Bruce Springsteen - Classic or Dud ?

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

I’m inclined to look this sort of thing but am also not sure if much of it is going to stick.

Anthony Scaramucci tried to pick a Twitter fight with Nils Lofgren. Guess who it didn’t go well for?

I’m not the one still trying to get a job on a sinking ship. And that word scramble on #huckabee was something to behold. @MSNBC really must have been scraping the bottom of the barrel. Self esteem, right now about 100. Thanks mooch https://t.co/uAtfNLrIv7

— Nils Lofgren (@nilslofgren) June 15, 2019

<3 u nils

this album is very very glen campbell. and sometimes that sort of mellow good vibe friendliness is exactly what i need. would be even better with a few songs equivalent to the weirdo vibe that Jimmy Webb gave to Glen, but there you go.

lol I was just reading that htread:

I can hardly believe I’m responding to this but Jesus, what a world where this talentless piece of shit even summons the balls to talk smack about anyone Neil Young picked to play on “Tonight’s the Night.”

— Roy Edroso (@edroso) June 16, 2019

I'm liking this a whole lot so far, though I fear Trump may have ruined "Sleepy Joe's Cafe" because when I heard it all I could think of was Biden.

the new record is excellent. best since magic but also probably way better than magic

Hmm. I think Wrecking Ball was pretty strong. But other than that tbf, two albums since Magic - Working on a Dream and High Hopes - are down there with the worst of his records (so ... Human Touch?). Anyway, I'm a huge fan, and the album seemed fine, but I can't see putting this on that often.

songwriting-wise it feels very close to devils and dust and the arrangements are awesome

It’s sort of Devils & Dust pt. 2, of all things

yeah! huge plus for me, i love that record, "long time comin'" is my favorite springsteen song

yeah it feels better than Magic - more even & more of a consistent mood

I fear Trump may have ruined "Sleepy Joe's Cafe"

i fear the arrangement might have ruined that one. it sounds like it's on the wrong album. the river, maybe? the eddie & the cruisers soundtrack?

man I love this album, to my ears his best full album since Born in the USA.

That's crazy to me, but I'm glad you're enjoying it.

He sat in with Southside Johnny this weekend and played or played on maybe 6 songs, like "Talk to Me," "Kitty's Back" and "The Fever," which is the most he's played live in some time, let alone in electric mode. Implies he's gearing up for maybe a band tour.

He said something recently about him and the E-Street Band going out next year.

He's hinted at it, but he's also said (I think) that he has enough material for an E Street album, so one presumes they have to record a new album first. Next year is still pretty far away, though, especially for old guys.

BTW I have a friend who has interviewed most of these dudes before, and it's amazing how NDA-level cagey they are about plans, album or otherwise.

Next year is still pretty far away, though, especially for old guys

no, wait, that's not how it works for old guys. for old guys, next year is like three hours from now.

A three-hour concert from now...

Also: This revive led me to pull Darkness... from the stacks to spin this afternoon.

Thank You Thread!

Lol at this last bunch of posts

A bit late to this, but just wanted to say that I think the title track on the new album is genuinely very, very good. Not sold on the rest of the album though I like a few of the songs. But "Western Stars," the song, is glorious.

Love the way the strings get more and more dramatic as the speaker drinks himself into maudlin nostalgic fantasy, and the way the word "friend" addressed to the anonymous stranger who's buying him drinks gets more emotionally needy and more sadly ironic at the same time, and the way it all builds to this glorious drunken vision of the riders on Sunset, until his fantasy world finally collapses and we're back where we began, at the start of another empty day. It actually reminds me of "Thunder Road" in the way it builds and builds and then drops down to a final line, except that here there's no time left and nowhere for the speaker to go, except further into his own mind.

I've gotten totally obsessed with Springsteen in the last few months. Before I was just kind of a casual fan, then I listened to "Nebraska" all the way through and now I can't stop. It's a sickness.

The other day I found myself having Deep Thoughts about the meaning of the song "I'm a Rocker," and I was like, "shit, this has gone too far."

If I ever have a kid I will name it Terry and raise it gender-neutral as a token of my love for Bruce.

public service announcement: THIS IS THE ONE TO GET

http://live.brucespringsteen.net/live-music/0,22963/Bruce-Springsteen---The-E-Street-Band-mp3-flac-download-9-19-1978-Capitol-Theatre-Passaic-NJ.html

(and Roxy and Agora too, obviously. Winterland still only available as a bootleg but if they continue upgrading all the legendary ones it's surely still coming)

not even a bruce superfan, but this show is monumental — looking forward to checking it out in non-bootleg form.

This one, Roxy and Winterland are the holy grail recordings of 1978.

Been forever since I actually listened to Passaic (either night). This official release of course sounds great, but it was always a great sounding show. Amazing to hear it really kick in after a few songs with "The Promised Land."

I listened to him again, after seeing a movie about a young British Asian kid who got into Bruce, set in the early 80s. I'm definitely not a fan of big stadium US rock, but Springsteen's live presence makes him an important exception. That 'Woah!' on a D11 chord in Born to Run is a transcendent moment

I liked his stuff until he got all twangy

When was that?

hearing at what point someone stopped liking Springsteen is fascinating
I wish people would do that with the Replacements too

All Shook Down’s their Lucky Town.

I recently got way into Springsteen, but I'm really not interested in anything after of Tunnel of Love. It's not that I think it's all bad, exactly, it's just that something feels off to me even in the better songs. Maybe it feels like he's trying harder to do the things that used to come naturally.

No, you're not wrong. There's some good stuff, but after Tunnel you can sort of hear the thought put into it, when before it seemed more effortless (despite all the effort he was putting in).

Ghost of Tom Joad has held up better than I thought it would

xpost That's partly why stuff from Tom Joad or even The Rising worked so much better live.

wouldn't blame anyone for stoping at tunnel. regardless i love almost all of magic and devils and dust and we shall overcome is better than either and one of his best records etc.

I haven't been able to listen to Western Stars more than once. I regard Devils and Dust really high, and The Rising, Magic and Wrecking Ball all were good-to-very good, with many great songs that get somewhat unfairly overlooked. It's not like he's on a post-New Adventures In Hi Fi rut or anything like it.

On the other hand I find "Working on a Dream" barely listenable, and I can't believe High Hopes made it to #2 in the RS albums of the year list.

I only got to see him live once, but it was by far the best experience I've ever had on a stadium and I won't die happy if I don't get to do it at least one more time. Everything's been written about it everywhere, it's all cliche but it's also true.

Really, Springsteen's output of the last 20 years is way better than it needs to be.

Actually, I do love the Seeger album as much as any of his stuff.

well, that could be hyperbole, but I like it a lot.

Oh, that one's great, yeah.

And Springsteen produced it himself! Just like Dylan produces himself. I wonder if Springsteen produced all of his later albums himself if they would be better. Brendan O'Brien might be right for Pearl Jam, but really did Bruce no favors.

It's actually him and Landau, just like all the classics.

I bet he finds self-producing to be a shitload of work and he, Scialfa and the kids are better off outsourcing it.

I'm a big Glen Campbell fan so I love love love Western Stars.