Shock of the Old School - Springsteen and E Street Band

I received Bruce Springsteen’s remastered Born to Run: 30th Anniversary 3-Disc Set CD/DVD this Christmas. The DVD is a full length concert film showing a performance by Springsteen and the E Street Band in their first date outside the U.S. at London’s Hammersmith Odeon in November 1975.

Listening and watching this concert you get the sense of how glorious this band was. What strikes me most is the difference between the power of a real “band” and all the digital studio effects and wizardry we music creators have at our fingertips today.

This band grooves so hard, like nothing I’ve heard in rock music certainly in the last 10 years or so. The closest act I can think of to what the E Street Band manages here is Prince’s band circa Sign ‘O’ the Times. Even the idea of what a “groove” is has changed to a point where it is now considered something that you purchase and import into your digital sampler.

I like the digital music tools we have today but I think the ease with which we can create audio tracks has caused us to forget just what great music is made of. The Springsteen concert audio is pretty raw, it’s not a great “recording” but through all the audio non-perfections this spirit, this holy-rolling sound comes through and it completely transports the listener.

The E-Street Band for all its size can turn on a dime. If Bruce hangs on a note longer than usual the band follows. Compare this to acts today that have pre-recorded backing tracks (like in hip hop or most pop music). These bands have no nuance because the “band” is on tape. The performance relies only on the charisma of the “star” but the accompaniment cannot contribute because it is frozen in time.

The best argument I can think of against this trend in modern music is this new concert video on the new Born to Run re-release.

You can see and hear a clip from the concert on Amazon Born to Run: 30th Anniversary 3-Disc Set