Live 1975–85

Live/1975–85
Live album by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Released November 10, 1986
Recorded October 18, 1975 – September 30, 1985
Genre Rock
Length 216:13
Label Columbia
Producer Jon Landau, Chuck Plotkin, Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band chronology
Born in the U.S.A.
(1984)		 Live/1975–85
(1986)		 Tunnel of Love
(1987)
Singles from Live/1975-1985
  1. "War"
    Released: November 10, 1986
  2. "Fire"
    Released: January 1987
  3. "Born to Run"
    Released: 1987

Live/1975–85 is a live album by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band. It consists of 40 tracks recorded at various concerts between 1975 and 1985.

"In November of '85," Springsteen wrote in the liner notes, "Jon Landau sent a four-song cassette of 'Born in the U.S.A.', 'Seeds', 'The River' and 'War' down to my house with a note attached saying he 'thought we might have something here'. Over the following months we listened to 10 years of tapes, the music did the talkin', and this album and its story began to emerge. We hope you have as much fun with it as we did. I'd like to thank Jon for his friendship and perseverance and the E Street Band for 1,001 nights of comradeship and good rockin'. They're all about the best bunch of people you can have at your side when you're goin' on a long drive."

It was released as a box set with either five vinyl records, three cassettes, or three CDs. There was also a record club only release which came on three 8-track cartridges.

Release and reception

Springsteen's long-awaited and highly anticipated live album generated advance orders of more than 1.5 million copies, making it the largest dollar-volume pre-order in the history of the record business at the time.[1] Record stores around the country found fans waiting in line on Monday morning before opening and one New York store reportedly sold the album right off the back of the delivery truck. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard album chart, a then-rare occurrence that hadn't happened in ten years since Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life in 1976. It also became the first five-record set to reach the top 10 and the first to sell over a million copies.

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic link
Chicago Tribune[2]
Rolling Stonepositive link
The Village VoiceA–[3]

Not surprising, given Springsteen's reputation as a live performer and the sheer scope of the 40-song set, most reviews were overwhelmingly positive. There were, however, a few critics that felt the album could have been better, citing the omission of several concert highlights such as Springsteen's live rendition of "Prove It All Night" and his rousing cover of John Fogerty's "Who'll Stop the Rain", among others. Another complaint was that some of his many unreleased songs such as "The Fever" were ignored in favor of recent album tracks like "Darlington County".[4][5]

Live/1975–85 is the second-best-selling live album in U.S. history based on RIAA certification. It has been certified by the RIAA for 13x platinum, trailing only Garth Brooks' Double Live. This figure reflects the RIAA practice of counting each disc in a multi-disc set as a separate unit sold; the actual number of copies sold is instead over 4 million. Based on sets sold, Live/1975–85 also trails several others including Eric Clapton's Unplugged (10 million) and Peter Frampton's Frampton Comes Alive! (8 million). The box set's sales performance attracted considerable media attention at the time, first for setting records during the 1986 holiday shopping period, then later for fizzling out in sales in early 1987, leaving many retailers overstocked.[6]

Two singles were released from the box set: "War" (a cover of the 1970 Edwin Starr hit), which was a #8 success on the U.S. pop singles chart, and "Fire" (a Springsteen song that was a top 10 hit for The Pointer Sisters in 1979), which only reached #46 on the Billboard charts, breaking Springsteen's string of eight consecutive Top 10 singles. Two non-album tracks—"Incident on 57th Street", recorded at Nassau Coliseum in December 1980, and "For You", taken from the July 1978 Roxy show—materialized on B-sides from the album's singles and on a Japanese release titled Live Collection. The music video for "War" was taken from the concert where it was recorded, while the video for "Fire" was from a completely unrelated 1986 acoustic performance at a Bridge School Benefit concert. A third video, for "Born to Run", was also released, which showed a melange of clips from the band's 1984–85 Born in the U.S.A. Tour.

Track listing

Vinyl

Side 1

  1. "Thunder Road" – 5:44
  2. "Adam Raised a Cain" – 5:26
    • Recorded July 7, 1978 at the Roxy Theatre, West Hollywood, California.
  3. "Spirit in the Night" – 6:25
    • Recorded July 7, 1978 at the Roxy Theatre, West Hollywood, California.
  4. "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" – 6:34

Side 2

  1. "Paradise by the "C"" – 3:52
    • Recorded July 7, 1978 at the Roxy Theatre, West Hollywood, California.
    • Song never released by Springsteen before; the version on this release omits Bruce saying "All you bootleggers out there in radioland, roll your tapes" right before the song.
  2. "Fire" – 2:51
    • Recorded December 16, 1978 at the Winterland, San Francisco, California; the short spoken intro is from July 7, 1978 at the Roxy Theatre, West Hollywood, California.
    • Song never released by Springsteen before, although recorded by others most notably by The Pointer Sisters and Robert Gordon.
  3. "Growin' Up" – 7:54
    • Recorded July 7, 1978 at the Roxy Theatre, West Hollywood, California.
  4. "It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City" – 4:39
    • Recorded July 7, 1978 at the Roxy Theatre, West Hollywood, California.

Side 3

  1. "Backstreets" – 7:35
    • Recorded July 7, 1978 at the Roxy Theatre, West Hollywood, California.
    • This version edits out a long interpolation near the end which includes an early version of "Drive All Night"
  2. "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" – 10:00
    • Recorded July 7, 1978 at the Roxy Theatre, West Hollywood, California.
  3. "Raise Your Hand" (Steve Cropper/Eddie Floyd/Alvertis Isbell) – 4:56
    • Recorded July 7, 1978 at the Roxy Theatre, West Hollywood, California.
    • Never before released by Springsteen; Eddie Floyd's version of the song is the most well known.

Side 4

  1. "Hungry Heart" – 4:28
    • Recorded December 28, 1980 at the Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, New York.
  2. "Two Hearts" – 3:06
  3. "Cadillac Ranch" – 4:52
    • Recorded July 6, 1981 at the Meadowlands Arena, East Rutherford, New Jersey.
    • Mistitled as "Caddillac Ranch" on the CD box set
  4. "You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)" – 3:58
    • Recorded December 29, 1980 at the Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, New York.
  5. "Independence Day" – 5:08
    • Recorded July 6, 1981 at the Meadowlands Arena, East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Side 5

  1. "Badlands" – 5:17
  2. "Because the Night" (Springsteen/Patti Smith) – 5:19
    • Recorded December 28, 1980 at the Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, New York.
    • Song never released by Springsteen before, although recorded by others most notably by Patti Smith and, later, 10,000 Maniacs.
  3. "Candy's Room" – 3:19
    • Recorded July 8, 1981 at the Meadowlands Arena, East Rutherford, New Jersey.
  4. "Darkness on the Edge of Town" – 4:19
    • Recorded December 29, 1980 at the Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, New York.
  5. "Racing in the Street" – 8:12
    • Recorded July 6, 1981 at the Meadowlands Arena, East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Side 6

  1. "This Land Is Your Land" (Woody Guthrie) – 4:21
    • Recorded December 28, 1980 at the Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, New York.
    • The listed date is erroneous; the recording dates from the following night, although the song was played at both shows.[7]
    • Classic folk song that was never released by Springsteen before
  2. "Nebraska" – 4:18
    • Recorded August 6, 1984 at the Meadowlands Arena, East Rutherford, New Jersey.
  3. "Johnny 99" – 4:24
    • Recorded August 19, 1985 at the Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey.
  4. "Reason to Believe" – 5:19
    • Recorded August 19, 1984 at the Meadowlands Arena, East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Side 7

  1. "Born in the U.S.A." – 6:10
  2. "Seeds" – 5:14
    • Recorded September 30, 1985 at the Los Angeles Coliseum, Los Angeles, California.
    • Song never released by Springsteen before.
  3. "The River" – 11:42
    • Recorded September 30, 1985 at the Los Angeles Coliseum, Los Angeles, California.

Side 8

  1. "War" (Barrett Strong/Norman Whitfield) – 4:53
    • Recorded September 30, 1985 at the Los Angeles Coliseum, Los Angeles, California.
    • Never released by Springsteen before; a big hit for Edwin Starr in 1970.
  2. "Darlington County" – 5:12
    • Recorded September 30, 1985 at the Los Angeles Coliseum, Los Angeles, California.
  3. "Working on the Highway" – 4:04
    • Recorded August 19, 1985 at the Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey.
  4. "The Promised Land" – 5:36
    • Recorded September 30, 1985 at the Los Angeles Coliseum, Los Angeles, California.

Side 9

  1. "Cover Me" – 6:57
    • Recorded September 30, 1985 at the Los Angeles Coliseum, Los Angeles, California.
  2. "I'm on Fire" – 4:26
    • Recorded August 19, 1985 at the Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey.
  3. "Bobby Jean" – 4:30
    • Recorded August 21, 1985 at the Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey.
  4. "My Hometown" – 5:13
    • Recorded September 30, 1985 at the Los Angeles Coliseum, East Rutherford, New Jersey.
    • This performance previously released as the music video for "My Hometown" single.

Side 10

  1. "Born to Run" – 5:03
    • Recorded August 19, 1985 at the Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey.
  2. "No Surrender" – 4:41
    • Recorded August 6, 1984 at the Meadowlands Arena, Uniondale, New York.
  3. "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" – 4:21
    • Recorded August 20, 1984 at the Meadowlands Arena, Uniondale, New York.
  4. "Jersey Girl" (Tom Waits) – 6:30
    • Recorded July 9, 1981 at the Meadowlands Arena, Uniondale, New York.
    • This performance was released in 1984 as the B-side of the "Cover Me" single. The song was written by Tom Waits and originally released on his Heartattack and Vine album.

CD

Disc 1

  1. "Thunder Road" – 5:46
  2. "Adam Raised a Cain" – 5:26
  3. "Spirit in the Night" – 6:25
  4. "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" – 6:34
  5. "Paradise by the "C"" – 3:54
  6. "Fire" – 2:51
  7. "Growin' Up" – 7:58
  8. "It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City" – 4:39
  9. "Backstreets" – 7:35
  10. "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" – 10:00
  11. "Raise Your Hand" (Cropper/Floyd/Isbell) – 5:01
  12. "Hungry Heart" – 4:30
  13. "Two Hearts" – 3:06

Disc 2

  1. "Cadillac Ranch" – 4:52
  2. "You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)" – 3:58
  3. "Independence Day" – 5:08
  4. "Badlands" – 5:17
  5. "Because the Night" (Springsteen/Smith) – 5:19
  6. "Candy's Room" – 3:19
  7. "Darkness on the Edge of Town" – 4:19
  8. "Racing in the Street" – 8:12
  9. "This Land Is Your Land" (Guthrie) – 4:21
  10. "Nebraska" – 4:18
  11. "Johnny 99" – 4:24
  12. "Reason to Believe" – 5:19
  13. "Born in the U.S.A." – 6:10
  14. "Seeds" – 5:14

Disc 3

  1. "The River" – 11:42
  2. "War" (Strong/Whitfield) – 4:53
  3. "Darlington County" – 5:12
  4. "Working on the Highway" – 4:04
  5. "The Promised Land" – 5:36
  6. "Cover Me" – 6:57
  7. "I'm on Fire" – 4:26
  8. "Bobby Jean" – 4:30
  9. "My Hometown" – 5:13
  10. "Born to Run" – 5:03
  11. "No Surrender" – 4:41
  12. "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" – 4:21
  13. "Jersey Girl" (Waits) – 6:30

Personnel

The E Street Band

Additional musicians

Production

Chart positions

Year Chart Position
1986 Billboard 200 1
UK Official Album Chart 4

See also

References

  1. ↑ Selvin, Joel. "New Boss Work - Springsteen Five LP Set: A $30 Million Pre-Order" The San Francisco Chronicle November 2, 1986: 49
  2. ↑ Kot, Greg (August 23, 1992). "The Recorded History of Springsteen". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
  3. ↑ Christgau, Robert (December 30, 1986). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice (New York). Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  4. ↑ Pond, Steve. "Bruce's Live LP Battles Great Expectations" Los Angeles Times November 9, 1986: 5
  5. ↑ Barton, David. "It's Not That Good" Sacramento Bee December 7, 1986: EN1
  6. ↑ Harrington, Richard. "Springsteen 'Live' in a Sales Coma" The Washington Post March 25, 1987: C7
  7. ↑ "NASSAU VETERANS MEMORIAL COLISEUM, UNIONDALE, NY". Brucebase.wikispaces.com. 1980-12-29.
Preceded by
Third Stage by Boston		 Billboard 200 number-one album
November 29, 1986 - January 17, 1987 		Succeeded by
Slippery When Wet by Bon Jovi
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