"All Back to My Place" - Damen Ave. Edition (via Burning Wood)

 I'm quite a fan of Sal Nunziato and his blog, Burning Wood. It's a great stop for anyone who's into music. Sal's signifigantly older than myself, but I still find myself really enjoying his tastes and interests.

Anyway, today's post was a "Burning Wood Edition" of MOJO magazine's "All Back to My Place" feature. I couldn't help but post my responses, and I thought it might be interesting enought to share as a blog post of my own.

WHAT MUSIC ARE YOU CURRENTLY GROOVING TO?

I'm also on a Who kick right now, hard. I'm a guitarist, and I suddenly came to a realization in the last month or so about how fucking cool Townshend's guitar approach is. Also how a lot of his style compliments what I do, naturally. Really into any live tracks I can find, especially.

WHAT, IF PUSH COMES TO SHOVE, IS YOUR ALL-TIME FAVORITE ALBUM?

*sigh* Hard one. I'll just fall back and punt with The Wild, the Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle. It feels, to me like Bruce on the cusp of figuring out exactly who he wants to be, as an artist, while still embracing that spastic seaside kid he was on the first album. Plus, fucking "Incident"...gets me every time.

WHAT WAS THE FIRST RECORD YOU BOUGHT AND WHERE DID YOU BUY IT?

My recollection is a copy of Lou Reed's New York on cassette during an unending family road trip. Mainly because I thought the cover was cool. That said, I have a shameful feeling it was Buckner & Garcia's Pac-Man Fever.






WHAT MUSICIAN HAVE YOU EVER WANTED TO BE?

Springsteen is the big one. I want to sing like that, play like that, and have a band that amazing. It's changed over the years, however, as I, and my tastes, have. John Lennon, Keith Richards, James Hetfield.

WHAT DO YOU SING IN THE SHOWER?

That is kind of a ridiculous question. Does ANYBODY sing the same song in the shower all the time. Usually, it's whatever is stuck in my head at the moment, even one of my own tracks I'm working on. That said, "Baba O'Riley" comes up a lot.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SATURDAY NIGHT RECORD?

Zeppelin II. In my book, their best. That said, this is another place where I would answer differently in many situations. For example, I almost put in The Sword's Warp Riders, which I just fell in love with. It certainly feeds the metalhead that is still a big part of me, while also capturing a classic rock vibe (It reminds me of Thin Lizzy a lot, at moments) that I'm just loving now.

AND YOUR FAVORITE SUNDAY MORNING RECORD?

Zakk Wylde's Book of Shadows, which I think is one of the most under-appreciated albums ever. Great songs, great vocals, great playing, free of his usual bombast. You may write this off as "Ozzy's Guitarist," but give a couple of tracks a listen. It's great stuff. Runner up: Rodrigo Y Gabriela's self-titled debut. The Latin vibe mixed with rock and metal influences just works for me when I'm in a "relax" mood.

Monday With the Boss - Part 2: The Wild, The Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle

Ah, here we are with my long, long delayed second entry in this "weekly" series.

God, I am a slacker.

As in previous entries, we'll look a specific Springsteen album, in this case The Wild, the Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle, originally released September 11, 1973. An album that also happens to be my favorite in the Springsteen catalog.



It was with this album that Bruce really started to get the idea of what his music was, and how to best present it. It wasn't quite all the way there. This isn't the pointed statement of purpose that Born to Run turned out to be. The myriad influences of the Jersey shore and his own life are bubbling at all times on this disk.

We start with "The E-Street Shuffle," which is clearly reminiscent of Greetings From Asbury Park. Really, the whole album feels cut from the same cloth as the first record, production is again by Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos, but with a greater sense of what the band could do and accomplish. I really don't think "New York City Serenade" would exist if Bruce wasn't as fully comfortable with David Sancious' piano.

The E-Street Band, as it was then (which still wasn't the Born to Run era "classic" line-up), really comes into it's own here. I think it's no coincidence that this is the record that bears the band's name within the title. Certainly, I think Bruce found the power of the piano here, which may be why so much of Born to Run was written on the keys, not guitar.

On the songwriting level, the album is a treasure trove, with 3 certified classics, "Fourth of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)," "Incident on 57th Street," and "Rosalita (Come Out tonight)." Add to this a jazzy turn, "Kitty's Back," and a tune oozing with boardwalk swagger, "The E-Street Shuffle." Plus, two left-turn tracks that ramble and showcase Springsteen the storyteller in all his glory, "Wild Billy's Circus Story" and "New York City Serenade." This is, literally, an album I cannot stop listening to once I've started. The construction of each song is so compelling.

What I really think sets this disk off from the rest of the catalog, for me, personally, is that there's a depth of feeling to it. Greetings was a kid trying to prove himself, from Born to Run on he had a mission and a message that he needed to get out. The later albums all had very specific and pointed targets.

The Wild, the Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle feels like a day at the Jersey Shore, and all the things you might see passing by, or feel as you made your way into the night. Springsteen has always been honest, even in his most aggressively iconic periods, but this feels like the end of his time as a simple chronicler of the events around him. In the future he would find meaning in the stories he saw around him, but at this point, he was content to just tell the tales.

When our narrator calls out to Rosalita, he's simply concerned with being with the girl he loves. On Born to Run, when our guy coaxes Mary and her waving dress off the porch during "Thunder Road," there's a full and undeniable sense that it was about more than two people, more than a porch, it was all of us. Both are compelling, true and full of honesty, but there's something really compelling to me about the kid doing something that he never really see's the grandness of. The kids on E-Street Shuffle haven't realized just yet what's coming. Springsteen hasn't realized it yet.

It's the simplicity that I think works for me so much. It's Springsteen's last statement of, well...innocence, before his rise to larger things.