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I've always been more interested in Meat Loaf's live performances than in his records. When it comes to Springsteen, it were the songs that drew me to him. Bruce (and Kojak :))) shaped my concept of America when I was kid, whereas I consider Meat Loaf good entertainment. What you think is "better" depends on your personal preferences (which may vary in the course of time). This will probably get me a lot of "dislikes" but if Bruce and Meat played in my town at the same night, I'd go to Bruce's show. 15 years ago I might have opted for Meat, who knows? The NLE has always been one of the greatest bands I know and consisted of truly amazing musicians, the current line-up is especially interesting, but at the moment Bruce attracts me more than Meat. Quote:
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Is there a reason that Meat and Bruce Springsteen seem to be compared quite frequntely on this forum? As someone who doesn't care for Bruce Springsteen and never listens to his music, I don't really know why there is that comparison?
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I. Have seen bruce live and I just don't get it. Decent show but I have always found meat to be much more entertaining. |
i have seen both live, and they are amazing!! you can compare alot of things i guess? it all depends on the view of the person seeing it. julie in the mirror = you said you dont see Meat as a better vocalist, nor did you say bruce was better than Meat. it depends on your view of course what sound you like? but with Meats power and range he would be regarded a better singer imo, well if you view it from a technical view point, Meat is a better singer?
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As for your last statement, thats just one less person that i have to fight for the front row seats |
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I agree that they are very different artists and bands, so it's impossible for me to compare. |
How about creating a separate thread instead? The "off topic" posts were actually triggered by an interesting question that was raised by Paul himself.
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I actually was enjoying the Bruce discussion, I'm a huge fans of both Meat and Bruce and think they each bring something different to the table, but also have a lot in common. |
The Bruce/ Meat Discussion
A couple of people expressed an interest in continuing this discussion, and there were a few posts I wanted to respond to, so I started a new thread here. Perhaps the mods will decide to move the other posts here as well.
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First off, Bruce and Meat have very different voices- always have. Both have changed over the years. Bruce's voice isn't one that might be called a "pretty" voice, and there's plenty of people who are of the opinion that he can't sing. I think many people base this primarily on a song like "Born in the USA", where he's practically shouting, and which, quite honestly, I'm not all that fond of. :lol: If you dig deeper into the catalog, however, and especially once you start looking at live performances, you get a different picture. In some of the slow songs, especially, he sounds particularly good, IMO: "Something in the Night" 1976: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bfZby9CN8E Now, I think we'd all agree that there's many components to what makes a good musical performance of any kind, and "technical perfection" isn't as important as being able to convey emotion, and Bruce could always do that in spades: "The Promise" (Live- solo piano) Seattle, 1978: (one of my very favorites) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCXcsTq_H9g "You're Missing"- (solo piano) 2002 (IMO, one of the most heartbreaking songs ever) http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xb1...?search_algo=1 Over the years, I think Bruce's technique has actually gotten better, in that he's learned to use his voice better. Bruce has always had loads of power- still does; what he may not have as much as Meat is range, from the highs to the lows. However, he has developed a falsetto at some point, which I don't think he could do early on. What he also does very effectively is to create an "atmosphere", by which he's doing anything from a whisper, such as in the end of "Jungleland" (to draw you in, IMO) up to a scream. Some of my favorite vocals of his, chronologically: "Real World"- (solo piano) 1990 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_PxWw_g_pE "I Wish I Were Blind" 1993 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqxNg_rb350 "The River" 2000 (End of the song is a good example of the falsetto) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGHqeYNe_1g "Incident on 57th Street" (solo piano) 2002 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb6SG9GtgMU "Nothing Man"- (solo piano) 2005 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9XCv...eature=related "Adam Raised a Cain" 2011 (not to mention killer guitar solo, and I was there) ;)) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MxfDkUHySI "Youngstown" 2012- I was truly amazed (I was there) at how long he could hold the word "Toooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwn" :shock: :lol: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liAsh...D63BB54CCCDB16 If you'll notice, there are no "hits" on this list (except maybe "The River", and this is a different arrangement from the album version), and nothing from the "Born in the USA" era. Now, to get back to Meat. In terms of power, I'd say he has no lead. In terms of range, sure, I'll give it to him. Now, does this automatically (i.e. "obviously") make him "technically" a better singer? I'm going to say no.The talent/ voice one is given is just the beginning; to quote Eric Clapton, "It's in the way that you use it". ;) One can also argue on key/ off key, in time/ out of time, isolated notes hit on pitch- it's all irrelevant, IMO, if the end result isn't pleasing to the listener. So, if you ask me who I would rather listen to, I'm going to be totally honest and say that I don't really like the way Meat sounds live these days (on record, it's not bad). Bruce, on the other hand, I enjoy listening to very much. It is what it is. |
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In all seriousness, I have seen several posts stating something to this effect on this board, and I've asked for some actual examples, and yet no one seems to have given any. So, got any? Quote:
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The last time I had a front row seat at a Meat Loaf show, not only did I not have to fight for it, I didn't even have to pay for it. :twisted: |
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The last tour, and beginning the tour before that, Bruce started taking requests from the audience every night via signs that people would bring. Over time, it went from requests for Bruce's songs, to requests for sometimes obscure cover songs, and took on a "stump the band" kind of quality. Admittedly, some of the songs were rehearsed beforehand, but others were indeed spontaneous. It added a really fun dimension to the show. The last tour, they played close to 200 different songs, over 85 shows. That's not to say that Bruce doesn't shake up the setlists on his own anyway, especially near the end of the tour. |
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Can you tell me why there appear to be so many comparisons of Bruce Springsteen and Meat on this board? |
Roy Bittan on piano and Max Weinbeg on drums for both Bruce as well as Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf. And though I only hear it a little bit, it has been said over the years that some Steinman compositions are inspired by some of Bruce's compositions.
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I'm a huge fan of both Springsteen and Meat Loaf, and I don't know if I really have a preference between the two. I find that although Springsteen's voice isn't as 'impressive' as Meat's, the rawness of it makes up for that. Say, for example, the live version of the River that Julie linked in the OP. It's technically nothing special, but the rawness of it captures the intensity of the lyrics and fits it better than a more bombastic voice (like Meat's) would. It's difficult to compare the two voices because they're very different sorts of singers :-) I love how spontaneous Springsteen is with the setlist, too. Like, when I saw Meat Loaf live, I already knew the setlist (right down to what order it was going to be in) before I even walked in the door. And while there's nothing wrong with that, it's cool to not really know what's coming. It adds to the suspense :D To be honest, beside the songs I mentioned above, I don't really see many similarities between the two, and because of that they're sort of hard to compare. Members of the E Street Band have played for Meat before, but yeah. They're two very different entertainers, in my opinion. Both very, very awesome entertainers, but who is the 'better' one is entirely subjective. |
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I quite like Neil Diamond myself but I can't really say I've ever really compared him to Meat. They're both so different that I think I'd find it hard to compare them properly. |
I think there's a number of reasons why Meat and Bruce get compared fairly frequently on this forum.
Obviously there a number of members here who are fans of both (myself included). There's the musical links between the two ... Max and Roy from the ESB played on Bat, and Steinman's BFG and other projects, Roy was involved on Bat II (in fact Meat has creditted Roy with being one fo the key people in making a Bat record) , as well as the fact that soime of the NLE members over the years have had links to Bruce too ... Mark Alexander toured with Bruce's guitarist Little Steven during the Little Steven & The Disciples of Soul era in the late 80's, Ray Anderson has played with Bruce too). In terms of the Bat / Born To Run comparisons, both were recorded in a very similar timeframe and the influences on each other can clearly be heard ... my opinion is that those influences come from the playing of Max and Roy (Roy on piano in particular) rather than either Bruce or Jim/Meat taking influence from each other. Also from my own point of view a lot of Meat's (especially the Steinman penned material) and Bruce's music deals with the same sort of themes and has the same cinematic storytelling quality. Both their most recent albums have very similar themes albeit approached in completely different styles. They are two completely different artists on stage though I think, seeing a Bruce and the ESB concert is almost like seeing the worlds best bar band, there's a real party atmosphere on stage and in the crowd, Meat's stage show is slightly different in it's intensity, is more polished almost more like a West End or Broadway production but no less intense and enjoyable. |
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No, Andy pretty much summed it up- I was coming back to post much the same thing. I saw an interview with Kasim a while ago (I can't find it again, unfortunately), and he said that the start of Bat was basically himself, Max, Roy, and Todd laying down the basic tracks before anything else was added. Interestingly, he also said he didn't really expect the album to do too much, and didn't really think about it until he heard it on the radio in the car one day. When I asked him to autograph my copy, though, he told me he was quite proud of his work on the album. Anyway, as Andy said, they have shared a number of the same musicians- Steve Van Zandt also played guitar on (and produced, I think) "Amnesty is Granted". Roy Bittan definitely is a key player (pun not intended, lol) in the sound of both artists' work. An interesting note, though; I find a huge similarity in the piano intro to the "Dead Ringer" version of "More Than You Deserve" and the intro in the full-band version of "The Promise", yet Roy didn't play on that particular track (according to the credits), even though he's on the rest of "Dead Ringer". I find this inconsistency to be quote maddening. :lol: I've also tried to do a "Chicken or the egg" analysis between when both songs were recorded, to no avail. (Yes, I realize I'm sounding like Wario now. :lol: ) Tangetially, I saw Steinman claim that at one point he was considering being managed by Jon Landau, Bruce's manager. I don't know what became of that. Also, they've (Bruce and Steinman) both worked with Jimmy Iovine. Quote:
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Regarding the claim that Meat Loaf's songs are "harder to sing": I'll agree with that on the day he does a credible rendition of Jungleland. :twisted: |
[QUOTE=Sarge;570027]Yep, I've seen him live and I can confirm that. I think Meat's voice appears more "powerful" to some because of his operatic style, his way of "acting" his songs and because of being a "loud" person in general.
Regarding the claim that Meat Loaf's songs are "harder to sing": I'll agree with that on the day he does a credible rendition of Jungleland. :twisted:[/QUOT Seen both live myself!! Love Bruce, such a talent!! But meat is vocally in a different world!! Same could be said = let Bruce do bat!! |
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