A Bad Decision?

Photo by John Lund

Well last Monday saw the official release of a new track from Wrecking Ball...  and the unofficial release of the whole album.  If you read last week's post you will know I made a decision not to listen to any more tracks until I had the CD.

There are one or two people who are doing the same but most have decided to listen.  It has sparked much debate.

Those who have chosen to listen can be very persuasive. Their main argument subscribes to the George Mallory (of Mount Everest fame) school of reasoning - Why? because it's there.
'What's the problem?' they say
'Just think of 20th February as the release date'

A couple of friends are congratulating me on my willpower but willpower has nothing to do with it.  I've made a choice - might be wondering if it's the wrong choice - but it's my bed and I'm lying in it.  Anyway I have no willpower.  If I did I wouldn't be eating this bar of chocolate now!

Just to be clear here my decision is not an ethical one. I have no problem at all with downloading an unofficial copy - heck we even have one in the house!

Let's face it anyone who owns one of these is a big enough fan to buy the real thing when it comes out.

I still believe that nothing can beat the excitement of opening the CD, putting it on the stereo and settling down with the sleeve notes to listen for the first time. My regular readers especially those going back to the early posts will know about my affection for sleeve notes. It has seriously hampered my advance to the digital age of downloads.

Looking back I'm not sure whether I heard WOAD in advance.  I was so underwhelmed by the album that I remember little about the release. There certainly wasn't as much furore surrounding it as there is with Wrecking Ball. I suppose the folks who did hear it before the release date had already let the rest of us know that, shall we say, it fell short of our expectations.

I'm a big fan of The Promise and I didn't shut my ears to any of that.  I recall hearing Fire on the radio a week or so beforehand and I already owned a CD of Darkness outtakes. Anyway some of the excitement of that release was the packaging!

I didn't listen to Magic in advance. Well that's not strictly true.  I fell at the final hurdle so to speak.  A friend had passed a leaked copy to us which languished around the house for a couple of weeks. On a long car journey the day before the release date we listened to it once.

This release is different though.  Up until about three years ago there was only Mike and I discussing the new songs between ourselves. Now we are part of a wide circle of Bruce friends. I didn't anticipate this would change my perspective.

In the last week a lot of the folks I know through Facebook and some close Bruce buddies have been devouring the new stuff and I'm not at the party. I was invited but decided to stay away. I could turn up now but the jelly and ice cream has already been eaten.

I reckon I might as well wait the extra week now but what I thought was a good idea might have now become a bad one.  I have missed being able to put my two-penneth in along with everyone else.  By the time I'm able to give you my insights it will be two weeks down the road - hardly finger on the pulse stuff then.

But I still have the thrill of listening for the first time to look forward to.

Photo from Bruce Springsteen news.  Bruce at benefit concert for the family of Tony Strollo