I prefer Western Stars. Letter to You album definitely has it's flaws. The "by the end of the set we leave no one alive" line not being one of them. One weak point is the singing. His voice is to weak and worn down and doesn't work for the rock songs anymore. To my ears it sounds strained and turns into a lot of screaming and shouting. But the voice still works for the ballads where he can sing more relaxed.
I think those two songs may well bookend the next full E Street show, whenever it may be. Ghosts opening the show, Dreams played as the last song of the encore.
I'd read about the poor vocals elsewhere and was expecting the worst when I finally just now got around to watching Ghosts... not perfect, but far from the disaster I was half expecting from commentary elsewhere. Dreams was great.
I just wanted to share some thoughts about Bruce's voice on 'Ghosts' that I wrote on Greasy Lake because there seems to be a bit of an overreaction regarding his vocal performance, I would say. This is just my two cents, mind you, but I do believe I have a point about this and we shouldn't worry too much. Sharing this here as well because I wanted to give you my point of view if anyone cares and wanted to see if anyone has a different opinion, I think this is an interesting discussion!
"Well, I would say not to overreact regarding Bruce's voice, although this performance of 'Ghosts' was indeed a poor vocal performance. He famously doesn't warm up his voice and this a perfect example of why that isn't always a good idea! But I really wouldn't worry too much about that, remember that his vocals on 'Meet Me In The City' at SNL 2015 were not great whatsoever, and the band even dropped the key half a step (from E to D#) on that performance, but he couldn't reach the higher notes and wasn't really in control of his middle range. And still, when the tour began in Pittsburgh three or four weeks after that, the band played the song in the original key and Bruce absolutely nailed it, all the high notes and with great phrasing and he kept doing that throughout almost every performance of that song.
Once he can get back in musical shape with the band, and with proper rehearsals, I do believe his voice will be as good as it has been. For example, that note on 'The Ties That Bind' - he did stop trying to reach it early on in 2016, but he also did the exact same thing in 1980/81, and his voice was mighty fine back then. He began the tour by trying to go there every gig, and then he stopped trying because the note is there anyway sung by the background singers.
This is just my two cents, and I do agree that 'Ghosts' was not a good vocal performance by any means, but 'I'll See You In My Dreams' was beautifully sung and I do believe that's because his voice was more warmed up by that point. 🙂"
I really enjoyed the song selection, and this performance along with Stand for Heroes makes the case that E street is still alive. Though we may be off in our pitch and maybe too much of a tan. The music is meant to be played live. I was again transported to a place of good tidings. In this year, that is rare, I take what I can get from the bounty of our communal spirit.
Well, he did show why a singer should warm up their voice 😅 Bruce did sing a bit off-key on 'Ghosts', particularly on the higher register. Stevie was also struggling with the pitch in his harmonies, and I do think it was a mix between not warming up and the excitement of playing live for the first time in almost 4 years.
But I enjoyed it a lot, nonetheless! The fill before the last chorus was great, by the way. But 'I'll See You In My Dreams' was perfectly sung and sounded great overall. Great sound there. Can't wait for the first E Street gig after this one. They were having so much fun!
The main reason I think why I love the line about leaving no one alive is that it evokes to me the same kinda idea of when he said coming out on stage one night in Anaheim on the Magic tour, that they "were out for blood." And that show, they were. Evokes to me when we all love something or someone so much that no one ever gets out alive.
I was feeling fine while watching so whether I was in an altered state or what, I did not hear all these complaints with his voice. I thought he sounded great, in fact I thought Ghosts was the better performance of the two vocally.
Thats past my bedtime these days lol ..... and 8:45 this morning was a little early for inebriants for me .... .....im a little jealous though Kay ....But no complaints .... if we were only to get 2 ...those are the two i wanted .....
I'm stil very far from being convinced. I've listened to Western Stars a lot more than I have Letter to You since the latter came out.
If I'm honest, I felt genuinely embarrassed and cringed at the silliness of the "by the end of the set we leave no one alive" line. I honestly can't believe people think Ghosts is a good piece of songwriting. The same goes for I'll See You in My Dreams, btw.
I get it that people feel an emotional connections to these songs, but I honestly think they're a bit embarrassing.
Musically i really like them. Lyrically i do hear some clunky phrasing. But i apparently almost died this year ....so yes .... I do feel a big time emotional connection. He wrote about youth when i was young. He wrote about love and marriage when i was falling in love and getting married. He wrote Living Proof when i had my son. And now he writes about aging and loss when i am entering that phase of my life. So yes .... I am emotionally connected. 😊
I don't hear that in his voice, at all. Sure as hell don't hear any weakness. Whether that's the help of the studio or not.
I prefer Western Stars. Letter to You album definitely has it's flaws. The "by the end of the set we leave no one alive" line not being one of them. One weak point is the singing. His voice is to weak and worn down and doesn't work for the rock songs anymore. To my ears it sounds strained and turns into a lot of screaming and shouting. But the voice still works for the ballads where he can sing more relaxed.
I think those two songs may well bookend the next full E Street show, whenever it may be. Ghosts opening the show, Dreams played as the last song of the encore.
I'd read about the poor vocals elsewhere and was expecting the worst when I finally just now got around to watching Ghosts... not perfect, but far from the disaster I was half expecting from commentary elsewhere. Dreams was great.
I just wanted to share some thoughts about Bruce's voice on 'Ghosts' that I wrote on Greasy Lake because there seems to be a bit of an overreaction regarding his vocal performance, I would say. This is just my two cents, mind you, but I do believe I have a point about this and we shouldn't worry too much. Sharing this here as well because I wanted to give you my point of view if anyone cares and wanted to see if anyone has a different opinion, I think this is an interesting discussion!
"Well, I would say not to overreact regarding Bruce's voice, although this performance of 'Ghosts' was indeed a poor vocal performance. He famously doesn't warm up his voice and this a perfect example of why that isn't always a good idea! But I really wouldn't worry too much about that, remember that his vocals on 'Meet Me In The City' at SNL 2015 were not great whatsoever, and the band even dropped the key half a step (from E to D#) on that performance, but he couldn't reach the higher notes and wasn't really in control of his middle range. And still, when the tour began in Pittsburgh three or four weeks after that, the band played the song in the original key and Bruce absolutely nailed it, all the high notes and with great phrasing and he kept doing that throughout almost every performance of that song.
Once he can get back in musical shape with the band, and with proper rehearsals, I do believe his voice will be as good as it has been. For example, that note on 'The Ties That Bind' - he did stop trying to reach it early on in 2016, but he also did the exact same thing in 1980/81, and his voice was mighty fine back then. He began the tour by trying to go there every gig, and then he stopped trying because the note is there anyway sung by the background singers.
This is just my two cents, and I do agree that 'Ghosts' was not a good vocal performance by any means, but 'I'll See You In My Dreams' was beautifully sung and I do believe that's because his voice was more warmed up by that point. 🙂"
I really enjoyed the song selection, and this performance along with Stand for Heroes makes the case that E street is still alive. Though we may be off in our pitch and maybe too much of a tan. The music is meant to be played live. I was again transported to a place of good tidings. In this year, that is rare, I take what I can get from the bounty of our communal spirit.
I'll see you in my Dreams is a masterpiece.
Well, he did show why a singer should warm up their voice 😅 Bruce did sing a bit off-key on 'Ghosts', particularly on the higher register. Stevie was also struggling with the pitch in his harmonies, and I do think it was a mix between not warming up and the excitement of playing live for the first time in almost 4 years.
But I enjoyed it a lot, nonetheless! The fill before the last chorus was great, by the way. But 'I'll See You In My Dreams' was perfectly sung and sounded great overall. Great sound there. Can't wait for the first E Street gig after this one. They were having so much fun!
The main reason I think why I love the line about leaving no one alive is that it evokes to me the same kinda idea of when he said coming out on stage one night in Anaheim on the Magic tour, that they "were out for blood." And that show, they were. Evokes to me when we all love something or someone so much that no one ever gets out alive.
I was feeling fine while watching so whether I was in an altered state or what, I did not hear all these complaints with his voice. I thought he sounded great, in fact I thought Ghosts was the better performance of the two vocally.
I'm stil very far from being convinced. I've listened to Western Stars a lot more than I have Letter to You since the latter came out.
If I'm honest, I felt genuinely embarrassed and cringed at the silliness of the "by the end of the set we leave no one alive" line. I honestly can't believe people think Ghosts is a good piece of songwriting. The same goes for I'll See You in My Dreams, btw.
I get it that people feel an emotional connections to these songs, but I honestly think they're a bit embarrassing.