Ace said:

OMG!!!

that's still my all time fav springsteen album. but i like most of
his stuff and there is something nice even on the sucky albums.

seriously though, what the fuck is up with that new album cover?
it reminds me of a bad mid 90's simply red single cover.



shame that the album seems to be so bad because i had high hopes
for it.
[Edited 1/14/09 6:05am]

I think it will hard for him to surpass Born to run or Nebraska but anyway i will give it a try

Ace said:

So did the old ones. The guy is yet another in a long line of Van Morrison rip-offs.

IstenSzek said:

Copycat said:

I like these albums!

Fiend said:

Actually, he was more of a Dylan rip-off on his first album. The Morrison influences dominated on his second and were pretty much gone after the third (but the influence was all musical; Springsteen's lyrical style had very little in common with Van the Man).

I, myself, no longer really care much for Springsteen's early albums and - with the exception of a song here and there - my interest in his work is limited to Nebraska and on.

Doesn't surprise me. Coming so soon after Magic (which was far from a masterpiece anyway) my expectations are very low. But what on earth are they thinking with that cover?

Ace said:

"Long Walk Home" and "Radio Nowhere" are two of the best songs he's ever done in my opinion. The rest was just okay. The Rising is massively overrated.

midnightmover said:

I don't care for "Radio Nowhere". To me, it's just "State Trooper" redux, with lesser lyrics.

As for The Rising, I would say that parts of it are massively overrated ("Into the Fire", anyone?). But, on the whole, I far, far prefer it to Magic and the new one.

Ace said:

Looks like something Prince would put out. Blech!

superspaceboy said:

just be glad bruce put it out. at least that's one horrible image
less for prince to pick from when deciding on a new album cover.

although, what dark and horrible place is there yet to go to when
you've already given the green light to the covers of Planet Earth
and New Power Soul.

IstenSzek said:

Ace said:

I don't hear the Radio Nowhere - State Trooper connection.

I think The Rising is more consistent and better produced than Magic, but I think the highpoints of Magic are higher than anything on The Rising. I don't honestly think Springsteen has ever done an album that was consistently great. I always have to skip tracks on every one of his albums.

midnightmover said:

Aren't they both songs about a guy driving around, feeling isolated? And - sheesh - I thought Bruce had grown out of the car metaphors with "The Ghost of Tom Joad".


Well, I'm an atypical Springsteen fan, in that Human Touch and Lucky Town are my favorite albums. People don't seem to believe this when I tell them that I've been a hardcore fan since '80, but it's the truth. To me, those are his most honest, sophisticated and insightful records and I have no problem with "pop". Interesting to see that people are starting to come around on those CDs now...

P.S. What are the high points of Magic, for you?

IstenSzek said:

Bite your tounge! You know Princey can go pretty deep when it comes to crappy art.

Ace said:

Don't all Bruce's songs use the same old motifs over and over? I thought we just took that for granted by now. And musically those two songs are chalk and cheese. One of the things that surprised me about RN was just how fresh it sounded. If a younger artist released that they'd be hailed as the hottest new act in years.

Lyrically, it's The Rising that suffers from laziness. Words like "faith", "kiss", and of course, the inevitable "darkness", are RIDICULOUSLY overused. It seriously weighed down that album. Even a phrase like "lonesome day" feels anachronistic more by laziness than by design. "Radio Nowhere" on the other hand, has some great phrases in it (not least the brilliant title itself). It's a great lyric, even if the scenario is an old one. But most importantly, the track rocks like a motherfucker.

I thought Lucky Town and Human Touch would've made an almighty single album. I think Lucky Town, particularly gets a bad press. The title track and "My Beautiful Reward" are among his best work, although I have to say, I thought most of those songs sounded better on the MTV Unplugged concert than they did on the actual album (particularly "Living Proof").

midnightmover said:

They did. He made a point of parting with them in '87, but it seems like the reception swayed him into taking "two steps back" here and there.


Really? I don't hear that at all.


Springsteen's been consciously linking an album's songs through the use of lyrical crossover since it happened by circumstance on the demos that became Nebraska and he was hailed for it. It didn't "(weigh it) down" for me.


I guess we'll have to agree to disagree, here.


The outtakes from those records are excellent, as well. How interesting would it have been if he'd put out a full record like this?:

“I wrote about half a record on the bass, where you had a note and you had your idea. The only one that made it to release was ‘57 Channels,’ but on this thing there was ‘Over the Rise,’ ‘When the Lights Go Out,’ ‘Loose Change,’ ‘Goin’ Cali,’ ‘Gave it a Name,’ even ‘My Lover Man,'. All these very psychological portraits of people wrestling with relationships and their own isolation."

Ace said:

i always thought serious bruce fans probably hate "57 channels" but i love
that song to death. i still play it quite often ever since that album came
out and my brother bought it.

tell me more about those outtakes though. are there bruce outtake albums,
much like prince outtake collections?

and any good ones? with good soundquality or real bootleg stuff that has
horrible sound?

and didn't he release an official outtakes box a while ago? i've always
tried to keep up with his albums and i have most of his stuff but i've
not been paying too much attention to anything beside major publicized
releases.

Ace said:

If that's true then I have no idea why he put so many crap songs on those albums. Like I said, there were enough great songs on those albums to make a great single set, but he stretched himself way too far by putting out two albums.

And that thing about deliberately repeating the same words on single albums is a great excuse for laziness. The truth is Bruce has always repeated certain words and phrases, but it's gotten more glaring down the years. "Darkness" and "faith" for instance have become cliches in his work now just simply from overuse. On The Rising he took that shit way too far. And don't you think that just the title itself "Radio Nowhere" is brilliant? Compare that to hackneyed titles like "Lonesome Day" (in the 21st century Bruce should not be using outdated words like "lonesome") and "You're Missing".
[Edited 1/14/09 12:55pm]

IstenSzek said:

He put out a 4-CD set called Tracks, in '98, that is still available:

http://brucespringsteen.n...racks.html

The sound quality is excellent. The first twelve songs on Disc 4 are leftovers from Human Touch.

i still haven't brought myself to listen to the new one yet. i've been enjoying revisiting his much older stuff too much to worry about the disappointment.

midnightmover said:

One man's "overuse" is another man's "leitmotif".


Honestly? No.


I care more about the content of the song than the title. That said, I think "You're Missing" is a very, very good song and the right choice for the title of a song that was considered for a single. As for "Lonesome Day", Bruce is certainly not immune from the odd affectation, but I have no more problem with this usage than I did when Westerberg sang "If I was from Canada / Then I'd best be called 'lonesome'". Dylan does this stuff all the time (it's all over his last three albums).

I doubt im going to not like it so much that i will say that it blows, I mean Bruce's shittiest work at this point will be better then most artists who put in tons of time on it. If we wanna talk blows, listen to something like Fall Out Boy or Nickelback who are passed off as Rock.

To me though Mellencamp is still the "boss", i know Bruce got that title, but Mellencamp to me has always had the cutting edge, and the ability to jump from straight rock, to folk, and then mix in rb, better than any other artist in the last 3 decades.

Ace said:

Titles often give a good indication of how lyrically inspired a songwriter is. Just look how generic Prince's titles were up until 1999 when he suddenly started having fantastic titles. That sudden change reflected his general improvement as a lyricist. I found "lonesome" embarrassing considering the song (and album) was Bruce's response to such a modern event as 9/11. "Lonesome Day" is the best song on the album by the way. I like it. Along with the title track, it's the only song I would ever listen to on that album. And "Radio Nowhere" is a great title. Plain and simple.

lastdecember said:

Well, there is blows and then there is blows.


It took me a long time to admit that I liked any Mellencamp. As John himself is well aware, he is considered majorly uncool. But once I listened with open ears, I found that I liked some of his later material ("Check It Out", "Cherry Bomb", "Rooty Toot Toot", "Martha Say", "Love and Happiness", "Now More Than Ever", "Crazy Ones", "Last Chance", "Again Tonight", "What If I Came Knocking?", When Jesus Left Birmingham", "I'm Not Running Anymore", "Peaceful World", "Walk Tall", "Thank You").

Cool is overrated.

midnightmover said:

I'm not crazy about it. I'm more of a "Nothing Man" man, myself. To me, this is a great lyric (and the music goes with it excellently - slow, moody, atmospheric):

I don't remember how I felt
I never thought I'd live
To read about myself
In my hometown paper
How my brave young life
Was forever changed
In a misty cloud of pink vapor

Darlin' give me your kiss
Only understand
I am the nothing man

Around here everybody acts the same
Around here everybody acts like nothing's changed
Friday night, the club meets at Al's Barbecue
The sky is still the same unbelievable blue

Darlin' give me your kiss
Come and take my hand
I am the nothing man

You can call me Joe
Buy me a drink and shake my hand
You want courage
I'll show you courage you can understand
The pearl and silver
Restin' on my night table
It's just me Lord
I pray that I'm able

Darlin' with this kiss
Say you understand
I am the nothing man
I am the nothing man

Ace said:

Yeah, I forgot about that one. Good title too. That "brave young life" phrase is embarrassing though. Otherwise it's a good song.

midnightmover said:

I think it's meant to be mocking. The guy's obviously suffering from survivor's guilt and self-loathing and is quoting what the paper said.