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Bruce SpringsteenAlbums ReviewedGreetings From Asbury Park, NJ (1973)The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle (1973) Born to Run (1975) Darkness On The Edge Of Town (1978) The River (1980) Nebraska (1982) Born In The USA (1984) Tunnel Of Love (1987) Human Touch (1992) Lucky Town (1992) Greatest Hits (1993) The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995) 18 Tracks (1999) Live in New York City (2001) The Rising (2002) Devils and Dust (2005) Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ(1973)The older I get, the more I realise that most legendary classic rockers are venerated for a reason; whether it's a distinct artistic voice, stylistic innovations or something even less tangible. A few years ago I would have written Springsteen as a lame rocker, responsible for lowest common denominator anthems such as 'Born in the U.S.A.'. But of course, there's a reason why he's so respected, and 1984's huge selling Born In The USA album was simply the commercial culmination of a reputation built by incessant touring and an excellent body of recorded work stretching back more than a decade. Even here, on his somewhat flawed debut, there are plenty of signs that Springsteen is something special. CBS were dedicated to promoting Springsteen; according to the manager of Aerosmith, whose debut was released on the same day and on the same label, "for every dollar Columbia put into Aerosmith, they put $100 into Bruce." To maximize Springsteen's commercial potential here, it's almost as though he's being corralled into a singer-songwriter, more analogous to Jackson Browne or Dylan, where at heart he's primarily a rock musician. There's still something extremely likable and romantic about youthful Springsteen - even if some of the material is less than engrossing, he's still an engaging persona. While Springsteen would explore more stripped back recordings successfully later in his career, some of the acoustic material here is simply insipid and overly verbose. It's the full band material, like the hint of bombast that appears in 'Lost In The Flood' and 'Spirit In The Night' (which would fit neatly into the subsequent The Wild, The Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle), that's the most effective and the most evident of his later direction. The blatant Dylan imitation 'Mary Queen Of Arkansas', generic singer-songwriterism 'Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street' and boring piano ballad 'The Angel' are all largely disposable, while the gentle fade out of 'It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City' ends the album on a strangely anti-climactic note. The first two songs are the most widely known, and they're both strong; 'Blinded By The Night' is overburdened with words but was later a hit in an inferior Manfred Mann cover version, while 'Growin' Up' nails the singer-songwriter style, throws in a jazzy keyboard solo, and features the great line "I had a jukebox graduate for first mate/She couldn't sail but she sure could sing." There's evidence of some outstanding talent here, but Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ doesn't capture Springsteen at his most comfortable and natural; it would be a long while before he made another album as negligible as this one. 
The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle(1973)Unlike the previous album, which seems somewhat forced and misguided, this time around it feels like Springsteen is following his own muse. This is designed as an entire album, and is far more intimate and less bombastic than some of his later efforts. Reminiscent of Van Morrison's more arty efforts like Astral Weeks or St. Dominic's Preview, with similarly long urban narratives, and a vaguely jazzy feel, The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle is raw and earthy. Springsteen is joined by his backing E Street Band, who only appeared spasmodically on the previous record; long time associates Clarence Clemons, Gary Tallent and Danny Federici are all on board here, contributing to the loose collaborative feel. Between them the E Street band tackle an astonishing range on instruments; regular organist Fedirici mostly plays accordion, bassist Tallent takes up the tuba, while everyone else plays assorted brass instruments. Some of the distinctive flavour comes from pianist David Sancious and drummer Vini Lopez, who both contribute expressive and extroverted parts that sound terrific in this context, but probably didn't fit in well with Springsteen's plans for world domination. By the following album Born to Run they were replaced by Roy Bittan and Max Weinberg. There is precisely one nondescript Dylan-ripoff in the middle (the promisingly titled 'Wild Billy's Circus Story'), but the other six songs are uniformly excellent. My favourites are the epic 'Incident on 57th Street' (arguably Springsteen's finest moment ever), the plaintive '4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)' and 'Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)', the most upfront and accessible tune on the album. Even the ten minutes of 'New York City Serenade' are relatively accessible. The blockbuster success of its followup Born to Run robbed Springsteen of the chance to make a similar album, as he began to carry the weight of expectations of a nation's conscience rather than freedom to express his own small scale fantasies. The most blatant shortcoming of The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle is that it lacks punch and immediate accessibility, but with Born to Run as a reference point its flaw is exactly what makes it so appealing.
Born to Run(1975)After garnering huge critical respect (most famously Jon Landau's "I have seen the future of rock and roll, and his name is Bruce Springsteen") but little commercial success with his first two albums, Born to Run was Springsteen's breakthrough. A Phil Spector inspired big sound provides the backdrop; with huge amounts of money spent on recording, the album was a do or die effort for Springsteen's career. He succeeded; while it doesn't compromise the artistic vision established by The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle, Born to Run is more accessible and established Springsteen as a major creative force in a stagnating music scene. While the characters are the same youths on the cusp of adulthood that populated the previous album, this time the situations are less romantic and more desperate; the title track draws a dark vision of an impeding boring life in suburbia which the protagonist hopes to escape from ("Someday girl I don't know when/We're gonna get to that place/Where we really want to go/And we'll walk in the sun/But till then tramps like us/Baby we were born to run") while the chilling 'Meeting Across The River' describes a get rich quick scheme to escape the encroaching monotony. Springsteen's grandiose themes are perfectly matched by the grandiose music which reaches moments of thrilling authority, such as the coda of 'Backstreets' or the saxophone solo in the title track. The melodic similarities between the title track and Dylan's 'My Back Pages' are tangible enough, but it still generates an adrenaline rush rivalled by few other rock songs. 'Tenth Avenue Freezeout' finds the E Street Band riding a catchy jazzy groove, while the significant epics 'Thunder Road' and 'Jungleland' that bookend the album are both effective. My favourite track, however, is 'Meeting Across The River', which transcends the stylistic impact of the album with plainitiveness and a simple direct melody. There may be the occasional track that fails to make an impact, but as a whole the potency of Born to Run is simply undeniable.
 Darkness On The Edge Of Town(1978)After the success of Born To Run, Springsteen found himself amidst a legal battle between former manager Mike Appel and current mentor and manager Jon Landau, and unable to record for three years as a result. The eventual album is darker in vision than his previous work, with the romanticized landscapes and characters giving way to grown ups trapped in the bland realities that the previous album's protagonists sought to avoid, working in factories. The three preceding Springsteen albums each had a distinctive musical tone that rendered them distinct in his catalogue; the singer-songwriter of Greetings, the shambling street poetry of The Wild and Innocent and the Phil Spector stylizations of Born To Run. Darkness On The Edge Of Town doesn't have a particular nuance apart from rocking a little harder than usual, so it's a great showcase for the songs and the playing, taking away all the distracting features of other Springsteen albums; it's not blandly acoustic, it's not too self-consciously anthemic and it's not blatantly commercial, making it pretty much the quintessential Springsteen record. Springsteen whips out a stinging guitar solo in almost every song, adding to the edgy mood. Opener 'Badlands' is a perfect encapsulation of the album as a whole; elegant ragtime piano lines struggle against searing guitar, while Springsteen intones insightful lyrics like "Spend your life waiting/for a moment that just don't come." 'Adam Raised A Cain' raises the intensity another notch, with Springsteen screaming the last verse almost uncontrollably. The E Street Band are a perfect foil in the drama of 'Candy's Room' - a juxtaposition of graceful piano and edgy drumming. The title track is powerfully effective, the verse melody borrowing from Neil Young's 'After The Goldrush', before launching into another aggressive chorus, while 'Racing In The Street' adds stylistic variety with a piano ballad, adapting the sentiments of The Rolling Stones' 'Street Fighting Man'; "summer's here and the time is right/For goin' racin' in the street." Even the lesser material is inflected with intensity ('Streets Of Fire'), or neatly written but unremarkable in such a strong context ('The Promised Land'). If you've grown up with watered down Springsteen like the Born In The USA hits, don't write him off before you experience albums like this to find out where all the Springsteen hype originates.
The River(1980)For Springsteen's previous albums, he was highly disciplined, selecting songs to fit a theme or mood. This is confirmed by the presence of the four disc set Tracks, which collects perfectly worthy material that simply didn't fit the album Springsteen was making. For The River, one gets the feeling that Springsteen didn't bother with a theme, mood or even particularly with quality control, instead releasing a sprawling double album. It's a double album that shows him still at top of his game, as there's a single album within it that would stand proudly alongside his previous three records. But alongside the top drawer songs like 'Independence Day' and the title track, he's let on some sloppier and more lighthearted material like 'I'm A Rocker' and 'Cadillac Ranch'; none of it's really especially bad, but too much second rate writing in one place really serves to dilute the impact of the record. For better or worse, The River is very much the quintessential Springsteen album, where his less serious car and girls songs go hand in hand with his social commentary and developing interest in serious relationships. A lot of the songs concern protagonists in their young twenties struggling with love and marriage, whereas Darkness on the Edge of Town seemed to focus on Springsteen's parents' generation. On the positive side of the ledger, highlights include the single 'Hungry Heart', with some of Springsteen's most memorable lyrics; "Like a river that don't know where it's flowing/I took a wrong turn and I just kept going". It was originally written for The Ramones, and its bouncy melody is one of Springsteen's most creative. 'Independence Day' and the title track are both emotional and sparse ballads, like 'Hungry Heart' about severing relationships and moving on. Most of the other ballads on the album are also enjoyable, making the slower paced second disc the stronger of the set; the spare desperate 'Point Blank' and the reflective 'Stolen Car' are both highlights, although 'I Wanna Marry You' is somewhat maudlin and 'Drive All Night' is a Van Morrison style ballad that drags on for eight minutes without Springsteen being able to push it over the top. I'm a lot more lukewarm about the upbeat material, aside the irresistible 'Hungry Heart'; songs like 'Ramrod', 'I'm A Rocker' and 'You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)' all border on banal. Flawed as it is, The River does come at a peak time in the artist's discography, and it has enough great material to make it worth examining at some point, but it still marks the end of a phase where Springsteen could almost do no wrong.
Nebraska(1982)Sessions with the E-Street Band for the follow up to The River were unsatisfactory, so Landau and Springsteen opted instead to release Springsteen's solo demos as the finished album, recorded on a TEAC four track. Although Asbury Park may seem to be the closest antecedent in Springsteen's prior catalogue to these stripped back guitar, harmonica and vocal arrangements, Nebraska is closest in tone to the pessimistic Darkness On The Edge Of Town, and its themes are even less personalised and more desperate than anything Springsteen had written previously. The title track is based around the story of 1958 mass murderer Charlie Starkweather, songs like 'State Trooper' and 'Highway Patrolman' are underscored by a eerily muted paranoia, and even the closing 'Reason To Believe' is guarded in its optimism. It might seem illogical to follow up The River, something of a popular breakthrough with its top ten single, with a raw and difficult follow up, and there's nothing to suggest that it wasn't a spontaneous decision. Yet in hindsight it may have helped Springsteen's career immeasurably in the long term, winning over critics and allowing him to avoid too large a backlash from the mega-popular Born In The USA, as well as opening up new stylistic avenues for him to explore. Apart from the immediate 'Atlantic City', with its memorable "Everything dies, baby that's a fact/But maybe everything that dies one day comes back" lyric, it's difficult to pick out the individual songs, and the album works primarily as a mood piece. It's easy to see how this batch of songs has its maximum impact as an acoustic set; while 'Atlantic City' and 'Mansion On The Hill' have strong melodies, and 'Open All Night' is a typical Springsteen rocker that would fit right onto The River, the majority of these songs aren't particularly interesting musically, and the record is carried by its claustrophobic atmosphere and its strong lyrics. Nebraska has a charm all of its own, and moreover it's the Springsteen album for those who detest his more bombastic moments.
Born In The USA(1984)As other commentators have noted, at some point in his career Springsteen fell into a pattern where he alternated between blatantly commercial albums (Born To Run, The River) and darker and more idiosyncratic works (Darkness On The Edge Of Town). If Nebraska was one of his most difficult albums, then Born In The USA is his most mainstream work, spawning seven top ten singles and transforming Springsteen into a cultural icon. The album's success is somewhat warranted, as it flows quickly with no arty material like 'New York City Serenade' or 'Meeting Across The River' getting in the way. The bad news, however, is that most of these songs are pretty much Springsteen-lite. It's just a bunch of four minute pop songs, and Springsteen doesn't quite have the pop faculty to carry all these songs off; some of the hooks are too flimsily constructed ('Glory Days') to stand up to scrutiny, while other songs veer too close to dumb blue collar rockers to be interesting ('Working On The Highway', 'Darlington County'). It's like the bad half of The River, but more tightly constructed and with stronger production. As undemanding as Born In The USA is, it's certainly not so substandard that fans should skip it altogether. The hits are mostly irritating, such as the ultra-simplistic 'Glory Days' and the commercialized 'Dancing In The Dark'. However, the charming 'My Hometown' takes strength from its simplicity and is a fitting closer, while the synthesizers of 'I'm On Fire' give it a mesmerising atmosphere. 'Cover Me' is a perfectly respectable rocker, with a great guitar solo, while 'Bobby Jean' is a strong album cut. Considering that it only contains about four songs that I really like, Born In The USA is an album that's greater than the sum of its parts; it is well paced, well produced and well sequenced, all of which make it extremely accessible. I can't imagine why anyone with more than a passing interest in Springsteen would prefer this to any of his previous albums, all of which have more personality and character than this one, but it's not quite a vapid commercial monstrosity either.
Tunnel Of Love(1987)In the aftermath of the commercial apex of Born In The USA, Springsteen became a cultural icon and a brand, reaching a stratospheric combination of both critical acceptance and public attention that few musicians ever attain. According to Springsteen's release cycle, however, it was time for a difficult album again; Tunnel Of Love is certainly more downbeat and somber than its predecessor, with no ebullient pop hits like 'Glory Days', although it's still melodic and approachable. Based around the ups and downs of Springsteen's brief marriage with model Julianne Philips, 'Tunnel Of Love' shows a deepening maturity from Springsteen - he's not able to rely on raw energy as he did in the seventies albums like Darkness On The Edge Of Town. Indeed, if you have doubts about Springsteen's craftsmanship, songs like the title track, 'One Step Up', 'Brilliant Disguise', and 'Walk Like A Man' will impress you with their eloquency and pretty melodies. As you'd expect from an album made in 1987, it's more synthesizer based than anything else in the Springsteen catalogue, but hardly offensively so; it's mostly low key and tasteful, apart from the title track where the creative and insistent synth riff almost has a hint of psychedelia. There's some of Springsteen's best material contained on this album, but some of it is awkward. The bluesy rocker 'Spare Parts' and the opening a capella 'Ain't Got You' in particular aren't particularly interesting; it's the more sophisticated pieces that shine in the low key approach. Springsteen is far more human here than on previous albums; he's not playing characters anymore, and this record is about his struggles in his own marriage relationship. The terrific 'One Step Up' states "When I look at myself I don't see/The man I wanted to be/Somewhere along the line I slipped off track/I'm caught movin' one step up and two steps back," while in the poignant 'Walk Like A Man' Springsteen declares "as I watch my bride come down the aisle/I pray for the strength to walk like a man." Other highlights include the driving pop of 'Tougher Than The Rest', the catchy 'Brilliant Disguise' and the heady title track. As much as I love the best half of this album, I can't really go higher than a 4 on it, since the other half isn't nearly as interesting, but some of Springsteen's best and most heartfelt songs are here regardless.
Human Touch(1992)Practically every pop musician hits a point where they start to become irrelevant, and this is Springsteen's; happily remarried and settled down, he doesn't have a whole lot of fire in his belly or interesting topics to write about, and the most memorable lyrics concern topics like childhood reminiscences. While '57 Channels and Nothing On' is sharper than its first verse would belie, its basic premise still betrays Springsteen's more domesticated lifestyle. Musically, it's similar to 'Tunnel Of Love', but less intricate and attempting to rock harder; the backing musicians lack the colour and energy that the E-Street Band bought to earlier recordings. Individually most of the tracks still have a distinctive Springsteen feel, if somewhat watered down, but a lack of strong songs and an overall blandness make Human Touch one of Springsteen's least essential albums. Nevertheless, it's a little stronger than its reputation might suggest, and it's identifiable enough as Springsteen as not to disappoint fans. It doesn't help that the strongest song here, the opening title track, is dragged out to over six minutes. It's a fine pop song, but its effectiveness is diminished at that length. Apart from the low key and repetitive '57 Channels', the only other track that really irritates is 'Pony Boy', a strange acoustic piece that closes the album. Otherwise, Human Touch is a bunch of second tier Springsteen material that's most enjoyable but which feels slight overall, lacking the innovation and passion of previous efforts. Human Touch is a conscientious effort from Springsteen, but it's less inspired than usual; dedicated fans should enjoy it well enough, but there's little of interest for everyone else.
Lucky Town(1992)Springsteen went back into the studio a year after Human Touch was completed, to record an extra track for it. He ended up making an entire new album and the two albums were released on the same day, going straight to numbers 2 and 3 on the US chart before quickly falling off. Lucky Town is similar to its companion album in many respects, but it is also more accessible; more consistent, more concise and more urgent. There's little on this album that stands alongside Springsteen's best work, but Lucky Town is an enjoyable minor work. It's almost completely lacking in subtlety, as Springsteen bellows his way through every song, and the session musician backing is less sympathetic than the E Street Band, but it goes quickly and most of the songs have memorable sing-along choruses. This kind of album doesn't really deserve close analysis, so suffice to say that highlights include the nice 'If I Should Fall Behind' and the title track, and the closing two tracks are also among the strongest. Don't expect to fall in love with Lucky Town or even find a particularly substantial album, but it's a serviceable enough 40 minute, 10 song collection.
Greatest Hits(1993)I'm far too cool to buy my own copy of this opiate of the masses, but my boss gave me a badly pirated copy that he picked up legally while on business travels in Nepal. While it's an enjoyable listen, Greatest Hits is a long way short of the optimum Springsteen collection that could have assembled, largely due to the constraints of the single disc format and the decision to include four new songs on the set. As a result of the space constraints, the first two albums are completely excised while there's only room for one song from albums like Nebraska and Darkness on the Edge of Town. Fortunately the new songs are pretty decent, finding Springsteen in a tepid adult contemporary mood but perfectly competent, in a similar vein to his excellent non-album hit 'Streets of Philadelphia' which is also included here. And there's no denying the potency of the run of great singles at the start; 'Born To Run', 'Atlantic City' and 'The River' are all terrific tales of cheapened dreams and adolescent frustration. 1980's 'Hungry Heart' is one of my favourite songs ever, with focused and emotive lyrics, a terrific organ solo, warm backing vocals, and an ultra-catchy melody that somehow eluded McCartney throughout the 1960s. Even the singles from less highly regarded later albums are enjoyable; 'Human Touch' is one of Springsteen's most elegant moments, while 'Brilliant Disguise' is an excellent first step for the more mature Springsteen. All in all Greatest Hits would actually be an excellent compilation, albeit on the skimpy side, if it wasn't for the presence of four dumbed down representatives from Born In The U.S.A.. While it's often cited as Springsteen's finest recorded moment, it's the singles from Born In The U.S.A. that deterred me from respecting Springsteen for a long time. The lowest common denominator approach is acceptable for 'My Hometown', since the song has an appealing aura of humility. But like Lennon's 'Give Peace A Chance', 'Born In The USA is a political slogan masquerading as a song, except that it was frequently misinterpreted and misappropriated as a redneck anthem. The mundane repetitiveness of 'Glory Days' is far below Springsteen's craftsmanship, while the slightly better 'Dancing in the Dark' is a shameless pandering to 1984 music trends. If the radio played subtler material like 'Atlantic City' and 'The River' instead, Springsteen wouldn't have an undeserved reputation as a bombastic irrelevancy. If you're a rabid Springsteen fan and haven't yet heard 'Secret Garden' or 'This Hard Land', Greatest Hits is well worth tracking down, while the presence of 'Streets of Philadelphia' provides another incentive. For beginners Greatest Hits does put all of Springsteen's best known songs in one place, but it's hardly comprehensive enough, and Springsteen's made some excellent individual albums that are better starting points than this. It's since been supplanted by the double disc Essential collection, which is also probably a better option and includes more of his early work.
The Ghost Of Tom Joad(1995)Named after the protagonist in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, The Ghost Of Tom Joad pushes even further into monotonous fans only territory than its predecessors. When this album failed to set charts alight, Springsteen remarked that at that stage in his career he didn't need his albums to be number one. While this lack of commerciality is laudable and The Ghost Of Tom Joad is more stylistically palatable than the 1992 albums, sticking to an acoustic formula instead of working with faceless LA studio musicians, musically there's little happening. The Ghost Of Tom Joad often gets compared to Nebraska, but while Nebraska was intense in its desperation, this one's just a bunch of laid back guitar strumming with neo-Woody Guthrie lyrics, and Springsteen's only able to pull out a couple of memorable songs this time around. Namely, these are the title track, later to be popularized by Rage Against The Machine, and 'Youngstown' which is about the most melodic song here, although the version on the New York City live album is much more compelling. The annoying string of clichés in the closing 'My Best Was Never Good Enough' ("If God gives you nothin' but lemons, then you make some lemonade") makes it stand out as the worst song, elevating it beyond the dull material on here. The Ghost Of Tom Joad is consistent enough in tone that it's almost understandable why some proclaim it as one of Springsteen's best records, but why anyone would choose this over one of his exciting and rocking seventies records is hardly comprehensible.
18 Tracks(1999)Providing highlights from Springsteen's boxset of outtakes from the same year, 18 Tracks provoked the wrath of Springsteen fans by including three legendary songs not included of the full version, forcing completists to buy both. Despite this lack of consideration for his followers, 18 Tracks is an entertaining collection; as Springsteen explains in the liner notes, many of these songs were omitted because they didn't fit into the particular project he was working on, rather than because of any perceived lack of quality. It's not a particularly coherent collection, as Springsteen becomes tangibly more commercially oriented throughout the period - there's a considerable gulf between the earnest singer-songwriter of 'Growin' Up' and the corporate rock of 'Trouble River' - but there are few people in the rock industry who can throw away songs as catchy as 'Pink Cadillac' and 'I Wanna Be With You' and still enjoy a successful career. Despite the odd song that deserved to remain unreleased, most of these tracks would have been worthy additions to any of Springsteen's records. I guess if you had the entire set, it would be an interesting exercise to try and perfect his studio albums to your own tastes; for instance 'Wild Billy's Circus Story' has always struck me as the weak link on The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle, and there's a couple of tracks here that would be admirable replacements. 'Seaside Bar Song' would have fitted in beautifully lyrically, with another evocation of disaffected teen life in New Jersey, while 'The Fever' is a catchy blues ballad with Springsteen leading on piano. There's also a large residue of leftovers from the Born In The U.S.A. sessions; they're mostly excellent, with 'My Love Will Not Let You Down' and 'Pink Cadillac' as well as a solo version of the title track, the date of which indicates that it was originally intended for Nebraska. It's baffling that Springsteen was able to omit something as memorable as 'Sad Eyes', later a hit for Enrique Iglesias, from his 1992 albums, although his other contributions from this era are the weakest on this set; 'Part Man, Part Monkey' may be the most ridiculous song Springsteen has ever recorded, while 'Trouble River' is rock by numbers. The compilation ends with its most profound moments; the Vietnam veteran of 'Brothers Under The Bridge' ("Saigon, it was all gone/The same coke machines as the streets I grew on"), the possessed lover of 'The Fever' and the Springsteen archetype of 'The Promise' ("I drive a Challenger down Route 9 through the dead ends and all the bad scenes/When the promise was broken, I cashed in a few of my dreams."). It's not essential - it goes without saying that it lacks the thematic and musical unity of his best studio records - but there are plenty of enlightening Springsteen moments to be found on 18 Tracks.
Live in New York City(2001)I wasn't a Springsteen fan when this was released, and I had no idea why a live album by a 50 year old that I wasn't interested in attracted so much attention. But coming after a sequence of lacklustre albums in the 1990s, it's understandable; this is better sounding than any Springsteen album since Darkness On The Edge of Town. Of course, the return of the E Street Band is fundamental to this; it'd be hard to argue that on a technical level that Max Weinberg is a better drummer than Jeff Porcaro, who played on the 1992 albums (he couldn't play on Tom Joad due to his "garden pesticides" related death), but his energetic and uncluttered style is perfect for Springsteen's large ensemble. Joining the regular E-Street Band are guitarist Nils Lofsgren and Springsteen's wife Patti Scialfa on vocals and guitar; she's actually an audible force, and not just a tokenistic Linda McCartney type inclusion. This makes a total of four guitarists (including Sopranos' star Steve Van Zandt), two keyboardists and saxophone, as well as the rhythm section, all sounding terrific in a rich and vibrant ensemble. The setlist largely concentrates on Born To Run through to Nebraska and is surprisingly light on hits, opening with outtake 'My Love Will Not Let You Down' and all but skipping Born In The USA; the sole representative from the latter is a Nebraska style take on the title track. Even if you've heard all his studio records, this album's well worth tracking down for the reinventions and new tracks. 'Atlantic City' and 'Youngstown' are recast as rockers, and both outmuscle their studio counterparts. The version of 'Lost In The Flood' here is much more assertive than the tentative debut. The new songs are both worthwhile - 'Land Of Hope And Dreams' has a neat riff and the controversial 'American Skin (41 Shots)' is a memorable account of a notorious police killing. Seventies classic like 'Jungleland', 'Prove It All Night', 'Badlands', and an unlisted 'Born To Run' are presented in perfect form. There are a few complaints - no matter how great the band sounds, they can't rescue lame River songs like 'Out In The Street' and 'Ramrod', and sixteen minutes of 'Tenth Avenue Freezeout' isn't as engrossing on record as it doubtless was on stage. But regardless of these flaws, this record just feels great, like Springsteen knows that he and his band have so entered into the spirit of the reunion that they can just pull songs from his catalogue at random, and make them sound terrific. I'd take Live in New York City over the majority of Springsteen's studio records any day.
The Rising(2002)Springsteen's response to September 11 was widely regarded as a return to form and a bid for renewed commercial acceptance after a low key 1990s. Lots of musicians, particularly from among Springsteen's generation, made records inspired by the events of September 11, but living within sight of the Twin Towers ("I woke up this morning to an empty sky"), Springsteen had more of a reason to do than most. More importantly, he adapts the correct tone; this isn't self-righteous American militarism, but a compassionate set remembering those who were personally affected. Musically, it's a reunion with the E Street Band, which is welcome, yet the results are strangely mixed. In terms of vocal melodies, The Rising might be Springsteen's finest album ever, showing an increased sophistication, but the backing band is largely wasted in heady mixes that aim straight for arena rock, rather than the subtle and virtuoso arrangements that the band created on their seventies albums. And as a good as a lot of these individual songs are, The Rising overall is too long and too homogenous in sound, with too many mid tempo anthems and with the songs that break furthest from the mould tending to be the least interesting. Closer 'My City Of Ruins', which in my opinion is the most effective piece here, was actually written earlier in response to the decline of Springsteen's native New Jersey. It makes perfect sense as a closer here, with its gospel feel and pleas to God a fitting conclusion to a Springsteen album that's constantly referencing faith. Some of the other anthems are also excellent; opening 'Lonesome Day' and the title track are both propulsive, while 'Empty Sky' and 'World's Apart' are both darker and more off kilter. 'Let's Be Friends (Skin To Skin)' is a successful foray into poppier territory with an upbeat arrangement and accessible melody, although the forced and awkward 'Mary's Place' ("we're gonna have a party") is the album's obvious weak point. 'The Fuse' is almost experimental, at least by Springsteen's standards, with its claustrophobic rhythms, an expression of lust that's more urgent than most of the explicitly 9/11 songs. The Rising does feature some great songs, and it's easily Springsteen's best album since Tunnel of Love, but it's also a missed opportunity. Trimmed down to a forty minute, ten song album, with a less laboured and more identifiably E Street sound, The Rising could have been exceptionally good, but even as is, after a few years of under-achievement it's a respectable enough comeback.
Devils and Dust (2005)(2002)I wasn't holding much hope for this records after hearing it described as the successor to Nebraska and The Ghost Of Tom Joad, but it's both stronger and more diverse than that description would imply. Although it's story telling lyrics are close in tone to The Ghost Of Tom Joad, if it's a successor to any Springsteen album it's most akin to the mid tempo and subtle rock of Tunnel Of Love. There aren't any rock anthems here, but tracks like 'Long Time Comin'' and 'All The Way Home' are more rock and roll than anything on his acoustic albums, and that alone should be enough to disassociate it from them. The musical personnel includes Springsteen on guitar and keyboards, as well as rhythm section on some tracks, producer Brendan O'Brien on bass, session drummer Steven Jordan, Scialfa on backing vocals, and pedal steel player Marty Rifkin who enlivens the two tracks he appears on. Quality wise, Tunnel Of Love is also this album's closest precedent; Devils and Dust doesn't have anything as immediately excellent as 'Tougher Than The Rest' or 'One Step Up', but it's consistent across the board in a way that few of Springsteen's post seventies albums are. Apart from the sexual lyrics of 'Reno' and the high register voice in 'All I'm Thinkin' About', there's nothing that breaks new ground for Springsteen, but overall Devils and Dust is exactly the kind of well written, intelligent and subtle album that Springsteen should be making at this time of his career. I guess the opening title track sounds like it could have been drawn straight from The Ghost Of Tom Joad sessions, which explains the comparisons, and to be fair there are plenty of acoustic tracks here. This time round though, they're much less didactic and more musically fluent, such as the pretty melody and sympathetic trumpet lines of 'Leah'. Springsteen plays everything on 'Jesus Was An Only Son',a and it's another success. These stories are much more ambiguous than those of The Ghost Of Tom Joad as well; being Springsteen there's generally an undercurrent of compassion, but even that's broken by the controversial 'Reno', where a guilt ridden encounter with a whore ends with a nonchalant aside from the protagonist. Lyrically, 'Maria's Bed' is the successor to 'Candy's Room' from Darkness On The Edge Of Town, but this time it's obviously the story of someone else, and it's hooky and breezy where its ancestor was taut. When paired with the competent The Rising, this is easily Springsteen's best period since the early 1980s, and more than ever he's relying on strong writing to drive his records, rather than the youthful despair that fuelled his best early albums. Devils And Dust may play too subtly to be a great record, and it's probably a memorable song or two short of greatness as well, but it's still the most solid Springsteen album for quite some time and it's hard to imagine any dedicated Springsteen fan disliking this one.
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Written 2001-2007, Graham Fyfe
