Bruce Springsteen - Classic or Dud ?

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.

That single is going to fit well with G8/Ocuppy craziness in Chicago this May.

could be easily misinterpreted by both sides, hmmm ..."

One would have to do a lot of contortions to twist this into a right wing anthem.

Reagan and George Will (and numerous others) managed to get a few miles out of "BITUSA." Never underestimate the contortionist abilities of the right wing.

he should've called it OCCUPY NEW JERSEY
haven't really been into much of bruce's 21st century output aside from a few tracks, but i'll check this out. also, is "earwitness" really a term people use? sounds gross.

He did a holiday concert a year or two ago from Asbury Park, was on YouTube for a short time, really good performance and really well shot.

I tried searching for it and found this instead--a show he did last weekend at the same venue:
http://www.soundspike.com/story/3590/bruce-springsteen-ramps-up-tour-buzz-with-raucous-set-in-asbury-park/

yeahhh, he did incident on 57th st!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P4j7mIRX9E

Here he is last week, asking the audience to sing the sax line from Promised Land:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=l40sBvn23MU

That new song, by the way, is faaaaar more ambiguous than BitUSA. The right wing will be so myopic about the phrase "we take care of our own." It can easily mean soldiers and unborn babies but not poor people in their mindset.

Other song titles offer promise of pissed Bruce, though, so I hope the Jars of Clay guy got him to step up.

lol that promised land is great. glad the Sopranos are back together too.

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

― ban this sick stunt (anagram), Thursday, January 19, 2012 10:09 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^

A+ display name, some dude

eh not crazy about the new song. does sound like he's going for maximum possibility of republican co-option.

The right wing will be so myopic about the phrase "we take care of our own." It can easily mean soldiers and unborn babies but not poor people in their mindset.

He's a cool rocking daddy looking out for his fellow 1%ers.

this is unfortunate

Eh, it's an election year. He'll make his leanings clear. Could be a Ron Paul / Tea Party theme, though.

barf

in theusa

Barf In The USA

i'm sure that brooce will come out as a heavy democrat supporter next year, but that song just seems like he's fishing for newt or someone to start saying "WE TAKE CARE OF OUR OWN" and then the boss can come out and say NO.

lol xp

next year? this year, i mean.

I can't imagine anybody mistaking this for a Springsteen endorsement of any GOP idea or candidate. But it is fun to try.

from the good ol' days when the GOP assumed Springsteen was on their side

The next day, George Will, who also saw Springsteen at the Capitol Center, checked in with his nationally syndicated column. Will had attended the show at the invitation of Max Weinberg and his wife Becky, who had mysteriously found him amusing on ABC-TV's This Week with David Brinkley. (They also invited Sam Donaldson, who didn't show; so much for liberalism in broadcast journalism.) In the course of a clumsy encomium, Will managed to contort the experience beyond recognition, ending in a burst of free market bluster: "If all Americans--in labor and management, who make steel or cars or shoes or textiles--made their products with as much energy and confidence as Springsteen and his merry band make music, there would be no need for Congress to be thinking about protectionism." In other words, if you find slapping bumpers onto compact cars less fulfilling than singing rock and roll songs in front of adoring masses, fuck off. Will's column did not note that he had left the concert one song into the second set, though not before he finally unknotted his ugly yellow bowtie.

I've seen Bruce booed (as opposed to Bruuuuced) at least twice for speaking his mind, once at MSG during the "41 Shots" imbroglio, the other a couple of summers ago at the Harley Davidson 105th anniversary celebration. Generally, though, his political foes know how to compartmentalize (see: the Boss vs. Chris Christie).

omg @ land of hope and dreams! actually excited for this!

it sucks that this song has neu-bruce production but I think it's really good

I dig the idea of a conservative rocking out to this and then hearing the line 'From the shotgun shack to the Superdome'

really this is amazing troll work

Officially touring with a horn section.

ooooOOOOooooo

Witness, the power of horns:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxgPBILzBDk&feature=fvst

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/music/index.ssf/2012/02/bruce_springsteen_announces_tw.html

At least one from Southside Johnny's band

look at that guy! jesus christ. omg. he doused himself in water!