Bruce Springsteen – Darkness On The Edge Of Town

Nice fidelity, drums thump on second track and Bruce’s voice loud and clear in the mix. Horns and piano well balanced so not lost in the wail of rock ‘n roll tempest. I like this pressing better than the Bob Ludwig remaster! Find a clean copy and crank this. [Tech specs in my profile].

“Racing In The Street” was a song I often skipped. Recently I heard somebody raving about it, listened back to it, and god what an emotional track that is. As I get older I seem to become more sensitive to this kind of sound, lyrics, build-up,…

Springsteen’s masterpiece. Obviously he’s made brilliant records and while there’s nothing wrong with BTR this has the edge. I know he wasn’t happy with the production at the time but the sound on this has only got better. Every track is great, all been played live , it’s an absolute classic. Every home should have a copy . This is an excellent pressing too .

How to follow Born To Run? With this purposefully different w/ a more stripped-down pared back laid back production masterpiece w/ lyrics focused on the grim details of everyday life & themes of troubled souls in troubled times
BS’s most solid batch of songs & one of his best works.

My copy (purchased in Australia) has 'blacked out' labels that were made at the time the label was printed. The red label with the 'boiler plate' Columbia words written around the rim is printed over with the album title and track listings, the matrix and catalogue numbers, etc/ The rim text blackout would be done AT THE SAME TIME. These prepared labels would then be used in the stamper. That press run was for export copies that would make it a UNIQUE release. The rim text blackout is exactly that: it is in effect marking it - at manufacturing time - "For Export Only".

Awesome album. And pressing. This is a great issue. Punchy and dynamic with good low end. Some clicks and pops need to be cleaned away.

Pretty impressed with the sound on this pressing just acquired second hand

Sibilance abounds. This isn’t terrible but not the most desirable pressing. I was hoping for dynamic detail. Seems compressed and not much midrange. If you’re looking for a bright version of this album, it won’t be this particular pressing. If you have this, hang onto it, but look for a different pressing.

Ask yourself - what would our world look like and this album sound like had schmuckster Jimmy Iovine not had either of his slimy FM tailoring hands in it as engineer? Look at Lone Justice before and after Jimmy did his thing(s) and you'll begin to bear witness. I give this album 3 stars because.....Jimmy.

Mine has MPO 21 218186 on side A and MPO 21 218187 on side B. Makes me think this is the same plates as the 2020 pressing but comes from a newer 2021 batch. Maybe someone should do a new entry. Maybe I should? We'll see.

By far my favorite Springsteen album and this release does not disappoint. My copy is probably a VG+ close to near mint with light surface noise (mostly just in between songs is it noticeable). It has great separation but at times it can be a little fatiguing on the ears, I have an original 78 copy, as well as a US Promo and the Repress from the 2014 box set. Haven't given them a listen side by side yet but I have not been disappointed with any of them.