At the time of this show, Springsteen was working on his next album (which would turn out to be two).   Most hardcore Springsteen fans feel these two albums, Lucky Town & Human Touch respectively are probably his weakest. (I would have to agree.)   His personal life was taking a turn for the better however.   His divorce from Julianne Phillips was final and he and Patti were to marry soon.   In addition, his son, Evan was born in 1990.  

Springsteen performed 2 concerts for The Christic Institute on November 16 & 17, 1990.   The majority of this CD is made up of the 11/17 performance with three songs that were only played on the 16^th as bonus tracks. The last two tracks from the 17^th feature collaborations with Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt who also performed sets both nights.    These two songs are Highway 61 Revisited and Across the Borderline.   Other than that, Springsteen played solo utilizing acoustic guitar and piano.   As many of us know, Springsteen started his career this way so in reality it wasn't such a stretch for him.   The passion he puts into these songs is incredible.   It's safe to say that these two shows represent some of his best performances ever - even to this day.   He debuts 6 new songs during the two nights.   Standout tracks are Soul Driver and Real World which work so much better in these arrangements.   Tenth Avenue Freeze-out and State Trooper sounds great as well.   The sound from both Christic shows is audience sourced but is amazing.   In fact, most people would assume they are soundboard recordings by the quality.   Tacked on the end of disc two are four additional bonus tracks from a 6/18/88 Anti-Racism French television broadcast that sound great as well.   These tracks feature just Bruce and Clarence and are also "unplugged".   To my knowledge, this is the only place to get Bruce's versions of "Blowin in the Wind" and "Bad Moon Rising".   (And they are great performances to boot - no pun intended!)

All three sources from this CD set have been released in the past but to my ears, this 2005 Crystal Cat release has the best quality.   Packaging includes a slimline double jewel case with some nice artwork as most CC releases have.   The booklet has some pictures from the show, a writeup and some pictures of the venue.   I wouldn't say it's their greatest artwork but it is far from terrible.  

You know sometimes you buy a bootleg and listen to it once and forget about it.   This is not one of those.   In fact, I'll bet you'd come back to this often.   I heard that Bruce and Jon Landau though of releasing these shows after they heard them.   That should tell you something!   Why are you still reading, go find this!