This last week we asked what was the best title track from a Bruce album. In the introduction post I asked if there was a connection between what is usually considered the best albums and the title trakcs. The answer is a big resounding "yes!". The albums that usually occupy the first three spots in best album polls, Born to Run, Darkness and The River, also have the three best title tracks according to you. For "Born to Run" there really was no competition. It received almost 50% of all the votes cast. "Darkness on the Edge of Town" and "The River" came in second and third, but with only 15% and 12% of the votes respectively.

The biggest surprise as I see it is that "Nebraska" ended up second to last with only eight votes. Nebraska usually fares pretty well in "best album" polls and won the best non-E Street Band album poll a while back. But that wasn't enough to beat songs like "Human Touch" and "Working on a Dream" from far less popular albums. Of course, that doesn't mean "Nebraska" would lose to those songs in a head to head contest with those songs, but it's still interesting.

The complete result looks like this:

Born to Run 47.9%
Darkness on the Edge of Town 15.1%
The River 12.6%
The Rising 4.1%
Tunnel of Love 3.8%
The E Street Shuffle 3.2%
The Ghost of Tom Joad 2.4%
Working on a Dream 2.2%
Magic 1.7%
Human Touch 1.7%
Born in the USA 1.6%
Lucky Town 1.4%
Nebraska 1.3%
Devils & Dust 1.0%

This coming week's poll, I must say, also has Born to Run as the clear favorite. Which album has the best cover? For space reasons I've had to limit it to studio albums, but it should still be interesting to see the result. And again, will the result reflect how popular the music on the albums is? Let the voting begin!

Finally an official announcement was made. And no, it's not the Darkness box (dammit), but it's something that should make most fans pretty excited anyway. On June 22 a live DVD of Bruce's show in Hyde Park in 2009 will be released on DVD and Blu-ray. Parts of the show was televised in the UK, but now we'll get the chance to watch the whole thing. Or almost the whole thing. It looks like "Rosalita" has been omitted unless there's an error in the official press release.

Still, there are plenty of songs to compensate, including the first official DVD version of "Racing in the Street", those amazing versions of "Seeds" and "Johnny 99" that were highlights of the Working on a Dream Tour, not to mention the two bonus tracks: "The River" from Glastonbury (the one where his whole body is steaming) and "Wrecking Ball" from Giants Stadium.

Despite of these highlights, fans will also have plenty to complain about. "Bobby Jean" as part of the request section is a clear indication that the setlist of this show was pretty standard. And almost half the songs have been released on DVD before in more or less the same arrangements. That of course doesn't say anything about the quality of the show. Who knows? Some say it was sub-par and that Bruce seemed tired. Others that it was epic. Come June 22 we'll all be able to judge for ourselves.

All is harmony in the homes of Bruce fans. At least, only 3% of the 500 respondees of the last poll answered that their spouse doesn't accept their Bruce fandom. Most (36%) even said that their spouse likes Bruce and 21% even has a spouse who's a big Bruce fan themselves. Also, among the spouses who don't like Bruce, most of them doesn't have a problem with their partner spending some time worshipping their idol. That leaves about 20% of you who answered that you don't have a spouse. It would be kind of interesting to know if those of you who are looking for a partner are going for someone who's also a Bruce fan or if that doesn't matter at all. And those of you whose spouses are in fact Bruce fans, does it make life easier?

Well, in the coming week we are going to look at whether the most popular albums also have the most popular title tracks. I mean, Born to Run and Darkness always win the "best album" polls, but does that mean those songs.... "Born to Run" and "Darkness on the Edge of Town" are the best title tracks? The next week will show.

A few years ago writer Tennessee Jones published a collection of short stories based on the songs on the Nebraska album. Now a somewhat similar project has seen the light of day. This time a number of writers have each contributed a horror, fantasy or suspense story inspired by Springsteen song title of their own choice. The collection is called Darkness on the Edge (there is that Darkness theme again) and is edited by Harrison Howe. Song titles that inspired the stories include "Thunder Road", "I'm on Fire", "My Father's House", "Candy's Room", "Streets of Philadelphia", "Darkness on the Edge of Town" and "Adam Raised a Cain", and the authors who took part in the project include T.M. Wright, Tom Piccirilli, Peter Abrahams, Gary Braunbeck, Sarah Langan, James A. Moore, Elizabeth Massie, Nancy Kilpatrick and Lee Thomas. Read more on PS Publishing's website. You'll have to scroll down to find the book, which comes in a regular edition and a signed edition. Should make for an interesting summer read if you can spare the money.

If you have a few minutes to spare, and even if you don't, do yourself a favor and take a look at this article from 1975 that the people at The Quietus have managed to dig out. It was written by Dave Marsh and originally published in Creem. While Marsh's admiration for Bruce was apparent even 35 years ago, it's still faschinating to read this contemporary article from before the big fame.

So you think this is bad? You’re frustrated that there’s no news about the Darkness box, a 2009 tour DVD, a new album? Nothing. The last album was more than a year ago, the tour ended six months ago. Wow, big deal! But let me tell you something: back in the old days when this fan had just gotten into Bruce big time, we would have happily accepted “only” a year of waiting. That’s when things were really bad. How about 4½ years? That’s how long it was between Tunnel of Love and Human Touch/Lucky Town. During that time “big news” was when Bruce sang backup on a new Nils Lofgren single (the actually very excellent “Valentine”), or when he was seen at some charity party with Sting. Sometimes there were rumors of an album being finalized or a tour being prepared, but the rumors were never true. And most of the time there weren’t even rumors. Bruce was simply gone from the radar.

With 149 votes "Twist and Shout" won the poll for the best show closer. The song was allegedly one of the first songs Bruce learned to play on his guitar and it has been part of his repertoire ever since, usually as the final encore. "Rosalita" came in second with 130 votes. The song was the main set closer from 1974 to 1984, but has only been the actual show closer for relatively longer or shorter periods during the last three E Street Band tours. Oh, not to mention its two one-off appearances during the 1992 and 1999 tours. On the Reunion Tour Bruce seemed very unwilling to play it despite hundreds of fan requests for it. It seems he's loosened up a bit since then.

For lack of "Rosalita" "Land of Hope and Dreams" was the big show closer during the Reunion Tour. It was practically written as a show closer and was used as such long into the Rising Tour. With 96 votes it came in third. Not bad for a "new" song.

Bruce's recent favorite as the show closer, and a song that has been performed at every single show on the last two E Street Band tours - "American Land" - doesn't sit quite as well with the fans as it does with Bruce. It only scored 46 votes, giving it a 6th place. I personally thought it was fantastic during the Seeger Sessions Tour, but with the E Street Band it never felt quite right.

The last spot was reserved for "My Beautiful Reward", which was the show closer for most of the 1992-93 tour with the "other" band. That may not have been Bruce's most popular tour, but "My Beautiful Reward" was actually very poignant as the last song. Altogether, I have a thing for slow songs as the show closer and therefore personally voted for "Dream Baby Dream". I was extremely moved by Bruce's hypnotic chanting and will never forget the look on people's faces as they stood in the dark listening.

Here's the complete pll results:

1. Twist and Shout - 146
2. Rosalita - 130
3. Land of Hope and Dreams - 96
4. Detroit Medley - 81
5. Quarter to Three - 55
6. American Land - 46
7. Dancing in the Dark - 41
8. Dream Baby Dream - 30
9. My Beautiful Reward - 12

This coming week it's time to reveal a little bit about your private life. How does your spouse feel about Bruce and the fact that you are a fan? Do you even have a spouse? If not, did they leave you because of Bruce? Or are you just to busy with Bruce to care about finding a spouse? Ok, those last couple of questions are not part of the poll, but it's still interesting.

Whether or not Bruce intends to release the damn Darkness box this year, the fans are already getting into full Darkness mode. Various Bruce blogs and news sites seem to center around the subject, and this site, too, has had its share of Darkness. Now our friend Lawrence Kirsch - not content with just releasing a killer book about the Darkness era (The Light in Darkness) - has dug deeper into the Darkness and interviewed a guy named Dick Wingate, who was involved in the launching and marketing of the Darkness album. He talks about the album cover, the TV ad, an infamous billboard in Los Angeles and much more. So if you can't get enough of that whole period in Bruce history, this is an interesting read. Go check it out.

When it comes to the songs Bruce wrote specifically for movies there is no doubt: his first attempt is still the best. "Streets of Philadelphia" from 1993, included in the movie Philadelphia, won in a landslide. With 323 votes, it received more than twice as many as the runner up: "The Wrestler" (170 votes). "Lift Me Up" came in third (56 votes), "Dead Man Walkin'" was number four (42 votes) and "Missing" had to settle for the last spot (26 votes). Again, I personally voted for the loser. I always loved "Missing". I even prefer it to its close relative, "You're Missing". Musically, it's much more interesting and its images stronger. Needless to say I also prefer it to "Streets of Philadelphia", which from the very first time I heard it sounded like very average Bruce to me. And after more than 15 years I still don't understand its appeal.

This weeks poll takes a look at, well, Bruce's looks. I admit, it was a bit rushed. Hence the lack of voting options between 1995 and present days. Not that he's changed all that much in the last 10 years, but still. Also, it's pretty hard to explain his looks in three words and without any picture examples. So why don't I make up for that by posting some picture examples here? Well, here you go....

1975:

1978:

1981:

1984:

1988:

1992:

1995:

Present:

It was a very welcome piece of news to wake up to this morning when Backstreets Magazine announced that #88 is finally due in April. The latest issue was published before the Magic album was released in 2007, which means that one of the busiest periods of Bruce's entire career has gone uncovered by the most important Springsteen fanzine. An incredible shame and, some would say, wasted opportunity, and a source of wonder for most paying subscribers.

In his new "Editor's blog" Chris Phillips goes a long way to explain the delay and talk about how he envisions the future of the magazine, which according to him is far from dead. As someone who tries (and more often than not fails) to provide a Springsteen news service in these years of hyper activity by Bruce and constant bombardment of live performances, releases, guest appearances, awards, political activities, books, deaths, etc. etc. - while at the same time trying to have a personal life - I can easily relate to what a challenge it is to make sense of it all and boil it down to what is supposed to be a quarterly magazine.

In other words, no pointed fingers or hard feelings from here. Backstreets has just meant too much to me over the years to not deserve some slack. It was my entry to the whole idea of a Bruce community, way before the internet. During the Bruce drought of 1990-91 my weekly, incredibly expensive, phone call to the now defunct Backstreets Hotline fed my hopes for a new album and tour. And around the same time, a free ad looking for penpals opened a world of adventure to me and gave me friends all of the world, some of whom I still see - and go to Bruce shows with - today.

Most of all, when the internet became public knowledge, Backstreets Magazine helped inspire me to make my own online version of it that became Greasy Lake. In other words, without Backstreets there probably wouldn't be a Greasy Lake. Today the internet is covering a lot of the ground that Backstreet used to be the all-dominating player on, but there's no doubt that we still need Backstreets. The quality of the Bruce writing is still in a class of its own, and the knowledge and insight gathered through almost 30 years of existance is something the rest of us can only dream of.

So congratulations to Backstreets for finding their feet again and their impending 30th anniversary. Hopefully, their 30th anniversary edition will be slightly more timely than certain other 30th anniversary editions.