Bruce Springsteen - 1977-03-13 - Towson, MD (AUD/FLAC)

(Audience FLAC)

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band 

featuring the Miami Horns 

Towson Center, Towson State University 

Towson, MD 

March 13, 1977 

"Official Audience Recording" 

Nothing to Lose: The 1977 Tour Revisited Vol. Four 

JEMS Archive 

Lineage: low-gen cassettes (likely second generation) > DAT (circa 1993-94 16/48 transfer) 

JEMS 2015 Transfer: 1994 DAT > Fostex D-5 > Sound Devices UBSPre2 > iZtotope RX > pitch correction > iZotope Ozone and MBIT+ convert to 16/44.1 .wav > Peak Pro XT (volume smoothing / patch / index) > xACT 2.21 > FLAC 

01 Night 

02 Don't Look Back 

03 Spirit in the Night 

04 It's My Life 

05 Thunder Road 

06 Mona > She's the One 

07 Tenth Avenue Freeze-out (w/ Miami Horns) 

08 Action in the Streets (w/ Miami Horns) 

09 Backstreets 

10 Jungleland 

11 Rosalita (w/Miami Horns) 

12 Born to Run 

13 Quarter to Three (w/ Miami Horns) 

Known Faults: 

- Tenth Ave Freeze-Out: 10 seconds patched at the start with alternate recorder 

- Rosalita: 1:30 patched about 2/3 of the way through with alternate recorder 

Welcome back to the fourth chapter of JEMS' Nothing to Lose series revisiting Bruce's remarkable 1977 tour. For the full history of our obsession with this era and the back story on these "Official Audience Tapes,"

Installment No. 4 brings Springsteen to Towson, MD, 14 miles outside of Baltimore on the campus of Towson State University. In terms of the '77 tour, this stop is somewhere on the fourth turn, heading for the home stretch, with just 12 days left to go before the tour memorably wraps up in Boston on March 25. 

There's one very significant change to the set list this night, the introduction of one of Springsteen's greatest rockers, "Don't Look Back," which would not be released for another 22 years. The song debuted three nights earlier in Toldeo, OH, and it is still in embryonic form, with lyrics evolving show to show. 

At this point in the song's evolution, Springsteen has the first verse and a half basically set, before we hear the couplet "riding out by the dynamo / pushing daddy's car as fast as it would go" in the place of the eventual and more memorable "white lights burning, pocket's full of cash / angel writes her name in lipstick on my dash," most of which is found here in the third verse. The bridge is also different, centered around the lines "someday I want to hold you / someday I want to make you mine." It's a thrill to hear this wonderful song take shape. 

Of the so-called "official audience tapes," Towson is probably the least known, as it has never been bootlegged. We think you'll find this new transfer an improvement over circulating copies. Like all these '77 official audies, the sound does vary slightly throughout the show, sometimes sounding more locked in than others, but, overall, the Towson tape is a fine listen. Samples provided. 

Special thanks yet again to: M and J from JEMS for pulling out our many versions of these DATs and helping make new transfers; the folks on the Stone Pony message board whose thread sparked this series; and to mjk5510 who continues to stand at the ready in support of our efforts and add his magic to the finished product. 

There's much more to come from '77, so stay tuned. 

BK for JEMS