Okay, in actual fact the good news is that in celebration of the event, Springsteen just released this quite splendid outtake from the original album sessions. Probably wouldn't have fit in with the album as released, but it's a pretty cool song nonetheless.
I should add that I remember the aforementioned release day of BTR beyond vividly. It was around 4pm on a Friday, and a messenger from CBS Records dropped it off for me at the old Park Avenue offices of Stereo Review. It came in a soft cardboard gatefold cover (without a spine), and with the iconic photo of the Boss and the Big Man on the front, but with the title stuff (artist and album name) in a script typeface (like the above) rather than the familiar plain cap letters. And nothing else inside or on the back cover. The disc itself had a white label with no info on it at all, not even the album title.
Needless to say, I immediately played it through from start to finish and thoroughly kvelled. I thought it was the greatest thing I'd ever heard, and my opinion has not changed substantially since then.
I should also add that said copy of the album would fetch quite a pretty penny on the collector's market today, but needless to say I gave it away to somebody -- I forget who -- years ago.
Yes, I'm not just old, I'm an idiot. 😎😎
After one listen I think it's wonderful!
ReplyDeleteCaptain Al
I’m being a bit of a wise guy but if given the choice I would take this one track over all of Tracks 2.
ReplyDeleteCaptain Al
The weird review copy of BTR that I had and which I described above turns out to be rarer than I thought. Nobody has offered one like it for sale on eBay, and I can't find a single photo of it anywhere online.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteAbout 12 years ago, I bought a friend's record collection. Best collection I ever bought. 7000 records. A giant truck pulled up in front of my house and I had to figure out where to put 100 boxes. BUT...he was an industry guy and he had everything! EVERYTHING, including that early Born To Run. After weeks of going through every box, I couldn't find it. So I called him and asked, "Didn't you say the rare BTR with the script cover was in the collection?" (I had visions of a $2500 sale.) He said, "Oh, I decided to keep it!" Still, I was the King Of Vinyl for about two years with that collection.
DeleteYou can buy that BTR for $5000, if you want it.
https://www.discogs.com/release/8247820-Bruce-Springsteen-Born-To-Run
50 years, egg 🤔 I was 24, oh boy.
ReplyDeleteI was already a fan as owned Greetings from Asbury Park and The Wild, the Innocent ...
Despite those great introductions when I dropped the needle on that album I felt like the man in the chair in the Maxell Ad 😉
rob
Nicely put.😎
DeleteI remember you owning the album with that cover along with the giant poster of the album cover you had up on your wall.It was one of the coolest posters I ever saw on a wall! I can't believe I didn't try to talk you out of them.
ReplyDeleteI listened to the track again, it's still sounds great! The 1970's (plus 1980) were the magic Bruce years for me,
Captain Al
Fun song. I can see why they left it off of BTR, but it would have gone great on The River. Bruce's high register on this seems unusual on his studio records.
ReplyDeleteSetting aside my personal feelings about "the Butt", and doing my best to call balls & strikes, I have to say that, not only does the song not fit in with BTR, it's also not very good. Bruce has a deep vault, but I don't find this a gem. Frankly, to these ears it's kind of a mess. Thankfully, they didn't replace Meeting Across the River, which I like a lot, with this not fully realized outtake. It's been on bootlegs for decades.
ReplyDeleteAgree with Al, 1973-1980 were the Butt's best years. After that he became a real bummer. I mean, he's always been a cornball, but when he got going with the "downtrodden victims of a stacked-deck world" tunes, which only served as monuments to the "caring," "profound," "virtuous" image he was creating for himself out of conceit, I bailed.
Steve, I have that "script cover" advanced promo BTR. Got it from a radio station I was friendly with. Has full press kit. But mine has a gatefold. Think there's less than a thousand these. Got the original 1975 Roxy poster (not to be confused with zillions of reprints), the store display, foil BTR poster. tennis shoes hanging on the guitar neck promo, ugly-ass clouds poster with Landau hype quote etc. I gotta lotta Bruce shit from the the time I kinda liked him. Before Bruce and CBS tried to bankrupt and bury Andrea. “Bootleggers roll your tapes!” my ass. Several of these pieces are still hanging on the walls of my house despite my grudge. I may be a lapsed Bruce Tramp, but cool shit is cool shit.
VR
Steve, being in the biz and such, did you get freebies to go to the Bottom Line shows in 1975?
ReplyDeleteAt the 1975 Roxy shows there were a lot of "industry fucks," nothing personal (smile emoji). The reason I call them "industry fucks" is because that, in general, they blab and network during the show. Add cocaine and they don’t seem capable of shutting up and listening. Print guys are different than record biz types. Hillburn was a reverent listener and a really nice guy. At one of the 1975 shows, Sandy and I shared a table with Robert Hillburn and Van Dyke Parks (they both came alone). That was when the Roxy was more civilized and had tables and chairs. They both behaved like attentive listeners. Hillburn was jotting things down on a note pad. I always took a steno pad to shows to, at minimum, write down the setlist. Jim Washburn of the OC Register (OC Weekly/L.A. Times) gets music and lives it. The late Buddy Seigal (aka Buddy Blue of the Beat Farmers) was honest and gave people a fair shake. These guys listened studiously.
Sandy and I sat across the table from Buddy at an Alex Chilton show at the Coach House circa 1995. There were only a dozen people who showed up in a 400 seat club, He arrived about fifteen minutes before showtime. I recognized him as one of the Beat Farmers. We shared our nachos with him. Buddy explained to us that he was there to do a review of the show for the L.A. Times. He started picking our brains about Chilton. Turns out he never had heard a Chilton album past the Box Tops. I guess there's something to be said for approaching a review with a clean slate.
That Chilton show was one the best shows I've been to. Intimate as if being in a living room with friends. There was great interaction with the audience. After he did a few requests and was fumbling around a bit. I called out "Take It Off! in a sexy voice. He actually walked from the stage onto the top my table. He unbuttoned his trousers and let them drop a dangerous ways. I'll never forget that.
Later, Sandy, playing on one of his song titles, said "Tie me up and make me like it." His response was a sly "That wouldn't be too hard."
Thank God we taped it. Hard to fathom that this was 30 years ago. Time really does haul ass the younger you get.
VR