{"id":28158,"date":"2021-06-21T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-21T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/?p=28158"},"modified":"2021-06-21T05:33:28","modified_gmt":"2021-06-21T12:33:28","slug":"roll-of-the-dice-girlfriend-blues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2021\/06\/21\/roll-of-the-dice-girlfriend-blues\/","title":{"rendered":"Roll of the Dice: Girlfriend Blues"},"content":{"rendered":"

I know we’ve been spending a lot of time in the pre-Street past lately, and we’ll return to Bruce’s modern era shortly. But first, take fifteen minutes and listen to this entire 1970 performance, because it is remarkable—<\/em>in ways both jaw-dropping and cringe-inducing.<\/p>\n

As I often do with Bruce’s early material, I feel compelled to emphasize Bruce’s tender age of twenty on the date this was recorded. Usually, I do that to underline how impressive and accomplished his performances were; this time it’s also a reminder that we’ve all said things at that age that we’re fortunate were never captured on tape for posterity.<\/p>\n

If our spotlight on “You Better Be Nice to Me<\/a>” a few days ago featured Bruce at his jazziest, today’s entry features Bruce at his bluesiest.<\/p>\n

“Girlfriend Blues” hails from a full year earlier than “You Better Be Nice to Me, Baby,” which places us in Bruce’s late Steel Mill period during the summer of 1970.<\/p>\n

On stage with Bruce are Steve Van Zandt (on bass), Vini Lopez, and Danny Federici, and all four players are clear and prominent in this astonishingly clear mix–so clear that you’ll have to keep reminding yourself that this recording is\u00a0fifty-one years old<\/em>.<\/p>\n