In Concert - MTV Plugged (1993)
1. Red Headed Woman
2. Better Days
3. Atlantic City
4. Darkness on the Edge of Town
5. Man's Job
6. Human Touch
7. Lucky Town
8. I Wish I Were Blind
9. Thunder Road
10.Light of Day
11.If I Should Fall Behind
12.Living Proof
13.My Beautiful Reward
 
One of my favorite, and what I feel is
probably his most under appreciated album. MTV started their
"Unplugged" series about a year or so before this release came out, with many
rock artists getting to show their skills with mostly acoustic arrangements.
Whatever the deal here was, Springsteen was scheduled to do a set, came
on stage to roaring applause, played one killer unplugged track
(the raunchy and funny Red Headed Woman) and then brought out his new
band to play the rest of the show "plugged'.
He was probably using the show as "free advertising" for his new band -
a band that was already looked at with disgust by many people because of
who they weren't. Not having the E Street Band with The Boss was
downright sacrilegious to many, and the only alum from his old band is keyboardist Roy
Bittan. And what a performance. Sorry all you faithful, but this guy
doesn't need the E Street Band. That's not to say these guys are
as good. No, that would be a big stretch, but the performances here are
exhilarating.
Most of this show (and the subsequent tour) would be comprised mostly of
songs from his two new albums, which was another reason that people would cry
"foul". He shows us that he's not embarrassed by these songs. As a
matter of fact - he's downright proud. And proud he should be. People
need to try to forget how great the past was, and embrace these
as something new, even if a bit unfamiliar. The energy on this album
during the show is unmatched by any other performer that I know, and, if
you hadn't had the pleasure to see Bruce in concert, this album was one
more testimony to his endurance and command of a stage. It's a small
club that he's playing in front of, and the fact that it was "filmed"
means he can't get too crazy. He doesn't pour buckets of water
over his head in the heat of the performance, he doesn't hurl guitars on
and off stage, and he pretty much stays within a 15 ft radius on the
stage. So, o.k., maybe this is too much for the devotee to stomach, but
if you want good, solid rock and roll by a great band and an
enthusiastic audience, this is a great cd to own. Even if you're
unfamiliar with most of the stuff here.
(NOTE: The DVD is actually a much better
buy since it contains several more songs. The only dog on the DVD is
57 Channels (thank God it was left off on the CD). The show was
recorded before DVD technology, so it's a VHS "transfer", but don't
worry so much about the video. It also has a lot of the show "as is"
with in between song chatter, etc. so it replicates the feeling a bit
better).
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