DEEP BENEATH THE WAVES vol 11

Date:    Tue, 3 Oct 1995 14:45:54 +0500
From:    xyx  
Subject: DEEP BENEATH THE WAVES vol 11

"The sea may freeze and the earth may burn
 If I nevermore return to you, Maryannnnnnnnnnnnn....."
Oh, hello. Sorry, you caught me enjoying Maryann. Give me a moment to assemble
my equipment and we'll shove off once again....

"SALT FOR SALT"  2CD (Crystal Cat) 16 tracks Oslo, Norway 6/29/95, 5 tracks
    Birmingham 4/2/95, 1 track Eugene, Ore  5/31/95
  Complete show from Oslo, brought to you by Springsteen-specialists Crystal
Cat in excellent quality, thereby continuing an impressive run of high-
quality '95 shows on CD (ed. note - in fact, the only "inferior" -yet
listenable, mind you -shows of '95 on CD are "With One Hand Waving Free,"
"Skipping Reels..." & "Romantic Facts...", IMO). It's taken several listens
to appreciate this show. On first hearing I found it uninspiring and was
bugged by something I could'nt pinpoint. Then BD sang this line in "You're A
Big Girl Now," "I can make it through, you can make it through with me,
too," adding the "with me," and really unleashed a drawn out & heartfelt
"heart," as in corkscrew through it. I got to thinkin' that maybe he was in
a mellow
frame of mind, which may have explained why he was'nt really "attacking" the
vocals on the first 5 songs. I went back and played it again with this in mind
and it sounded different, better, as I was hearing it from a different angle.
And though the vocals were not as "LOUD" to my ears, I noticed the guitars
certainly were. This, my fellow rmd'ers, is a helluva guitar show. Not to
mislead, the sound is great-upfront vocals, defined separation of instruments-
but the loud guitars stand out, IMO. First 6 tracks: Crash/ManinMe/Duuhhh/
JustLikeWoman (he does a nice,
nasty snarl on "she sees finally that she's just
like all the rest")/Big Girl/Silvio. Guitars reign, adding a new perspective to
what I initially thought was a uninspired show. Silvio gives way to the
acoustic set - Tangled w/nice harp solo/Masters-dark,ominous, gloomy-a
classic performance/Don't Think 2x - bouncy, country swing w/a kick. The
subdued nature of the vocals instantly vanishes w/an energetic Stuck Inside-
a loud, guitar crazy I&I-raucous HWY61 and sharp, cutting Thin Man (you gotta
hear him sing,"Oh my God am I here all alone" to understand how he perfectly
captures the fear and helplessness of the protagonist). It Aint me Babe:
compassionate, empathetic, tender, almost apologetic - amazing how he can
wrestle so many different emotions out of his songs by the way he SINGS
them. 12&35 ends it all nicely. Try to put yourself inside the sounds inside
his mind and you'll really enjoy this show.
  Shame on Crystal Cat for 5 of the 6 bonus trax already being available on
"One Hand Waving Free." Although the trax are well chosen and in excellent
quality (TBlues/Tom Thumb/What Good/MrTMan/TearsofRage), CCat has been around
long enough to know they were available. And considering the 6th bonus track
"OBV 5 Believers" is presented in good quality, one would think they had the
entire tape from this show, which included the not-oft played Positively4th/
GatesofEden/Real You/Shelter/Back Pages, which IMO would have been better
bonus trax. Piss and moan, piss and moan.
   Overall, a good job with a phenomenal cover photo, some nice insert photos
and colorful graphics. If not for those bonus trax..........piss and moan,
piss and moan.
                                                      Love & Mercy - xyx

P.S. Hey you bootleggers out there, howzabout a couple of West Coast shows
from May 1995 on CD?! And don't forget a few of those killer Spanish shows
also.

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