awesome

An awesome collection of Live Boss at his best. The Promised Land, Darlington County, Bobby Jean, BTR, Racing, Darkness. The covers on this album are awesome as well: Jersey Girl, This land is your land, War. Also on this album are hits Bruce penned for others such as Because the night( Patti Smyth) and Fire( Pointer Sisters).

Buy this, you won't be dissapointed.

Bruce needs to do a "bootleg series" like Dylan..

There's only way to listen to Springsteen, and that's seeing him in concert. This box set does not do his shows justice, and it's not that the music isn't good on here, because it definitely is.



1975-1985 is kind of misleading, as one song is from '75, but a fair amount of the "early" material are from 1978 and 1980. We hear him playing piano to "Thunder Road" then revving up into "Adam Raised a Cain". Up to "Raise Your Hand" it has the sound of an intimate venue.



From "Hungry Heart" to "Racing in the Street" we can tell he's moved into bigger digs and has an "arena sound" to it, covering "Darkness" and "The River" tours... From "This Land Is Your Land" to "Reason to Believe" Bruce does an acoustic set highlighting the "Nebraska" era.



And then we're in even bigger digs, stadiums, starting out with "Born in the USA" and ending not with a rocker, but the melodic singalong Tom Waits' "Jersey Girl" that Bruce makes into his own.



Considering the albums that would come after, this one was somewhat of a farewell to an era, going from clubs to stadiums... Even though he'd tour with the E Street Band for "Tunnel of Love", this hinted that he was wrapping something up at the time as well as wanting to give something back to the fans after a hugely successful tour.



But anyone who has heard the concert bootlegs and seen video footage over the years can attest, this is just a small piece of what he's done live and leaves you wanting much more. The earliest shows had a frantic almost funky energy to them, and had done a lot of radio concerts through the 1970s and by the time he toured for "Born in the USA" had used the best recording equipment (an SACD of one of the Born in the USA shows would be awesome). Each studio album is worthy of having a "Legacy Edition" with extra studio and live cuts.



But I also like the idea of Springsteen putting out complete shows (or a compilation of the best live cuts from each tour, which would include a huge amount of cover songs) from over the years either as one box set or limited releases. I know I'd love to hear more of the acoustic shows as well as how he was able to do those 4 hour shows and make it through in one piece. If you've ever seen "Quarter To Three" from the "No Nukes" movie or have heard the extended jam on "E Street Shuffle" from one of the radio shows, that's something that doesn't come across in the box set.



He seems to be comfortable with putting home videos out, considering he put out not 1 but two complete performances in the past few years surrounding the "Rising" tour as well as "Live in New York" on CD, also worth picking up to hear him in concert.



Hopefully the Boss will deliver the goods one of these days. This is an appetizer that'll whet your appetite in the meantime.

Next Best Thing To Seeing Him Live

This box set is awesome!! Seeing Springsteen live comes close to a religous experience. While many reviewers here say this set doesn't to him justice it's hard to capture all the energy and excitement of a live show on disc but this comes close. Disc 2 is probably my favorite of the three. "Nebraska" and "Reason To Live" come across really well on here. Well worth the price.