Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - The Legendary 1979 No Nukes Concerts

(2LP)

Format: LP Vinyl

Label: Legacy

Catalog No: 19439892951

Barcode: 0194398929514

Genre: Rock

No of Discs: 2

Release Date: 11/19/2021

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band

The Legendary 1979 No Nukes Concerts

(2LP)

 

Format: LP Vinyl

Label: Legacy

Catalog No: 19439892951

Barcode: 0194398929514

Genre: Rock

No of Discs: 2

 

Release Date: 11/19/2021 

 

 

Thirteen Songs Performed Over 2 Nights On Double LP

The Entire Explosive 90 Minute Show Remixed & Remastered

Includes Book & Poster

 

The Legendary 1979 No Nukes Concerts from Bruce Springsteen and the E

Street Band were recorded at the September 1979 MUSE (Musicians United

for Safe Energy) benefit concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York

City. This 2 LP set features 13 songs performed over two nights, that

are newly remixed and remastered. This gatefold package includes a

24-page book with rare photos and memorabilia, an essay and a 33" x 19"

poster.

The No Nukes concerts came nine months after the end of Springsteen's

breakout tour in support of Darkness On The Edge Of Town in 1978, the

year when the legend of Springsteen's marathon shows was born.

Bruce and the band were in the Big Apple already to record the

follow-up to Darkness and took a break from the sessions to support the

worthy cause, organized by Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, and Bonnie

Raitt. That support - "for a non-nuclear future" - marked the beginning

of Bruce's public activism that continues to this day. When Springsteen

and the E Streeters took the Garden stage on September 21 and 22, the

country was still not even six months past the worst nuclear accident in

U.S. history, the partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island nuclear

reactor in Pennsylvania.

Along with a sense of urgency for the cause, there was pent-up energy

to expend. Following their reputation-making year on the road in '78,

MUSE brought Springsteen and the E Street Band back for essentially

their only gigs of '79, which seemed to light an additional fire under

the performers - and under Springsteen fans too, who flocked to the

Garden for this special opportunity. The No Nukes shows also coincided

with Bruce's 30th birthday, making the occasion that much more special.

The resulting performances capture the electricity of the Darkness

tour and preview Springsteen's new writing, while packing the intensity

of one of those epic, three-hour concerts into 90 crackling minutes. The

set includes the world premiere of "The River", which would go on to be

the title track of Springsteen's double album of the same name the

following year. Though the song was new to the band and unknown to the

crowd, you wouldn't know it from this powerful, moving debut.

The 1979 MUSE concerts yielded a concert film, No Nukes, released

theatrically in 1980, which gave fans their first opportunity to see

Springsteen live on screen, even for just a few songs, along with many

other artists on the all-star bill. Between the film and a concurrent

triple-LP live album released by Asylum Records, still only a smattering

of Springsteen's performances from this high profile event were part of

the official record.

For this project, director/editor and longtime Springsteen

collaborator Thom Zimny recovered and restored the original No Nukes

camera film footage in HD. Zimny's cut features all 13 songs Bruce

performed over the two nights, ten never before seen. "The River" and

the unreleased "Sherry Darling" gave a taste of Springsteen's next

album, joined by live favorites "Prove It All Night", "Badlands", "The

Promised Land", "Thunder Road", "Jungleland", "Rosalita (Come Out

Tonight)" and "Born To Run".

The thrilling "Detroit Medley", Springsteen's Mitch Ryder tribute

(combining "Devil With A Blue Dress On", "Jenny, Jenny", "C.C. Rider"

and "Good Golly, Miss Molly"), was a highlight of the No Nukes album and

garnered radio airplay, but it did not appear in the original movie.

Cover songs like these have always helped fuel the rock 'n' roll frenzy

of E Street Band concerts; also featured are their renditions of Gary

U.S. Bonds' "Quarter To Three", Buddy Holly's "Rave On" and Maurice

Williams' "Stay", featuring Jackson Browne, Tom Petty and Rosemary

Butler. The audio is remixed from multitrack masters by Bob

Clearmountain.

More than 40 years later, No Nukes is a chance to witness the future

Rock and Roll Hall of Famers just six years into their story, on the

cusp of superstardom as their live legend grew, based precisely on

explosive performances like these, with something to prove all night.

The Legendary 1979 No Nukes

Concerts offers an uncut dose of pure rock'n'roll. Bruce Springsteen

& the E Street Band were by then amassing a deep catalog, but they

remained connected with their audience through the common vernacular of

old hits. Those familiar choruses and hooks are warhorses, but the E

Street Band uses them as a vehicle for transcendence. Years of similar

performances haven't diminished the power of this one: It has a

distinctive blend of magic and might, the sound of a band who knows

they�ve hit their stride and still gets giddy at the noise they make.

It�s a bar band delivering communion.-Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Pitchfork, Best New Reissue - Rated 9.0

 

Features

Double LP Recorded September 1979 at the MUSE benefit concerts in NYC Entire 90 minute performance Remixed from multitrack masters by Bob Clearmountain Remastered Embossed gatefold jacket 24-page book with rare photos Essay 33" x 19" poster

 

Track Listing:

Side A:

Prove It All Night Badlands The Promised Land The River

 

Side B:

Sherry Darling Thunder Road Jungleland

 

Side C:

Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) Born To Run Stay

 

Side D:

Detroit Medley Quarter To Three Rave On