BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND : NASSAU COLISEUM, NEW YORK, 12/31/80 REMIX

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND : NASSAU COLISEUM, NEW YORK 12/31/80 REMIX

Disc One (75:21)

Night
Prove It All Night
Spirit In The Night
Darkness On The Edge Of Town
Independence Day
Who'll Stop The Rain
This Land Is Your Land
The Promised Land
Out In The Street
Racing In The Street
The River
Badlands
Thunder Road

Disc Two (75:47)

Cadillac Ranch
Sherry Darling
Hungry Heart
Merry Christmas, Baby
Fire
Candy's Room
Because The Night
4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
Rendezvous
Fade Away
The Price You Pay
Wreck On The Highway
Two Hearts
Ramrod

Disc Three (71:37)

You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)
Held Up Without A Gun
In The Midnight Hour
Auld Lang Syne
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
Jungleland
Born To Run
Detroit Medley
Twist And Shout
Raise Your Hand

Label : Live.BruceSpringsteen.net

Venue : Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, New York, USA

Recording Date : December 31, 1980

Quality : Soundboard Recording (A+)

Review (Wikipedia) : Nassau Coliseum, New York 1980 is a live album by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, released in March 2015, and was the fourth official release through the Bruce Springsteen Archives. The show was originally recorded live at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, on December 31, 1980. On July 5, 2019, a remixed and upgraded version of the recording was released, concurrent with the release of the concert at the same venue two nights prior. Background The concert, performed on New Year's Eve 1980 and New Year's Day 1981, is known for clocking in at almost four hours of music with 38 songs. The recording marks the first live release from the River Tour. Several selections from the show were released on various compilations over the years; "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" previously appeared on the 1986 Live/1975–85 box set, and the recording of "Merry Christmas Baby" was included on the 1987 compilation album A Very Special Christmas. Additionally, the non-album track "Rendezvous" was later released on the outtake set Tracks in 1998.

Review (BruceSpringsteen.net) : For the first time, multi-track master tapes of the classic New Year’s Eve 1980 show have been transferred via Plangent Processes and newly remixed by Jon Altschiller for superior sound. This upgraded edition breathes fresh life into a jaw-dropping 38-song performance which is packed with highlights, including “Spirit in the Night,” “Rendezvous,” “Fade Away,” “The Price You Pay,” “Held Up Without a Gun,” “In The Midnight Hour,” “Auld Lang Syne,” “Twist and Shout” and “Raise Your Hand.” The all-time fan favorite has never sounded better.

Review (Kieran's Thoughts) : From the moment it was originally released in the Archive Series in March 2015, a majority of Springsteen fans voiced their displeasure over the audio quality of the New Year’s Eve 1980 show. Many claimed the mix was no improvement on the audience recording they’d been listening to for thirty-five years and made it known that it was an injustice for arguably the greatest live E Street performance of all time. This month’s First Friday saw not only the release of December 29th, 1980 – the second show of the Nassau Coliseum stand – but also a surprise remix of the NYE show, making “Christmas in July” a reality for a lot of fans. So, I’ll preface this review by immediately saying that I had no qualms with how the original release sounded. I never listened to the bootleg beforehand and never bothered going to the trouble of checking it out afterwards. That being said, in comparing just the versions of “Night” from the March 2015 release and this July 2019 remix, there is an obvious contrast between the two in regards to clearness of sound. Now I can appreciate the grievances of other fans who have said that the original release sounded distant and somewhat fuzzy. In comparison this remix is much more typical of the ever improving sound quality of Archive Series releases from 2016 onwards. If you’ve been disappointed with how this New Year’s Eve 1980 show sounded before, you’ll be delighted with how good it is now. Jon Altschiller has worked wonders with his remix. If the quality of the recording isn’t an issue, you may have questions about how this compares to the December 29th show and thankfully there are plenty of differences in this thirty-eight song show lasting over three hours and forty minutes. Twenty-eight songs remain from two nights earlier and while “Incident on 57th Street” is absent (not be played again until September 1999) there’s at least three new performances from this one that help towards filling that void. Where it concerns the songs retained from December 29th, there’s a classic Springsteen structure shift to the setlist, and “Prove It All Night” moves from ninth to second as part of an opening “Night” trilogy, preceded by the Born to Run track that opened the show on the 29th and followed by “Spirit” making its debut in the Nassau stand. While “Night” is very much the same in every aspect as the 29th show, I’m struggling to decide which of the two “Prove It” versions I prefer, even with Bruce stumbling over his words at one point in this one. Miami Steve’s contributions, both instrumentally and vocally, are also very evident and it’s fantastic – 3:37 is my favourite moment from him. “Spirit”, like most other versions, thrives on the extended sax and organ from Clarence and Danny in the intro, and features Bruce interacting with the audience for the occasion – “duded up for New Year’s Eve!”. What I think was most noticeable here was Roy’s keys sounding less like a Saloon piano in the intro, but around four and a half minutes in it sounds like you’re in one of those Western bars perhaps more than in any other song played on the night. It’s a good opening and I like how it’s not straightforward as to which kick-off trio I preferred between these two December shows. The setlist mix-up continues as “Darkness on the Edge of Town” is next – and it’s followed by “Independence Day”, “Who’ll Stop the Rain” and “This Land is Your Land”. In contrast to the previous show Bruce is less despondent and more confident singing “Darkness”, so I wouldn’t say it’s as intense. Regardless, this is great and fortunately Steve’s vocals don’t completely overshadow Bruce during the chorus, despite still being loudly heard. Miami also benefits the song courtesy of his guitar licks and is propelled by Garry’s bass playing. “Independence Day” is played without an opening monologue, which has a slight drawback in the song losing some emotional power, but it does have the positive of Danny Federici’s organ playing standing out more. The December 29th version has its strengths when it comes to not being “standard” courtesy of the monologue and the “Why can’t you just say goodbye?” outro, however I enjoyed listening to this one much more as Bruce sings even more passionately and in contrast to the previous show I feel like I’m able to concentrate more on Steve’s subtle guitar riffs early on, as well as the crisp drumming of Max and piano of Roy. There’s nothing really different to the previous show in this “Who’ll Stop the Rain” and Bruce sings with the same sense of discomfort and fury – him singing “I wanna know” at 2:59 – 3:00 is the perfect example of this. He’s supported by just as great a Clarence solo and other intricacies of The E Street Band’s playing such as Steve’s playing and the keys work of Danny and Roy. “This Land is Your Land”, however, is one of the best performances of the show. Preceded by a brief intro where Bruce calls it “a fighting song” for the audience going into the New Year, I was struck as this was the first time the contrast in audio quality truly had an effect on my enjoyment of a song during this show. Over the past few years this performance never gripped me, it felt like I’d been listening to the song through blocked speakers or earphones, and I always returned to the December 28th version on Live 75-85 when wanting to hear the song, but the clear quality of music now allows this version and every aspect of it from Bruce’s vocals to The E Street Band’s playing to rise to echelons above. Bruce’s tone on the previous release always seemed like it was falling to a lower pitch, which led me to believe he wasn’t properly feeling the music, whereas now that notion has been switched on its head with this. This all peaks with the bridge at 2:09 from Steve and Garry that leads to a beautiful full band kick in and Bruce most definitely believing in the words he’s singing. Likewise with the December 29th release, “The Promised Land” is solid as ever and I love how this one features vocals from Springsteen, Clemons, Van Zandt and Tallent. Though with that being said, I think this is hindered slightly by the mixing of Danny’s organ, as I noticed a few instances where it’s somewhat concealed in the background to be only vaguely heard. Fortunately, this is far from the case on “Out in the Street” next, as Danny gets the intro spotlight over Roy leading to a faster paced and much livelier intro. Roy takes control during Bruce and Steve’s singing of the verses, and Danny does the work in-between, making for a fantastic version of the song. The first of the aforementioned three songs that can fill the “Incident” sized hole in this show is “Racing in the Street”. Thanks to the improvement in sound and how it impact how we hear Bruce, Roy, Danny and Max in particular on this version, we might have the ultimate performance of this song for the ages. It also has The Professor’s take on “Once Upon a Time in the West” attached as the last thirty seconds to lead into “The River”, which is sung relatively calmly by Bruce up to the “on my nineteenth birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat” lyric, that he howls out. Where the Tempe performance sees him as a man possessed and the December 29th version has him broken, on this night Bruce comes across as a man scarred. A man who can relieve the memories of his time with Mary and what led to the end of their relationship, but what happened at the end and afterwards cuts him like a knife and truly does haunt him like a curse. Similarly to “Racing”, the last thirty seconds of this track is Roy’s second bookending sample of Morricone to lead into “Badlands”. As was the case two nights prior this piece of piano ends, the guitars stir and then everything detonates. This one, though, is played at an even more lightning pace and Bruce sings particular lyrics rapidly – listen out for the lack of hesitation as he sings, “You wake up in the night with a fear so real, you spend your life waiting for a moment that just won’t come“. It’s worth mentioning just as much in this review as in the previous one how well Altschiller has mixed the audience into the show, and once again there’s an incredible balance between those onstage and those watching during “Thunder Road”. Bruce’s vocals are consistently smoother in this version – though the final note he hits is still raspy – and Miami Steve is even louder during the chorus than on the previous show. In contrast to the previous show, this one doesn’t have Roy’s Saloon piano popping in after that “Mary climb in” lyric, and instead it’s a blend of Danny’s organ and Steve’s guitar, which doesn’t ruin the song, but between the two versions I prefer the 29th. The second set is just about identical from the offset to the December 29th show with the first eight songs – “Cadillac Ranch”, “Sherry Darling”, “Hungry Heart”, “Merry Christmas, Baby”, “Fire”, “Candy’s Room”, “Because the Night” and “Sandy” – all being played in the same order, and there’s not many differences either to each performance. “Cadillac Ranch” is spurred on by Danny’s organ and Garry’s bass rhythm and does feature an interpolation of “No Money Down”, but the songs that proceed are nothing more spectacular than what you’ll hear on the previous show. Of course, all of them include Bruce sounding great – on “Sherry” and “Fire” in particular – and have excellent contributions from Stevie, Clarence and Max. Concerning the latter, the “Candy’s Room” and “Because the Night” pairing are outstanding examples of guitar and drumming from Springsteen, Van Zandt and Weinberg and once again Nils Lofgren’s recent “Because the Night” guitar solos are given some competition by Bruce. After this eight-pack, we get three new additions to the setlist starting with a Max Weinberg inspired, volant version of “Rendezvous”, and after that comes the other two songs that make the lack of that defining “Incident” on this show not such a bad thing. As this show has arguably the ultimate “Racing in the Street”, it’s great that it has the greatest “Fade Away” as well, starting off a River album six-pack (and a River outtake to follow). Bruce’s singing throughout, but mainly in that three-minute long extended intro is otherworldly. Even the moments he strains are blissful in how it complements some of the smoothest vocal notes he’s ever hit. Thanks to Altschiller’s remix, we’re also able to better hear the strumming of Miami and Garry as well as get a clearer indication of the riff Danny’s playing. “The Price You Pay” is played half-acoustically and thanks to the remix is a revelation of similar proportions to “This Land is Your Land”. For years listening to the previous release, Bruce’s vocals on this one seemed to hit a lower tempo, but now his singing is allowed to shine. This one is also notable for including the additional, “Some say forget the past” verse featured on the version available on The Ties That Bind box-set. The only difference is that the box-set version is completely different to this beautifully special and unique performance. The four tracks that come next are also fine, though “Wreck” suffers the same issue for me here as it does in the December 29th show and “Two Hearts” doesn’t have the same quality of singing by Bruce as it does on that night. I really like the pairing of “You Can Look” and “Held Up Without a Gun”, seeing as they’re essentially the same song, and as I’ve said before, “Held Up” is pure rushed carnage – the good kind – leading to the clock striking midnight. “In The Midnight Hour” and “Auld Lang Syne” bring everyone into 1981 and despite having played “Midnight” a few times recently for a recent post, I was caught off-guard here by how soulful Bruce’s singing is. It adds a nice contrast to the rocking playing of The E Street Band. In regards to “Auld Lang Syne”, this is like “Merry Christmas, Baby” and “Santa” in the sense that you might want to leave it for another five months, but I wouldn’t blame you for wanting to hear just how good Clarence and Danny sound more and more before the Festive period. “You can tell ’em, baby, that I ain’t no bum, ’cause me and you, we’re gonna make it, in 1981!” A fine fourteen minute version of “Rosie” featuring a fun band intro and slick guitar playing ends the main set as it did two nights earlier and “Santa” follows once again. We’re also treated to marvellous performances of “Jungleland”, “Born to Run” and “Detroit Medley”. but part of this show’s charm is in how it doesn’t stop there and Bruce has another ten minutes in him to give to the audience. “Twist and Shout” and “Raise Your Hand” confirm this to be Springsteen’s longest ever show (until 2012). Of the three that closed the December 29th show, “Jungleland” isn’t different to the other version, but as is usual for me when listening to the song I did ponder whether this was the best I’ve ever heard it played. While “Born to Run” and “Detroit Medley” aren’t particularly special on the previous show, here the power and energy levels are emphasised greatly. Bruce sings with a lot of vigour during his magnum opus and alongside the animation that “The Medley” is played with, it’s very apparent that these two have been given the special “final night of the stand” treatment. “Twist” and “Raise” end the show on a high note and provide us with even more fine vocals from Springsteen and Van Zandt and instrumentals from all band members, but as I always feel is the case with these two Springsteen covers, they’re nothing that’ll change your world E Street-wise. A River era defining marathon show, this night has so much to it that makes it enjoyable and historic, and thanks to this re-release, fans can enjoy it more than they have done for the last thirty-nine years, let alone four years since the initial release. This show mightn’t have had the complete mystique that the December 29th release did or as other shows I’ve never heard have, but with Altschiller’s remix this sounds brand new not just to the extent where we might as well have gotten two first time ever releases this month, but to the extent that it sounds like you’re truly hearing the show for the first time – unless you were actually there in person. While I mentioned earlier that I never had a problem with the sound of the initial release, you’ll have realised in my writing here and from my initial rating of 8.75/10 that I never believed the show came across as special through audio as it’s been made out to be over the years – despite the thirty-eight songs and 3hr40min run-time. I’ve decided to revise this show’s rating, and while it’s the same rating I gave December 29th show, I feel after to listening to both that by themselves they only tell half a story, and that they need to be heard back-to-back for the greatest listening experience.