Note: the video should appear above, if not, click here

Tracklist:

Click/Tap to View Tracklist 

Disc 1:
01 - Incident on 57th Street (1974-10-29)
02 - Spirit in the Night (1974-03-03)
03 - E Street Shuffle / Having a Party (1974-03-03)
04 - Jam > (1974-01-29)
05 - Blinded by the Light (1974-01-29)
06 - Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street? (1973-01-31)
07 - Wild Billy's Circus Story (1974-03-09)
08 - New York City Serenade (1974-10-29)
09 - It's Hard to be a Saint in the City (1974-03-03)

Disc 2:
10 - Kitty's Back (1974-10-29)
11 - 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) (1974-06-03)
12 - Thundercrack (1973-03-02)
13 - Tokyo (1974-06-03)
14 - Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) (1974-06-03)
15 - Let the Four Winds Blow > I'm Ready (1974-06-03)

Info:

This compilation was largely unplanned. I had intended to do a compilation for The River Tour (1980-81), had the setlist drafted up and everything. That got pushed aside by the Passaic compilation. Recently I went back to the River one and gave it another go. But scrapped it after a bit. It covered a ton of ground I’ve already done compilations on, and I didn’t really feel like getting into another 3 or even 4 disc compilation again. I wanted to do something different.

The idea for an “early years” compilation was just a random thought. Wrote it down and left it for a bit. After coming back to and scrapping the River one, I started to really consider it. It seemed like a fun idea, plus it would get me to listen to shows I wasn’t really familiar with (but still knowing all of the songs).

Starting out, I gave myself the following limitations: 1973-1974 shows only, and 2 discs max

I wanted to keep it focused on a single era, as well as sticking to a disc limit so it didn’t go overboard. It was also easy because I didn’t have any official releases to avoid since nothing from this era has been officially released in any major capacity (a crime, far as I’m concerned).

This is an incredibly hot and underrated era in Bruce’s history. A transition period of sorts. From the original lineup of Clarence-Danny-Vini-Garry, David Sancious joining in on the Organ (a position Danny would later take over with the addition of Roy Bittan). Vini getting the boot, Boom Carter taking over, and eventually Max Weinberg. By the end of this period, the lineup would remain much the same for the next 40 years. You go from incredibly wild performances of the Vini era, then taking a turn into a jazzy period with the addition of Davey and Boom Carter. Eventually resembling something more familiar by the end with Max and Roy joining in. It’s an era really like nothing else in Bruce’s history.

Now some info on the song choices:

Using the average setlists of the era (thanks setlist.fm) as a jumping off point. I started rearranging songs in something resembling an order. Going in, I knew I wanted to include Tokyo from 6/3/74, and one or two songs from Boston ‘74. The rest was in the air really.

From Boston 10/29/74, I included monster versions of Kitty’s Back and New York City Serenade (20min each), originally back to back in the show, but moved around for this compilation. Incident from that show is also included as the opener.

The back half of Agora 6/3/74 is included to close out the compilation. A great run of Tokyo-Rosie-Four Winds that can’t be beat. Two points of note with that. The ending of Tokyo is great with Bruce asking “what am i gonna do?”, then answering his own question with an extended guitar solo over the outro (as one does). Rosie has Boom Carter taking an extended drum solo during the middle of the song (a relative rarity for E Street). Four Winds has Bruce and Clarence having an extended call-and-response bit in the middle. Along with a mid-song segue into Fats Domino’s “I’m Ready”, then back to Four Winds to close it out.

“Blinded by the Light” from Nashville 1/29/74 is a fun one. The first 6min or so is an untitled instrumental jam, which surprised me when I loaded up a 10min version of Blinded and was met with the first half being a jam entirely outside of Blinded, then going into it. I split it onto its own track because its fun and different enough to warrant it.

Pretty much everything on this compilation is a highlight, so I can’t list them all. Artwork is included.

Enjoy!

Lilbud (March 2023)