Douceur de Vivre

~ Release by Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band (see all versions of this release, 27 available)

Annotation

2011 transfer: 1/2‐track, 15 IPS master soundboard reels > azimuth‐adjusted playback on professional reel to reel > 24/96 capture > Wavelab 5.0 edit and mastering > FLAC

JEMS could not be more thrilled to release this significant upgrade of the second show at the Capitol Theatre, one night removed from the historic radio broadcast that would go on to become one of, if not the most bootlegged recordings in Springsteen history, Piece De Resistance. In homage to that bootleg classic, weve titled the upgraded second night Douceur de Vivre, which translates to “the sweetness of life.”

And how sweet this set is, with a looser vibe than that of its predecessor and a few key set‐list changes, including “Its My Life,” the first “Santa Claus” since December 1975 and the rare‐but‐always‐welcome coupling of “Incident on 57th Street” directly into “Rosalita.”

Were fortunate to have many excellent recordings from Springsteens greatest tour, among them the five radio broadcasts (now including the upgraded Atlanta pre‐FM JEMS released last year) and numerous other soundboard tapes such as those from Portland (June 24) and Charleston, WV (August 4). What makes Douceur de Vivre so special is that it, like the radio broadcast the night before, was professionally recorded on reel to reel by a mobile recording truck outside the theatre.

What we get is a live‐as‐it‐happened recording of incredible clarity: If you ever wanted to learn the individual parts each band member is playing, this is the tape for you. Which isnt to say that it is a multi‐track, mixdown recording; this is a raw, mixed‐on‐the‐fly, wide stereo recording done on 1/2 track at 15 inches per second. Compared to the cassette sources circulating of other raw board tapes from this tour, the quality here should be a revelation.

The transfer was handled as JEMS did for last years upgrade of The Ties That Bind so Ill quote those notes: “There was baking involved, as the tapes had degraded in the 33 years that had passed. This time, the reel‐to‐reel tape deck was best of breed, what the pros use, in a proper studio, calibrated and adjusted in every way for optimal playback and capture at 24/96 using the best possible sound card, cabling, etc.”

There are two missing pieces on the new reels, at the start of “Tenth Avenue Freeze‐out” and the end of “Twist and Shout.” Weve patched those from the video soundtrack. On the bright side, “Thunder Road,” “Jungleland” and “Incident on 57th Street” are all complete here unlike the circulating board tape.

The release of Douceur de Vivre is sure to coincide with the announcement of new 2012 tour dates, and once those dates begin, collector focus move to new recordings, so we wanted to get this out ahead of time. Now if only there were an upgraded video source to go with this audio…

Please respect our wishes and DO NOT post this on DIME.

Please respect our wishes and DO NOT REMASTER OR POST ANY NEW versions of this recording.

Wayne Darlington

Annotation last modified on 2025-10-09 15:40 UTC.

Tracklist

1▶CD
2▼CD
#TitleRatingLength
1Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town
drums (drum set) [drums]:
Max Weinberg (on 1978-09-20)
electric bass guitar:
Garry Tallent (on 1978-09-20)
lead vocals:
Bruce Springsteen (on 1978-09-20)
performer:
The E Street Band (on 1978-09-20)
recorded at:
1978‐09‐20: Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ, USA (1978-09-20)
recorded at:
Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey, United States (on 1978-09-20)
live cover recording of:
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (on 1978-09-20)
lyricist:
Haven Gillespie (in 1932)
composer:
J. Fred Coots (in 1932)
publisher:
EMI Allans Music Australia Pty Ltd, EMI Feist Catalog Inc., EMI Music Publishing Australia Pty Ltd (not for release label use!), EMI Music Publishing Ltd. (PRS‐affiliated), EMI United Partnership Ltd., Francis, Day & Hunter Ltd., Haven Gillespie Music Publishing, Jobete Music Co., Inc., Leo Feist Ltd, Leo Feist, Inc., SBK United Partnership and The Songwriters Guild
sub-publisher:
フジパシフィックミュージック SBK事業部 (Fujipacific Music SBK Department) and ヤマハミュージックエンタテインメントホールディングス (Yamaha Music Entertainment Holdings, Inc., holding company – do not use as release label)
5:05
2Fire
drums (drum set) [drums]:
Max Weinberg (on 1978-09-20)
electric bass guitar:
Garry Tallent (on 1978-09-20)
lead vocals:
Bruce Springsteen (on 1978-09-20)
performer:
The E Street Band (on 1978-09-20)
recorded at:
1978‐09‐20: Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ, USA (1978-09-20)
recorded at:
Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey, United States (on 1978-09-20)
live recording of:
Fire (on 1978-09-20)
lyricist and composer:
Bruce Springsteen (in 1977-05)
publisher:
Copyright Control (not for release label use! this is only for copyrights and publishing relationships)
3:00
3Candy’s Room
drums (drum set) [drums]:
Max Weinberg (on 1978-09-20)
electric bass guitar:
Garry Tallent (on 1978-09-20)
lead vocals:
Bruce Springsteen (on 1978-09-20)
performer:
The E Street Band (on 1978-09-20)
recorded at:
1978‐09‐20: Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ, USA (1978-09-20)
recorded at:
Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey, United States (on 1978-09-20)
live recording of:
Candy’s Room (on 1978-09-20)
publisher:
Bruce Springsteen (in 1978)
lyricist and composer:
Bruce Springsteen (from 1977 until 1978)
is based on:
Candy’s Boy
is based on:
The Fast Song
3:16
4Because the Night
drums (drum set) [drums]:
Max Weinberg (on 1978-09-20)
electric bass guitar:
Garry Tallent (on 1978-09-20)
lead vocals:
Bruce Springsteen (on 1978-09-20)
performer:
The E Street Band (on 1978-09-20)
recorded at:
1978‐09‐20: Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ, USA (1978-09-20)
recorded at:
Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey, United States (on 1978-09-20)
live recording of:
Because the Night (on 1978-09-20)
publisher:
Bruce Springsteen and Bruce Springsteen (in 1975)
lyricist:
Patti Smith (in 1977) and Bruce Springsteen (in 1977)
composer:
Bruce Springsteen (in 1977)
publisher:
Bruce Springsteen Music, Rondor Music, Rondor Music (Australia) Pty Ltd, Sony/ATV Music Publishing (UK) Ltd., Universal Music Publishing Ltd. (UK subsidiary of Universal Music Publishing Group) and Zomba Music Publishers Ltd. (UK subsidiary of Zomba Music Publishing)
7:08
5Point Blank
drums (drum set) [drums]:
Max Weinberg (on 1978-09-20)
electric bass guitar:
Garry Tallent (on 1978-09-20)
lead vocals:
Bruce Springsteen (on 1978-09-20)
performer:
The E Street Band (on 1978-09-20)
recorded at:
1978‐09‐20: Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ, USA (1978-09-20)
recorded at:
Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey, United States (on 1978-09-20)
live recording of:
Point Blank (on 1978-09-20)
publisher:
Bruce Springsteen (in 1979)
lyricist:
Bruce Springsteen (from 1978 until 1980)
composer:
Bruce Springsteen (in 1978)
publisher:
Zomba Music Publishing Ltd.
8:50
6Kitty’s Back
drums (drum set) [drums]:
Max Weinberg (on 1978-09-20)
electric bass guitar:
Garry Tallent (on 1978-09-20)
lead vocals:
Bruce Springsteen (on 1978-09-20)
performer:
The E Street Band (on 1978-09-20)
recorded at:
1978‐09‐20: Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ, USA (1978-09-20)
recorded at:
Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey, United States (on 1978-09-20)
live recording of:
Kitty’s Back (on 1978-09-20)
lyricist and composer:
Bruce Springsteen (in 1973)
arranger:
Bruce Springsteen
publisher:
Intersong Music Ltd. and Laurel Canyon Music Ltd. (publishing company of Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos) (in 1973)
13:55
7Incident on 57th Street
drums (drum set) [drums]:
Max Weinberg (on 1978-09-20)
electric bass guitar:
Garry Tallent (on 1978-09-20)
lead vocals:
Bruce Springsteen (on 1978-09-20)
performer:
The E Street Band (on 1978-09-20)
recorded at:
1978‐09‐20: Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ, USA (1978-09-20)
recorded at:
Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey, United States (on 1978-09-20)
live recording of:
Incident on 57th Street (on 1978-09-20)
lyricist and composer:
Bruce Springsteen (in 1973)
publisher:
Intersong Music Ltd. and Laurel Canyon Music Ltd. (publishing company of Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos) (in 1973)
revision of:
Incident on the W. Side
11:29
8Rosalita
drums (drum set) [drums]:
Max Weinberg (on 1978-09-20)
electric bass guitar:
Garry Tallent (on 1978-09-20)
lead vocals:
Bruce Springsteen (on 1978-09-20)
performer:
The E Street Band (on 1978-09-20)
recorded at:
1978‐09‐20: Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ, USA (1978-09-20)
recorded at:
Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey, United States (on 1978-09-20)
live recording of:
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) (on 1978-09-20)
lyricist and composer:
Bruce Springsteen (from 1972 until 1973)
arranger:
Bruce Springsteen
publisher:
Intersong Music Ltd. and Laurel Canyon Music Ltd. (publishing company of Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos) (in 1973)
10:34
3▶CD