re: Is Springsteen the ultimate “you had to be there” musician?

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if you dive deeper into his early work, there's some really good music there.

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His first two albums are really good. Way more stripped down…the whole Wall of Sound thing started with Born to Run. He would do stripped down stuff later too like Nebraska, Devils and Dust etc but that was more Americana and less rock & roll

Great songs from the first two:

It’s Hard to Be a Saint in the City
Lost in the Flood
Blinded by the Light (WAY different than the version Manfred Mann would release)
Kitty’s Back
Rosalita
Incident on 57th St
Growin Up

Tunnel of Love was my favorite post Born to Run album.

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if you dive deeper into his early work, there's some really good music there.

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Jungleland
Candy’s Room

He knocked out Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River, Nebraska, and Born in the U.S.A. all in a row. That's a hell of a run (though I can do without Nebraska, one of the most depressing albums I have ever heard). The River was the soundtrack to the Carter administration. I went to high school in the early 80s and was a rabid fan then.

I would treat his career the same way I treat R.E.M.'s. The first half- 1972 through 1985 brilliant. The second half-everything else, meh. (I simplify it a bit for R.E.M. 80s R.E.M. count me in, 90s R.E.M. count me out.)

Some actors you have to see in the theatre -- they just don't come across well on film.

Bruce Springsteen, along with the Rod Stewart-era Faces, made the term "bar band" not only respectable, but a term of pride.

The difference between them is that The Faces managed to capture much of that vibe with their records. Aside from BS's masterpiece "Rosalita" and a handful of other early tracks, he couldn't (wouldn't?) get that feeling in the studio. With Born To Run and producer/manager Jon Landau (a former rock critic) entering the picture, BS was emulating West Coast perfectionists like Phil Spector instead of Frank Guida (Gary US Bonds' producer) whose motto was get it recorded and get out.

By the time of Born In The USA BS albums were criminally overproduced, the laborious bombast matching the pompous lyrics. Too bad. Springsteen kept his rep as a great live performer, but unfortunately you can't really hear this in his studio records.

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if that makes sense.

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no.. explain..

Listening to Bobby Jean now... brilliant!

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Bruce is an exceptional lyracist and a great performer. A lot of his early stuff is just fantastic. He has this ability to paint a vivid picture with his words that feels real, like a painting you could just step right into and live.

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Yup. His earlier stuff (before he became a Limousine lib) was exactly as you described. His words and music pre-1981 -- but especially his earlier stuff -- was uniquely expressive and sincere, cutting to the heart.

Well stated critique.

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Then again, maybe he’s just really overrated.

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There are a couple of great songs in there, IMHO. Also, he had a great band. But, for my money, I also connected better with guys who came after, Bob Seger, John (Cougar) Mellencamp, Tom Petty, who all did that sort of thing, better, IMHO.

Even Billy Joel might be broadly in that same category (and had a helluva band, too) and had better songs during that era.

But, for folks who "got" Bruce, they were very devoted. Sort of like fans of The Clash (The only band that matters.).

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Those two particular albums are definitive Springsteen (imagine the younger "you" with your dreams and promises of life still left to experience.)

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Very well said. The transition from the outro of Incident on 57th Street directly into the opening of Rosalita is pure magic on vinyl.

I would include Darkness on the Edge of Town in the discussion. Granted, hearing Promised Land, Badlands and Prove it All Night as a 15 year old looking ahead to adulthood is probably why that album is so special to me. If you didn't have that experience, it definitely wouldn't have the same impact.

The concerts were high-energy marathons. It is also hard to overstate the impact of Clarence Clemons, especially on the live performances after BTR. He was an integral part of the stage theatrics and his powerful solos punctuated so many of the songs. He rivaled Bruce in terms of audience attention and enthusiasm.

I think that much of the negativity comes from people that disagree with the outspoken politics. I disagree with him on just about everything now...but that wasn't a big part of the early work, or at least it was much more subtle and nuanced, and it can't negate all of the great work. I also think that while he probably always skewed NE liberal, much of the political stuff has been deliberately emphasized to curry favor with the music press in an attempt to stay relevant and on the cover of magazines well into his 50's and 60's.