Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - Live/1975-85 (1986)

In late 1986 and early 1987, I often went to the music/electronics section of the Walmart in Commerce, Texas and eyeballed the 5 LP box set of this release, wondering if it was worth the money and would it properly feed my music addiction. I hadn't yet purchased a CD player - that would happen about a year later. The price for the set at the time was around $23 which was $30 more than this poor college student had on hand. The set was never purchased, but many years later, I inherited this CD set from one of my wife's cousins and here we are.

The release on Monday, November 10, 1986 (just in time for Christmas shopping!) was an event, with many stores selling out immediately. The box set debuted at #1 on Billboard's album chart - a rare occurrence at the time. Springsteen is great performer and if you like all his music, this was a prize. However, since I'm admittedly not a hard core fan, I'm of the opinion that listening to the whole thing is a slog (disc 2 in particular) and could have easily been pared down into an epic single disc release. It's taken me three days to get through the set this time. But I guess the words "brevity" and "Springsteen Live" don't belong together so I'll just be moving along now.

Press of the time:

• Stereo Review: "Exhausting, exhilarating, moving, funny, raunchy, majestic"
• Rolling Stone: "the ultimate rock-concert experience of the past decade finally packaged for living-room consumption."
• High Fidelity: "represents as ambitious and fully realized a vision of what has become the American Dream as has been witnessed over the last ten years."
• Smash Hits (7½ out of 10): "Is it worth £25? For the Springsteen fan, yes - it's a wonderful present to give yourself."
• CashBox: "An unparalleled event."
• Billboard: "Superior in every respect"
• Robert Christgau (A-): "There isn't one of its ten sides that excites me end to end, and there isn't one I couldn't play with active pleasure now or five years from now. If anything, it isn't long enough."

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #1
• Billboard Pop CD: #1
• CashBox: #1
• CashBox CD: #1
• Rolling Stone: #1

Tracks: Here's my suggested track listing for the aforementioned "epic single disc release"

Side A:

• Thunder Road
• Hungry Heart
• Two Hearts
• Fire
• Cadillac Ranch

Side B:

• War (gotta get the single on there. It peaked at #8 pop, #4 rock)
• Born in the USA
• Born To Run
• Tenth Avenue Freeze Out

CD/cassette bonus track:

• Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)

Which isn't too far removed from the promo-only LP issued by Columbia: https://www.discogs.com/release/4853200-Bruce-Springsteen-The-E-Street-Band-Live1975-85. Now if that album had been released commercially, I wouldn't have hesitated in buying the LP or cassette in 1986.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: see above

Previously revisited for the blog:
The Essential Bruce Springsteen (2003)
Greatest Hits (1995)
Tunnel Of Love (1987)

Blog post #2050