Repeats

Well I’m listening to The Killers - Sam’s Town - at the moment.  This album falls into two of our buying categories.

1. They are influenced by Bruce
2. It’s a critically acclaimed album

So whilst we weren’t sure whether we would like it we gave it a go. The Springsteen - esque nature of the album might be apparent to some but I can’t really detect it.  Maybe I’m looking for the obvious - you know - a kind of light bulb moment when I think wow! that sounds like Bruce.  That moment has never arrived but I really like the album.

I am listening to this today because my search for Bruce stuff has taken me to this blog   The Killers 'When You Were Young' is number 17 in the list.  We have been here before because both 'Born To Run' and 'Jungleland' have featured previously.  Although I don’t know this person I find I am interested in his choice of music simply because he likes Bruce.  I haven’t heard of some bands/artists in the list.  Some of his choices I agree with and one or two would be pushing towards my list of all time dislikes!!

I really like the idea and I am tentatively considering putting together a list of my favourite Bruce songs to do a similar thing.  Deciding why you like a song is quite a task though.  Sometimes you - well - just like it and that doesn’t make for very interesting reading. Anyway I’m not even sure whether I would be able to choose, say, my top 50 but at least I would have a list of every song to hand - in the CD rack.

Trying to decide on my faves, If I were to include any artist, is an impossible task.  I can’t even remember half the tracks I love. Whenever I've tried this before I've always come unstuck at a point where I have to choose between songs by the same artist.  Which do I pick? and in the case of Bruce would this mean that my top 100 would include 80 Springsteen songs and 20 others!

This week, on the radio, I heard 'The First Cut Is The Deepest' by P P Arnold.



I love this song and this is the definitive version (sorry Rod - you know I'm still a fan).  I like the way verse is gentle but it builds up towards the chorus and then those drums and horns (trumpets?) are just great. One for my top 100 I think.

I also heard 'Anchorage' by Michelle Shocked today.



Now this is an example of a song I like for no reason that I can put my finger on.  Perhaps it’s just the tune because I usually find myself singing along.  Not sure if this one would make the top 100 though.

This knotty problem of why I like a song had occured to me earlier in the week when two Springsteen tracks popped up on my iPod.   I don't really love Working On A Dream (the album).  I played it a lot when it was new in an effort to embrace it but - no. For me, the lyrics are kind of lazy and I find them really repetitive.  The obvious is Surprise Surprise Surprise etc etc etc. but it’s not the only example of a line being oft repeated.

I thought this was why I hadn’t fallen in love with the album but now I’m not so sure.  The first song on the iPod? ... I’m going down down down down I’m going down down down down - you know the rest.  The second? ... My love love love love love love love love will not let you down!  Now you can’t deny that each is somewhat repetitive but I love them both.

And whilst we are talking about being repetitive the news this week is the repeat release in May of The Promise: The Making Of Darkness On The Edge Of Town.  OK it has a couple of other bits with it - the set from The Carousel and the Q and A session with fans.  More from Shore Fire here

Now I've got the documentary and seen it a couple of times on the TV. I downloaded the Carousel set and copied it to DVD (shhhhh - is this illegal?) but I haven't seen the 'conversation with the fans'.  I assume it's out there somewhere but I haven't looked.   I was hoping for the rest of the Carousel set that hasn't previously been broadcast but perhaps they (whoever they are) are saving that for later.  Will I buy it? Don't think so but.... if I pop into HMV I won't be able to resist having a look to see if it's there and if it is? - well it might just shout out 'Buy me buy me!'

My and finally this week is something that made me chuckle from a Yahoo! message board :-

Bruce Springsteen at Apple???
11-Mar-11 03:25 pm    
I live in vegas and just visited 2 store locations.
Lines are just huge with people waiting for their ipad 2's. I thought they were selling Springsteen tickets as that is the last time I saw people lining up for stuff to buy.