Bruce Springsteen - Classic or Dud ?

i like it, for sure, but i feel like it kind of heralds the springsteen of the last 15 years or so which is my least favorite springsteen

so i enjoy listening to it but dont like what it represents

yeah i'm embarking on a project to listen to the last 15 years of bruce tbh

the rising is so bad

i like "american skin (41 shots)" iirc. but that's not on an album iirc.

iirc

Tom Joad works best with lyrics in hand while listening.

haha half of this thread's comments on it are like "this and nebraska are all i like" and the other half are people being like, "this is the most boring album i've ever heard." seems like most of the springsteen diehards incline to the latter view. :(

ha -- I remember a time (most of the nineties) when admitting to liking BITUSA over everything else made everyone clear their throats and change the conversation.

I like some of Tom Joad, but it's not real strong melodically. Apart from the title track, I can't remember a single tune off it (tho I do remember the narratives, which is where I think he put most of his effort).

"Tom Joad" is pretty boring. Ironically, the solo tour behind it was one of his best, and set the stage for his ongoing resurgence.

I liked 'Magic' maybe the most of the recent 'old Bruce' albums, but still not as much as I love 'young Bruce'.

ha -- I remember a time (most of the nineties) when admitting to liking BITUSA over everything else made everyone clear their throats and change the conversation.

this went a few years into the 00s and covered most of his career save for nebraska and maybe tom joad. 04 or 05, the whole world decided to change its mind on him all at once.

I find it a lot still, where saying you like Bruce is like saying you like, Toby Keith or something. It's kind of a bummer.

Toby Keith has a lot of good songs though. A lot of bad ones too, sure, but still.

I liked 'Magic' maybe the most of the recent 'old Bruce' albums, but still not as much as I love 'young Bruce'

xpost: i liked magic the first time i heard it, then his singing on it started to bug me. he's kinda "shouty" on it and in a way i don't like. devils and dust on the other hand is the one later bruce i'm glad i still own

yeah i prefer Devils & Dust compared to Tom Joad. first one sounds so weirdly vulnerable.

Toby Keith has a lot of good songs though.

in the early 2000's he was writing better ones than Bruce.

Not to get all rockist or anything, but Toby Keith has a writing partner. Bruce's contemporary mediocrity is all his own doing.

Keith has often written solo (and his most recent albums are all self-produced).

Yeah, but during that period you cite (early '00s) he was part of a team.

fuckin knew it was a mistake citing Toby Keith. ;)

Ugh:

The Hollywood Reporter has quotes today from someone who has heard the new, "as-yet-untitled" and "terrific" Springsteen record. Judging by this earwitness account, it's a wrecking ball of an album: "He gets into economic justice quite a bit. It's very rock 'n' roll. He feels it's the angriest album he's ever made. Bear in mind, though, that he wrote and recorded the majority of the album before the Occupy movements started, so he's not just setting headlines to music."

Sonically, look for "unexpected textures — loops, electronic percussion," according to the source, "an amazing sweep of influences and rhythms, from hip-hop to Irish folk rhythms." The Hollywood Reporter also confirms that the album was produced by Ron Aniello."

The Aniello wiki is some sad shit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Aniello

Oh dear. Not a good track record for Mr. Aniello.

aw crap

The (potential) horror lies in the contrast between the two paragraphs. On one hand, an angry wrecking ball of a political record. On the other, loops, electronic percussion (whatever that means), hip-hop to Irish folk rhythms. By the guy who brought you Jars of Clay, Sixpence None The Richer, Lifehouse and Candlebox.

The thing is, risk-taking in terms of arrangements/orchestration has never been Springsteen's strong suit. But I wouldn't be saying that if, say, the original Bomb Squad had reunited to produce this record.

a lot of the recession/blue collar-themed stuff on Darkness and BITUSA has been very important music to me in the last couple years and i've often thought about how few people are writing songs NOW that speak to what's happening these days like the songs Bruce was writing back then, so honestly i'll give him the benefit of the doubt if he wants to try to do it again. and the E-Street-via-Pearl-Jam production of the last few rock albums was so wearying that i'll even happily look forward to any kind of change in sound.

Clearly you missed "Working on a Dream."

uh that's one of the Brendan O'Brien-produced albums i was referring to, and didn't seem like a particularly angry or economy-themed record

It was definitely a change in sound, though.

The Hollywood Reporter also confirms that the album was produced by Dan Aiello

would love springsteen to cover papa don't preach

whatever 'change in sound' happened in the year between Magic and Working On A Dream] was not especially significant or dramatic imo

Well, one difference is that when I look at the track listing for the latter, I can't recall 3/4 of the songs.

well then you're talking about the quality of the songs, not the production aesthetic

A bit of both, tbh - songs were weak to begin with but further weakened by the production, which was much more diverse (and inconsistent) than the previous two, by design. At the very least, it did not sound like an E Street Band record.

That said, no one even knows what's going on on that front. Did they get a replacement sax player? Has he expanded the line-up? Pared it down? Added a horn section. Very curious on that front.

Here's hoping the demos leak at some point.

Man, credit the Boss this: since Born in the USA there has been a full clampdown on pretty much any and all studio leakage. This from a guy who until that point had had leaked pretty much an extra six or seven albums' worth of (often great) material.

no one even knows what's going on on that front. Did they get a replacement sax player? Has he expanded the line-up? Pared it down? Added a horn section. Very curious on that front.

Pared down would be great but it's not gonna happen. My dream E Street Band line-up for this album and tour would be just Springsteen plus the four core members of the band i.e. Tallent, Bittan, Weinberg, van Zandt.

http://www.nj.com/springsteen/index.ssf/2011/11/whats_ahead_for_bruce_springst.html

I could see Bruce putting together a horn section. He last used one with the E Street Band on the Tunnel of Love Tour in 1988. The Seeger Sessions Tour in 2006 also featured a four-piece horn section

In 2009, Bruce added Curt Ramm on the trumpet for the final two months of the Working on the Dream Tour. Curt was great and added so much.

Will Ramm be back on this tour, with a horn section possibly featuring longtime Asbury Juke Ed Manion and others? There's also been plenty of internet chatter about Jake Clemons, Clarence's nephew, playing sax.

At the Oct. 22 Boston College benefit at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, Bruce had a horn section (as he usually does at these events) and had Steve Barlotta of the Soul Cruisers playing sax.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=M3Bz0d2xm7U#!

New single^

Sounds like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRTHdC7k4uY&feature=related

Hmm, repetitive plod or no, sounded OK on the radio, but even the DJ was all "what do you know, just in time for the election year a another song that could be easily misinterpreted by both sides, hmmm ..."

Tracklist:

1. We Take Care of Our Own
2. Easy Money
3. Shackled and Drawn
4. Jack of All Trades
5. Death to My Hometown
6. This Depression
7. Wrecking Ball
8. You’ve Got It
9. Rocky Ground
10. Land of Hope and Dreams
11. We Are Alive

A special edition of Wrecking Ball will also be available including exclusive artwork and photography and two bonus tracks:

12. Swallowed Up
13. American Land

Also, Tom Morello guests.

Putting "American Land" AND "Land Of Hopes And Dreams" on one album vs. Putting the word "Freedom" in two album titles in a row like Johnny Cougar did

hope Death To My Hometown is really Death To "My Hometown" in a Listen Without Prejduice/blowing-up-the-jukebox way

Really pleased he's finally gotten around to recording 'LoHaD', always loved that song on the Live in NYC album.

I'm kinda psyched about this?

The titles sound like they're ripped from a triumphalist eighties soundtrack or a Journey/Survivor/REO album.