The Rock n Roll Curmudgeon Rides Again
I guess, as the years begin to weigh against us, the time comes to make lists. Lists of friends departed. (Or deported being in the world we’re in) Lists of stuff that stays. Lists of stuff that goes. Lists of who gets what and who does not.
So anyway, here are two lists of mine I hope to start a good conversation among friends and former allies. Two Best of Lists. The Best of Springsteen and The Best of Paul McCartney. Please feel free to flood the editor’s inboxes with your likes, dislikes, promises, and threats.
Let’s start with Springsteen because he’s going around the country, tearing Orange Julius a new one everywhere he goes. That the missus and I got to see him at Barclays and Madison Square is doubleplusgood as my droogies say. This will be studio albums only as the live archives are massive to say the least, and everyone who has ever seen the Freehold Kid or The Cute One will swear the show they saw was the best of the best of the best of the rest.
So, let the fun begin. As for Bruce, I have not included The Promise (the album that became Darkness On The Edge of Town), nor have I included The Ties That Bind (the album that was to be The River). These discs are issued in the deluxe archival versions of their respective albums.
For Macca, I have left out the classical excursions, namely, Liverpool Oratorio, Standing Stone, Working Classical, Ecce Cor Meum, and Ocean’s Kingdom.
The Best of Bruce Springsteen
- Nebraska (1982)
- Darkness On The Edge of Town (1978)
- The Wild, The Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle (1973)
- Tracks 1 (1998)
- Born To Run (1975)
- Tunnel of Love (1987)
- The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995)
- The River (1980)
- The Rising (2002)
- Born In The USA (1984)
- Wrecking Ball (2012)
- We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (2006)
- Lucky Town (1992)
- Tracks 2: The Lost Albums (2025)
- Western Stars (2109)
- Devils and Dust (2005)
- Human Touch (1992)
- Letter To You (2020)
- Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. (1973)
- Magic (2007)
- High Hopes (2014)
- Only The Strong Survive (2022)
- Working On A Dream (2009)
That was not as easy as it reads. Now comes the real hard part. Everyone loves McCartney. Everyone has their favorites. Macca’s newest, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, comes out at the end of May.
The Best of Paul McCartney
1. Band On The Run (1973)
2. Ram (1971)
3. Flaming Pie (1997)
4. Tug of War (1982)
5. Chaos and Creation in The Backyard (2005)
6. New (2013)
7. McCartney (1970)
8. Venus and Mars (1976)
9. Flowers In The Dirt (1989)
10. Electric Arguments (2008)
11. Egypt Station (2018)
12. One Hand Clapping (2024)
13. Memory Almost Full (2007)
14. McCartney II (1980)
15. Red Rose Speedway (1973)
16. McCartney III (2020)
17. Driving Rain (2001)
18. Strawberry Ocean Ships Forest (Fireman) (1993)
19. Rushes (Fireman) (1998)
20. Speed of Sound (1976)
21. Twin Freaks (Twin Freaks) (2005)
22. Pipes of Peace (1983)
23. London Town (1978)
24. Wildlife (1971)
25. Run Devil Run (1991)
26. Give My Regards to Broadstreet (1984)
27. Back To The Egg (1979)
28. Off The Ground (1993)
29. Press to Play (1986)
30. Kisses On The Bottom (2012)
See you down the road. . . Mike Jurkovic
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Mike Jurkovic is a frequent contributor to Lightwood; Read his poems, book and music reviews here. Scroll to our Search Button and insert his name and click.
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2025 Ulster County Poet Laureate, Mike Jurkovic has been published globally but with little reportable income. Full-length collections include Buckshot Reckoning, mooncussers, American Mental, (Luchador Press 2023, 2022, 2020); haiku collections Monet’s Bamboo (CAPS Press, 2025) Blue Fan Whirring, (Nirala Press, 2018). President, Calling All Poets, 26 years in the Hudson Valley. 2016 Pushcart nominee. CD reviews appear online at All About Jazz and lightwoodpress.com. He is the Monday 9am-10:30am host of NuJazzXcursions,WVKR-91.3FM Vassar College. He loves Emily most of all.
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