I guess it’s fitting that the last In the Bins for 2008 would be “40” as this was my 40th year on this planet. Admidst the Christmas craziness, I managed to hit Half-Price Books a couple of times in December. One trip I dumped off a bunch of vinyl, CD’s and books to get some funny money (which I promptly spent there -‘natch). I made the second trip to take advantage of their post-holidays 20% off everything sale.

Born to Run – 30th Anniversary Edition – Bruce Springsteen (CD, 2 DVD, Columbia 82796 94175 2, 2005) ($15.00) This is the very nicely-done longbox boxset with the 2005 remaster of Born to Run done by the infamous Bob Ludwig. Somehow I managed to not pick this up during the closing of Sam Goody in Cedar Rapids. They had a number of copies of this I recall. Along with the remaster– which is packaged in a mini reproduction of the original gatefold sleeve– there are two DVD’s. The first DVD is “Wings for Wheels: The Making of Born to Rum”– a documentary about the making of Born to Run which is really informative. Bruce hanging out in the studio listening to the original session tapes for Born to Run and we hear some parts that weren’t used in the eventual release. The second DVD is a ful-length (2 hour!) concert of Bruce and E Street at the Hammersmith Odeon in London from 1975. This concert is mentioned in the the documentary. I guess that this show is on the heels of the release of Born to Run and Springsteen was pissed about some fliers that were all over the venue that said “London is finally ready for Bruce Springsteen” so before the show he tore them all down. It wasn’t until he started digging through his vaults years later that he realized that this show was worthy for release even though in his mind it wasn’t a good one. A very good concert capturing the emerging power that was E Street back then.

Adam’s Apple – Wayne Shorter (LP, Blue Note BLUNT 4232, 1966) ($7.98) From what I can tell, this is a new record. There were multiple copies of these “140 gram” LP’s in the Jazz section at HPB. There were only three titles, and out of them, I picked this one without having heard it before. I recognized Wayne Shorter as the sideman for Davis as well as Art Blakey and this record has Herbie Hancock on it as well, so I figured it was a safe bet. The LP and sleeve are direct reproductions of the original release, but it comes with a nice clear envelope-style outer sleeve. The inner sleeve is a vellum-type paper which should keep the record in good shape for years to come. I can’t find any information about this pressing– what date it was released or who did the mastering. The album is part of Wayne Shorter’s run of solo albums on Blue Note while working in Miles Davis’s “Second Great Quintet” from ’64 to ’68 along with Hancock. Effectively Shorter replaced John Coltrane in the band after Davis convinced him to leave Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in 1964. From 1964 to 1970 Shorter recorded nine albums for Blue Note.  Generally Shorter’s 1965 release Speak No Evil is regarded as his best work, but Adam’s Apple is regarded highly as well. Adam’s Apple follows an insane  four releases in 1965 wrapping up with the free-jazz workout The All-Seeing Eye. Adam’s Apple is considered a return to form of sorts with carefully structured melodies. I also downloaded the 256Kbps mp3’s from Amazon which were based on the “Rudy Van Gelder Edition” series and included a bonus track “The Collector” which was written by Hancock. A great album which fits nicely with my Davis, Coltrane and Blakey releases from this period.