This well-known Born To Run tour soundboard was originally issued on CD in 1995 by Midnight Beat as First Night In Detroit. Over the years it’s remained a highly rated item, both sound- and performance-wise; worth noting is that at the show the E Streeters did their only known version of Motown chestnut “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg,” it featuring Bruce and Miami Steve in a terrific vocal duet. The only real flaw was a cut at the end of “Rosalita” which Midnight Beat chose to fade out. (The set’s artwork left a lot to be desired, but that’s probably nit-picking.)
Just the same, Italy’s Anubis label, which specializes in Bruce (particularly remasters of classic shows), decided it could make an improvement on an already outstanding show. A note in the booklet reads “completely remastered starting from a low generation tape,” and indeed, there does seem to be more presence and a hotter overall sound. It’s debatable whether or not a different source tape from the one Midnight Beat tapped was used, as the same cut/fade is present on “Rosalita.” Although Anubis really went all out with the packaging: terrific B&W photos and sharp graphics grace both sides of the tray panel and the 4-page booklet (Anubis sets are hand-numbered, limited to just 99 copies, and come in oversized sealed envelopes but you can transfer everything to a slimline jewel case if you wish); also included is a second, 8-page booklet that reproduces the front cover of the Oct. 27, 1975 Time magazine containing the “Rock’s New Sensation” story on Bruce, plus all the text from the accompanying Jay Cocks-penned article.
But – and this is a big “but” – somewhere along the way the speed of the Detroit tape got slowed down, and not just a little bit either. About ľ of the way through Disc One you begin to notice it (Bruce’s voice begins to sound a tad deeper) and it becomes worse as you get into Disc Two, to the point of his voice sounding sluggish and ‘luded-out! Just to give you an idea of how slow, “Detroit Medley” originally clocked in at 6 minutes on the Midnight Beat version, but here it’s a whopping 6:34, and that’s not due to a variation in track indexing either.
To be fair to Anubis, who have consistently put out quality product, I emailed them to find out what was up and they indicated they were looking into the problem to see if a new, speed-corrected run of discs was an option. I’ll post an update here if that turns out to be the case.
STOP PRESS: A few days after posting my original review, above, I did hear from Anubis who wrote, in part, "We'll try to fix the speed variations using some editing software. The problem apparently was in the tape [that was copied from] the original analog tape." Once I get to hear the revised discs I'll post an update here. Why? Because I care, gentle Hot Wacks readers, because I care. -- OSWALD
