Springsteen Challenge Day 23: Favorite Little Steven Guitar Solo

I have a confession to make: Little Steven is not my favorite E Street Band Member.  We’ve covered that Nils is.  I was obviously a fan of the Big Man, Clarence Clemons, and I love watching Max, focused intently on the back of Bruce’s head, hammering out the big beat, hitting the cymbal crashes and bass drum thumps timed to Bruce’s movements.  Stevie is less animated than most.  He is less interested in the theatrics of the show at times.  And Stevie is also not the best Guitar player in the band.  But, Little Steven Van Zandt is the most indispensable member of the E Street Band because he is the glue that holds the band together.

As we’ve discussed, Bruce Springsteen is either the lead singer of the E Street Band, or the E Street Band supports him.  Either way, yes, Bruce Springsteen is the most indispensible person on stage.  No one is going to see the E Street Band in concert if Bruce Springsteen is taking the night off.  But, of the E Streeters not including Bruce, Little Steven is the one unifying member.  He is Bruce’s foil. He is Bruce’s musical consigliore – his counselor, a title I chose for him based upon his role as Silvio Dante on The Sopranos – the Consigliore for Tony Soprano, a major Bruce like character.  When Bruce was stuck producing the Born to Run album (he notoriously listened to a pressing of it in early August – a few days before its’ release, and was so disgusted with it, he went outside and threw it in the pool of the motel he was staying at, and this was the version that was actually released…) Steve came in and helped arrange the Miami horns on “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out” – this is when he joined the E Street Band proper.  He’d always been a contemporary of Bruce’s, but now he was in.  He was listed as an Assistant Producer on Darkness on the Edge of Town, and a full producer on The River.  He then left the band after Born in the USA, and came back for the Greatest Hits studio sessions, producing the track “Murder Incorporated” – no other E Street Band member produces music.

He is also the most accomplished in playing multiple instruments.  He can play lead or rhythm guitar, he can play bass, he can play steel or slide guitar, and he can play the ukulele (surprisingly more necessary at a Springsteen concert than you’d think!) If Nils left, we might be deprived of the guitar tornado, but we’d survive. Bruce would just have to pick up the slack, guitar-wise.  He might be less mobile, but that’s ok – he’s getting older.  It’s probably good for his hips.  I’ve seen fewer power slides in recent years.  When Max left the band a few years ago, his 19 year old son stepped in.  It was 85% of what was necessary – he kept the beat.  He may not have been cued in on Bruce, but he played the songs like he was supposed to play them.  Patti is rarely there these days.  The Big Man WAS the most indispensable just for the role he played on stage, but now that’s Steve.

Steve plays the goofball friend to Bruce.  When they do the Ramrod “Roadhouse/Boss Time” bit, he is pitch perfect every time.  When they have to do the goofy faces into the camera, Stevie treats it like a goofy photo booth.  He does the call out and call back like no other, and loves doing the “here I come, we’re going to share that mic, Bruce” bit with perfection, especially when Patti and Nils join in.

Knowing all of that ancillary information, my favorite guitar solo for Steve Van Zandt is not actually a guitar solo.  My favorite solo from Little Steven is the ukulele solo from the beginning of “Land of Hope and Dreams” – it’s just constant, and it immediately identifies the song to the audience.  It’s the most recognizable part of the song outside the lyrics, and seeing him on the Live in New York City DVD plucking away at the ukulele made me realize that Steve is the glue – he is the notes you don’t hear, the ones that provide background.  He is the part of the movie you’re not watching that makes you focus on the part you are.  That ukulele is his one chance to be recognizable, now that Garry Tallent is the Tennessee Terror on Bass, and Nils Lofgren is the guitar virtuoso with his whirling dervish play.  The ukulele on Land of Hope and Dreams is all Steve, and it fits his personality in the band perfectly.

Tomorrow’s topic: Favorite Bruce collaboration with another band/artist (studio)