Springsteen Hammersmith '75 CD

[Mayonnaise]

If I have a copy of the DVD version of this concert would there be any reason for me to buy the same concert on CD?

I'm not so much interested in watching as I am listening and wonder if CDs offer a better listening experience. Or worse for that matter. Both are played through the same system.

[Mr MidFi]

I rather like the audio on the DVD, so I'm not sure if the CD offers anything more. Frankly, I didn't even know there was a CD version.

BTW, I don't know if you've discovered the 3 live bonus tracks from '73 on the Wings For Wheels documentary DVD, but they're well worth checking out!

[musicman1999]

i have not seen the dvd,but i own the cd and the sound is very good,in theory it should be better but of course it is not multi channel and there are no visuals,but is very good.
thanks
bill

[Mr MidFi]

I didn't really make it clear on my first post, but I do consider the '75 Hammersmith Odeon show to be one of the all-time great live rock performances ever captured on tape...video or audio. I agree with the reviewer at allmusic.com on this one...every single song is a highlight here. These guys came to play that night.

5 stars.

[Woochifer]

I don't think that a CD of that performance would sound any better than the DVD because the DVD includes a PCM track (which is the same format as CD audio) that likely uses a higher resolution than the CD format. In fact, it's standard practice for the PCM tracks that come with concert DVDs to be sampled at 48 kHz, which is higher than the 44.1 kHz sampling rate used with CDs. Furthermore, DVDs have the option of increasing the bit depth from the 16-bits used with CDs all the way up to 24-bits. (I believe that the Hammersmith concert DVD uses a 48/16 PCM bitrate)

The only reason to go with the CD version would be to listen in your car or rip the tracks to MP3.

As far as the performance itself, the Hammersmith Odeon performance has a lot of raw energy and points to great things to come. Bruce gives a very inspired performance, but my sense is that the rest of the band at that point was still a work in progress. You see greatness in its developmental stage, but it's not quite there yet because while the performance has an inspired yet rough edge, it still sounds tentative at times.

Just compare the 1975 Hammersmith Odeon performance of Detroit Medley and Thunder Road with the 1979 No Nukes concert (when's the DVD for that show coming out??) version of those same songs, or compare the Hammersmith performance of Rosalita with his famous 1978 concert clip (the one with the stream of women crashing the stage, which for a long time was the only legally available live footage of Springsteen). In those latter performances, you see the E Street Band and Springsteen in top form as a truly great jam band, performing instinctively with total command over the material, and just ripping loose. Hopefully, a concert film from that era will emerge at some point.

[Mr MidFi]

As far as the performance itself, the Hammersmith Odeon performance has a lot of raw energy and points to great things to come. Bruce gives a very inspired performance, but my sense is that the rest of the band at that point was still a work in progress. You see greatness in its developmental stage, but it's not quite there yet because while the performance has an inspired yet rough edge, it still sounds tentative at times.

There's no doubt that the band was still coming together at this point. But while some may hear a "rough" or "tentative" sound...I hear the excitement of the new, with perhaps a looser, more improvisational feel at times than their later, large-venue shows. I think it's pure magic, and an indispensible document that shows both where the band had been and where it was heading.

But hey, that's why they sell chicken in parts.

[musicman1999]

sorry wooch i was unaware that the dvd had a pcm track.I was of course refering to the 5.1 track,that most people would pick,as most people don't know about how good pcm stereo tracks can sound on a dvd.
My cd player is spinning Detroit Medley right now.good stuff.

thanks
bill

[rufus]

if you want a music cd of it, for the car or portability, why don't you just copy the DVD audio track, even if you have to convert it to analog first, and then burn it to cd yourself?

[3-LockBox]

I think I'll check this out. I have that HBO special on DVD from a couple of years ago Live In NewYork. While it was a decent showing, I'm amazed at how unispired the rest of the band looked. Also, these guys have not grown as musicians, playing the same hamfisted style they did starting out. Of course the strength in Springsteen's music has always lay in the writing and not in virtuosity, that's why I'll prolly sell off my DVD of the NY concert and look for his older concerts to be released.