Springsteen - Live or Memorex?

ASSERTIONS:

• Listening to Bruce Springsteen's studio albums is more enjoyable than listening to his live albums.
• Bruce Springsteen's studio albums are better than his live albums.
• Bruce Springsteen rocks.

DISCUSSION:

I know Bruce Springsteen enjoys (and deserves) a reputation as one of the all-time greatest live performers in rock and roll history. I've only seen him live once, when he was touring in support of his early 1990s albums Human Touch [ http://snipurl.com/g4lb ] and Lucky Town [ http://snipurl.com/g4lc ]. It was a fine show but almost certainly nothing compared to the Born in the USA tour. (For one thing, the Big Man wasn't there; he had a woman playing saxophone.) Plus he didn't really play an excessively long show. I would've loved to see him in the 1970s and early 1980s. I have a video with Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) on it that looks awesome. Jersey girls rush the stage. And he is loving it. But I digress.

It just seems that the energy and entertainment value of his live shows does not translate onto his live recordings. I like Bruce Springsteen. I listened to every song on his studio CDs (other than Cover Me from the Born in the U.S.A. album) chronologically on more than one long drive. But I never intentionally listen to any of his live songs that are also on his studio CDs. (I do love Jersey Girl and Fire off the 3 CD live set, and his live version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town is the best version of that song anywhere ever.)