Bruce Springsteen has just issued the fourth live set from the E Street Band's 1975 tour in support of his Born To Run album. The new official bootleg, Hammersmith Odeon, London, UK – 11/24/75, follows previous releases from Los Angeles; Upper Darby, Pennsylvania; and the November 18th, 1975 show from the same London stand.
The concert features a clutch of classic covers including the band's killer versions of the Manfred Mann's “Pretty Flamingo” and “Sha-La-La,” Elvis Presley's “Wear My Ring Around Your Neck,” Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels' “Detroit Medley,” the Searchers' “When You Walk In The Room,” Gary “U.S.” Bonds' “Quarter To Three,” the Isley Brothers' “Twist And Shout,” and a double-shot of Chuck Berry with “Carol” and “Little Queenie.”
The Born To Run dates coincided with the period where Springsteen's legal issues with then-manager Mike Appel began and eventually prevented him from hitting the studio for his long-awaited followup album. Springsteen recalled how damaging it was not being able to record a followup to his breakthrough album until nearly two full years after it's release: “These days, two or three years goes by between records and people don't think about it much — but in those days, like I say, you forget I made two records in the first (laughs) year that I had a contract, and another record shortly after that. Two or three years between records then — you disappeared. And I read many, many articles; 'Whatever happened to. . .?' you're 'dead,' you're a 'flash in the pan' — and for all I knew — that might've been true!”