Camel "Stationary Traveller"

Stationary Traveller is the tenth studio album by English progressive rock band Camel. Like much of Camel's output, it is a concept album, in this case centering on the trials of East German refugees attempting to cross the Berlin Wall from East Berlin into West Berlin. The album also touches on the theme of politics between the two different government ideologies. It is the last Camel album to be recorded on the Decca label.

Recording studios: Recorded at Riverside Studios, England. Mixed in Los Angeles, California. Mastered at The Mastering Lab, Los Angeles.

Original Release (1984)

Side One

1. "Pressure Points" (Latimer) – 2:10

• Haydn Bendall - Fairlight synthesizer, mixing
• Andy Latimer - all the other instruments, mixing

     2. "Refugee" – 3:47

• Andy Latimer - guitar, lead vocals, piano, bass
• Ton Scherpenzeel - accordion, Prophet synthesizer
• Paul Burgess - drums

    3. "Vopos" – 5:32

• Andy Latimer - guitar, lead vocals, piano, PPG, Juno 60 and Yamaha CS-80 synthesizers, Drumulator
• Haydn Bendall - Fairlight synthesizer
• Ton Scherpenzeel - Yamaha CS-80 and Prophet synthesizers
• David Paton - bass

    4. "Cloak and Dagger Man" – 3:55

• Andy Latimer - electric and 12-string guitars
• Chris Rainbow - lead vocals
• Ton Scherpenzeel - Prophet and Juno 60 synthesizers
• David Paton - bass
• Paul Burgess - drums

    5. "Stationary Traveller" (Latimer) – 5:34

• Andy Latimer - electric and classical guitars, pan pipes, bass
• Ton Scherpenzeel - Prophet, PPG and Juno 60 synthesizers, grand piano
• Paul Burgess - drums

Side Two

    

    6. "West Berlin" – 5:10

• Andy Latimer - guitar, lead vocals, bass
• Ton Scherpenzeel - Prophet and PPG synthesizers, grand piano
• Paul Burgess - drums

    7. "Fingertips" – 4:29

• Andy Latimer - drumulator, lead vocals
• Ton Scherpenzeel - Korg and PPG synthesizers, grand piano, organ
• David Paton - fretless bass
• Mel Collins - saxophone

    8. "Missing" (Latimer) – 4:22

• Haydn Bendall - PPG voices
• Andy Latimer - all the other instruments
• "After Words" (Ton Scherpenzeel) – 2:01
• Ton Scherpenzeel - grand piano, Prophet synthesizer

    9. "Long Goodbyes" – 5:14

• Andy Latimer - guitar, flute
• Chris Rainbow - lead vocals
• Ton Scherpenzeel - grand piano, Prophet synthesizer
• David Paton - fretless bass
• Paul Burgess - drums 

Camel Productions Digital Remaster (2004)

1. "In the Arms of Waltzing Frauleins"
2. "Refugee"
3. "Vopos"
4. "Cloak and Dagger Man"
5. "Stationary Traveller"
6. "West Berlin"
7. "Fingertips"
8. "Missing"
9. "After Words"
10. "Long Goodbyes"
11. "Pressure Points" (bonus track, extended mix)

Cherry Red Records reissue (2009)

1. "Pressure Points"
2. "Refugee"
3. "Vopos"
4. "Cloak and Dagger Man"
5. "Stationary Traveller"
6. "West Berlin"
7. "Fingertips"
8. "Missing"
9. "After Words"
10. "Long Goodbyes"
11. "In the Arms of Waltzing Frauleins" (bonus track)
12. "Pressure Points" (bonus track, extended 12" single version)

Engineered by Dave Hutchins

Mixed by Greg Ladanyi, Haydn Bendall and Andy Latimer

Artwork by Artifex Studio, London

Bruce Springsteen "Devils & Dust"

Devils & Dust is the thirteenth studio album by American recording artist Bruce Springsteen, and his third acoustic album (after Nebraska and The Ghost of Tom Joad). It was released on April 25, 2005 in Europe and on April 26, 2005, in the United States. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 album chart.

Springsteen was very open about the fact that many of the songs from Devils & Dust dated back a decade or more. Springsteen wrote the song "All the Way Home" for Southside Johnny to use in his album Better Days which was released in 1991. The songs "Long Time Comin'" and "The Hitter" were written and performed during Springsteen's solo Ghost of Tom Joad Tour in 1996. "Devils & Dust" is also known to have been written previously, and was featured in soundchecks during The Rising Tour beginning in the summer of 2003 and the following year during the Vote for Change Tour in late 2004. (Springsteen had "Devils & Dust" on his set list for at least one Vote for Change show, but at the last moment decided to perform a 12 string guitar rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner", which he would later release for free through his official website).

Devils & Dust received acclaim from music critics. On March 28, 2005, the title track was featured as an exclusive "first listen" on AOLmusic.com. The next day it was released for purchase on the iTunes music store. The album was also released in the DualDisc format. This puts the regular album on one side of the disc, and special content, like 5.1 surround sound and videos on the other side of the disc in DVD format. The DVD side of the disc features Springsteen performing and commenting on the writing/creation of "Devils and Dust", "Long Time Comin'", "Reno", "All I'm Thinkin' About", and "Matamoros Banks". Lyrics to the songs accompany the playing of the Surround Sound portion in a karaoke style. Springsteen's solo Devils & Dust Tour commenced upon the release of the album.

The marketing was successful. It granted Springsteen his seventh number one—and fourth number one debut—on the Billboard album chart, his second for an album containing only previously unreleased content and his first ever without the E Street Band. After the initial release period, however, sales quieted down; as of February 2006 it had attained gold status in the United States, where it had sold 650,000 copies as of November 2008.

Starbucks had been considered a possible retail outlet for the album, as it had accounted for about a quarter of all sales for the recently successful Ray Charles's Genius Loves Company. Starbucks, however, declined to sell copies of Springsteen's new album, sparking some headlines. Starbucks rejected the album not only because of the song "Reno", but because of stances that Springsteen had taken on corporate politics and Springsteen not granting approval for a cobranded disc and promotional deal that prominently featured the Starbucks name. Springsteen's label, Columbia Records, balked when the idea was floated, citing the blue-collar champion's well-known opposition to merchandising his music. "There were a number of factors involved...[Lyrics] was one of the factors, but not the only reason," Ken Lombard, president of Starbucks Entertainment, told Reuters. At a concert at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia, Springsteen introduced "Reno" by joking that the album would be available "at Dunkin' Donuts and Krispy Kreme stores everywhere."

Springsteen received five Grammy Award nominations for this work, three for the song "Devils & Dust", Song of the Year, Best Rock Song, and Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, and two for the album as a whole, Best Contemporary Folk Album and Best Long Form Music Video. His sole award came for Best Solo Rock Vocal, an award he garnered in previous years for "Code of Silence" and "The Rising". During the February 8, 2006, Grammy telecast, Springsteen gave a live solo performance of "Devils & Dust", adding on "Bring 'em home" at the finish, then immediately turned and left the stage without staying to receive his partial standing ovation.

Track listing

All songs are written by Bruce Springsteen.

1. "Devils & Dust" 4:58
2. "All The Way Home" 3:38
3. "Reno" 4:08
4. "Long Time Comin'" 4:17
5. "Black Cowboys" 4:08
6. "Maria's Bed" 5:35
7. "Silver Palomino" 3:22
8. "Jesus Was an Only Son" 2:55
9. "Leah" 3:32
10. "The Hitter" 5:53
11. "All I'm Thinkin' About" 4:22
12. "Matamoros Banks" 4:00

Bruce Springsteen "Greatest Hits"

Greatest Hits is Bruce Springsteen's first compilation album, released February 27, 1995, on Columbia Records. It is a collection of some of Springsteen's hit singles and popular album tracks through the years along with four new songs at the end, mostly recorded with the E Street Band in 1995. The latter constituted Springsteen's first (albeit very partial) release with his backing band since the late 1980s. Some of the songs are shorter versions of the original album releases.

The incorporation of the "new" tracks was portrayed in the 1996 documentary Blood Brothers. "Murder Incorporated" and "This Hard Land" were, in fact, unused 1982 songs from the Born in the U.S.A. sessions, with the latter being re-recorded here more than a decade later, and both subsequently became Springsteen concert staples. "Blood Brothers", on the other hand, was played only as the final closing song of both the 1999–2000 Reunion Tour and 2002–2003 Rising Tour, both times with an extra verse added. "Secret Garden" achieved notoriety via the soundtrack of the 1996 film Jerry Maguire. Alternate versions of several of these new tracks were released on the 1996 Blood Brothers EP.

The compilation was commercially successful, hitting the peaks of the U.S. album chart and UK Album Chart and selling more than four million copies in the U.S.

The reception by music critics of Greatest Hits was rather negative upon the album's release, as were more contemporary reviews. David Browne of Entertainment Weekly felt that the album was released when it was because the Grammy Awards were coming up and "Streets of Philadelphia" was up for five awards and that the songs on the album were selected because of charting success, which means that several important songs were overlooked. He also felt that "Murder Incorporated" (in reference to the 1930s Murder, Inc.) was the only good new song on the album and that overall the album felt as if Bruce did not believe in himself any more.

The Rolling Stone review of the album by Parke Puterbaugh was rather unfavorable, which is surprising as most of Springsteen's albums were praised by the magazine. Parke felt that the songs on the collection belonged on their original LP releases, that songs from before Born to Run should have been included and that the new songs weren't that good. A more contemporary review by Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine was also unfavorable, saying that a lot of Bruce's hits and popular album tracks were missing, that "Murder Incorporated" was better than the other new songs, and that The Essential Bruce Springsteen was much better than Greatest Hits.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Bruce Springsteen.

1. "Born to Run" Born to Run (1975) 4:30
2. "Thunder Road" Born to Run 4:48
3. "Badlands" Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) 4:03
4. "The River" The River (1980) 5:00
5. "Hungry Heart" The River 3:20
6. "Atlantic City" Nebraska (1982) 3:56
7. "Dancing in the Dark" Born in the U.S.A. (1984) 4:03
8. "Born in the U.S.A." Born in the U.S.A. 4:41
9. "My Hometown" (Early fade-out) Born in the U.S.A. 4:12
10. "Glory Days" (Early fade-out) Born in the U.S.A. 3:49
11. "Brilliant Disguise" Tunnel of Love (1987) 4:15
12. "Human Touch" (Edited radio version) Human Touch (1992) 5:10
13. "Better Days" (Edited version) Lucky Town (1992) 3:44
14. "Streets of Philadelphia" (Single edit) Philadelphia soundtrack (1993) 3:16
15. "Secret Garden" New song: Recorded in January 1995 at The Hit Factory, New York City 4:27
16. "Murder Incorporated" New song: Recorded at The Power Station in April/May 1982 3:57
17. "Blood Brothers" New song: Recorded in January 1995 at The Hit Factory, New York City 4:34
18. "This Hard Land" New song: Recorded in January 1995 at The Hit Factory, New York City 4:50