Springsteen Plays Entire Albums Live

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band just played five spectactular shows to bring the wrecking ball down on Giants Stadium. For the occasion, Bruce performed a new ceremonial song each night, Wrecking Ball. A video of the complete song can be accessed on brucespringsteen.net.

Following the experience of playing complete albums in Chicago, East Rutherford, and Philadelphia, Bruce Springsteen has announced that he and the E Street Band will play complete albums in a number of upcoming concerts:

St. Louis: Born To Run
Kansas City: Born In The USA
Washington, D.C.: Born To Run
Charlotte: Born To Run
Cleveland: Born To Run
Detroit: Born To Run
Milwaukee: Born to Run
Nashville: Born To Run
Baltimore: Born To Run

There’s still no definitive word on whether this tour will be making it to Australia.

620 W. Surf – Michael McDermott

620 W. Surf was the 1991 debut album from Chicago based Irish-American singer songwriter Michael McDermott and it quickly attracted comparisons with Bruce Springsteen and John Mellencamp.

It was an ambitious and sprawling album that showed that Mc Dermott had the potential to match those artists he was being compared to.

The albums centrepiece is the rambling Your Silence I Will Always Admire For Its Being, which clocks in at almost 10 minutes. It’s a great song but one that probably needed to be on a third album – songs like this are a big challenge for a new audience!

The thing that Mc Dermott had most in common with Springsteen on debut was the sheer torrent of words he provides on his debut album. Like Springsteen’s Greetings From Asbury Park NJ, it was like Mc Dermott had been stockpiling these words for years of playing Chicago coffee houses and he was going to get as many of them out on this debut album as he could – just in case he never got the chance to do it again.

Mostly they were an interesting bunch of words, arranged into appropriate groups and in a good order – these ones made for things called “songs”. Every now and then they just sound like a bunch of words that come together more for effect than meaning.

But most of the time the songs work well – signalling Mc Dermott as a talent to be reckoned with.

Mc Dermott certainly had a lot of his Catholic upbringing informing some of these songs – the religious references are frequent and powerful and the album shows a young artist prematurely dealing with the issues of redemption and guilt.

He’s got an extremely appealing voice – a little ‘country’ in parts but  always easy to listen to. In 1991 McDermott sounded as young as he was – but he came across as an older restless soul residing in a young life.

Life caught up with McDermott pretty quickly – the standard rock demons of drink and drugs became McDermott’s poison and although he continued to record and release albums such as Gethsemane and a self titled effort he was never destined to reach the heights of his contemporaries.

McDermott did reach rock bottom a few years ago with a cocaine arrest and subsequent night in prison but he has rebounded well in the last few years and is recording and performing regularly again.

There was a few hit single opportunities on this album – most notably A Wall I Must Climb (which was a bit of a hit), the Mellencamp–like Shadow Of The Capitol and  Murder In the First Degree, which were catchy up tempo rock songs that should have found a place on radio back then.

The album was produced by Don Gehman (Mellencamp, REM) and benefited from a crack rhythm section of Denny Fongheiser (drums) and John K (Jack) Pierce (bass) who lift even the most wordy songs into a nice groove.

I’m glad Michael McDermott is still playing and still has a sizeable fan base . Although he never reached the heights that this album suggested he might he was much too good to disappear completely.

All Star Pete Seeger Celebration

There’s some shows that could only happen in New York. One such show is the upcoming one-off concert celebrating legendary folksinger Pete Seeger’s 90th Birthday on May 3rd at Madison Square Garden.

The concert will feature performances from over 40 artists spanning musical
genres and generations, including John Mellencamp, Joan Baez, Ben Harper, Ani DiFranco, Dave Matthews, Michael Franti, Emmylou Harris, Juanes, Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, Bruce Springsteen, Taj Mahal, Eddie Vedder, and Keller Williams.

Called The Clearwater Concert: Creating the Next Generation of Environmental Leaders, the event will benefit and raise awareness for Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, a Seeger-founded environmental organization with the mission to preserve and protect the Hudson River through inspiration, education, and action.

Nearing 90, Pete Seeger remains the foremost voice in American folk music and political activism. A contemporary of  Woody Guthrie, he was a member of the controversial 1940s folk group The Weavers, of “Goodnight Irene” fame and other classics including “On Top of Old Smokey” and “Wimoweh.” His continuing solo career has been marked by such famous songs as “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?” and “Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is A Season).

Springsteen Hall Of Fame Exhibition

In case you hadn’t realised the US  Rock and Roll Hall of Fame actually exists. It’s not just a theoretical “Hall Of Fame like the ARIA Hall Of Fame. The US version is in Cleveland and attached to it is a museum that holds themed exhibitions.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum will unveil its latest exhibit, ‘From Asbury Park to the Promised Land: The Life and Music of Bruce Springsteen’ on Wednesday 1st April during the 2009 Induction Ceremony week of events. This will be the first major artifact-driven exhibit about Springsteen’s career. The exhibit will run until Spring, 2010.

‘From Asbury Park to the Promised Land’ will be a comprehensive look at Springsteen’s music, from such early bands as Child, the Castiles and Steel Mill through his work with the E Street Band and as a solo artist.

The exhibit will include several of Springsteen’s guitars, including the Fender Esquire that is on the cover of Born to Run. It will also include the outfit he wore on the cover of Born in the U.S.A., as well as numerous handwritten lyric manuscripts, posters and handbills from all phases of his career, and various awards and honors. In addition, the exhibit will include Springsteen’s 1960 Chevrolet Corvette, which he purchased after the success of Born to Run.

Bruce Springsteen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is the nonprofit organization that exists to educate visitors, fans and scholars from around the world about the history and continuing significance of rock and roll music. It carries out this mission both through its operation of a world-class museum that collects, preserves, exhibits and interprets this art form and through its library and archives as well as its educational programs.

Springsteen At Glastonbury

The big names continue to be added to the big international festivals with the latest being Bruce Springsteen who will headline Britain’s Glastonbury this year.

Springsteen and the E Street Band will headline the Saturday night of the annual three-day festival, founder Michael Eavis announced.

“He’s one of the all-time rock legends and I’m confident that this will be one of our best shows ever,” said Eavis.

No other headliner has yet to be confirmed but Neil Young and Blur are rumoured to be topping the bill on the other two days.

It’s probably too late to think about attending though. Tickets for the event have sold out (that’s correct they sell out before the line-up is announced!)

The Glastonbury show is a part of Springsteen’s world tour.

News On Springsteen Tour

With the release of his new album Working On A Dream (which will be reviewed on this site once the weather cools down enough to concentrate) Bruce Springsteen has announced another series of concert dates.

And in response to the rumours that there could be a late summer Australian Tour we can say….there is absolutely no Australian dates listed. Oh well. Looks like a business trip to Europe in winter may be in order. Or maybe a visit to the US in Autumn.

The just announced dates with on sale dates following are:

Apr 1 San Jose, CA HP Pavilion at San Jose Feb 2
Apr 3 Glendale, CA Jobing.com Center Feb 2
Apr 5 Austin, TX Frank Erwin Center Feb 7
Apr 7 Tulsa, OK BOK Center Feb 7
Apr 8 Houston, TX Toyota Center Feb 7
Apr 10 Denver, CO Pepsi Arena Feb 2
Apr 15 Los Angeles, CA LA Memorial Sports Arena Feb 2
Apr 21 Boston, MA TD Banknorth Garden Feb 2
Apr 22 Boston, MA TD Banknorth Garden Feb 2
Apr 24 Hartford, CT XL Center Feb 2
Apr 26 Atlanta, GA Philips Arena Feb 2
Apr 28 Philadelphia, PA Wachovia Spectrum Feb 2
Apr 29 Philadelphia, PA Wachovia Spectrum Feb 2

May 2 Greensboro, NC Greensboro Coliseum Feb 6
May 4 Hempstead, NY Nassau Veterans Mem. Col. Feb 2
May 5 Charlottesville, VA John Paul Jones Arena Feb 2
May 7 Toronto, ONT Air Canada Centre Feb 6
May 8 University Park, PA Bryce Jordan Center Feb 2
May 11 St. Paul, MN Xcel Energy Center Feb 2
May 12 Chicago, IL United Center Feb 2
May 14 Albany, NY Times Union Center Feb 2
May 15 Hershey, PA Hersheypark Stadium Feb 2
May 18 Washington, DC Verizon Center Feb 2
May 19 Pittsburgh, PA Mellon Arena Feb 2
May 21 E. Rutherford, NJ Izod Center Feb 2
May 23 E. Rutherford, NJ Izod Center Feb 2
May 30 Landgraaf, Holland Pink Pop Festival March 7

June 2 Tampere, Finland Ratinan Stadion ON SALE
June 4 Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm Stadium SOLD OUT
June 5 Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm Stadium SOLD OUT
June 7 Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm Stadium SOLD OUT
June 9 Bergen, Norway Koengen SOLD OUT
June 10 Bergen, Norway Koengen SOLD OUT
July 2 Munich, Germany Olympiastadion ON SALE NOW
July 3 Frankfurt, Germany Commerzbank Arena ON SALE NOW
July 5 Vienna, Austria Ernst Happel Stadion ON SALE NOW
July 8 Herning, Denmark Herning MCH ON SALE NOW
July 11 Dublin, Ireland RDS Jan 30
July 16 Carhaix, France Festival des Vielles Charrues Jan 30
July 19 Rome, Italy Stadio Olimpico ON SALE SOON
July 21 Turino, Italy Olimpico di Torino ON SALE SOON
July 23 Udine, Italy Stadio Friuli ON SALE SOON
July 26 Bilbao, Spain San Mames Stadium ON SALE SOON
July 28 Benidorm, Spain Estadio Municipal de Foietes ON SALE SOON
July 30 Sevilla, Spain La Cartuja Olympic Stadium ON SALE SOON

Aug 1 Valladolid, Spain Estadio Jose Zorrilla ON SALE SOON
Aug 2 Santiago, Spain Monte Del Gozo ON SALE SOON

The Gaslight Anthem

All the early signs were there to suggest that I was going to like this band.

Their album The 59 Sound starts with the sound of a needle catching on a vinyl album before launching into Great Expectations, a frantic little rock n’ roll song laden with jangling guitars and lyrics about a girl named Mary, listening to the radio and cars as a metaphor for escape. Only calling the song Thunder Road would have been more  of an obvious enticement to this particular audience member.

Not surprising this four piece are from Jersey and the influences that are immediately apparent are a rather comforting collection.

Much has been made of the Springsteen influence and, yes, it is undeniable all the way through to a couple of direct lyrical references and quite a few more that closely resemble some thing you feel like you might have heard before.

“I always dreamed of classic cars and movie scenes/ And trying to find some way to be redeemed” – Old White Lincoln.

But it would be lazy to simply mark them down as Springsteen clones. For a start their music is pretty much all guitar bass and drums, there’s certainly none of the instrumental textures found in the E Street armoury.

I think it’s a fair bet to suggest that there are a few other albums in these guys collective record collection – The Replacements, The Smithereens, Wire Train, Soul Asylum, Semisonic, early Cure and The Caulfields probably all got some airplay in New Brunswick, New Jersey bedrooms as these guys were growing up,

Not that there’s anything wrong with any of that.

Apparently the label that releases this, the bands second album, is primarily a punk label and there’s just a hint of that aesthetic in these guys but they are clearly a long way removed from being a punk band.

Where the Springsteen influence is most noticeable and most welcome is in the lyrics written by lead singer Brian Fallon. There are plenty of familiar Jersey shore references and they could easily be regarded as “Jersey clichés” if it wasn’t for the fact that now – just as they were when Springsteen wrote about them – an accurate word picture of the place. It’s a unique place on the American East Coast landscape and it simply provides great fodder for rock n’ roll. Every rock geek needs to make that pilgrimage at least once.

Brian Fallon is a hopeless romantic and a authentic disciple of rock n’ roll as a redemptive force and while that may seem a little idealistic to anyone over 25 and over jaded, its hard to avoid finding yourself cheering for Fallon and his cast of lost souls, lonely hearts and true believers. Sure, they are going to find out the truth eventually but I’m happy to let them dream a while.

I’m going to be interested to see where The Gaslight Anthem story leads. At this point there is a slight formula at work in their songs and to fulfil their potential they are going to have to find a few more musical dimensions, but the potential is there as displayed by the more subdued Here’s Looking At You Kid.

Along with The Hold Steady, The Gaslight Anthem represent a new strain of rock n’ roll bands that fans of older rock n’ roll bands can adopt without feeling old. And that has to be a good thing right?

Springsteen Wins Golden Globe For The Wrestler

Following our December post about the Bruce Springsteen song The Wrestler featuring on the new Mickey Rourke film of the same name we can now report that the song has been awarded a Golden Globe. That’s the beauty about a website – you just change a few words and you can update the news without having to print another newspaper.

As predicted the film has seen a rebirth of Rourke’s career. he too collected a Golden Globe today for best actor. Interestingly along with Springsteen, Rourke also thanked Axl Rose for his help in getting the film made.

The Wrestler is listed as a bonus track on Springsteen’s  album Waiting On A Dream.

Director Darren Aronofsky presents a powerful portrait of a battered dreamer, who despite himself and the odds stacked against him, lives to be a hero once again in the only place he considers home inside the ring.

And its seems that Rourke himself was responsible for pitching the film to Springsteen.

“I wrote Bruce a letter, because we’ve known each other over twenty years, and he knows what I used to be, or whatever. Where I went. What I’d been reduced to. I told him how I felt lucky now and didn’t have to end up being this guy, being Randy (character from The Wrestler). A while later, I got a call in the middle of the night: he said he’d written a little song, for nothing. It’s fucking beautiful, right? I was honoured he took the time, because he’s a busy cat. I mean, I’m so goddamn proud of this magical movie and to have Bruce’s input. ain’t nobody in Hollywood with all their millions can just ring the man and he’ll do a song,
y’know?”

Have a look at the trailer for the film here:

http://tk1.publicaster.com/DC/ctr.aspx?6C6164=34363838333831&736272=205232&747970=7478&66=30

Willie De Ville

Willie De Ville was one of the names that was essential to the legend of CBGBs but in truth he had little in common with the likes of The Ramones, Blondie or Television. But I suppose being mis-categorised is nothing new for an artist that Glenn A Baker described as “chronically misunderstood”.

Initially recording under the band name Mink De Ville the band created music that owed more to Spanish Harlem than to the Lower East Side. So much so that one of their most successful songs was their version of the song Spanish Harlem which had been a hit for Ben E King, King Curtis and Aretha Franklin.

Whether recording as Mink De Ville or Willie DeVille, the artist born as Billy Borsay seemed to be channelling the streets of New York through his music – a rich blend of latin, r&b, salsa and swing that was unabashedly ‘urban’ long before that term came to mean what it does today.

But it was Willie’s voice that bought it all together – within one song he could be as tough and streetwise as a switchblade knife and as heartbreaking and romantic as a moonlit night. Willie was the real deal.

But he remained difficult to pigeonhole – one critic described his album Le Chat Bleu as “an artful but unexpected melange of soulful struts and grand romantic ballads, eccentrically spiced with a cavorting cajun reel and an elegant doo wop tribute”. There’s more genres in that description than most artists master in a whole career.

Artists like Bruce Springsteen and Southside Johnny Lyon could be seen to draw on the stylings offered by Mink DeVille just as DeVille himself drew on similar influences such as Mitch Ryder and The Drifters. Much of  De Ville’s music was boardwalk music without the boardwalk.

The influence of Mink DeVille reached into Australia with artists such as Joe Camilleri and the Sports clearly being aware of his sound and style.

Mink De Ville’s early albums Cabretta, Return to Magenta, Le Chat Bleu, and Coup de Grace were produced by Jack Nitzsche – famed for his work with Phil Spector and later with Neil Young, Mick Jagger and Randy Newman amongst numerous others or Steve Douglas, another Phil Spector alumni.

Over the years DeVille went on to work with numerous iconic figures from Elvis Presley’s rhythm section to the Muscle Shoals horn section, to Mark Knofler to Chet Atkins – he was a singer than musicians loved to work with.

In 1987 Willie De Ville dropped the Mink De Ville band name and continued to record under his own name. The first album Miracle was produced by Knofler. Perhaps the song where his voice reached the widest audience was Storybook Love which was nominated for an Academy Award after it was featured in The Princess Bride.

Willie De Ville hasn’t really stopped recording and touring although he seems to have always been more popular in Europe than in his homeland.

The albums released under his own name are ;

* Miracle (Polydor), 1987
* Victory Mixture (Sky Ranch) 1990 (Orleans Records) 1990
* Backstreets of Desire (FNAC) 1992 (Rhino) 1994
* Willy DeVille Live (FNAC) 1994
* Big Easy Fantasy (New Rose) 1995
* Loup Garou (EastWest) 1995 (Discovery) 1996
* Horse of a Different Color (EastWest) 1999
* Acoustic Trio Live in Berlin (Eagle) 2003
* Crow Jane Alley (Eagle) 2004
* Pistola (Eagle), 2008

Willie De Ville continued to play in America and Europe until his death on August 7, 2009

Bruce Springsteen – New Album Out In January

Bruce Springsteen’s new album Working On A Dream has been set for January 27 release. Working On A Dream was recorded with the E Street Band and features twelve new Springsteen compositions plus two bonus tracks. It is the fourth collaboration between Springsteen and Brendan O’Brien, who produced and mixed the album.
‘Working on a Dream’ Song Titles:

1. Outlaw Pete
2. My Lucky Day
3. Working On a Dream
4. Queen of the Supermarket
5. What Love Can Do
6. This Life
7. Good Eye
8. Tomorrow Never Knows
9. Life Itself
10. Kingdom of Days
11. Surprise, Surprise
12. The Last Carnival

Bonus tracks:
The Wrestler
A Night with the Jersey Devil

On the Sony Music Australia website  Springsteen is quoted as saying, “Towards the end of recording ‘Magic,’ excited by the return to pop production sounds, I continued writing. When my friend producer Brendan O’Brien heard the new songs, he said, ‘Let’s keep going.’ Over the course of the next year, that’s just what we did, recording with the E Street Band during the breaks on last year’s tour. I hope ‘Working on a Dream’ has caught the energy of the band fresh off the road from some of the most exciting shows we’ve ever done. All the songs were written quickly, we usually used one of our first few takes, and we all had a blast making this one from beginning to end.”

‘Working on a Dream’ is Bruce Springsteen’s twenty-fourth album and was recorded and mixed at Southern Tracks in Atlanta, GA with additional recording in New York City, Los Angeles, and New Jersey.