Even in a utopian society, Bruce Springsteen would probably
\nstill be able to drop an album as dark as
\nNebraska<\/i> to the public. Look at the year 1995. It was that
\nyear when people started to tire of angst-ridden music. Hootie and
\nthe Blowfish was selling truckloads of albums just as ol’ fashioned
\nrock and roll was restoring its dominance on the music charts.<\/p>\n
Springsteen could have ridden the top of the charts with an
\nalbum full of soaring anthems like his electric “Born To Run” or
\n“Born In The U.S.A.” But, the Boss chose to go acoustic. And while
\neveryone was craving something a bit more cherry than Nirvana or
\nSoundgarden, Springsteen gave us
\nThe Ghost Of Tom Joad<\/i>. Record-execs craving a massive hit
\nmust have stocked up on heart medication after listening to this
\nbrutal, folk masterpiece.<\/p>\n
Even with the economy rising and employment dropping to
\nrecord-low figures, Springsteen knows that profits are usually made
\nby the suffering of others. And
\nThe Ghost Of Tom Joad<\/i> is full of suffering. Crippling
\nunemployment, ex-convicts tempted to go back to their old ways to
\nput food on the table and pay for rent are some of the subjects
\nSpringsteen deals with on
\nThe Ghost Of Tom Joad.<\/i> Nearly three years before the meth
\nepidemic made its way into the national spotlight, he sings about
\nmeth labs blowing up in “Sinaloa Cowboys”.<\/p>\n
Comparisons to
\nNebraska<\/i>, Springsteen’s other dark, acoustic masterpiece
\nwere inevitable. But
\nThe Ghost Of Tom Joad<\/i> deserves to be looked at on its own
\nmerits. The title track is heavily influenced by Bob Dylan and
\nSpringsteen’s weather-beaten voice makes the Dylan comparisons even
\nmore evident.<\/p>\n
“Youngstown,” one of the highlights on the album, is a damning
\nvindication of a town born on industry, only to have that industry
\nshut down and move on. Springsteen doesn’t dull the pain as he
\ndroans, “Now the yard’s just scrap and rubble\/ He said ‘Them big
\nboys did what Hitler couldn’t do.” Pedal steel guitars and violins
\nonly add to the song’s sorrow.<\/p>\n
Still, you can count on Springsteen for his wicked and vastly
\nunderrated sense of humor. And the Boss-man lays the sarcasm on
\nheavy on the final track, “My Best Was Never Good Enough.” Over an
\nacoustic guitar rhythm, he spouts off most all of the “wisdom”
\naquired in the movie
\nForrest Gump<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Springsteen may never shake the dunderheads who thought “Born In
\nThe U.S.A.” was a flag-waving ode to Ronald Reagan. But damned if
\nhe doesn’t try by releasing material like
\nThe Ghost Of Tom Joad<\/i> every now and then. The album caught
\nthe attention of Rage Against the Machine enough for them to do a
\nblistering cover of “The Ghost Of Tom Joad”.<\/p>\n
As for his acoustic work,
\nNebraska<\/i> may very well be his crowning achievement. But
\nThe Ghost Of Tom Joad<\/i> comes close to besting that barren
\nwork of art as well. And fortunately, Springsteen’s timing in
\nreleasing these types of albums is impecible. He reminds us that no
\nmatter how low inflation, interest rates are or how high the stock
\nmarket is, someone will always lose their job, someone will always
\nget out of prison and honest people will always be tempted to walk
\nthat dangerous, fine line for the sake of putting a roof over their
\nheads.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":25343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5832],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-36549","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-bruce-springsteen","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36549"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36549"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}