Scott Peterson

He was indeed! That "sung it so damn much I forgot what the first words were" is one of my favorite live moments ever.

So due to the way my schedule works these days, almost all of my dedicated listening takes place when I'm driving...and for the first four months of the pandemic, I pretty much didn't drive anyway. But for the past month, I've had two drives per day of about 15-20 minutes per drive. So I've been listening to the Archive series in installments, catching up with Philly '99, Brendan Byrne '81 and even Stockholm '05. (I was quite behind.) As with most (not all!) on here, I wasn't overjoyed about another Seeger Sessions show, although I wasn't nearly as disappointed as some (many?). But as with every damn Seeger Sessions Band live release, as soon as I started playing it, I was into it one hundred damn percent. Folk is one of my less preferred genres, but damn if this period didn't inspire him to rethink stuff and take chances and boy howdy isn't he having just a grand ol' time? So...yeah. Another outstanding release.

While I agree that it'd be awesome to get something new and perhaps timely in these very dark ages, I feel like our guy's in at least his fourth if not seventh act by now.

I don't have strong feelings about it being retired, but I do have strong feelings about transcribing parts like that, and my feelings are that I love it. Make it so, Daisey. Make it happen.

I have never heard a live version of any Born to Run track I thought was superior to the original studio recording—and, yes, I have heard in some cases literally hundreds of live versions. I've heard many that were equally powerful, in different ways, but never one that was superior. It's a counterfactual so there's obviously no way to know, but the amazing version of "Thunder Road" from the Roxy in 1975, for instance, is beyond magical, but I don't think it would have nearly the (staggering!) power it has if we didn't all have the original studio recording so firmly entrenched in our minds. In fact, listening to the recent 1981 archive, I was struck by how they still hadn't learned how to play "Born to Run" live yet. A live version is an amazing snapshot, perfectly capturing a magical moment in time. The studio recordings are a painstakingly rendered portrait, reflecting exactly what the artist labored over, crafting until it was as perfect as they could get it. Both are or can be wonderful things, and neither is necessarily superior to the other. But if I had to pick, I'd pretty much always go with the studio version. I mean, Bruce could always go the Running on Empty route and record his new material live; the fact that he doesn't, but prefers to work on it in the studio tells me he thinks that's going to get him closer to what he's aiming for. Horses for courses and all that.

This is almost exactly how I feel, except it's the four that right smack dab in the center of the album: the three you named, and "The Fuse." I think "Paradise" not only does belong on the record thematically, I think he's never recorded a more emotionally powerful song.

I consider "Devil's Arcade" the last song on the album. "Terry's Song" is sweet, but to my mind, it's a bonus track. Two weeks after the album's initial announcement, which included an eleven-song track listing, "Terry's Song" was added. It is a memorial song for Springsteen's long-time assistant Terry Magovern, who died on July 30, 2007. Some pressings of the CD pre-ordered through Sony Music or other channels did not contain the extra track. The album as sold through iTunes does not contain this track either.

The Rising took me a while to warm up to. I liked it but wasn't sure how much. (Eventually I came to pretty much love it.) But Magic grabbed me from the opening notes and never let me go. Discovering he still had an absolute stone classic in him, even at what was for rock and roll an advanced age (I'm now nearly as old as he was when he wrote and recorded Magic), was unbelievably uplifting, especially during those dark times. (Oh, for our current times to only be as dark as those really damn dark times were.) That he later went on to release the also fantastic Wrecking Ball and then the stunning Western Stars is just...

Part of me really hopes they do release the next archive in just two weeks…and it’s the Sheffield show.

Via the auxiliary input, so no fades. Usually seamless, just once in a while a really jarring volume jump.

This might not be the right place to ask, but it's not exactly an uncluttered thread, so... I listen to these Archives almost entire via iPod when driving. And at least a few times per show, it seems, that the volume—usually just the crowd noise—suddenly changes significantly when it a new track tracks. But it's not every time--in fact, it's far more the exception than the rule. Is that just me or is this a known thing?

It is, or was, On Demand. It is, as could be expected, gripping and revealing and sublime and infuriating. Great footage, some great stories, and Robbie Robertson, in a film entitled Once We Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band, making sure everyone knows that the really salient part of that title was the name Robbie Robertson. I have no doubt working with those guys was hella difficult, especially once the drugs and drink really started to take hold. But come on, man. Enough with the narcissistic revisionism. You won, okay? You're got all the money, you got (almost) all the interviews, and you're the last man standing. Jesus, when is enough enough? Anyway. Yeah. Well worth watching overall. But as with pretty much everything Band-related past the first two (or maybe three) albums, it could have been so much better.

In my experience, non-Americans often have a better grasp of American politics than Americans do. I'm glad Bruce let them use the song.

And here I was thinking there was at least one upside to this delay: the snarking about the essay will also be delayed. I guess apparently not.

I suspect this is very old hat to many on here, but it was new to me, so...