourne music journalist extraordinaire and Bruce Springsteen fan, probably because of the local fan club, Jeff Jenkins. Good afternoon, Jeff. Good day, Mo. Thanks so much for having me on this very historic broadcast. Podcast. Podcast. You have to get with the technology. I'm a bit slow with technology, so you'll have to press all these buttons. But I've always been intrigued for years, Mo. We've been mates for a long time. You've always told me how much you love the wild, the innocent, and the E Street shuffle. I think you consider it to be Bruce's best album. I disagree. So I'm really intrigued to find out today why you love that record so much and why you think it's a better record than darkness on the edge of town, which is the Springsteen album that I love the most. It's interesting. I spoke with another friend of mine, Jeff Smith, who I might read very shortly in email that he sent to me during the week, but Jeff is also a big Springsteen nut. And it's actually how we got to meet through a local fan forum. But it seems that Springsteen fans, and actually I probably should have mentioned at the outset that the theme of this week's episode, this first episode, as a start-off point was going to be the wild, the innocent, and the E Street shuffle versus darkness on the edge of town. But you've chickened out, have you, Ma'am? I want to go ahead to head with those records. Oh, look, we'll do the fistic-up sting after the podcast yet. I think, yes, we will be definitely talking about the merits of each album, one over the other, but as I was mentioning to you before we started recording, that it's impossible in a way to take these albums in isolation, especially considering that there was born to run in the middle, and really, which is an album that a lot of people, a lot of hardcore Springsteen fans would consider to be his pinnacle. We're not counting something that maybe the millions of people who latched onto Born in the USA. That might be the only album that they know we might speak a little bit about that later on. I thought maybe a good point to start because where we're recording this is early July 2011. This is maybe about a week or so out from the very sad news of the death of a long-time E-Street band member and saxophone player Clarence Clemens. Jeff, you want to maybe give us a little bit of a background on how you see where Clarence fitted into the Springsteen, the whole, I don't want to just say the band, the whole ethos because he has and has had lots of great musicians in his band, but Clarence seems to be different yet again. Yeah, he was such an important part of the E-Street band. I used to still love the way Bruce had get bootlegs before we got to see Springsteen in Australia in 1985 for the first time. You'd hear the bootlegs, and it was always just wonderful to hear how Clarence would be introduced by Bruce, the big man, the master of the universe, the king of the world, all that stuff. My favourite was calling him the Socrates of the saxophone. I thought that was absolutely brilliant, and he was such a big part of the E-Street band. Although then when time went on, and obviously we've got to see the E-Street band twice in Australia so far, and it always kind of, you know, I didn't feel sad for Clarence because he was still such a big part of the band, but the saxophone was such a big instrument in the 70s and the 80s in the world of rock. And then suddenly it became kind of uncool. I don't know why those reasons were, and it became probably less relevant musically to the E-Street band in terms of the last few records. And on stage, quite often Clarence would be with a tambourine or playing the triangle, but he was still visually and obviously a real counterpoint for Bruce. You could just feel that they were great mates, and that came through on stage. But musically I was sort of felt for him a bit because the saxophone had become less relevant than it had been in the 70s and 80s. But do you think, you know, I mean, it's an interesting point that you bring up about the saxophone, maybe becoming less relevant to rock, and that's true. But Bruce Springsteen is always someone who's definitely followed his own vision, and just because something isn't being popular amongst other artists would not be a reason for him to pull away from the saxophone. But do you think maybe it's because as his own songwriting evolved that he felt less need for it? Or do you think maybe Bruce did play into the whole world, or maybe this sounds a little bit corny in today's music? Yeah, I think a bit of both. And I think the evolution of Springsteen as an artist is fascinating and talking today about, you know, starting off obviously with the Greetings album, then going into the Wild the Innocent, and then Born to Run, and then Darkness, it's a huge leap, it is a huge leap. And it's fascinating to think with Springsteen, those first two albums, they weren't that successful. And an artist like Bruce now probably would not get to a third album. I'm pretty definitely would not get to a third album on a major label, exactly. So it's a fascinating evolution of an artist. And I thought it was interesting that Bruce kind of feels that Greetings was primarily an acoustic record with a rhythm section. And then he says he wanted to add some physicality to the sound with the Wild the Innocent and the Estrat Shuffle. I don't know whether he's entirely successful with that. But then Born to Run, I think he really harnessed the energy and the enthusiasm that's on the Wild the Innocent, and turned it into a masterpiece with Born to Run. Then I felt he had some life changes, obviously those management dramas stopped him from recording for a while, and I think he had genuine anger, and that comes through on Darkness, which turns Darkness, I reckon, into a classic rock record. And he really got that power. And whether you're a drummer yourself, obviously those first two records were Vinnie Mad Dog Lopez. And then obviously Mighty Max joined, I sort of feel, and not being a drummer, but that Max really added that muscle that the Estrat band needed. I don't know what you're taking those. I was going to delve into that. Okay, so before I sort of make a full mention about my thoughts about it, I thought it was relevant to read this email I received from my good friend Jeff Smith, who I mentioned was also a big strength team up. He says, "After we spoke, I put Wild the Innocent and the Estrat Shuffle on in the car last night and listened to it twice through. What a great bunch of songs and how well they fit together. A eclectic and ranschackle in an organised way if that makes any sense whatsoever. Very different to the strictly ruled Darkness, which I also love, but have never played it right through twice in a row. Probably except when I got it first when I was about 16 and could only afford one record every couple of months. Probably says where my allegiance lies for these two records. The sax works on both is great but very different, shows up in the flexibility of the big man. Interesting to see what Bruce does now with the band. Now it's interesting, the words I guess I want to focus on from Jeff's letter were eclectic and ranschackle. I would definitely agree. Vinnie's style of drumming shows that he was probably a big Keith Moon fan. Maybe not a self-destructive as Keith Moon was and probably not up to Keith's level of genius. A little bit loose. A little bit more, but still in some drummers' cases they can have a tendency to overplay it. Vinnie does do that but I don't think it's ever to the detriment of the music. If you listen to the style of the music, it will concentrate on the lyrics a bit shortly. But just listening to the style of the music, Bruce is going like if you look at songs like The E Street Shuffle, it's a very funky sort of feel. And Rosalita, not a funky sort of song, but it's a big. I think we spoke about this on Triple R several years ago. It's an epic song, like if you can imagine it's The Ben Hur, the Colossus of Songs Just Like You. The big man was the Colossus of the band. Rosalita coming out tonight is the Colossus of Songs. And that's really quite saying something considering that it was on side two of an album that only had three songs. I think song was roughly about ten minutes, they were all gargantuan epics. But whereas incident and New York serenade are both, I guess, more reflective songs. But Rosalita is really a song of boisterous, very life-affirming. And Vinnie's playing on that song in particular. It's wild, but it fits the boisterousness. Bruce's character is in the song. It's probably, it might even be autobiographical. It's like, hit your start of my wagon, honey, because I'm going to go places. And if your dad tells you that I'm not going anywhere, don't believe what he says, because I'm going to go to the top and come and join me. Rosalita, come on out tonight. And the whole band is just full of vibrancy and energy, and Vinnie's drumming really reflects that. And by contrast, as you say, Max Weinberg is far more disciplined, straight ahead. And he's rock solid. He's completely rock solid. I mean, this isn't to say he's a lesser drummer. In fact, I've seen some YouTube video clips. There's one where he appears on, I might have been at some drummer's convention or something like that. And it has two drum kits, so Max, the Mighty Max and one kit, and his son, Jason, on another kit. And they've got, I don't know, it's like a backup band or a backup recording of, I think, Sing, Sing, Sing, which is an old jazz standard. And the two of them are trading licks, if you will, on drumming. It's on playing that, playing the old Gene Kruper part. And certainly, Jason is a new, vibrant, fresh, young, upcoming drummer. But Max said, "Don't give any shit to your father. I know what I'm doing." And really, Max did come up to him. So when it comes down to it, when he wants to do all the fancy work and stuff like that, he can do it. But he showed on the springs to know him. And Bruce said, "Keep this straight forward. Do something interesting musically, but don't necessarily overplay it like Vinnie did." And he's followed that. He's been true. He certainly is an inspiration. A great performer. We might actually sort of tune in for a second and just play a few snippets from Rosalita now. And maybe by contrast, we might play Badlands, Australia. So we'll be back in a second to further debate these Colossus albums and more. You're all listening to Love That album with Morris and Jeff. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] So we've gone and discussed the importance of the drumming sound to the E Street band on those two relevant albums. And we've gone and discussed a little bit about how Clarence is playing, maybe sort of diminished over the years. But how different do you think these songs would have been without his sax sound? I mean, I know, it's a very subjective sort of thing. Okay, so I guess maybe a more relevant question is, what do you think he brought to the band that no saxophone would have or maybe a different saxophone play would have done? What do you think Clarence brought or the sax sound in general brought? I think the sax is such a powerful instrument. You can't, I mean, obviously there's a real subtlety to the sax, too. But it is a powerful, makes a powerful statement. And I think that really comes across on all of Clarence's playing. And it's just a sheer weight of personality that he brought to that band. And I think kind of for Bruce, you could feel the love that they had for each other. Obviously that came through on stage. But it comes through on the records, too. And the great personalities of all the E Street band members. You know, it's an incredible band. It's obviously with a very dominant leader. And he was called the boss because he did, he sort of paid them. He paid them at the end of every week. So it was like, hey, boss, he doesn't love that nickname, obviously. But there's no doubt he is the boss. And when you see, you know, the born-to-run doggos, the darkness doggo, he is the boss. He would have been a difficult person in the studio because he has such a creative vision. So for them to then be incorporated and become such, you know, dominant personalities himself. It's a phenomenal achievement that that could come through on a record where you do have a dominant band leader. Especially if it's a large band, too. Exactly. And such a mix of, obviously, of people and personalities. For them to actually come through on a sonic level is a real achievement. And credit to Bruce, but also to the producers as well. Now, Mo, I know we're putting them kind of head-to-head, the wild innocent in the history. Shuffle and darkness on the edge of town. You should never bring music down to numbers and facts. But I'm going to do that here. It's a bit of a numbers person. I'll have it. The wild innocent, seven songs, darkness, ten songs. That's pretty obvious. Oh, you're just a stats man. I've forgotten this about you. Yeah, the Bruce McAvaney of the music world. Yes. Although Bruce, I think, knows a bit more than I do. Average track length. The wild innocent, six minutes, forty-one seconds. Darkness, four minutes, seventeen. There's a big difference there. Two thousand five hundred and twenty-nine words in the wild innocent lyrics. Two thousand one hundred and forty-seven on darkness. Average, three hundred and sixty words for each song. On the wild innocent, two hundred and fourteen words on darkness. You really need to get more sleep at night, Jeff. Where I want to get to the crux of this show, I, by my count, there are twenty-seven characters actually named on the wild innocent near strict shuffles. Yes. From power thirteen, a little angel to Puerto Rican James, Spanish Johnny, weak knees, willy, big bones, Billy. There's a lot of great names on there. By my count, twenty-seven characters named. By the time of darkness, by my count, there are really only two characters named, obviously Candy and Sunny, his partner in racing in the street. Obviously, the dad gets a mention in factory and there is a song called "Adam raised a cane" but that's more of a biblical reference than characters as my take. Yes. I sort of feel that my take on it in some ways. Bruce was finding his way as an artist on the wild innocent. He was hiding behind these characters and that in a lot of ways, a lot of them are named, there are too many characters. Ram Shackle was a good word from our buddy but I just sort of feel it was a bit indulgent, a bit all over the shop and we didn't really get to know those characters even though there's too many of them. I think for the darkness album that Bruce really moved to a first person honesty, I was going to come to that. And I think there's so much about that. You know, starting with Badlands, I want to go out tonight. I want to find out what I got. He's not hiding behind those characters anymore. And I think even the words of Bruce really summed that up and is more articulate than I am. He said, "I have to infuse the music with my own hopes and fears. If you don't do that, your characters ring hollow and you're left with rhetoric, words without meaning." And by the end of darkness, I've found my adult voice. So I guess I am being quite critical of the wild, the innocent there. But I just feel it is all over the shop and that there is a more direct honesty about those characters. There are still characters on darkness but they're not referred to by name. Where I guess I take objection to that notion is that would be to imply that any storyteller who is not telling something that comes from their own heart or from their own experience is essentially being dishonest. I guess a lot of songwriters maybe like the likes of Bob Dylan Van Morrison. And let's take that greatest of stand back observation storytellers Mr. Brian Wilson. Never surf the day in his life. But they're all standing back as observers. Certainly two of the greatest, but they'd follow along with your notion about liking of first person storytelling. On the wild, innocent, these streets shuffle, two of the greatest, the two greatest songs on the album. Indeed, I would venture to say his two greatest songs ever, Rosalita and Sandy are both first person. And I tell you what, if Bruce is not being honest, if he's just making Sandy up, if he's making the story up of Sandy in, not to mention Rosalita, I'll eat my hat. But Rosalita, Sandy has, it's pure, simple, that last line of the song, oh no, I'm close to the last line of the song. Love me tonight and I promise I'll love you forever. That's from the heart, that's not someone who's just, oh yeah, what would it be like if I was in that person's shoes? That was, someone must have broken his heart, I think. I cannot disagree at all with that. That's one of my all time favourite springsteen lyrics, what an incredible line. And so, yeah, don't get me wrong, I'm not accusing Bruce of dishonesty. But I am saying that I just feel he was just trying to find his way as an artist. And I reckon that comes across on the wild, the innocent. It was still early days for him as a writer and in a lot of ways he needed an editor. And I mean that by saying he needed the self editor that he discovered with born to run and then certainly the darkness record. There are too many words on the wild, the innocent. And I love words, that's my stocking trade that I relate to words better than music and I struggle to describe music. And there's some great lyrics on the wild, the innocent. But I just find it's too indulgent, it's too all over the shop. Even the title has too many words, nine words a while, the innocent. And the eastern chapel. Six words for darkness on the edge of tangent. There's still more than the average rock album, I mean days of innocence by moving pictures, only three words. East by cultures or one word, but still Bruce is still going for six words. In excess kick, it doesn't get simpler. It doesn't. Yeah, so don't get me wrong, it is a ridiculous thing to bring music down to a number's stats debate. That's not what I'm trying to do, but I am trying to illustrate a point. There's too much on the wild, the innocent. It's too much of a trip and I think he became way more focused with born to run and then on darkness, which as I said is my favourite rock record of all time. It was focused and he had found his adult voice, he'd grown up creatively as an artist and really realised his vision. Look, I'll say for the very same reasons that you've nominated why you think darkness on the edge of town is a greater album than the wild innocent. I'd say for exactly the same reasons why I like the wild innocent and the eastern chapel, I like it because it has too many words. If you would read some of the poetry of Nick Cave or indeed some of his song lyrics, no one's gone and accused him of going over the top with too many words and really often that is what he does. I can see why because in the early songs it's maybe hard to follow where Bruce's narrative is going, darkness on the edge of town, there's less of that doubt. But I guess I like the challenge of trying to be able to work out where's he going with this and maybe each time I listen to it, I might come with something a little bit different. But the two songs that I've mentioned, which possibly I'm adventuring into your territory here, that I think are the greatest Sandy and Rosalita do sort of venture into that more straight ahead narrative and are less worthy and maybe that's why you consider them as well to be two of the great Springsteen songs. But I would say certainly while the innocent shows maybe that Bruce was sort of following what was interesting to him at the time musically. So, you know, hence the bit of funk while Billy's circus story sounds like something that he just might have had a bit of affection for as something of a lark, a bit of music hall there and using the circus as a metaphor for New Jersey life. Or maybe it was just a circus story, I don't know. And it does have that great circus feel to the record, and I know you love jazz music more than I do, and it has that sort of jazzy indulgence to it as well, which is a great thing, there are some glorious moments. I have been critical, don't get me wrong, the while the innocent is a great record, I don't think it's as great as darkness. But there is sort of, there is an improvisational feel to the record which certainly comes out there on the live, certainly comes out in the live in the live albums. And I guess bring it to another point, or maybe an extension at the same point, I was speaking with once again my friend Jeff who I read his email earlier on. And I think he actually travelled overseas to see Bruce, I think, do the last concert at where was it in New York that had the wrecking ball go through it. Jeff, when you listen to this you call me up and you can tell me anyway, but there was a big stadium, that was going to hit the wrecking ball and Bruce was going to perform the last three or four nights there before it was going to be knocked down. And he came back and he said, "Look you know what, if I ever have to hear bad lambs, if I ever have to hear factory again, you know, just really how many times can the man do the same song the same way?" And yet because of the improvisational feel, I feel that like listening to the bootlegs that we've heard of the early material, that there's always something fresh and different about it. And another little story about Bruce's last tour here in 2003, you know, you and I knew pretty much what he was going to be playing, he was going to be a lot of slice of the rising and, you know, making material from darkness onwards and he was really with a token born to run. But when he was in Sydney and he performed at the SCG, there were a lot of technical problems, there was sounds, it's an infamous show in the Springsteen world because the power blacked out. And it happened I think about three times, so Bruce felt on a band to play longer once the power came on and he thought, "I'd better give these people something special. "What did he do, Jeff? It wasn't Badlands, it was Rosalita, it was Rosalita. "Which is it like the innocent and the extreme shuffle?" I think, and I've got a friend in the States had gone and put together a compilation of Bruce TV appearances. And about the time of the rising coming out, he was going on, you know, Conan O'Brien and David Letterman and all these shows and performing rising songs. Which one of the late night shows, I can't remember, which one was the one that probably Max Weinberg, who did he play on? He's Conan. There was Conan, okay, so he goes on to Conan's show and he only does two songs. What does he do? Kitty's back, the one show, I'll do something special for Max's boss. Max's current boss, I'll play Kitty's back and then he plays Santa Claus's coming to town. No mention of the rising. What's a special thing? It's almost like I think Bruce probably figures all that, that's in my past, I've gone on for. But you know what, once in a while, Jesus is fun to come back to what I felt excited about at the very beginning. So I guess there's really, if I'm going to check it out of this, it will come down a personal, it looks like that's where Bruce is gone. I think what we'll do now, we'll take another break and then when we come back, we'll wrap this up by sort of maybe talking about Bruce's just touching on where Bruce went after darkness and stylistically how he has he gone any further, has he changed? We'll talk about it in a couple of minutes, we'll play it a little bit more, Bruce for you. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] Welcome back to the last part of this first podcast of Love That Album/I'm in Love With That Song. As I said, I'll work out a title for it, you'll certainly know by the time you've downloaded and listened to this. And I'm here with Melbourne music journalist, Jeff Jenkins, renowned Bruce Springsteen fan. And Jeff, I wanted to ask you, following the release and the heyday of Darkness on the Edge of Town with Bruce's subsequent albums, things like The River and then the Very Sombra, Nebraska and the huge multi-billion, every man and his dog jumping on the bandwagon successive born in the USA plus whatever, plus the albums that came after that. Where do you see Bruce's progression has gone? Do you think he actually has progressed? Do you think stylistically he's tried new things? Do you think he's developed better as a songwriter? Yeah, I think it's fascinating and certainly focusing today because I'm such a huge fan of that record. The Darkness record is such an overlooked album because particularly in Australia, it doesn't have a radio legacy because it didn't have big hits, even though they're classics. Was it a single that came off that off? Yeah, good question. There were singles, I'm sure, and they should be all over classic rock radio, but they're kind of not. Obviously, you know, you're still here born to run all the time and you're still here the river all the time. For me though, that album sandwiched in between is the classic rock record that should be, you know, prove it all night, the promised land. The title track, those songs, should be all over the rock radio, still. It's kind of not. So that's why I was really pleased with the re-release and, you know, the re-package of all that. It gave an album prominence that always should have had that prominence on the radio. Then obviously the river, it is that sprawling album which, and again, I could go into those numbers and those stats that I won't. But making my point with the Wild The Innocent, I just felt, yeah, an artist still finding his way that vision was realized and born to run. Darkness, what a great rock record. And then he was allowed and he wanted to be indulgent again and be kind of all over the shop. But again, it's fully kind of realized and focused and I think he'd grown up as that artist. And then obviously finding his way to Nebraska because there's that great line at the end of Wild Billie, all aboard. Nebraska is the next stop. Of course it wasn't the next stop, but it was a stop a little bit down the line. And what an incredible record that is and just in terms of a brutally honest, stark record. And then of course the mega stardom with Born in the USA where a lot of people got on board with Springsteen. Probably not a record that you would put up there with Darkness and Born to Run and the River and the Wild The Innocent. It's probably not as strong, but what an incredible record, a stadium rock record, still with incredibly powerful moments and great songs. Then I think one of the greatest Springsteen albums of all time. He kind of, you know, sidelined, didn't sack at that point or, you know, that he's ever sacked them. But sidelined the E Street Band and made such an incredibly personal reflective record in Tunnel of Love. Which I loved that was a great one of the greatest records of all time. And again, probably unfairly overlooked as well because, you know, it wasn't born in the USA. Part two was a very different part of the journey. And then of course doing the two albums at the one time, they looked upon quite sort of badly in lots of ways. I, and maybe a lot of people say it would be much better if it was just a one record. You had it done the one record, but I sort of go through and go, well, what songs would you leave off? And I'm sure people would leave off different songs, but I think overall they're really good songs. They're not, again, are the liberal, you know, Rosa Leader or Darkness on the Edge Down or any of those songs. But they're still good records. And again, I think Bruce was trying to find his way and reinvent himself as an artist because he had the mega success. And then it was like, what will happen if I play with other people, if I don't play with the E Street Band? Probably some of them did have, they did have Max on a cover track. Yes. He did have the professor on a bunch of tracks. So he hadn't completely dismissed himself. No, not at that point. But then certainly for human touch and Lucky Town, he had, you know, decided to play with other people. Which was obviously incredibly upsetting for members of the E Street Band because they were like, hey, what are we going to do? So it was inevitable that the reunion would happen a couple of tracks on the greatest hits album and then other albums, you know, since then. But I think Bruce needed to do that. He needed to go off and play with other people and then rediscover, you know, his love for the E Street Band. So it's been an interesting journey for someone to go to Mega Star and to be as big as any rock star has ever been, really, on the planet. The born in USA time and then the live, you know, collection as well. To then, where do you go to from there? And I think he has made, you know, really good records. I think the working on a dream record is really good. Not everyone agrees with that. I think Magic is an overlooked record. Magic's a great album. You know, a great rock record. The band sounds great. Bruce sounds great. He's still got stuff to say. So I think this journey is continuing. It's going to be interesting to see, you know, where the buddy Jeff said, where does the band go now without Clarence? Is there an E Street Band without Clarence? I think there is. I think there is. We should also mention, unfortunately, this is not the first member of the E Street Band that Bruce has lost to death. It was about a year and a half ago, a year ago that Danny Federici, who, I guess it could be fairly argued that Danny wasn't as integral to the overall sound as someone like Clarence was. But then again, Clarence himself hadn't really made much of a musical contribution in a long time. And certainly having an organ sound as well as a piano sound. And we should make mention of the great... Professor? The great Professor Roy Bitten. And what have you got? Now you see him, now you don't. Danny Federici on the organ. We've sort of overlooked the other members of the band. Gary W. Talant on the bass has certainly been a rock solid performance. And I think he's been within pretty much from the word "dot" hasn't he? Yep, and of course little Stephen, and then left for a while and then came back. And there was an incredible part of that band and many other bands. So it's an incredible band and should never sort of overlook that. And it's wonderful because I think every Springsteen fan was hoping for that reunion. And it was great that it happened. And yet who knows where it will go to now. I would argue it's an interesting point you raised about the reunion. So I guess the reunion first came up as a result of a couple of new songs that appeared on what was then the Bruce Springsteen greatest hits album. There's I think been one or two more since. And then the first proper reunion recording was the rising came out as I guess Bruce's over to. To New York City Post September 11th. And I would say musically it probably had more in common with human touch and lucky can. Neither which are albums that I particularly care for. Maybe they just required different musicians or different production. I think it sort of went a little bit over the top. And even the rising I can see has some great songs on it. But there's maybe an over-reliance on keyboards that aren't piano or art. Ham and organ it's maybe too much synthesised which maybe started to creep in with Born in the USA. He worked it to good effect on something like Tunnel of Love. But once again it over took on albums like The Ghost of Tom Joe and maybe a bit too much on Devil's and Dust. His other sort of solo no E Street band. No other band type records made it apart from one or two musicians on a couple of checks. But yeah I guess that rising album still sounded a bit more like a bunch of session players rather than the E Street band. And whilst I would agree that magic doesn't sound like the E Street band of Darkness or the 70's. But it sounds like a band album. It doesn't sound like Bruce and session players whereas to me the rising does. I mean where do you see that dude? Totally agree. Magic really overlooked records. So I think people should really seek out that to hear a modern Springsteen record that is really really good. Alright well thanks very much Jeff for taking part in this inaugural episode. Thanks most. Some day we'll look back on this and we'll all seem funny. What a great lyric. But now your puppet's mad and your mama's sad and the puppet's using those I have no money. And very first line on the Wild E innocent to finish to go back to the start. Sparks fly on E Street. I don't reckon there are enough sparks on the Wild E innocent. Oh yeah didn't get that in as a cheap shot. It's all there on Darkness on the edge of town. Bruce's absolute classic rock record. Genuine tension. Genuine drama. Genuine anger. And I feel that the Wild E innocent. Great record but not as great as Darkness on the edge of town. You know I'll let you get the last critical word in on that Jeff. What about you listeners out there if you feel something either way about these albums you might say? I think Bruce is a crock of shit and why don't you go listen to some Dr. Dre. You feel free to go and write me that. I won't necessarily agree with you but you feel the need to write. You can write to me at our kitchen or one word no dashes or anything like that. Our kitchen at yahoo.com.au. I look forward to any feedback that you might want to put forward. I'll see if I can find some way to put that on the blog site. Put a feedback thing on the blog site. I think actually they might already be. My blog site in case you've had an established process on iTunes is lovethatalbum.blogspot.com. So love that album is all one word no dashes no underscores. Lovethatalbum.blogspot.com. I intend to record one of these podcasts at least I'd say once a month. And put in a few written articles in the interim as time allows. So not sure what next month's album is going to be or who my co-host will be but I hope I can know. And you do come back for a rematch on another album. Let's do it again though. Alright thanks very much everyone for listening. Thanks very much Jeff. Cheers.
A debate between Maurice and Melbourne music Journalist Jeff Jenkins on one of life's more important issues: Which is the better Bruce Springsteen album? The Wild and the Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle or Darkness On The Edge of Town.
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