Bruce Springsteen - The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story

 So I've been waiting a bit to write about this one.  Favorite record by my favorite artist so as you can imagine I've been looking forward to this for a while.  A serious price tag is rewarded with one of the better box sets that I have seen.  3 CD's and 3DVD's in a replica of Bruce's notebook from the sessions is everything this type of release should be for the fan. 

CD1 is the remastered Darkness on the Edge of Town.  Sony has done a shit job with the original CD's and to date have only remastered Born to Run.  The sound quality is greatly improved, sort of like taking some ear plugs out.  There is a vibrancy missing from the original CD's, more in line with the original vinyl releases.

CD's 2 and 3 are The Promise which features 21 unreleased tracks from the era, many of which are making their first appearance on official releases.  It makes for a great listen but one that is very much different than Darkness.  I think Bruce releases the right album at the time.  With a little more space, Because the Night and the Promise would have fit, but most of the others are of a different sound altogether.  Some were recorded by Southside Johnny and the tracks have that 60's rockin' soul sound for the most part which sound far too "light" compared to what was released in 1978.  A great listen for sure, just don"t compare the two.

DVD 1 is the full Promise documentary.  DVD 2 has the entire Darkness album performed on 2009 by the E. Street Band as well as some videos recorded in the studio and the 4 existing tracks from the Phoenix 1978 show that generated the Rosalita video.

The third DVD is the motherload...a full show from Houston in 1978.  As far as I am concerned the best tour he ever did (although this past decade saw some great shows) is finally available as a complete show on this "offical bootleg".  The sound and video quality are fine and seeing the E. Street band in their youthful prime is just so good.  It brings back those early days when I became a fan and blows away my Passaic 1978 boot.

All in all this is a great box set that will please the fans.  As there are no real wishy-washy Bruce fans that means just about everyone who ever listened and liked.   Grab it for someone this holiday season.

I'm Just Saying...

“I’m not a religious person, but I do believe in guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, 3-minute songs, Elvis Presley, Bruce Fucking Springsteen,The Hold Steady and Rock n Roll.”

Quoted on stage by Frank Turner...


Frank Turner "Thunder Road" Asbury Park, NJ 11/5/10 from Ed Erlenmeyer on Vimeo.

Truckstop Darlin'

Here's one for you folks that love the Drive-By Truckers.  Well, maybe that's not fair but I can hear the influence on this one for sure.  I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I have to say I really like this one.  it's kind of sleazy, alt-country inspired, kickin' rock & roll actually.

Truckstop Darlin' is out of the Pacific Northwest and they have all the prerequisites you would expect in this genre.  Gritty vocals, some pedal steel, a little bit of jangly guitars.  You've heard it before but it really works for them.  I found myself digging this one pretty fast.  The album starts out with a killer 1-2 punch of Tired Old Prom Queens and Bluegrass State and keeps barreling on from there.  These guys must be great live.  Makes you just wanna drink some beer and raise a little bit of hell.

Good stuff here that comes highly recommended for fans of the Drive-By Truckers, Lucero, Slobberbone, etc.  Go on out and grab this one, crack a beer and give 'em a chance.  You won't be disappointed.  You can download the mp3's at CDBaby.



Tired Old Prom Queens


Bluegrass State

Social Distortion with Lucero & Frank Turner

I was really looking forward to this show last night at the Roseland Ballroom.  I have never seen Social Distortion before and I am a big Lucero fan so there was high level of anticipation going in.  My son's favorite band is Lucero (go figure a 16 year old kid on LI loves Lucero) and he also really likes Frank Turner.  These past couple of years have been great going to shows with him, the excitement level is definitely up when he goes.

First up was Frank Turner who hails from Winchester in the UK.  I liked the two albums I had heard (Love Ire & Song and Poetry of the Deed) but I have to say that live he was even better.  Loads of energy, great songs and a band that really kicks.  A short but great set where you can hear his influences from Billy Bragg to the Clash.  Frank Turner wants to rock, we should.  The crowd up front was really into it and more people began to congregate as the set went on.

Lucero was up next.  I love this band, but was disappointed when I saw them earlier this year. I think the whiskey sometimes gets in way.  Last night was a shorter set (about 45') but let me tell you Lucero was really, really good last night.  We got a couple of horns to augment and they tore through the set with a fire that was missing at Williamsburg.  Kiss the Bottle, Sixes and Sevens, Bikeriders and about 7 others made for a short but very tight set.  You had to see the look on my kids face...priceless. 

Social Distortion are truly legendary in the punk world.  In fact they are one of the few bands (Rancid is another) that really carries the torch from the old days.  Hell, they are pretty much the old guard now.  Mike Ness and crew sounded great.  I mean fucking huge.  That might be the problem for me.  They were so tight that it felt a bit...off.  And a bit dull.  I am probably in the minority, and it didn't suck by any means, but it only left me a bit bored.  Ball and Chain was great, Mommies Little Monster, some of the new songs were really good.  Everything was good, just not great.  Bands like this need a shorter set as the genre lends itself to repetitiveness which can wear on you a bit.  At least it does me.  Lucero at 45' was tight and focused.  Lucero at 2 hours was sloppy.  Here it was a case of too tight and too slick.  An hour set full of rage works better than a longer set.  At least for me.  Don't get me wrong, it was far from bad, just not as good as I'd hoped.

Thanks to Larry Dell'erba for the pictures.