Geof’s New Music: 8-14 Apr 2007

As many of you have noted to me, I’m … not blogging much. And that even means being a slacker about the music. But I’m listening, even when not posting.

Last week, I continued with some Springsteen and some good bootlegs:

• Bruce Springsteen’s Darkness on the Edge of Town continues my month through Springsteen’s back catalog.
  
• Over the Rhine’s Live from Nowhere, Volume Two is the second in a wonderful series. Not only does OtR respect tapers by letting them record, but they put out great live albums with a couple studio cuts mixed in to make it really impactful.
  
• 4 Feb 1985 [Milano, Italy] concert bootleg of U2.
• 4 Apr 1997 [Oslo, Norway] concert bootleg of Wilco.
• 25 Feb 2006 [Chicago, IL, USA] concert bootleg of Jeff Tweedy.
• 20 Oct 2006 [Latrobe, PA, USA] concert bootleg of Wilco.

Last week the week before last began my month of Bruce Springsteen’s back catalog:

• Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run. This album deserves all the accolades it gets. Four stars.
  
• 15 Sep 2006 [Austin, TX, USA] concert bootleg of Guster. A solid show, but nothing outstanding. Three stars.
• 19 Feb 2006 [Iowa City, IA, USA] concert bootleg of Jeff Tweedy. It was okay. Almost three stars, but I give it two-and-a-half.
• 31 Mar 1997 [Amsterdam, Netherlands] concert bootleg of Wilco. Pretty meh. Two-and-a-half stars.
• 18 Oct 2006 [Morgantown, WV, USA] concert bootleg of Wilco. Like the rest of the week, the bootlegs were nothing to write home about. Two-and-a-half stars.
• 16 Jul 2005 [London, England] concert bootleg of R.E.M. A solid recording, but strongly tilted towards their classic tunes, which … well, that always says a lot about what a long-running band thinks of their new stuff. Three-and-a-half stars.