|
 |
A Boss RetrospectiveCapsule reviews of Springsteen's entire officially released output, from
Greetings all the way to Tracks. | ||||||||||||||||
Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ
His first album is either a weak album with a few moments of inspiration, or
a great album with a few clunkers. Dylanesque verbosity and a predominantly
acoustic setting led to
the inevitable comparisons. His ability to create interesting characters
(Crazy Janey, Killer Joe and Mary Queen of Arkansas, to name a few) displays
an insight into the boardwalk life that would become the trademark of the
early years. "Lost in the Flood" sows the seeds that would later evolve into
"Jungleland." "Blinded By the Light" soon became a hit for Manfred Mann's
Earth Band, establishing Springsteen's reputation as a writer for other
artists, which would serve as a lucrative parallel career. Highlights: "Growin' Up," "For You," "Spirit In The Night," "It's So Hard To Be A Saint In The City" The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle
All naked potential with no thought of restraint, this release effectively
bridges Bruce's verbose folk-rock material with his evolving rock/soul style
shift, combining the best of both sounds to produce some of his most unique
and evocative work. Only the Boss could end a record with three of the great
all-time rock epics: "Incident On 57th Street," "Rosalita (Come Out
Tonight)" and "New York City Serenade" and also manage to toss in a
funk-tinged dance track, an extended jazz jam, a heartwrenching Atlantic
City ballad and the precocious wackiness of "Wild Billy's Circus Story,"
which brought the tuba back to rock in a big way. It's the sound of a
songwriter in love with the magic of pop music, shattering all boundaries to
craft explosive, majestic story-songs. Born to Run might be his
masterpiece, but this comes a close second. Highlights: David Sancious' piano on "New York City Serenade," the brief yet gorgeous connecting bridge between "Incident On 57th Street" and "Rosalita," "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" Born to Run
One of the great rock albums of its decade, Born to Run catapulted
Springsteen into a new stratosphere of popularity and began his affiliation
with producer/manager Jon Landau. Bruce confronts the challenges of
adolescent life with a boundless hope, mixing in a dash of weary skepticism
on "Meeting Across the River" and the closing lines of "Jungleland." His
characters yearn for a freedom they can't even understand, and relentlessly
pursue that liberation with an energy only inexperience provides. The sound
lifts heavily from such sixties greats as Phil Spector and the Motown
coalition, producing a batch of vibrant, soulful rock. Not much more to say
that hasn't been said before, except that it's his greatest album and a
towering achievement that defined his songwriting point-of-view and began
the thematic journey that would take him through the darkness and to the
river. Highlights: The whole damn thing--there's not a bad track on the record Darkness on the Edge of Town
Recorded after a lawsuit with former manager Mike Appel prohibited him from
entering the studio for over two years, Springsteen finds that Thunder Road
was a dead end. Many of
Bruce's most impassioned performances are here, and his guitar playing is
spectacular throughout, especially on "Prove It All Night" and "Adam Raised
A Cain." Roy Bittain's piano performance on "Something in the Night" and
"Racing in the Street" is both romantic and desperate; and Max Weinberg has
never drummed better than on "Candy's Room." Highlights: "Racing in the Street," "Adam Raised A Cain," "Candy's Room," "Darkness On The Edge Of Town" The River
A masterpiece. From the Rickenbacker blasts of "The Ties That Bind" to the
plaintive, mournful "Wreck On The Highway," this double album shows the
youthful anger of Darkness turning into disillusion and fear. The
lyric "Is a dream a lie if it don't come true/or is it something worse?"
from the title track sums up Bruce's entire oeuvre. Folk narratives (the
title track, "Stolen Car," "Independence Day") mix with songs of faith
("Drive All Night," "I Wanna Marry You," "The Ties That Bind") and strong
character studies ("Jackson Cage," "Point Blank"). A couple of strategically
placed, up-tempo throwaway numbers are included to forge Springsteen's main
philosophy: that rock n' roll can be a salvation against in increasingly
harsh world. His first #1 album, and includes "Hungry Heart," his first Top
Ten hit. Highlights: All the songs mentioned above plus "Two Hearts," "The Price You Pay" Nebraska
On January 3, 1982, Bruce records a handful of demos with his acoustic
guitar in his home studio. But attempts to have the E Street Band put their
distinctive stamp on the songs prove fruitless, as his unaccompanied
performances better fleshed out the ideas that Springsteen was trying to
convey. It was a bold commercial move, especially after
the massive success of The River, but it proved to be the right
decision. By mixing introspection ("My Father's House," "Mansion on the
Hill,") with tales of lives on the edge ("Nebraska," "Johnny 99"), Bruce
stakes his claim not as the New Bob Dylan, but as the New Woody Guthrie.
This album almost justifies the presidency of Ronald Reagan, whose economic
policies were largely responsible for the plights of the characters. Highlights: "Atlantic City," "Used Cars," "Johnny 99," "Reason to Believe" Born in the U.S.A.
Maybe he just felt guilty. Bruce had just put his fans through a roller
coaster ride of albums and tours, shifting wildly from the careless abandon
on "I'm A Rocker" to the terse rage of "Johnny 99." So you could see Born
in the U.S.A. as a sincere effort to reconnect with those fans he'd lost
along the way, as close to a sell-out moment as Springsteen has ever gotten.
The record resulting from this concession mixes a wistfulness for the past
with a fear of the future, occasionally stepping off into wasted desperation
("Cover Me," "I'm Goin' Down"). It also seems sometimes that the same story
is being told time and again; "No Surrender" and "Bobby Jean" are great
songs, but aren't they both variations on the same theme? A collection of
phenomenal tunes and a few duds that seems to want to be a couple of
different records at once, but never succeeds at a full cohesion, something
Springsteen is obsessively driven toward in all his artistic output. Highlights: "Glory Days," "Darlington County," "Bobby Jean," the title cut Live 1975/85
By now Springsteen was the biggest rock star in the world, and this 5-LP set
(3 cassettes or CD's) was released to show why his marathon live shows were
legendary. Although most hardcore fans were upset (largely due to
nitpicking), it still has Springsteen and the E Street Band in their natural
setting. Springsteen's pre- and mid-song speeches are moving and affecting,
and the performances are, naturally, spectacular throughout. The album
quickly shot to number one on the charts and instantly set commercial and
critical standards for box sets. Highlights: "Growin' Up," "War," "Seeds," "Johnny 99" Tunnel of Love
When you've released two back-to-back massive number one records and
sheperded one of the biggest concert tours ever around the globe, what do
you do for an encore? Get married, then write a quiet record about love's
pitfalls and dangers. Tunnel is about as far removed from the
bombastic rock of Springsteen's glory days as you can imagine, but it's
still a beautiful record: tender, thoughtful and wise. Bruce calls on the
E-Streeters in a limited capacity, leading to some of his quietest music
since Nebraska. It'd be a great makeout record--if it weren't about
the pain of heartache and the anguish of failed relationships. Highlights: "Ain't Got You," "Tougher Than the Rest," "Brilliant Disguise" Chimes of Freedom
A 4-song live EP released to coincide with Springsteen's headlining of
Amnesty International's Human Rights, Now! Tour. It's really for
completists, not because the quality is poor, but because it's not really an
essential part of the collection. The acoustic take on "Born To Run" strips
the song of much of its power, but "Be True" gets rightfully removed
from B-side obscurity and he has a strong take on Dylan's "Chimes Of
Freedom." "Tougher Than The Rest" rounds out the set. Highlights: "Be True," "Chimes Of Freedom" Human Touch
Springsteen's only massively disappointing record, it unfortunately
introduced the Boss to the 1990's, starting off the decade for him with a
decidedly nasty thud. On Touch, the songwriting is stale, the
performances are lackluster, and a heavy wash of synths and inexplicable
production mishaps make it sound like Bruce never really left the
eighties...which might still be true. Even Sam Moore (of the legendary R&B
combo Sam & Dave) can't redeem this clunker. The fact that it's unlistenable
might actually help the fact that it lacks any cohesion in sound or lyrics.
A few good tunes, but mostly weak material delivered in a weak manner. Buy
Lucky Town instead and get the greatest hits disc if you want "Human
Touch" that badly. Highlights: "Human Touch," "I Wish I Were Blind" Lucky Town
Trying to find a final song to finish Human Touch, Springsteen,
naturally, writes a handful of songs that touch on different themes than
what he's looking for, so he records another album and releases the two
simultaneously. Vocally, Springsteen sounds looser than he has been since
1974, and his largely autobiographical songs find rock's greatest searcher
finally finding happiness in his wife and kids. But by the time this was
released, the commercial winds had shifted towards Nirvana and their ilk,
and it quickly sank from the charts. Highly underrated, especially given the
disappointment of Human Touch, and worth checking out. Highlights: "My Beautiful Reward," "Local Hero," "Living Proof," "If I Should Fall Behind" Greatest Hits
If you have no intention of immersing yourself in Springsteen's music--if
you not only just want his hits, but you can't bear to hear anything BUT the
hits--then this package is for you. In all honesty, you'd be far better off
buying Born to Run and Born in the U.S.A. especially since a
whopping four of the disc's fourteen previously released tracks are from the
latter record. Darkness, Nebraska and The River are all
glossed over, and the first two records are ignored entirely. It does have
"Secret Garden" going for it, as well as three other "new" E-Street band
tracks (one of which, "Murder Incorporated," was actually recorded in 1982).
As a whole, it's a retrospective that never rises above its title; it really
is just the "greatest hits," with no regard for putting those hits in the
context of Springsteen's career. Highlights: "Blood Brothers," "Secret Garden" The Ghost of Tom Joad
"The highway is alive tonight," Springsteen sings on the title track,
echoing words he sang twenty years ago. But the voice is no longer filled
with optimism, but rather the despair found on Nebraska, whose
stripped-down sound he revisits. The scant instrumentation demands that the
listener pay attention to his ever-compelling stories, which deal largely
with migrant workers crossing the California border. But for all of the
lyrical power, a few solid melodies would have been nice. As a result, a
work to admire greatly but not one that you will listen to repeatedly. Highlights: "The Ghost Of Tom Joad," "Across the Border," "Sinaloa Cowboys," "Highway 29" In Concert/MTV Plugged
A fitting footnote to the Live boxed set, this disc captures
Springsteen's performance for MTV, which was transformed at the last minute
from an intimate "unplugged" solo show to a full-tilt rock show featuring
Bruce's new touring band. Though they're no E-Streeters (other than
keyboardist Roy Bittain), this crew of younger session players rips shit up
with Bruce, delivering searing versions of "Darkness," "Human Touch" and
"Light of Day." There's also a great rendition of Bruce's finest nineties
tune, "Better Days," and an achingly beautiful solo acoustic version of
"Thunder Road" that spikes its hope with a fair dose of regret and adult
longing. Highlights: "Thunder Road," "Better Days," "Light of Day" Tracks
Flabbergasting. That's about the only word that can describe the arrival of
56 "new" Bruce Springsteen tunes into the public realm, most of which are as
tremendous as his previous artistic output. The set consists of mostly
unreleased tracks from throughout his twenty-five year career, forming a
riveting alternate history through the thematic journeys traveled on his
records. Fans have always drooled for Bruce to open his massive vault and
officially release some of his lost gems, and though there's clearly more
where this stuff came from, it's still a towering collection of amazing
music. Easily the greatest testimony to Springsteen's genius as a performer
and songwriter; he's so tremendous that he has a whole second "career"
waiting in the vault that few have ever heard. Highlights: "Loose Ends," "So Young and In Love," "Restless Nights," "This Hard Land" (better than the Greatest Hits version), "Sad Eyes," too many others to mention | |||||||||||||||||
 | Ministry | Melody | Meaning | A presentation of Pop-Culture-Corn Magazine Copyright 1999 PCC MEDiA | Contact Us | Site Credits | |
