It Was 40 Years Ago Today...

I agree that Bruce circa 1975 to 1983 was probably the best live act I've seen together with Prince (whose music I do not like nearly as much). And I have seen them all live since the late 60s except the Beatles, Hendrix and Janis (ie I've seen Stones, Zep, Who, U2 in their prime and after). By the way all of the above acts put on great shows---among my favorite of all time, but Bruce was always a step above--I always felt that he was born to play live, loved to play live and the audience felt it. Plus he has tremendous stage presence and charisma as well as a great sense of humor. Unfortunately, he sold out big time with Born In the USA. What an awful pop record that was. And what a step down for a genuine artist. He occasionally pops out a great album but nothing has been in the league of Wild and Innocent, BTR or, especially Darkness. This is just my humble opinion. Based on films I've seen (eg Monterey Pop) Hendrix may have been up there. Beatles too.

Andrew, when I said early in their careers, I didn't necessarily mean their first several albums (although for some of the artists that I listed, I feel that those albums included a lot of their best work). I meant to say that rock and roll seems to be a young person's game, and that much of their best music is written and performed in their teens, 20s and 30s. Of course there are exceptions; I agree with Mapman-Dylan's Time Out Of Mind is among my favorites of his albums.

Mapman, bingo! Especially Modern Times. Shame about the aggressive compression. Maybe they'll come out on cassette.

Mapman and Geoffkait, I'm right with ya. I played the Love and Theft album for some old friends who had lost interest in Bob after that trio of covers albums he did in the 90's, and they were stunned. For a good sounding Dylan album, I'm still waiting on Mobile Fidelity's upcoming SACD and LP of his album with The Band, Planet Waves. It's very "unproduced"---no studio manipulations, just what sounds like he and them playing live in a room. I really disliked the way he was produced by Daniel Lanois, preferring his own under the pseudonym Jack Frost. By the way, Bob Johnson, the producer of his Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde albums, passed away a couple of weeks ago.

I had the good fortune of seeing Bruce twice in his prime, at a a bar named Fat City in NJ in Sept. 73 and in Columbus OH in April 76.

The young Boss was killer, a man born to rock. He started losing me when he became a serious man and I was gone when he became the socially conscious muscleman. Who needs that?