Brian Sawyer

Spot the differences! For a long time I was frustrated to have only the first BOMP! repress on the right. I finally found the original Mohawk first pressing on the left for a (relatively) reasonable price. I still don’t know why “I’m Straight” was removed from all later pressings.

I can't be the only one who knows a little something about Bob Dylan (including how his career actually turned out) who reads his response as an obvious joke at Berklee's expense?

Up next ...

www.discogs.com/user/briansa...

The rest of the story

Today marks the 10-year anniversary of the first vinyl record I ever bought (though my parents had a record collection when I was a kid, my own purchases were all cassettes, followed by a transition to CDs), beginning a hobby and bit of obsession that has kept me busy all these years later.

It turns out I was right! In the electric version of "Atlantic City," he changes the line “I’ve got debts no honest man can pay” to “I got in too deep and I could not pay.” Though he also changes the lyrics to "Johnny 99" a bit, that's where he decided to keep that line in Electric Nebraska.

I'm sure he wanted to make sure these great lines ended up somewhere and these were just intended as demos. I always assumed he had intended to fix the repetition in the studio versions of the tracks.

YouTube video by BruceSpringsteenVEVO Bruce Springsteen - Johnny 99 (Electric Nebraska - Official Audio)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtFx...

YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen - Topic Atlantic City (Electric Nebraska)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8go2...

Nebraska is my favorite Springsteen album, and its story is even more impressive (I haven't seen the movie yet, but I read the book). One nagging thing the editor in me always notices, though, is how a few lines find their way into more than one song.

They were so great in Boston!

Fun fact: Tracey didn't think she could do the "BAY-bee" part as well as its songwriter (Kirsty MacColl), so those two notes are an uncredtited feature by Kirsty herself.

They don't know about us. They've never heard of love.

I really thought I had the 12-nch single for "Sun City" by Artists United Against Apartheid, but I guess not.

Now reading/spinning

Won tickets from my favorite radio station (WERS 88.9) to see David Byrne this Saturday!

Rediscovering the intense graphics and thrilling gameplay of my first handheld digital gaming device.

I myself sometimes wonder how we did it without cell phones!

We played the shit out of that CD that year. I'm so happy to have it on vinyl now.

At the moment, this is the only thing I've seen lately that might draw me back to Netflix.

Legends In Focus: The Photography Of Henry Diltz - WERS 88.9FM Henry Diltz is one of the most iconic names in American music. It is through his camera lens that we perceive the American music scene in the 60s and 70s. Luckily for us, this icon is bringing his pho...

wers.org/legends-in-f...

Both of these album covers feature photographs by Henry Diltz, whose artwork will soon be featured in a new exhibition at Emerson College.

Can’t wait!

Another rough week for music icons

Here are some of the records in my collection that include versions of the song “Stagger Lee” (or “Stack-A-Lee,” “Stackerlee,” etc.).

What’s your favorite song that references the song “Waltzing Matilda”?

Choco Taco!