On November 17th, Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings will release ‘Bruce Springsteen: The Album Collection Vol. 1 1973-1984, a boxed set comprised of remastered editions of the first seven albums recorded and released by Bruce Springsteen for Columbia Records between 1973 and 1984. All of the albums are newly remastered (five for the first time ever on CD) and all seven are making their remastered debut on vinyl. The seven albums are recreations of their original packaging and the set is accompanied by a 60-page book featuring rarely-seen photos, memorabilia and original press clippings from Springsteens first decade as a recording artist. Acclaimed engineer Bob Ludwig, working with Springsteen and longtime engineer Toby Scott, has remastered these albums, all newly transferred from the original analogue masters using the Plangent Process playback system. Albums included: Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. (1973)* The Wild, The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle (1973)* Born To Run (1975) Darkness On The Edge Of Town (1978) The River (1980)* Nebraska (1982)* Born In The U.S.A. (1984)* *denotes first time remastered on CD Remastering by Bob Ludwig under the personal supervision of Springsteen and his long-time engineer Toby Scott Box set features all albums packaged in faithful recreations of original LP sleeves and accompanying a 60 page book of rare memorabilia and photos “Last Thursday, at the Harvard Square theatre, I saw my rocknroll past flash before my eyes. And I saw something else: I saw rock and roll future and its name is Bruce Springsteen. And on a night when I needed to feel young, he made me feel like I was hearing music for the very first time.” --Jon Landau, The Real Paper, May 22, 1974 This is it. For the first time ever, Legacy Recordings will revisit one of the greatest discographies in rock and roll history: the first seven unforgettable albums recorded and released by Bruce Springsteen for Columbia Records between 1973 and 1984 will be remastered and reissued on LP and CD as exciting new box sets. Bruce Springsteen: The Album Collection Vol. 1 1973-1984 features some of the most acclaimed works of the 20th century: six of these albums placed on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, five of them were Billboard Top 10 hits and all of them, combined, account for more than 34 million albums shipped in the United States. The story of Bruce Springsteen has long been etched into the firmament of rock and roll. To some, he is the poet of the Jersey shore who wrote complex characters that appealed to the young and the hopeful across the nation (and later, the world). To others, he’s a studio perfectionist who tinkered with Dylanesque folk, deep-rooted, intellectually and politically astute rock and soul, and a sense of production grandeur to rival Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound. Some laud him as a brilliant bandleader, turning the sprawling E Street Band (including the outsized musical personalities of guitarist Steven Van Zandt, bassist Garry Tallent, drummer Max Weinberg, keyboardists Roy Bittan and Danny Federici and the Big Man himself, saxophonist Clarence Clemons) into one of the tightest ensembles in rock and roll history, and a recent inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s sidemen category. Still others find him a brilliant if reluctant pop star crafting taut, heavy-hitters tailor-made for FM radio—including “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight),” “Born To Run,” “Hungry Heart,” “Dancing In The Dark,” “Born In The U.S.A.,” “Glory Days” and more. Whoever Springsteen is to you, this comprehensive review of the works that made him a star, spanning from 1973 to 1984, is your chance to discover or rediscover him in a big way. Acclaimed engineer Bob Ludwig, working under the personal supervision of Springsteen and longtime engineer Toby Scott, has impeccably mastered these albums, all newly transferred from the original analogue masters. Using the Plangent Process playback system, noted for its ability to correct pitch errors and other distortions in the magnetic tape, this is, hands down, the most detailed take on Springsteen’s high-energy studio performances anywhere. Fans around the world have craved remastered versions of Springsteen’s beloved studio albums (including the opening one-two punch of his career in 1973, Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. and The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle, which have not been repressed on CD since the dawn of the format in the early 1980s). That time has finally arrived: The Album Collection Vol. 1 features Springsteen’s first seven albums, presented in meticulous recreations of their original packaging and accompanied by a beautiful accompanying book featuring rarely-seen photos, memorabilia and original press clippings. You’ve never heard them like this. ABOUT THE ALBUMS Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. (1973) Springsteen’s first album was an intriguing introduction to the artist’s distinctive gift for Dylanesque lyrical wordplay. Lead track “Blinded By The Light” later became a chart-topper for Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, while songs like “For You” and “Spirit In The Night” remain staples of Bruce’s live act. The Wild, The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle (1973) Bruce Springsteen’s sophomore album featured a more cinematic style of songwriting, with the kind of outsized suburban characters that would become Springsteen’s calling card (“4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy),” “Incident on 57th Street,” “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)”). It also featured a crucial sonic addition to the nascent E Street Band: organist Danny Federici joined keyboardist David Sancious, bassist Garry Tallent, drummer Vini “Mad Dog” Lopez and saxophonist Clarence Clemons in the band’s ranks. Born To Run (1975) It was make or break time for Bruce when his third album was released; fortunately, he delivered an album that established him as the voice of a generation and one of the strongest acts in American rock and roll. Born To Run joined together Bruce’s evocative lyrical gifts, grandiose arrangements that recalled Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound, and the shaggy jam-band prowess of his live ensemble, The E Street Band (now featuring the talents of additional pianist Roy Bittan, drummer Max Weinberg and Springsteen’s longtime musical partner Steven Van Zandt). The result: an album that almost immediately became a Top 5 smash, earning Springsteen cover stories in Time and Newsweek in the same week and resting atop scores of greatest-albums-of-all-time-lists, from Rolling Stone to VH1. Darkness On The Edge Of Town (1978) Bouncing back from a series of protracted legal battles that kept him out of the studio for nearly three years—a relative eternity at the time—Springsteen delivered a decidedly different sort of album with Darkness On The Edge Of Town. The grandiose production and lyrical scene-setting of previous works was now replaced by a more singular songwriting voice, more aware of himself and the world around him; from this new direction came celebrated crowd-pleasers like “Badlands” and “The Promised Land.” The River (1980) Springsteen’s fifth album was an ambitious summary of his greatest musical strengths to that point, sprawling over the length of two LPs. The River continued the themes of deep introspection and reflection on difficult times in the United States previously explored on Darkness (“The Ties That Bind,” “Independence Day”) but also showcased some of his most exuberant songs, such as the Top 5 single “Hungry Heart” and the party-ready tracks “Ramrod” and “Cadillac Ranch.” Nebraska (1982) One of the most challenging albums of Springsteen’s career, Nebraska, a collection of stark home solo demo recordings, features haunted, difficult characters making choices in Reagan-era America that offered little of the salvation or redemption that frequently served as hallmarks of Bruce’s other works. The result was one of the most critically appreciated albums of Springsteen’s celebrated career. Born In The U.S.A. (1984) Another thrilling about-face in Bruce’s unpredictable journey through rock and roll, Born In The U.S.A. features some of the most radio-friendly performances in Springsteen’s entire discography, which brilliantly disguise much of the emotional turmoil simmering underneath (case in point: the anthemic title track, a harrowing tale of a Vietnam veteran that Ronald Reagan attempted to co-opt for his presidential re-election campaign). Altogether, Born In The U.S.A. amassed seven Top 10 hits, including “Dancing In The Dark,” “Glory Days” and “I’m Goin’ Down,” and the album became 1985’s biggest-selling LP, spending 84 weeks in Billboard’s Top 10.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Sep 2014 15:38:24 +0000