The production on this hasn't aged well, but the songs are so strong.
Brilliant Disguise
― kornrulez6969, Monday, 7 September 2009 04:21 (fourteen years ago) link
I absolutely adore this record. Daniel OTM about Side Two and "Valentine's Day." I voted for the title track, but I could easily have gone for "Two Faces" (love the roller rink organ and nasty lyric), "Tougher Than the Rest," or, yeah, "One Step Up" (I still can't believe a song that bleak got as high as #13).
I wrote about this album a couple of years ago.
― My life is butthurt so badly (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 7 September 2009 04:25 (fourteen years ago) link
Bolo ties (accordions too) were briefly hip in 1987. (Hey, '87 was apparently the year New Mexico adopted it as the state's official neckwear! Just found that out now...)
― Myonga Vön Bontee, Monday, 7 September 2009 05:55 (fourteen years ago) link
Does Springsteen even sing the 3 Top 40 hits off of this album in concert anymore?
When I saw Springsteen solo in 2005, he played a bunch of songs from this album. (He hardly played any hit singles in the whole concert.) He did "When You're Alone" solo on the piano and...let me look up the set list...
Setlist: Idiot’s Delight/Living Proof**/Devils & Dust/The Ties That Bind/Long Time Comin’/I Wish I Were Blind***/Tougher Than the Rest*/Johnny 99/State Trooper/All I’m Thinkin’ About/Ain’t Got You/Highway Patrolman/Reno/When You’re Alone***/Racing in the Street*/The Rising/Further On (Up the Road)/Jesus Was an Only Son*/This Hard Land/The New Timer#/Matamoros Banks
Encore: Growin’ Up*****/Bobby Jean/The Promised Land/Dream Baby Dream**
*=piano**=pump organ***=electric piano*****=ukulele#=autoharp
― Squash weather (Eazy), Monday, 7 September 2009 06:02 (fourteen years ago) link
I voted for "Brilliant Disguise". As the bridge ends and the organ swell carries into the next verse ("Now you play the loving woman, I'll play the faithful man"), the song has built up such momentum that the altar scene provides some relief (as altars will); but the organ doesn't go away, and so God have mercy on the man who doubts what he's sure of. The song is full of delightful little percussive tricks (bells, castanets). And the "willow"/"pillow" is terrific, knowing what willows have signified in western literature.
― Houston (Euler), Monday, 7 September 2009 06:31 (fourteen years ago) link
Voted "When Youre Alone". Generally, the ballads work best here.
― Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Monday, 7 September 2009 11:31 (fourteen years ago) link
Eazy, that's an amazing setlist! When I saw him in I think 2007 he and Patti did Tougher Than the Rest together. That was also the show Win and Regine came out in the encore, but Tougher was the highlight of the show by far.
― antexit, Monday, 7 September 2009 13:12 (fourteen years ago) link
Um, Win and Regine from the Arcade Fire, I mean.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9ELrZZfZU8
― My life is butthurt so badly (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 7 September 2009 13:57 (fourteen years ago) link
"Tougher Than The Rest." this may well be his most beautifully realized record ever, tho. aw, maturity.
― all you need is love vs. money (that's what i want) (Ioannis), Monday, 7 September 2009 20:44 (fourteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Saturday, 12 September 2009 23:01 (fourteen years ago) link
I have a comp bootleg from that solo tour (which was incredible, the three or four dates I caught). Over the course of the tour he played something like 187 different songs, sometimes radically different arrangements from night to night. One of the Chicago dates I caught got not only a haunting banjo "I'm on Fire" but also the first time he busted out the Suicide cover on harmonium.
It occurred to me, as I watched, that perhaps it and his previous solo tour were some sort of "what if ...?" experiments, given the age and health of the E Street Band. Like, what does he do when enough of the E Street Band dies that he can't get away with calling it that anymore? The solo tour was a taste of old man future Bruce.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 12 September 2009 23:51 (fourteen years ago) link
Tunnel of Love, with a tip of the hat to Nils Lofgren, and an extra sha na na na na na na na oh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXEpLsooMJ0
― all yoga attacks are fire based (rogermexico.), Sunday, 13 September 2009 02:22 (fourteen years ago) link
The production on this hasn't aged well,
Maybe. I love how some of the guitars sound filtered through keyboard amps. The album has a no-fuss high-tech vibe matched only by Avalon (this is the anti-Avalon, I guess).
― vulva eyes (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 13 September 2009 02:32 (fourteen years ago) link
I remember at the time how the production on "Tunnel of Love" and "An Englishman in New York" was distracting in a similar way.
Tangential to the thread, but my favorite Bruce solo performance (along with "Seeds" from this same show):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnrbKL7MK5k&feature=PlayList&p=25D1105667B79E5F&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=2
― Squash weather (Eazy), Sunday, 13 September 2009 04:11 (fourteen years ago) link
this is one of those albums that would be perfect except for one or two clunkers.
the two clunkers here are plainly "cautious man" and "spare parts."
springsteen has a quality control problem sometimes. (like, for example, releasing "working on a dream," or sticking that one song at the end of "ghost of tom joad.")
"tougher than the rest" gets my vote.
― amateurist, Sunday, 13 September 2009 04:15 (fourteen years ago) link
see also everything but the girl's wonderful cover of same:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsV2WTIpbGA
― amateurist, Sunday, 13 September 2009 04:21 (fourteen years ago) link
they get a lyric wrong i think
rather than "I've been watching you go out" it should be "I've been watching you a while"
― amateurist, Sunday, 13 September 2009 04:22 (fourteen years ago) link
ditto to this
― amateurist, Sunday, 13 September 2009 04:29 (fourteen years ago) link
for bolo tie action, cf. dwight yoakam's 1987 record:
ihttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e3/DwightYoakamHillbillyDeluxe.jpg
― amateurist, Sunday, 13 September 2009 04:30 (fourteen years ago) link
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e3/DwightYoakamHillbillyDeluxe.jpg
I've never heard that Everything But The Girl cover. I like it. The Mendoza Line do a killer version too. Not on youtube but you can hear part of it here
― kornrulez6969, Sunday, 13 September 2009 04:32 (fourteen years ago) link
Bolo ties have never gone out of style in south and west Texas (not sure about east Texas but that's a country unto itself). I miss Texas sometimes.
― your an avid hot dog (Euler), Sunday, 13 September 2009 07:16 (fourteen years ago) link
the two clunkers here are plainly . . . "spare parts."
Spare Parts is one of my favorite songs on the disc. It's Springsteen in top story-telling form, he (mostly) avoids cliches, I love how he packs all those lyrics into the song's narrow frame, and how his growling, angry delivery could peel tree bark. Plus, the disc needed a bracing uptick after a few relatively happy opening songs.
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 13 September 2009 10:45 (fourteen years ago) link
I agree with Amateurist but for me Spare Parts is the only clunker. When I listen to Tunnel of Love on MP3 that song's off the playlist. Sometimes I skip Tunnel of Love the song, too, as it reminds me unpleasantly of Huey Lewis and the news.
― antexit, Sunday, 13 September 2009 11:17 (fourteen years ago) link
there. are. no. clunkers. here. imo. ok. thx. bye.
― all you need is love vs. money (that's what i want) (Ioannis), Sunday, 13 September 2009 12:58 (fourteen years ago) link
I wonder if anyone will vote for Valentine's Day.
It's my 2nd fave; the end always chokes me up. Not sure he's recorded anything prettier (p.s. it's soooo adorable how he calls himself/Johnny "pretty" in "When You're Alone").
In many ways, this is his bravest album, lyrically and musically. Wtf is up with that awesome (almost Latin freestyle?!?) intro to the title tune? And I love how each song features at least one clunky turn of phrase surrounded by couplets worthy of Tom T. Hall. "Girl in white outside a church in June/But the church bells they ain't ringing" (from "One Step Up") matches Hall's knack for the bothersome and unfathomable.
My fave is "Two Faces." I wish Hall would have risked its Fripper-esque guitar and (mocking? psychotic?) organ which only deepen the unfathomability (what the hell IS that organ trying to say?).
― Kevin John Bozelka, Sunday, 13 September 2009 13:59 (fourteen years ago) link
This was my take a couple of years ago, Kev:
Take "Two Faces," essentially a demo, but elongated—deepened—by two solos: a guitar filtered through keyboards like Eno was ghosting; and a Farfisa, played I assume by Springsteen himself, answering the singer's own challenge, "Well, go ahead and let him try." On an album which questions whether a romantic union can prosper when both partners have wandering eyes, Tunnel of Love's musical sophistication shows that Springsteen learned plenty from the E Street Band, the longest-lasting relationship of his life.
― vulva eyes (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 13 September 2009 14:17 (fourteen years ago) link
btw this line blew me away:
Wtf is up with that awesome (almost Latin freestyle?!?) intro to the title tune?
― vulva eyes (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 13 September 2009 14:21 (fourteen years ago) link
"cautious man" is k-boring. more importantly, both that and "spare parts", in their different ways, don't fit the SOUND of the album. they stick out like sore thumbs.
― amateurist, Sunday, 13 September 2009 22:51 (fourteen years ago) link
I agree that Spare Parts is bracing compared to the rest of the disc. I don't see that as a distraction, tho; I see it as a welcome change-of-pace to prepare the listener for the hard, sad stories that are to follow on the disc.
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 13 September 2009 22:55 (fourteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Sunday, 13 September 2009 23:01 (fourteen years ago) link
Surprised and pleased that Valentine's Day got three votes; shocked that One Step Up only got five votes. Actually, surprised by a lot of the results.
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 13 September 2009 23:09 (fourteen years ago) link
not surprised about the tossed-off "ain't got you" (pleasant but not particularly inspired) but am surprised at "walk like a man"-- a very pretty song.
― amateurist, Monday, 14 September 2009 00:37 (fourteen years ago) link
I prefer the Mavericks' version of "All That Heaven Will Allow" but here it's probably #3 or #4 for me; it's a feel-good tune that acknowledges the coming storms.
― your an avid hot dog (Euler), Monday, 14 September 2009 07:41 (fourteen years ago) link
also lol but I listened to this album on the night before my wedding, leading my friends who were there with me to wonder what I thought I was getting into. I figured Bruce knew what he was talking about; a decade later, I'm sure of it.
― your an avid hot dog (Euler), Monday, 14 September 2009 07:43 (fourteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFpJp29MELM
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Friday, 7 October 2011 11:19 (twelve years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkFQHScyti0&ob=av2e
bleak
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Monday, 12 March 2012 18:23 (twelve years ago) link
i think the last minute of that song is so beautiful
― Whiney vs. (BradNelson), Monday, 12 March 2012 18:27 (twelve years ago) link
should've been the last track on the album.
then when it ends you can be all like
http://dessertdarling.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/sadface3.jpg
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Monday, 12 March 2012 18:29 (twelve years ago) link
jesus am -- you're obsessed lately
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 12 March 2012 18:32 (twelve years ago) link
i know. sorry.
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Monday, 12 March 2012 18:41 (twelve years ago) link
i never thought i'd see the day when alfred told someone else they're obsessed on a tunnel of love thread
― some dude, Monday, 12 March 2012 18:43 (twelve years ago) link
is that you dude or just a brilliant disguise
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 12 March 2012 18:45 (twelve years ago) link
yes that is the only song from this album i can hum
― some dude, Monday, 12 March 2012 18:48 (twelve years ago) link
btw this is a great setlist; lots of stuff from HT:
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 12 March 2012 18:51 (twelve years ago) link
yeah that's a great setlist. damn.
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Monday, 12 March 2012 18:57 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, it is. Love that encore.
― Trip Maker, Monday, 12 March 2012 18:57 (twelve years ago) link
word, probably three of the songs i'd most want to hear in an acoustic set all in a row
― some dude, Monday, 12 March 2012 18:58 (twelve years ago) link
I remember the first time I heard this album, right after it was released. Bruce Springsteen is a talented enough songwriter to write lyrics that aren't necessarily autobiographical, but I remember distinctly thinking this album could not have been written by a happily married man. I was right.
"One Step Up" is the best. A song about a furnace that's not working, a car that's not working, a marriage that's not working. The last verse slays me:
"There's a girl across the barI get the message she's sendingMmm she ain't lookin' too marriedAnd me, well honey I'm pretendingLast night I dreamed I held you in my armsThe music was never-endingWe danced as the evening sky faded to blackOne step up and two steps back...."
IOW, he pretends he's single, hooks up with a girl he meets in a bar that night, and dreams his metaphoric dance was with his wife instead of the random stranger he just met.
Wow.
― everything else is secondary (Lee626), Monday, 12 March 2012 20:42 (twelve years ago) link
i mean he's lyrically-on throughout the whole record (no better sad resignation disguised/designed as a love song than "tougher than the rest," and it also feels like he's narrating that song after the end of the relationship, which is killer) but i think "one step up" is sort of next level. "two faces" as well, in terms of being simple and devastating and effectively nightmarish
At night I get down on my knees and prayOur love will make that other man go awayBut he'll never say goodbyeTwo faces have I
― Whiney vs. (BradNelson), Monday, 12 March 2012 20:49 (twelve years ago) link
in "Brilliant Disguise", what's the little tinkling sound that you hear periodically in the background? is it a keyboard riff, something like an arpeggiation? or are they bells, or even just the piano? you can hear it clearly-ish in the "struggling to do everything right" & "gypsy" parts.
layers in layers!
― Euler, Monday, 15 October 2012 14:49 (eleven years ago) link
synth program?
― the ones that I'm near most: fellow outcasts and ilxors (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 15 October 2012 14:57 (eleven years ago) link
yeah maybe, that's why I'm trying to figure out. I want to hear the layers individually so that I can get for sure what the sound is.
― Euler, Monday, 15 October 2012 15:10 (eleven years ago) link
er that's what I'm trying to figure out
Every stringed instrument in "Tougher Than the Rest" sounds so immaculate. I want to live inside this song.
― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 24 September 2014 18:18 (nine years ago) link
i give springsteen so much shit but this album is jaw-dropping imo
― da croupier, Wednesday, 24 September 2014 19:42 (nine years ago) link
every other break-up concept album i've heard sounds so unexamined, so immature in comparison
― da croupier, Wednesday, 24 September 2014 19:45 (nine years ago) link
"Tougher than the Rest" was the highlight of Springsteen on Broadway for me.
― john. a resident of evanston. (john. a resident of chicago.), Tuesday, 18 December 2018 15:55 (five years ago) link
Feeling like this is the album that should be getting the Suicide comparisons. I can imagine a lot of these tracks slightly stripped down/distorted with Vega’s croon. Slightly related but I remember a few years back hearing the opening seconds of the title track and briefly mistaking it for something off of the Downward Spiral.
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 06:30 (five years ago) link
the title track is my #1 bruce jam. i think. sometimes it's "state trooper" but it's usually "tunnel of love."
― billstevejim, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 07:31 (five years ago) link
The lyrics to the title track are just perfect, I do think of them randomly sometimes.
― yuh yuh (morrisp), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 17:32 (five years ago) link
"tunnel of love" is one of my dream cover songs to playloooooooove it
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 17:34 (five years ago) link
"Valentine's Day," which is Springsteen on bass and synth, could be a warmer Suicide.
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 17:35 (five years ago) link
I've been on a kick of walking around after dark listening to side two of this album. I think the title track is still my favorite, with all those spooky background vocals coming at you from all sides. But I'm also realizing how much I love “When You're Alone.”
I can't really explain what I like about it, except that it seems to deepen as I listen to it. The surface of it is so bitter and vengeful and shallow, and then underneath is this wellspring of world-sorrow. There's no turn at the end like in Idiot Wind, there's nothing in the lyrics to shift blame back toward himself*. And yet the more I listen to it, the more the bitterness and the false pity fade away and what's left is just a gorgeous sweeping sadness.
*There's also, interestingly, nothing to suggest that she was wrong to leave him. Even when he's fantasizing about her coming crawling back to him, it's not because she realizes how great he was, it's because life is hard and sometimes stressful things happen that make you romanticize past relationships.
― Lily Dale, Monday, 24 February 2020 03:47 (four years ago) link
some of the most intricately synth work I've heard from the era
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 24 February 2020 03:57 (four years ago) link
I don't know about intricate, but the synths are definitely integral.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 24 February 2020 04:04 (four years ago) link
for sure I'd call what he plays on "Valentine's Day" intricate.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 24 February 2020 04:06 (four years ago) link