Short on lyrics, long on guitar jams, “I Gotta Be Free” is an early Springsteen original from his Steel Mill period with a mid-song cover of The Grateful Dead’s “Turn on Your Love Light.”
Tag: Steel Mill
Bruce grappled with his religion through as far back as his teen years, but with a lot less subtlety. Listen to him challenge the church in his 1969 Steel Mill crowd-pleaser.
It’s sonically rough and lyrically trite, but a 20-year-old Springsteen turns in a ferocious guitar performance in his early composition, “Good Lovin’ Woman.”
In the early Steel Mill era, Bruce and the band closed their shows with a sexy band showcase called “Goin’ Down Slow.” Take a listen inside.
It may not feature Bruce’s best lyrics, but “The War Is Over” is still a creatively constructed protest song that resonates fifty years down the road in unexpected ways.
When Bruce walked into a recording studio for only the second time, he recorded one of his earliest crowd-pleasers with his band, Steel Mill. Listen to that studio recording along with a great live performance inside.
“We’ve Got to Do It Now” is a Steel Mill-era anti-war song with co-lead vocals by Bruce and Robbin Thompson.
Is a discarded fifty-years-old, thirty-minutes-long opus really the secret origin of “Kitty’s Back,” “Cadillac Ranch,” and “One Step Up?” Just listen and decide for yourself.
What can we say about this early, bluesy Steel Mill original other than that it showcases a young Bruce Springsteen developing his stage presence and patter? Um… let’s just go with that.
Days after Hank Ballard’s passing, Bruces Springsteen and Hornsby (along with former Steel Mill bandmate Robbin Thompson) pay tribute by playing Ballard’s last great hit.