Bruce Springsteen - Classic or Dud ?

ok in honesty i overstate the "generality" of his lyrics. there are some fairly specific themes that emerge from the new one (which yes i've listened to finally). i guess i was describing his recent songs at their worst, not at their best.

although the onscreen lyrics in the video for WTCoOO are kind of unforgivable.

ok yeah the lyrics to this one are really ringing "coldplay" bells in my head. "where's the work that will set my soul free?" huh?

and maybe this is obvious but he seems to absorbed the influence of his own admirers, like arcade fire etc. i don't think that's to the bad, although i have no time for arcade fire.

if he could only write another song like this :-(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=129kuDCQtHs&feature=relmfu

"Dancing in the Dark" is one of the all-time great Trojan horse songs - a last minute addition at the record label's request about not wanting to write a hit song, fretting about the machinations of pop stardom. Worth recalling that our man' Bruce, like Fogerty, has never had a number one hit. Not "Dancing" (for a good reason), not "Born to Run" (not even close), not "Hungry Heart" (though it was a breakthrough). "Streets of Philadelphia" went to number 9.

love that it's one of his weird minimal synth songs

i am probably the only person who wanted an entire album of "streets of philadelphia" and "secret garden"-esque songs, which i already half-have with tunnel of love, i guess

yeah "Secret Garden" is if i'm being honest probably my favorite song Bruce has written in the last 20 years

I would actually argue that for the most part the reason the new stuff is perceived as more overtly political is because it's fundamentally non-specific. That is, it's on a level of generality and abstraction that it can't be taken as the kind storytelling in which he had previously couched his (mostly kind of inchoate) politics. But that doesn't mean that the lyrics are particularly sharp or even coherent. In fact the same generality that causes people to perceive them as "statements" makes them kind of fall down as any kind of real political rhetoric--indeed in the worst cases ("We Take Care of Our Own," which isn't a horrible song overall, just a horribly mixed/mastered one) it's basically just meaningless. The Coldplay syndrome in other words -- not that I really wish to mention them in the same breathe.

I don't think 'we take care of our own' falls flat as political rhetoric anymore than boitusa does. it employs the same trick (car-commercial chorus, bleak verses) and has worse production, but I don't think the politics are that hard to read.

'from the shotgun shack to the superdome, we take care of our own'? that's not a generality or an incoherent statement, that's a pretty sharp jab.

I love "Dancing In The Dark" too, but also reckon a lot of songs on "Born In The USA" were just as strong. "My Hometown", "I'm Going Down", "Downbound Train", "Cover Me". All great. But he had no reason to be ashamed of the rather modern and synth-dominated sound on "Dancing In The Dark".

GREEDY ROBBER BARONS ARE EATING OUR FLESH!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1Id9r4cQQU

Tonight we've got some old friends and some new friends with us... but our mission remains the same. We're here to bring the power, hour after hour... we're here to put a whoop-ass session on the recession... we're here to bring a smile to your face, an extra beat to your heart, and to raise your spirits high in these hard times.

c'mon admit it: you love it

my biggest problem with this is that it wasn't made two years ago

I totally love it. I hope to see him in Detroit next month.

http://www.beersteak.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/dancing-leprechaun-animated-01.gif

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/10/bruce-springsteen-apollo-theater-new-york/?ref=arts

Springsteen at the Apollo

Whatever misgivings I have about his newer recorded material is completely separate to how much I fucking love this guy live. I will never not go see him play (if I have the $$$)

The celebrities in attendance included Harry Belafonte, Elvis Costello, Michael J. Fox, Michael Douglas and John McEnroe.

How fucking weird.

(if I have the $$$)

Bruce is one of the only -- possibly the only -- artist of his stature to be somewhat conscientious about ticket prices (which, granted, are still a not-cheap $50, but that's peanuts compared to his contemporaries).

They go for more than $50. Why not charge just oh $ 30.

Didn't know that. How much more, though? He's not doing the $200-and-up thing that the Who and the Stones do, is he?

€100 for top price tickets in Austria (around $130).

$130 for top price tickets is a bargain in this racket. Bruce keeps a ton at $50, as does U2, but then, U2's top prices are nuts. Looks like top Bruce tix are around $100 in the US (with fees). Madonna is $375 (with fees). Radiohead is about $50-$80 (with fees).

Ugh. It is a bargain, relatively speaking, and it's a mathematical certainty that Bruce isn't gonna phone it in, but jeez.

Well, that "relatively speaking" part is kind of key, isn't it? Because thank god we are not mandated to go, as there is no better price than zero.

I will say, as someone who goes to shows all the time, big and small, and never pays, that I think most folks ie the average concert goer, hit maybe one or two big shows a year. And with that in mind, $130 is pretty cheap. That's dinner and a movie for two, with a glass of wine. A luxury for some, I suppose, but I don't that's considered a conspicuous expenditure.

he isn't playing chicago on this tour? WTF.

also can we maybe talk about the drum fills on "born in the usa" (the song)?

well they ARE the song

reminds me of thunderstorms

thunder only happens when it's raining IIRC

My favorite musical element: Bruce's wordless howling in the last minute.

Stevie Nicks does not understand weather patterns

the line "son, take a good look around" in "my hometown" just sent chills up my spine. :(

Ugh I love that song

Stevie Nicks should have covered "Cover Me."

this album is good

well duh :)

xpost amateurist, the (very strong) rumor is that he's playing Wrigley Field in September. This is only the first leg of the tour - a bit of the US, then Europe, then most likely back to the US. I'm seeing him in Detroit if I can help it because frankly I'm a little concerned about the band's, er, mortality rate. Seven months is a long time away...

can't make it to detroit, but wrigley field sounds fun.

I saw him at Pacbell Park in Sf in 2002 or 03. One of the best concerts I've ever been to. something about the vibe in a baseball stadium, it just feels so Bruce

Great Springsteen keynote speech streaming on NPR from SXSW:

http://www.npr.org/event/music/147357853/sxsw-2012?ps=cprs

Last night in Austin:

1. I Ain't Got No Home (Woody Guthrie)
2. We Take Care of Our Own
3. Wrecking Ball
4. Badlands
5. Death to my Hometown (with Tom Morello)
6. My City of Ruins
7. Seeds
8. E Street Shuffle
9. Jack of All Trades (with Morello)
10. Shackled and Drawn
11. Waiting on a Sunny Day
12. Promised Land
13. The Ghost of Tom Joad (with Morello)
14. The Rising
15. We Are Alive
16. Thunder Road
17. Rocky Ground (with Michelle Moore)
18. Land of Hope and Dreams
19. The Harder They Come (with Jimmy Cliff)
20. Time Will Tell (with Cliff)
21. Many Rivers to Cross (with Cliff)
22. We Gotta Get Out of This Place (with Eric Burdon)
23. 10th Avenue Freeze Out
24. This Land is Your Land (with Joe Ely, Arcade Fire, Alejandro Escovedo, etc.)

Tom Morello, eh, but Jimmy Cliff!

and Eric Burdon! and Garland Jeffrys

Alejandro Escovedo! underappreciated dude

why doesn't he sing love songs anymore?

because now he is a serious man of politics

politics and rock and roll