Bruce Springsteen - Born Again: Unauthorised Vol 2 & Vol 3 (1992) Bootleg

(U.S 1969 - Present)
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Bruce Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer-songwriter and musician best known for his work with the E Street Band. Nicknamed "The Boss", Springsteen is widely known for his brand of heartland rock, poetic lyrics, Americana sentiments centered on his native New Jersey and his lengthy and energetic stage performances, with concerts from the 1970s to the present decade running up to an uninterrupted 250 minutes in length. After signing with Columbia Records, Springsteen released his first studio album in 1972. Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. garnered critical acclaim but slow sales. Many compared him to Bob Dylan for his introspective lyrics and poetic style, but this did not immediately help Springsteen make it big. Springsteen and the E Street Band followed their debut with The Wild, The Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle later the same year but found themselves lauded by critics but largely dismissed by the public.

Finally, in 1975, after over a year in the studio, Springsteen released a third album, 'Born to Run', which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and skyrocketed him to fame. Drawing heavily on Springsteen's New Jersey roots, the album offered soaring guitars, larger-than-life characters, urban romance and a rebellious spirit that captured the essence of the American Dream and connected with audiences of all ages.

Springsteen's next album, 'Darkness on the Edge of Town', released in 1978, was a more somber affair, emphasizing themes of lost love, depression and existential suffering. "The whole force of Darkness was a survival thing," he said. "After Born to Run, I had a reaction to my good fortune. With success, it felt like a lot of people who'd come before me lost some essential part of themselves. My greatest fear was that success was going to change or diminish that part of myself."

In order to promote the album, Springsteen and the E Street Band embarked on a cross-country tour that would make them famous for their marathon performances (three or four hours per show), boisterous behavior and infectious energy, captivating audiences from California to New York. During this time, Springsteen also became famous for his integrity and pride as a performer, as stories of his exhausting performances and perfectionism in the recording studio became legend.
Darkness at the Edge of Town marked a shift in Springsteen's musical style that he continued in his next two albums, 'The River' (1980) and 'Nebraska' (1982), which both explored themes about working-class Americans. 'Nebraska' was a raw, solo acoustic effort that has been lauded by music fans for its provocative sound.

But Springsteen's explosion into rock superstardom came in 1984 when he released 'Born in the U.S.A'. With seven singles hitting the top of the Billboard Charts—including "Glory Days," "Dancing in the Dark," "Born in the U.S.A." and "Cover Me"—the album would become one of the best-selling records of all time and sparked a successful world tour which lasted almost two years.

Springsteen dissolved the E Street Band in 1989 and relocated with his new wife and family to California in the early 1990s. The albums he produced during this period—'Human Touch' and 'Lucky Town', released on the same day in 1992—came from a happier place; ironically as his personal life improved, his songs seemed to lack the emotional intensity that had made him so famous in earlier years. He was criticized by his fans for "going Hollywood" and no longer recording with E Street Band. As happy as he may have been in his personal life, the early 1990s were not Springsteen's glory days as an artist.
He began to bounce back with 'The Ghost of Tom Joad' (1995), an acoustic set musically reminiscent of Nebraska and lyrically inspired by Pulitzer Prize–winning writers and books (John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and Dale Maharidge's Journey to Nowhere: The Saga of the New Underclass). Springsteen also recorded an Oscar-winning song, "The Streets of Philadelphia," for the movie Philadelphia, starring Tom Hanks. In 1999, Springsteen reunited the E Street Band to tour in support of a new Greatest Hits album, selling out stadiums around the world despite his long absence from the limelight. He was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999.
In 2002, Springsteen and the E Street Band released their first studio album in 18 years, 'The Rising', which became both a critical and commercial success. Lyrically wrestling with the pain, anger and anguish caused by the September 11 terrorist attacks of 2001, the album restored Springsteen's status as one of America's most iconic musicians.
Springsteen continues to thrive as a performer and songwriter. In 2012, he released his latest album, 'Wrecking Ball'. He has launched a world tour to support this new recording, of which Australia was one destination in 2013 and he plans to revisit in 2014. [extract from biography.com]

Interview With Bruce Springsteen (December, 1984)
(Rolling Stone Article by Kurt Loder)
With his 'Born in the USA' album, Jersey boy Bruce Springsteen is going very large. Springsteen-mania is second only to Beatlemania in its intensity and devotion. The Boss speaks in Oakland and Los Angeles on the second leg of the "Born" tour.

'Born in the USA', the title track of your current album, is a rousing rock & roll song that also gives voice to the pain of forgotten people: in this case, America's Vietnam veterans. How long have you been aware of the Vietnam vets' experience:?
I don't know if anybody could imagine what their particular experience is like. I don't think I could, you know?  I think you had to live through it. But when you think about all the young men and women that died in Vietnam, and how many died since they've been back — surviving the war and coming back and not surviving — you have to think that, at the time, the country took advantage of their selflessness. There was a moment when they were just really generous with their lives.

What was your own experience of Vietnam?
I didn't really have one. There wasn't any kind of political consciousness in Freehold in the late '6os. It was a small town and the war just seemed very distant. I mean, I was aware of it through some friends that went. The drummer in my first band was killed in Vietnam. Bart Haines was his name. He came over one day and said, "Well, I'm enlisted. I'm going to Vietnam." I remember he said he didn't know where it was. And that was it. He left and he didn't come back. And the guys that did come back were not the same.

How did you manage to escape the draft?

Jersey Boy

I got a 4-F. I had a brain concussion from a motorcycle accident when I was 17. Plus, I did the basic '6os rag, you know: filling out the forms all crazy, not takin' the tests. When I was 19, I wasn't ready to be that generous with my life. I was called for induction and when I got on that bus to go take my physical, I thought one thing: I ain't goin'. I remember being on that bus, me and a couple of guys in my band, and the rest of the bus was probably 60, 70 percent black guys from Asbury Park [New Jersey].
And I remember thinkin', like, what makes my life, or my friends' lives, more expendable than that of somebody who's going to school. It didn't seem right. And it was funny, because my father, he was in World War II, and he was the type that was always sayin', "Wait 'til the army gets you. Man, they're gonna cut that hair off you. I can't wait. They gonna make a man outta you." And I remember I was gone for three days and when I came back, I went into the kitchen, and my folks were there and they said, "Where you been?*" And I said, "Well, I had to go take my physical." And they said, "What happened?" And I said, "Well, they didn't take me." And my father sat there, and he didn't look at me, just looked straight ahead. And he said, "That's good." I'll never forget that.

I know one fan who infers from the rump shot on the 'Born in the USA' album cover that you're actually pissing on the American] flag. Is there a message there?
No, no. That was unintentional. We took a lot of pictures and in the end, the picture of my ass looked better than the picture of my face, so that's what went on the cover. I didn't have any secret message.

You've never allowed yourself to slip into the Elvis Presley syndrome?
I believe that the life of a rock & roll band will last as long as you look down into the audience and can see yourself, and your audience looks up at you and can see themselves.
[Extract from ROLLING STONE  May 2002 p71  - 30 Years of Rock N Roll]

  
2014 Australian Tour
Bruce and the E Street Band have announced they are headed back to Australia and New Zealand in 2014 for their most extensive tour of the area to date. The 2014 tour includes the first New Zealand show in more than a decade and their first-ever visit to Perth and Adelaide, kicking off at Perth Arena on February 7.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band brought the Wrecking Ball tour to Australia earlier this year on their first tour Down Under in more than a decade, performing three hour plus shows in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and at Victoria’s iconic Hanging Rock.
Said Springsteen’s long-time manager and producer, Jon Landau, “Our shows in Australia earlier this year were among the very best and most satisfying of our whole 128 show tour.  The crowds were tremendous, the fans as warm, friendly, and welcoming as we could ever hope for, and the quality of the performances, as virtually every reviewer commented, were spectacularly high.

1992-93 World Tour

“From the moment we finished the second show at Hanging Rock on March 31, we have been working on a plan to return next year.  Among other things, we wanted to expand the number of places we play to include the Hunter Valley, Perth and Adelaide, with a trip to Auckland, as well.  Those venues are in addition to the new dates in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.  In other words, this will be our most far reaching tour of Australasia ever – and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are planning to make it their finest.”
Frontier Touring is also thrilled to announce that Australian music legends, Hunters & Collectors will be reforming to be special guests at Springsteen and the E Street Band at the Melbourne AAMI Stadium concert.
Additional special guest at the Melbourne and Hunter Valley shows will be Australia’s favorite rock & roll soul man Dan Sultan.  Continuing the musical tour de force that they established on this year’s Wrecking Ball tour, Jimmy Barnes will be special guest for the Auckland Mt Smart Show.
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This post consists on MP3 rip's (320kps) taken from CD, originally sourced from a Radio Broadcast in the States. These 'Banana' Bootleg releases were recorded at the Hollywood Center Studios, Los Angeles, California on June 5th, 1992.  Note that the last 3 tracks on Vol 3 are probably not from the same concert (as they already appear on Vol 2) and were probably added as fillers. The quality of the sound recording is superb - soundboard rating all the way.
This concert set has also been released by Red Phantom under the title of 'Kick Off'. Full album artwork for this Banana release (along with Kick Off - see below) have been included, along with a scan of the Rolling Stone Magazine Interview with Springsteen documented above.
I'm sure this Banana bootleg will aPEEL to most of you....LOL
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Track Listing (Vol 2.)

01 - Born In The U.S.A. (6:37)
02 - Local Hero (5:47)
03 - Lucky Town (4:22)
04 - Darkness On The Edge Of Town (5:22)
05 - If I Should Fall Behind (4:49)
06 - 57 Channels (And Nothin' On) (6:55)
07 - The Big Muddy (4:18)
08 - Living Proof (6:14)
09 - My Hometown (6:13)
10 - Leap Of Faith (4:46)
11 - Man's Job (5:20) 

Track Listing (Vol 3.)
01 - Roll Of The Dice (12:23)
02 - Human Touch (8:30)
03 - Glory Days (7:54)
04 - Hungry Heart (3:38)
05 - Prove It All Night (9:32)
06 - Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) (11:14)
07 - Luck Town (4:45)
08 - 57 Channels (And Nothin' On) (3:02)
09 - Living Proof (5:27) 
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The E.Street Band:

Bruce Springsteen (Guitar, Vocals)
Tommy Sims (Bass)
Michael Barakan (Guitar)
Roy Beaten (Keyboards)
Zachery Alfort (Drums)
Bobby Wing (Backing Vocals)
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Bruce Springsteen Link Vol.2 (143Mb)

Bruce Springsteen Link Vol.3 (155Mb)  New Link 16/11/2024
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