In Concert/MTV Plugged - Springsteen, Bruce (Cassette 1997)

Springsteen opened up his 1992 concert tour with an appearance on MTV's old "Unplugged" live concert show, from whence comes this CD. Bruce had dumped most of the E-streeters for this tour and only pianist Roy Brittan remained of his former pals; the rest of the band is a bunch of competent but faceless studio musicians. That's OK, because much of the music is a little faceless as well.

The CD opens up with an acoustic "Red Haired Woman" and then, ignoring the "unplugged" format, Springsteen goes electric for the rest of the show. The CD assembles most of the better songs from the two rather forgotten CD's, "Lucky Town" and "Human Touch" and I've always thought that he could have assembled one strong CD instead of the two uneven ones we got. (Unlike 1980's two-disc set "The River", Springsteen just did not have enough material in 1992 to fill two CD's.)

The live performance, like most of the material, is OK but not great. One doesn't want to yearn too much for the past but the old band was a lot better than the new one, and so were the songs. We do get some nice versions of old concert standbys. "Thunder Road" is a moving duet between Bruce and Brittan, much different from the 1975-1985 live version (and nothing like the E-street concert versions). "Atlantic City" is played as a nice rocker, entirely different from the "Nebraska" version and almost as good as the great cover by Zeitgeist on the old "Cover Me" album from the mid-80's. From the later material, "Better Days", "Lucky Town", "I Wish I Were Blind", "Human Touch", and "Man's Job" all get respectful treatments that sound a lot like the studio versions.

I saw Springsteen on this concert tour and was rather disappointed. He just didn't have a lot to say on the two albums that headlined the tour and the band, though enthusiastic, just did not click. This CD is a nice retrospective on a tough period in Springsteen's life, and I like it more than the two contemporary studio disks, but he's done better work. There are better places to get acquainted with the Boss than on this CD.