Bruce Springsteen, "One Step Up," C or D

The Brilliant Disguise video is great. As a kid, I was scared of mirrors because I would do this thing where I would lock eyes with my reflection and stare until I didn't recognize myself anymore and it was like a monster was looking out from inside me. When I watched that video, I couldn't believe how perfectly the director had managed to recreate my weird childhood neurosis.

I go back and forth on the song, though. I heard it first on the Greatest Hits album, and there - since I had no other context for it at the time - I always kind of associated it with Human Touch, which came right after it iirc. Later, when I heard it on Tunnel of Love, I liked it just fine and the emotional depth of it came through better. Then I saw the video and was like, "Oh, actually this is amazing." I guess context is everything.

Tunnel of Love is his grandest AND his most intimate album. I'm pleased as hell so many have come around to it or, if they were around at the time, remember how much they loved this bleak album.

Human Touch was a whopping nearly 5 years later, which I think may be the longest he has ever gone between records. Oh, wait, Tom Joad to The Rising was even longer!

I meant it came right after it on the CD, and they sounded similar to me. I didn't know anything about either album at the time.

I should have clarified that I meant "Human Touch" the song, not Human Touch the album.

But yes, Tunnel of Love was a huge surprise to me when I got seriously into Springsteen last year. I first listened to it at three in the morning when I'd been lying awake all night, which was one of those decisions that's probably bad for the psyche but good for Art.

some of my favorite synthesizer presets/parts of the late '90s