Bruce Springsteen - Classic or Dud ?

Yeah, Nebraska is my favorite too, but spare as the arrangements are, there's a lot more variation to them than you get on Tom Joad. One of my favorite things about Nebraska is the sequencing; somehow songs that I wouldn't listen to on their own, like Used Cars, seem perfect and right in their place in the album. There's a whole arc to Nebraska, and Tom Joad doesn't really have an arc, just a mood.

That's a good point about "Nebraska" too - it feels apiece, like you're floating through the same movie, and the characters don't necessarily have to be the same from one song to the next (although they could be for some), they all feel like a solid part of the same narrative.

"Brothers Under the Bridge" is a good outtake. That last, fourth disc of TRACKS gets knocked for being the least essential one by a good margin - that's generally true, but there are some keepers and the best of that fourth disc is probably that song, the only recording drawn from the TOM JOAD sessions.

"Tom Joad" is sort of the songwriter equivalent of the singer who suddenly starts taking singing lessons. It's like he exited a writer's workshop and went straight for his guitar.

LOL, that description kind of brings to mind an old "In Living Color" sketch - if you want to be uncharitable, I'd say it's more like Springsteen sat down with a stack of newspapers, acoustic guitar in hand, and wrote the whole album in one sitting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPOb0TeAm4o

See, this is where I think Balboa Park, Sinaloa Cowboys and The Line are really dragging down the album. Take them out, and you've got a couple of classic noirs, a couple of sad countryish ballads, an angry out-of-work song, some songs about abandoning your family to hang out with dudes under bridges, - all in all, a pretty standard Bruce assortment. (Galveston Bay also sounds like Bruce has been reading the paper, but I'll keep it because it makes me cry, even if he does rhyme "water" with "water.")

every time i revisit magic i think it's really remarkable on a songwriting level. on a production level it's like very squashed but y'know whatever that's the brendan o'brien touch

His Pearl Jam albums sound ok, though, so I think I blame Bruce.

That's probably right. Springsteen loves that excessive brickwall, headache inducing compression. Most of his live archive releases are plagued with it too, and even though people post complaints about it all the time, little has changed (though they're starting to ease off on it just a touch).

I read an interview with Bob Clearmountain in TapeOp, and he said the BitUSA drum sound, among other aspects of that album, was all Bruce's doing.

New E Street Album imminent:

Bruce’s new studio album with the E Street Band, Letter To You, will be released on October 23. A rock album fueled by the band's heart-stopping, house-rocking signature sound, the 12 track Letter To You is Bruce’s 20th studio album, and was recorded at his home studio in New Jersey.

Listen to the album's title track and watch the new video here.

“I love the emotional nature of Letter To You,” says Bruce. “And I love the sound of the E Street Band playing completely live in the studio, in a way we’ve never done before, and with no overdubs. We made the album in only five days, and it turned out to be one of the greatest recording experiences I’ve ever had.”

Letter to You includes nine recently written Springsteen songs, as well as new recordings of three of his legendary, but previously unreleased, compositions from the 1970s. Produced by Ron Aniello with Bruce Springsteen, Letter To You is Bruce’s first time performing with the E Street Band since The River 2016 tour.

Tracklist
One Minute You’re Here
Letter To You
Burnin’ Train
Janey Needs A Shooter
Last Man Standing
The Power Of Prayer
House Of A Thousand Guitars
Rainmaker
If I Was The Priest
Ghosts
Song For Orphans
I’ll See You In My Dreams

Single sounds great: https://www.npr.org/2020/09/10/911376769/listen-bruce-springsteen-returns-with-letter-to-you

Kinda "Lucky Town"-y if Bruce and band recorded it live in the studio (which is honestly something I wish he had tried more often; I always thought Bob Dylan's approach to his last several albums was a good fit for Bruce).

I like the sound but not the lyrics. I don't know if it's the therapy or the meds or age or what, but he just seems to have lost all his lyrical sharpness a long time ago.

I think his lyrics have gotten kind of ... pat? Generic? Not terrible, per se, but missing some sort of spark and poetry. It kind of worked with "Western Stars" (which I was not generally a fan of), but, like, even the titles - "Western Stars," "Letter to You" - they're kind of placeholder-y. Which is weird, because the prose of the book and Broadway show were so inspired. I just glanced at what I posted and briefly thought "Tracklist" was the name of the first song and thought, well, *that* sounds interesting.

Generic is the word, I think. The sort of thing where you hear the word "rain" and you patiently wait for "pain" to come trotting along to rhyme with it. It's hard to believe this is the guy who used to write lines like "Early north Jersey industrial skyline, I'm an all-set cobra-jet creepin' through the nighttime."

My impression is that he more or less lost his lyric-writing chops in the late nineties, there was a brief semi-resurgence in 2012 or whenever it was that he wrote Wrecking Ball and Western Stars, and now it's all gone.

Both the sound and the lyrics on that new one sound kinda formulaic to me.

He abandoned his Dylanesque approach to lyrics long ago

always have my fingers crossed that bruce will release another record of originals as good as magic. new song is nice but i hope the album is meatier

We're not talking a change from the Dylanesque, though; that stage was very brief. We're talking about losing stuff like "take a knife and cut this pain from my heart."

Anyway, the song (literally) sounds good to me. It's the most E Street sounding thing since ... "Magic?"

If he could go back to the E Street band sound of his second album, that would be something. Bring back Sancious, and the guest horn & conga player from that one too.

fire max bring back vini lopez

Max ain't the problem, but maybe Mad Dog would help shake things up a bit.

they got a lot more stiff with max imo

Sure, but that's because Mad Dog was loose, lol. Still, that change was made 45 years ago. It's been Bruce himself that hasn't always been up to snuff since reuniting the band, but then again, he set the bar pretty high.

I miss the Bruce whose lyrics were so strong I didn't really care whether the music was interesting or not.

fire max bring back vini lopez Ernest "Boom" Carter

Agreed that the new one sounds good and ain't up to much. Fun to see the band goofing around in the video, tho.

I think his lyrics have gotten kind of ... pat? Generic? Not terrible, per se, but missing some sort of spark and poetry. It kind of worked with "Western Stars" (which I was not generally a fan of), but, like, even the titles - "Western Stars," "Letter to You" - they're kind of placeholder-y. Which is weird, because the prose of the book and Broadway show were so inspired. I just glanced at what I posted and briefly thought "Tracklist" was the name of the first song and thought, well, *that* sounds interesting.

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 10 September 2020 15:48

Generic is the word, I think. The sort of thing where you hear the word "rain" and you patiently wait for "pain" to come trotting along to rhyme with it. It's hard to believe this is the guy who used to write lines like "Early north Jersey industrial skyline, I'm an all-set cobra-jet creepin' through the nighttime."

My impression is that he more or less lost his lyric-writing chops in the late nineties, there was a brief semi-resurgence in 2012 or whenever it was that he wrote Wrecking Ball and Western Stars, and now it's all gone.

― Lily Dale, Thursday, 10 September 2020 16:05

A pretty spot-on assessment. I didn't listen to Springsteen until the late '90s, and at the time, I remember thinking his lyrics to his newer work were stunning, even beautiful where appropriate, but musically underwhelming. (His singing was also growing more affected with that Dust Bowl accent, but in the wake of The Ghost of Tom Joad, it seemed like an acceptable and temporary conceit.)

The Rising (and maybe 1999's "Land of Hope and Dreams") pretty much set the template of how he would write going forward, where his sense of detail became less incisive and the sentiments more generic. I still think he's made very good music - and I think half of The Rising adds up to a pretty good album on its own - but compared to his 1973-1987 run of classics, you can see what's lyrically missing.

I agree with Josh's take on the Broadway show, and his speeches, eulogies and press statements over the past decade and a half have been consistently strong too - more than any other rock star I can think of, he's become a true statesman. The oratorical ability that come with that work beautifully in any given speech or piece of non-fiction, but it doesn't necessarily translate into better art, and that may be the direction he's been heading for a while now whenever he puts words of any kind to paper. (The more I think about it, I'd say his best and most recent songs are essentially eulogies - "The Last Carnival," "We Are Alive," "The Wall," "Moonlight Motel"...)

Nothing against the E Street Band, but Nebraska is still the apex of his work (and my personal favorite) partly because his singing, lyrics and music had all reached a stunning peak while enriching the other elements immeasurably. Again, he's made plenty of good music since then (the next two studio LP's are rightfully considered classics), but not with that same sense of balance.

If he could go back to the E Street band sound of his second album, that would be something. Bring back Sancious, and the guest horn & conga player from that one too.

he shoulda brought 'em back just for the three songs on this album that actually date from that era!

birdistheword, this is very well put:

his sense of detail became less incisive and the sentiments more generic. I still think he's made very good music - and I think half of The Rising adds up to a pretty good album on its own - but compared to his 1973-1987 run of classics, you can see what's lyrically missing

Yes.

Compare: "screen door slams, Mary's dress waves" vs. "I see Mary in the garden, the garden of a thousand sighs." One is vivid and rooted; the other symbolic and abstract.

Viewed in the most charitable light, he might say that the sentiments are more universal. He tends to front like he's in tune with some mystical shit and the spirits of the primordial ether. So of course he's no longer constrained to the role of specific exits of the New Jersey Turnpike in the mid-1970s.

But through a more cynical lens one might say that the lyrics are informed by comfortable late-middle age, global fame, and vast wealth. His lack of connection to a specific place and time bespeaks a bubble of privilege, in this view.

big thing for me is he lost a lot of that playfulness, the humor he had....was just listening to Darlington County

Driving out of Darlington County
My eyes seen the glory of the coming of the Lord
Driving out of Darlington County
Seen Wayne handcuffed to the bumper of a state trooper's Ford

just little stuff like that "or the RE-CORD COMPANY ROSIE JUST GAVE ME A BIIIG ADVANCE" little asides like that I miss

Agree with this: But through a more cynical lens one might say that the lyrics are informed by comfortable late-middle age, global fame, and vast wealth.

and this: big thing for me is he lost a lot of that playfulness, the humor he had

And Darlington County is a good example because it also has a kind of subtle dramatic irony that he's pretty much lost the knack of; the way these guys think they're on a super-cool road trip and have no idea they're actually starring in an existentialist shaggy-dog story, and the song grounds us so fully in their POV that it takes us a while to figure that out as well.

I've been lucky enough to see all of his post-reunion tours multiple times, and I want to say "Working on the Dream" (which sounds like a euphemism for taking a dump or something) is the only one where even live performance couldn't really save the songs. "Wrecking Ball," though, was pretty inspired throughout, and something like the title track in particular, despite hinging on the titular cliche, is full of funny stuff even as a rousing anthem.

Yeah, I like the title track of Wrecking Ball. It's one of the few post-Joad songs I do like.

lol Working on a Dream. No difference, I don't remember much about that album (or High Hopes) at all.

Wrecking Ball was better than expected, it may be my favorite studio album post-Tunnel of Love. (There's only two or three others that I like, not counting archival releases.)

Between "Queen of the Supermarket" and "Outlaw Pete," Working on a Dream was virtually self-parody. It may be his worst album, but I like the final track "The Last Carnival" and the hidden bonus "The Wrestler." High Hopes feels like mishmash, and even a great song like "41 Shots" is pretty inferior to the live version they released in 1999. But I do like "Hunter of Invisible Game" and "The Wall."

He's operating in an entirely different gear than when he made those classic albums. Back then the music was EVERYTHING. Once he allowed himself to be a human with a family, everything changed. I think the massive success kind of fucked with him too. He stopped giving 100% and that's okay.

Wrecking Ball and the Seeger sessions are the ones that I've enjoyed the most after TOL. Tom Joad is probably better than those but I really wish it had a little more variety in its sound.

Tunnel had a really nice cover too. His covers have gone straight to hell. Ugly fonts, blergh.

Still, I love him deeply. When my mom and dad split up she developed a big Bruce crush. I remember being 9 or 10 years old, laying on the floor of her studio while she painted, reading the lyric sheet to BITUSA. She took me to the TOL show which was my first concert. I stopped keeping up with his new stuff after Working on a Dream, but I adore that classic run.

He's operating in an entirely different gear than when he made those classic albums. Back then the music was EVERYTHING. Once he allowed himself to be a human with a family, everything changed.

Same with Paul McCartney. Moral of the story: if you want to be a great artist, never get married, never have children.

https://i.pinimg.com/564x/74/7c/bc/747cbc2ad5d3da2063e6415a9dca424d.jpg

Joking aside, for literal "dad" rock, I actually think that was part of Springsteen's appeal for a short while. Before he slipped into domestic life, I didn't get the feeling that there was huge untapped wells that could only be explored as a bachelor dedicated to his craft. Tunnel of Love is not only a great album but it has much of his best writing, and it's all about taking that first huge step into family life - maybe it was a reflection of a failing marriage, but if your marriage is crumbling, that alone is probably absorbing most of your day-to-day focus. Lucky Town is no masterpiece, but it's not a bad album and everything good about it taps into his new life of settling down and raising a family. I think his autobiography mentions that he wrote more songs in that mold but ultimately shelved them because he didn't want to put out a fourth album exploring the same themes.

FWIW these comments, though made with expertise, are very harsh on Bruce.

I think his late LPs, like MAGIC, WORKING ON A DREAM, WRECKING BALL, WESTERN STARS, are all good in some way or other - sometimes terrific. They may not have what BORN TO RUN or NEBRASKA have, but those are around 40 years ago. The fact that he can still keep delivering at the standard he does, is the truly remarkable thing.

I don't believe that any other major pop artist has kept up to the same standard - let's say, even, minimal or average standard - over such a long time (about 50 years!) - that Bruce Springsteen has.

People who are more talented and important - McCartney, Dylan, Townshend - still haven't kept their standard up so consistently over such a period.

I can probably accept some of the criticism of WESTERN STARS above, but then I also find much of that LP inspiring - 'hitchhikin', 'road runner', 'sundown' - wonderful.

Basically I think once you think how long he's been around, how he's kept at it, he's a living miracle.

'Janey Needs a Shooter'

'House of a Thousand Guitars'

sound good titles to me (even if they might be from the 1970s).

Is it the same Janey as in the other song?

Lol at the photo, birdistheword, it took me a nanosecond.

I don't believe that any other major pop artist has kept up to the same standard - let's say, even, minimal or average standard - over such a long time (about 50 years!) - that Bruce Springsteen has.

Well, this is another thread, but there are a few. Neil Young comes to mind. And like Neil, though not to the same extent, Bruce is always (in his own way) trying new things. I suppose there is a question of why. Out of creative curiosity? Passion? A strategy to deal with writer's block/depression? The effect of medication? Probably a bit of all of those. One big different between old Bruce and post-reunion Bruce is an acknowledgment of his own mythology, which I imagine is both a blessing and a curse, as is being able to talk about it. But one thing that seems to remain the same about old Bruce and new Bruce is a tendency to overthink things, which of course benefits you when you're, say, writing a memoir or pontificating about the state of the world - his recent radio show output was galvanizing stuff - but perhaps hurts you when trying to write songs, which is how one ends up with files of lyrics and no place to use them. I do think a less conservative choice of producer could be of benefit, but at the other extreme I think this band-in-a-room approach was a good choice as well. We'll see, we've only heard the one new song!

I dunno, it is interesting to me that even in his '70s Bruce sometimes seems like he still hasn't figured it all out. And maybe he hasn't.

Looking at the cover, I can only hear Bruce's voice saying, "Are you over 65? If so, you may want to consider a reverse mortgage. It's a simple way to turn your home's equity into cash."

https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/5f5a2be84f1199ca1e9814f5/1:1/w_500/Bruce-Springsteen-Letter-to-You.jpg

Dude's run of teerrrrrrrrrrible album covers is legendary.

"this is another thread, but there are a few. Neil Young comes to mind"

Are there a few?

I agree that Neil Young is a good candidate. But has even he maintained a standard as Bruce has? And apart from him, is there anyone?

The one person I would put alongside Bruce here is Lloyd Cole - whose last two LPs are as good, in a way, as his first. But LC has only been releasing records since c.1984 -- Bruce has over a decade on him, so they're not directly comparable.

(If it's for another thread then sure point to that thread)

I just assumed this stuff is covered in other threads, no idea. Like, "old but still making good albums" or something? Anyway, Bruce is definitely unusual in that he can still fill arenas and but is also focused on making and releasing new music that he tours behind.

I think Dylan's latest album is a masterpiece. John Prine's last album was uneven but brilliant in places, which is what most of his classic albums were like too. I wouldn't call either of them pop artists, exactly, but they're artists it makes sense to compare Springsteen to.

I guess I don't so much look for artists to maintain a standard as I look for them to occasionally reach creative peaks. The problem, for me, isn't that Springsteen is uneven, it's that his post-Joad albums have been kind of predictably mediocre and uninspired.

Agree about Dylan and Prine, also I've gotten more consistently into Young's albums this century than any run since since the late 70s. (Well, incl. the 20th Century revelations finally surfacing.)
If he could go back to the E Street band sound of his second album, that would be something. Ha ha, yeah curm, that was always a peak. Sad and operatic and yet fun. Tell it:"The Man-Beast lies in his cage sniffing popcorn." The one that plays itself in my head most often, though, is still "Meeting Across The River." Such a breath of fresh dirty urban night air, with the unforced singing and the writing and the acoustic guitar and the upright bass and I think that's it, that's all we need, sounding the way they do.
Unique in his canon maybe, at least in emotional effect.

xpost Except for the Seeger Sessions, imo. And like I said, just above everything goes over well on stage.

the unforced singing and the writing and the acoustic guitar and the upright bass and *the trumpet*, I meant to write!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oops, Roy's on there too, somehow he blends in almost too well, at least in my head (ain't played the record in so long):
Bruce Springsteen – vocals
Roy Bittan – piano
Richard Davis – double bass
Randy Brecker – trumpet No acoustic guitar? Maybe that's Roy, but think there is acoustic guitar, at least the vibe of it.