Bruce Springsteen - Classic or Dud ?

xpost OTM. This is what overproduction should be! Nashville sound, etc.

glad Jon Brion is involved :-)

Playing Moog and celeste! Did he arrange the strings or was there someone else? I guess we will find out!

wow this sounds great. HE sounds great.

I hope Fred Neil got a credit, tho

it seems ok but derivative enough that I'm not gonna rave about it

20 seconds in and Fred Neil otm

I haven't wanted to replay a Bruce record since The Rising. This isn't quite there but agree re: production.

It sounds a little like early 90s REM doing "Baby Blue"

Very nice - first time I've liked something new of his in a while. Reminded me of Lucinda.

when someone you already love does something that makes you love them even more & then your heart explodes

^basically me right now

also the percussion takes me straight to john paul young’s “love is in the air” and i’m not mad

Good song
Hope the album has more like this

this sounds great, nice sense of space

agreed about the sound of his rock records since the 90s, such off the rack modern rock tones and production

Now it reminds me of “Skyway”

This seems promising but not quite ready to jump on the bandwagon yet.

Sounds a bit like "Everybody's Talkin'" too, in case that hasn't been mentioned amongst the things it is reminiscent of.

Wondering if he was actively channeling Glen Campbell what with his recent passing and long illness leading up to it.

Okay, I see this upthread, sorry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjc79mlluKA

https://variety.com/2018/music/news/bruce-springsteen-talks-trump-new-album-and-hints-at-an-upcoming-tour-1203078221/

“Really, that record is influenced by Southern California pop music of the ’70s,” he said, referring to orchestrated-pop music of that era by “Glen Campbell, Jimmy Webb, Burt Bacharach, those kinds of records. I don’t know if people will hear those influences, but that was what I had in my mind.

WE HEAR IT BRUCE <3

Ha!

Jimmy Webb FB page gave a nod to this

Best vocal on an "Everybody's Talkin'" (even if it's the worst arrangement):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjw0yE8mQVc

Wow

You know I always liked my walking shoes
But you can get a little too fond of the blues
You walk too far, you walk away

Songs where it's fun to say HOOS in place of the actual lyrics

I kind of think Lana Del Rey took the same SoCal influences, went in a different direction and ended up with Mariners Apt Complex

not so sure about "there goes my miracle." on first listen, it's exactly what i feared this album would be. not sure he has the voice for these arrangements. i'd kinda like to hear scott walker singing this, though.

(also, i'm secretly hoping it's about miracle the horse from mel brooks' "history of the world part 1.")

(and still completely enthralled by "hello sunshine.")

This new one is kind of a misfire, though it's interesting to hear him try something so different. Docked several points for super-generic drum machine cameo and distracting production poo, which undoes whatever good the strings do.

Sounds like a Morrissey song.

Lol, indeed it does. The high notes on the chorus sound a little auto tuned maybe

Another new one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsH4URIWNRE

Kinda ... "Lucky Town" (the album) vibes? It's not bad, pretty slight, but the video implies he may tour with a different band again. Also ... no Tele! I think he's playing a Gretsch Country Gentleman? Maybe that will be this cycle's bolo tie.

Speaking of Springsteen, I'm a little surprised there's been no word of a BitUSA boxed set. It's the 35th anniversary this year, and fans have been speculating on a dual BitUSA/Nebraska box, though I think it would make more sense to split them up. Nebraska could easily be a 2-disc set, esp. if they unearth the legendary electric sessions. But BitUSA ... there's a ton of leftover stuff, some of it already released on other comps and collections, but I think Springsteen would rather keep things simple and collect any leftovers into collections that flow like albums (like he did with Darkness and the River) rather than just dump a bunch of stuff out there.

One of the my faves:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ewhMge_MXM

I forgot that the second volume of remasters came out. I'm listening to the cleaned up Tunnel of Love right now, and no joke, it sounds great, I'm hearing things I've never heard before!

I wonder if the BitUSA stuff will happen next year. I saw somewhere that there's be an E-Street tour in 2020, so maybe that'll tie-in to the reissue.

This album doesn't really sound like anything else he's ever done. While I don't like some of the choices he made - production (as usual), arrangements (a little gloppy) - I respect the effort to do something different.

Would have been both apt and very funny if it ended with Happy Trails, like Diver Down.

I'm enjoying this but it remains to be seen if I'll come back to it. And yeah, I appreciate hes trying something different. "Hello Sunshine" is his best single since "Radio Nowhere" (even if reminds me a bit too much of "Everybodys Talkin'")

if theres not an old town road cover on this im not interested

the other night i watched the video for "Dancing in the Dark" and i had forgotten how fucking handsome he was back in the day. i would have done anything he wanted me to.

Fp

xp otm he was a smokeshow back then no question.

i still heart him with all my heart

https://www.brucespringsteen.it/DB/mn.aspx?yr=1968&mt=09

Lol I got pushed a very Onion-y Slate headline, 'Rolling Stone SLAMS Bruce Springsteen with rare four star review."

Haha

The album is... pleasant? And the production isn’t as jarringly plastic as his recent records. But nothing’s grabbing me. It’s sort of Devils & Dust pt. 2, of all things. He’s still in great voice, but the nothingness of the material makes that bittersweet.

On the one hand, I appreciate the economy of the songs and songwriting. On the other hand, his full embrace of lyrical cliches to an extent he never quite has before really undercuts his character portraits. On the third hand, sometimes those cliches work in his favor, like when he veers from a cliche into something fresher and it makes the distinction that much more apparent and effective.

I wish it had more of the Hello Sunshine feel/sound esp his singing voice but it is pleasant “lazing on an afternoon” music