Sometimes, an artist comes along and surprises you with an album
\nthat’s completely out of left-field; so it was with me and Bruce
\nSpringsteen, when I bought this album. I’d only heard
\nNebraska<\/i>,
\nThe River<\/i> and
\nGreetings From Asbury Park, N.J.<\/i> when this album came my way
\n– it’s so different from them that only Springsteen’s voice and
\nlyrics can convince the listener that, yes, this is the same guy
\nthat brought you “Johnny 99” and “Hungry Heart.”<\/p>\n
This album begins with an homage to the oh-so-famous “tune up”
\nsegment of every orchestral concert, which is quite an apt way of
\nsending home the fact that this album is full of lush arrangements
\nand grandiose themes. A quick guitar line calls the troops into
\nline, and then we’re given a funk-style song with Springsteen
\ndeftly navigating over top of the music with more of his
\nfully-automatic lyrics. The ending to this song, “The E Street
\nShuffle,” is a tour-de-force of Santana-esque rhythms, direly funk
\nhorn arrangements and guitar.<\/p>\n
“Sandy” is a delightful piece of music, even if I do now prefer
\nthe
\nLive 1975-1985<\/i> version more. It’s a quiet serenade from one
\nfriend to another – desperately hoping that this, his last night in
\nhis hometown, will be special with someone he has grown to love.
\nIt’s not about undying love, or about a one night stand, but
\nsomewhere in the middle. It’s about two friends who love each
\nother. For a distinctly beautiful segment, listen carefully to the
\ntoy piano notes underneath Springsteen’s voice starting with “The
\nwaitress I was seeing…”<\/p>\n
I hated “Kitty’s Back” for the longest time. I didn’t like the
\nopening guitar solo, and the rest of it just seemed to go on for
\ntoo long. Sometime over the summer, however, I put it in the CD
\nplayer at work, and it just hooked me – the screaming guitar,
\nactually saying something with its notes, the horns underneath it
\nhelping it to conclude, and the gentle keyboards under the opening
\nvocals all combined to bring the listener to the top of a crest,
\nwhen suddenly the uptempo rhythm speeds them down the hill.<\/p>\n
As soon as that hill starts, it doesn’t stop – we’re given
\nmomentary respite occasionally, but the intensity remains.
\nSomewhere in the background the drums are going maniacally, the
\nguitar is picking all over the place, and Springsteen is shaking
\nhis head with his eyes closed, “Oooh, what can I do, oo-ooh, what
\ncan I do…” This song is one of the most complicated arrangements
\nI’ve ever heard, with guitar and keyboard dueling like a Ritchie
\nBlackmore nightmare, horns exploding left and right, and drums
\nbanging like a psychotic Buddy Rich. Through all of this, however,
\nthe music never loses its essential groove, which is definitely a
\ntough task to do. I could write novels about this one song – it’s
\nso filled with different ideas, accomplishments, emotions and
\nfeelings that it speaks to me deeply.<\/p>\n
“Wild Billy’s Circus Story” is a fun little number, highlighted
\nby the tuba oom-paa. The accordion and guitar strumming work to
\nenhance this black comedy. I can imagine Springsteen standing at a
\npodium, telling this like a story, screaming left and right with
\neach verse – it’s very vividly done, with not a wasted word.<\/p>\n
Here we are given momentary respite, as images of the band
\ngetting ready for a long haul are called to mind. “Incident On 57th
\nStreet” starts out with beautiful piano, then moves into a
\nstory-telling mode, replete with piano, and the chorus doesn’t even
\nshow up for what seems like an eternity. “The pimps swung their
\naxes \/ and said Johnny, you’re a liar!” The portrait here of life
\non the street is optimistic, not jaded – as Springsteen would come
\nto be in later years. “Good night, it’s all right, Jane.” Around
\nfour minutes in it takes a break, as our faithful narrator
\ndelicately describes the scene in immense detail. Afterward, we’re
\ngiven a repeating chorus building up in strength until the
\nmagnificent guitar solo at the end, fading into a piano outro.
\nListen carefully for what sounds like metal guitar underneath
\neverything else just before the finale.<\/p>\n
This segues directly into “Rosalita,” my clear favorite of the
\nalbum. This song is so full of life and joy, optimism and feeling,
\nand altogether it comes across as a song to listen to with the
\nwindows down on a warm summer evening while driving to the beach.
\nThe musicianship here is very tight, with everyone definitely in
\nsync with not only each other, but with the song itself. One of my
\nfavorite musical tricks is simultaneous overdubs with different
\nweights; here Springsteen shouts one chorus underneath a singing
\nversion. Despite the tone of the words, this song is uplifting and
\ninspirational.<\/p>\n
“New York City Serenade” is a song that shifts between moody,
\ndwelling and uplifting and satisfying. It starts out with some
\nbeautiful “doodling” on the guitar, moving into dark, almost
\nwhispered lyrics, building up to strained vocal delivery over top
\nof what sounds like classical string arrangements. The mood shifts
\nsuddenly into a not-quite happy, but certainly relaxing, sound.
\nAnother transition, and we see ourselves in a gospel-style rush of
\nsound – and then back again. We’re given three clearly similar
\nideas, telling of three different people, and they’re all very
\nuplifting but restrained.<\/p>\n
This album is one of the classics of modern music. Everything
\nabout it is perfect; from the delivery of the vocals to the choice
\nof instruments, even down to the cover art – Bruce looking
\ncontemplative but optimistic. This is one of my desert island
\ndiscs; I’d be happy to drive a thousand miles with only this to
\nlisten to. Even if you hate Bruce Springsteen, this album is a
\nmust-have in any collection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":27001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5832],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-37265","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-bruce-springsteen","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37265","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\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37265"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37265"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}