Loudness war at Bon Jovi!

It's also why official live albums suck so much nowadays. It isn't just OWN that sucked. Every fan of every band releasing a official live something saying they prefer sounboard bootlegs, just cause don't aren't compressed and normalized.

There should be a major band saying, **** it lets go record on a 4 track and release it as it is...

I have gotten to where I prefer many bootleg recordings to the albums. They sound REAL - at least to my ears - as long as it is a halfway decent recording. Official albums whether it is Bruce or Jovi or anybody else have been subject to the loudness problem in the past 10 years.

Here is another comparison. I am a huge Zeppelin fan - have been since forever. I own the 10 disc boxset that Jimmy remastered in the early 90s. The recordings sound fantastic - far better than the original recordings that were released in the late 60s to 70's.

This past fall Mothership was released - a sampling of all Zeppelin stuff. The sound absolutely sucks due to the hard limiting and lack of dynamic range. Loudness strikes again Give me my Jimmy Page remasters anytime.

Thanks, it's a bit clearer now. I guess I now have something to investigate today

Yeah, Bruce did that back in '82 It turned out to be his best to date!

God knows it's a superior album - it was also recorded in his garage if I recall correctly.

Umph I didn't know that. Not a Bruce fan really, which album was it?

Nebraska

Initially, Springsteen recorded demos for the album at his home with 4-track cassette recorder. The demos were sparse, using only acoustic guitar, electric guitar (on "Open All Night"), harmonica, and Springsteen's voice.

Springsteen then recorded the album in a studio with the E Street Band. However, he and the producers and engineers working with him felt that a raw, haunted folk essence present on the home tapes was lacking in the band treatments, and so they ultimately decided to release the demo version as the final album. Complications with mastering of the tapes ensued because of low recording volume. But the problem was overcome with sophisticated noise reduction techniques.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebraska_%28album%29

I was in college when that album came out. I bought it . . . and hated it. Absolutely detested it. (And never bought another Bruce album after that, btw.) I kind of wonder how I'd feel about it now -- might have to look for it at the used CD shop.

Forget about Born To Run (Darness is better), Born In The USA and even Devils And Dust. Bruce' peak was back in 1982, when he recorded the demos that turned out to be Nebraska. Here you'll find stronger than Superman and The Hulk, togheter! (Ok, I know that was lame...)
From the opening of the song Nebraska, he really sets the mood for the album. This is quite possible my favourite Bruce song! It's Natural Born Killers as a song, instead of a film. (I've always wonderd if the film was based on the song )
Atlantic City is the most famous song, mindblowing! Highway Patrolman is one of those songs I hope to write some day.
Used Cars is also a gem. And when the last songs fades out, Reason To Believe, then you know you've heard something special.

Don't think of it as a album. It's a book with 10 shortstories.

Bruce used to carry the cassettetape Kathleen talked about in his backpocket.
Hope ya'll enjoy it, I sure do

I'm not a big fan of Nebraska. The lyrics are great, but there's just something about it that doesn't fit. However, I love it when he takes the E street band and plays the songs with the full band. Atlantic City sounded great and I liked Reason To Believe even more. I'm going to see bruce in a week now at giants stadium.