Clearly the best live performer because he provides his fans with a fantastic three to four hour concert with high energy from start to finish. The best!

...there's a similar vibe between early springsteen and the alarm which i'd never recognised before...

I find this song annoying.

skooney wrote:

Even if you didn't grow up there, the song paints the picture very vividly. That is why his early work is so amazing.

Overrated. Yeah, I said it. I'll say it again, too.

Listened to too much Bruce in high school. I still haven't gotten over it enough to listen to any more.

skooney wrote:

True, true. I spent the summer after my high school graduation in Wildwood NJ, working on the boards, when this album was out. Kept the thing spinning until the needle wore through the grooves! It was like we were living the songs on the album. Unfortunately, IMHO, Springsteen never again achieved the consistent passion and poignancy of effort in his later works. I have a feeling that the Wild & the Innocent and the Ashbury Park albums were about events and people that he knew on a very immediate basis, prior to becoming a mega-star with the consequent experiential isolation from the rest of us slobs.

pannaramma wrote:
That's what music can do. But what had you been up to? Racing in the streets?

This came out while I was recovering from a pretty nasty accident. You'd think it would bring back bad memories but this album made me feel like I might come back to life. I remember bopping around my parent's kitchen high on percocet and smoking Marlboros with my broken jaws wired shut - front teeth missing.

MM13 wrote:

I agree totally. I don't like all his stuff, but I saw him do this in a small venue in Charlotte in late '76 or early '77. The place had never had a rocker before. We were standing in the seats and dancing in the aisles. Great show!

Anyone who ever saw him playing this song live, would instantly reward it with a 9, like I did.
Sweat and tears, and that was just from the audience's point of view

Hannio wrote:


I don't agree at all. 7 is the magic number showing general enthusiasm around here. Most of the songs Bill plays are in the 7 range, showing he knows what we his listening audience likes to hear.

If you grew up in the NY NJ metro area during the 60s 70s you would understand this song. I'm not a fanatic Springsteen fan, but this album and particularly this song captures the feeling and the energy of that time and place. For me it is an amazing piece of music.

Paul_in_Australia wrote:

Not innovative, soulful, and meaningful like T-Rex and Jeepster, huh?

aronson wrote:
That boy ain't right

Now, I know your mama, she don't like me, 'cause I play in a rock and roll band
And I know your daddy, he don't dig me, but he never did understand

Odyzzeuz wrote:
you said it perfectly, I just don't get it...

Awful. The single most overrated performer in the universe.

chiggins wrote:

7.3 is pretty lackluster around here.

Hate is such a strong word. Is it really applicable to a musician you've probably never met?

Paul_in_Australia wrote:

You've got to be KIDDING? These people sound like they're playing like their lives depended on it!!

The comments are full of hate... but the ratings know the truth.

rrowdies wrote:

It was in the 80s, too, when I saw him.

Bruce at his finest. In the seventies this was a concert showstopper.

Rock by numbers. Any more formulaic and it would be categorised under 'algebra'. Where's the soul?

aronson wrote:

i also have some hours on my ears, and though he doesn't always hit the mark and some of his later stuff was maybe a tad too commercial, bruce IS the real deal (to all the purists out there, the earlier albums are the purist, but alot of his later stuff has quite a few gems as well)

At least the 7.3 belies the hate in the postings. Geez, you guys.

robspeds wrote:

LOL! I practically grew up alongside Bruce. I have enough hours on these ears to confidently let you in on a secret... Bruce is a hack.

robspeds wrote:

Sorry to disappoint you, but I've hated Bob Dylan since I first heard "Quinn the Eskimo" on my AM transistor radio.

Bruce was a (dis)taste I acquired later, but that's just because he's younger.