Hammersmith Odeon, London ’75 may be the most legendary Springsteen Album that never was…until recently. I had a copy on vinyl that I bought in ’76 from the “Rare and Collectable” store in my neighborhood. When Springsteen broke big in Chicago in the early 80s, due to some play at the Steppenwolf, before Born in the USA, all of sudden, my Springsteen collection was requested with my presence at various and sundry parties. Everyone wanted to tape a copy of it…from the vinyl. Ummm, no, but you can borrow my tape. The vinyl copy disappeard years ago and I long since wore out the last good taped copy I had.

I almost lost it when I found out that it had been remixed by Bob Clearmountain and “officially” released on Columbia. Ya see, to me, this is Springsteen. It’s live, it’s raw as hell, E-Street was still jamming, testing one another out. Outside of actually attending a live performance, this is the album that converted disbelievers.

If you didn’t grow up in a city of over a million folks, don’t tell me how you never got Springsteen…I know. Trying to explain street rythms to you is sort of like you dumping me in the middle of nowhere and trying to radio in how you want me to track a deer. And if you did grow up in a city of over a million and you still don’t get it…I don’t know what to tell ya. This is the music that spoke to my teenage heart and often times kept me alive, which is another long story that I’m not ready to tell you about yet.

I was going to write a song by song but it would just be my opinion mixed with 30 year old emotions streaming back.

If you just kinda like old Springsteen and have often wondered what all the buzz was about. THIS is the album you want to buy. If you’ve already got it on vinyl tucked away safe and sneer at a CD or digital version, I’ve got to tell you, the freaking keyboards never sounded this good on vinyl and I don’t know how they got the bass response amped up, but then, I had a bootleg piece of vinyl and not a master to work off of.