Bruce Springsteen - Classic or Dud ?

otm

My Hometown is explicit, yeah, but it's also totally downbeat and hardly what I'd consider "poppy."

another big difference between the "shackled and drawn" lyrics quoted above and those of "my hometown" is that the latter is an elegy that doesn't identify anyone in particular as having been responsible for the death in question. it's about the loss of smalltown america, and as such, played into the combination of nostalgia and anxiety that pushed so many democrats into reagan's column during the 80s. if you read it a certain way, it might even seem to blame the loss on "fights between the black and white" and how these led to "troubled times"...

"shackled and drawn" seems much more explicitly leftist in its 99%er willingness to directly blame "bankers".

i get josh in chicago's point about the "trojan horse" strategy of "we take care of our own": pretty tunes, patriotic appeals and slick pop production get your woody guthrie style quasi-socialist anthem played on radio and stuck in people's heads. hopefully.

have to say that i don't like either of these songs. WTCOOO is the better of the two (S&D's combo of strident vocals, syrupy sweetening and froom-style production trickery grates).

so is this new album just fucking horrible? i kind of imagine it is.

the single makes me cringe so bad. Bruce, why do you do this to me.

OK, heard the new album. Not horrible, mostly because the sentiment and songs are strong, but the production is a problem. Lots of dated 90s faux-hip hop loops, which are sort of jarring against the other songs which are, like, rootsy Irish rock. Lyrics are all pretty much on point. I can imagine much of this great live. Studio "Land of Hope and Dreams" is pretty massive, crap intrusive drum loop aside.

Why doesn't this dude just produce his own records, live band in a room? Seeger Sessions was awesome.

Which is to say: five stars in Rolling Stone!

Production's been a particular problem of his for twenty years.

Here's the place to ask (I almost created a separate thread): anyone willing to defend Human Touch and Lucky Town these days? They've almost been written out of the Springsteen canon.

he should record with albini (serious)

i get josh in chicago's point about the "trojan horse" strategy of "we take care of our own": pretty tunes, patriotic appeals and slick pop production get your woody guthrie style quasi-socialist anthem played on radio and stuck in people's heads. hopefully.

― Little GTFO (contenderizer), Wednesday, February 22, 2012 4:57 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah but like -- he hasn't been on top 40 radio in ages, outside of maybe the occasional conservative in his boomer fanbase isn't this pretty much preaching to the choir defined?

and his boomer fanbase doesn't listen to Nicki Minaj.

yeah, i just meant on the offchance that the song does happen happen to cross a few more conservatively-inclined ears. trojan-horsey in the same sense that "born in the USA" was, though less likely to succeed on pop radio/playlists.

a springsteen album w albini production would be great! or, well, might be. and there's always the rick rubin cred rehab route.

yeah he needs to just get old already

i say this with love

i'm just looking forward to the bootlegs of demos coming out

Yeah, that hasn't happened since "BitUSA," alas. Dude's stuff is on lockdown.

xposting, I think "Lucky Town" is OK, but "Human Touch" is easily his worst record. Even he made fun of it on tour, joking that it was a bestseller in Norway or something.

Anyway, I don't think those two albums have been any more written out of the canon than "Ghost of Tom Joad," "Devils & Dust," "Working on a Dream." "Magic," it's hard to say. "The Rising" has stuck around, though. "Seeger Sessions," the best thing he's done in 25 years, exists in a weird parallel universe.

I mean, "Lucky Town" has "If I Should Fall Behind," which is great.

yeah, i just meant on the offchance that the song does happen happen to cross a few more conservatively-inclined ears. trojan-horsey in the same sense that "born in the USA" was, though less likely to succeed on pop radio/playlists.

― Little GTFO (contenderizer), Wednesday, February 22, 2012 5:27 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

you actually think a springsteen song has the power to changes minds about something important? you are more optimistic than i am.

I'll say this: I still think Springsteen has the potential to do that, yes. As much as any musician of his stature.

When Springsteen was more of a blank slate it was easier for George Will to put on jeans and attend his shows without thinking twice about lyrics. Springsteen, a proud and loud liberal, has no mysteries, aural or otherwise, to offer a conservative.

Also: apart from being presumptuous and awfully condescending to assume "we" have anything to teach or that a conservative would want to listen, the notion that people start to reexamine their lives thanks to songs written by one of the most ubiquitous boomer rockers is...rickety at best.

well after all the handwringing upthread about the possibility a republican candidate appropriating "we take care of our own" and springsteen setting them straight, it's now on the campaign playlist for...the obama administration. so yeah, preaching to the choir.

Which is to say: five stars in Rolling Stone!

it comes with a nice Occupy narrative, so i wouldn't rule out six stars

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a127/djurzi/DMB/articles/092204.jpg

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahabarf

you actually think a springsteen song has the power to changes minds about something important? you are more optimistic than i am.

― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Wednesday, February 22, 2012 6:38 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

no no, trojan horse. i.e., lull into a stupor so that memebots mathematically encoded into the chord changes can sneak out and assassinate the conservative impulse during rem sleep.

Production's been a particular problem of his for twenty years.

Closer to 30. Tunnel of Love has some questionable decisions too.

trying really hard to figure out what year that RS cover is from

The River was his last great full-band production. He has yet to improve upon that drum sound.

is bush's lost year a reference to razorblade suitcase or "w" in '05?

wondered that too! some long fucking years there in bushland.

turns out it's about dubya

is bush's lost year a reference to razorblade suitcase

lool

trying really hard to figure out what year that RS cover is from
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Wednesday, February 22, 2012 10:43 PM (54 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

1992 2000 2012 1988. yes, 1988.

But Johnny Ramone was still alive then.

I like how MIKE MILLS is their rep for R.E.M..

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6a/Johnny_Rebel_Book.jpg/200px-Johnny_Rebel_Book.jpg

fall '04

Closer to 30. Tunnel of Love has some questionable decisions too.

love that production actually

Yeah, it might be '80s cheese, but the arrangements are so spare that it doesn't really smother the record.

Is Springsteen the only major stadium-level act with an explicitly political stance? Anyway, the guy's lefty credentials are being overstated a little, Alfred: Kerry was the first president he'd ever endorsed, which is more than you could say for Neil Young and Prince.

Springsteen's politics were never in doubt. When Reagan won in '80 he said during an Election Day concert, "I don't know about you, but the results frightened me."

Silly argument. They were never in doubt to you, maybe, but they long toed ambiguity. I mean, "Darkness," his "angriest" record, came out in 1978. Was that his response to, what, the Ford administration? It's just a vague expression of frustration. Even the alleged politics of "Nebraska" are sort of nebulous.

Landau did famously politicize him, but even all these years later I wouldn't be surprised if a huge segment of his fanbase either has no idea of his politics or disagrees with him. Which is why I say he still has some potential to influence the debate: his audience isn't exactly homogenous, politically. I mean, Springsteen and Pearl Jam are the only two big acts I've seen booed for something they said from stage. But Springsteen, unlike Pearl Jam, more actively courts mainstream attention, which at least sets the stage for a bit of frisson. Whether a mere boomer act has the power to do that, I'm not so naive as to believe that. But I do believe Springsteen has a greater potential to do that than, say, Dylan, the ur-boomer protest singer.

you know what bruce doesn't get enough credit for? not acting in horrible movies. he has never really diluted the brand. and you gotta figute people have pitched him scripts for decades. and offered him tons of money. "you play a magical drifter from the 1930's..." luckily michael pare was around to take up the slack in the 80's. plus, bruce has the perfect dimensions for the movies. short with a big head. kudos to you, bruce!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZE7OchG3DY

he has made a lot of unfortunate decisions over the years, it's true

yeah but that was just silly in high fidelity. i mean "acting".

lotsa springsteen fans have no prob w/ cognitive dissonance on the politics see: gov christie

I've been long thankful that he has (I think!?) always said no to what I'm sure is a steady stream of people looking to make BitUSA into a cash cow musical.

"Working on the Highway" is just begging for the BIG DANCE NUMBER treatment