Is it just me, or does this sound wrong?

Same here. I wouldn't have noticed if it wasn't pointed out. I don't care at all how exact an artist is. There's an awful lot of very exact music out now that sells squillions and has precious little sincerity or imagination.

I guess for me it comes down to context. Probably nobody cares less about perfection in music than me. I like it raw, warts and all.

But this album and its predecessor, Born In The USA, sound pretty polished overall. This wasn't like those early records with Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez, where they left all the imprefections in; this was Springsteen at the peak of his popularity playing music that otherwise sounds pretty polished.

I guess rather than saying that the imperfections bother me, I should have said they don't seem like they fit the whole paradigm of a recording like this. It's like that Kid Rock/Sheryl Crow tune I posted a similar comment about a few months ago.
 
Just had a listen. The drum part sounded like a machine, as in the strange juxtaposition you get at fair grounds, where there's music from the different attractions competing with the pulse of the actual machines. Quite evocative, I thought.
 
You guys listen to music a LOT more closely than I do. I listened about 6 times before I head even a hint of anything "wrong".

I'm looking forward to posting some of my work so you can tear it to shreds :)
 
What the heck is up with the bass drum pattern? Those 16th notes sound completely flubbed, like someone tapped them in real time, didn't get the note spacing right and didn't bother to quantize them or something

It sounds like some took the ruff rudiment and applied to a bass drum sample.

The weird aspect is it seems more like a part for a Pantera song then Bruce.
 
I guess for me it comes down to context. Probably nobody cares less about perfection in music than me. I like it raw, warts and all.

But this album and its predecessor, Born In The USA, sound pretty polished overall. This wasn't like those early records with Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez, where they left all the imperfections in; this was Springsteen at the peak of his popularity playing music that otherwise sounds pretty polished.

I guess rather than saying that the imperfections bother me, I should have said they don't seem like they fit the whole paradigm of a recording like this. It's like that Kid Rock/Sheryl Crow tune I posted a similar comment about a few months ago.

Sure, I have some idea how you roll and it surprised me that you were bothered by the inconsistencies. Okay, I understand your angle now. I found the intro it a bit weird for The Boss for the reason that DED said - it sounds like a different genre - but after many many years of daily listening to Crimson and Zappa and Beefheart etc not much is strange per se to me.

When I started out garage-style the concept of tempo didn't exist for me, so when I tried to learn drum parts I took the timing misplacements at face value - that was the effect and it sounded good and ... wow, that was tricky! Even the original drummers never seemed to get it "right" in the live versions ;-)
 
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