I’ve considered for some time whether
\nHuman Touch<\/i> might have a double meaning as the title of
\nBruce Springsteen’s ninth studio album.<\/p>\n
Yes, there’s the implied reference in the title song itself to
\nsexual healing (see also “Leap Of Faith” on the
\nsimultaneously-released
\nLucky Town<\/i> album), but it may also reflect that this is
\namong the most human-scaled of Springsteen’s albums. Prior to this
\ndisc, he was always shooting for one impossibly huge target or
\nanother artistically; here, he seems to have no loftier purpose in
\nmind than simply writing and playing a half-decent album of
\nguitar-based rock.<\/p>\n
That was probably a reasonable approach to take after all the
\nchanges the man had just been through — divorcing his first wife,
\nmarrying backup singer Patti Scialfa, becoming a father and
\ndismissing his longtime partners in crime the E Street Band. Back
\nto basics has a certain logic to it under those kinds of
\ncircumstances.<\/p>\n
The thing is, nothing about Springsteen’s music has ever been
\nbasic; even the party-hearty frat-boy numbers scattered through
\nThe River<\/i> had dark shadings, not to mention the emotional
\ndepth and context provided by that album’s more ambitious numbers.
\nHere, that context seems muted, confused, occasionally even absent.
\nThe album is long (14 songs and almost 60 minutes of music) and
\nuncharacteristically unfocused.<\/p>\n
There’s a mid-tempo white soul number (“Cross My Heart”), an
\nawkward attempt at redefining manhood (“Real Man”), and a
\nbass-driven rant — “57 Channels (And Nothin’ On)” — that crosses
\nthe line between angry and goofy several times without reaching a
\nsatisfying conclusion. There’s even a rhythm and blues-styled cut
\n(“Roll Of The Dice”) that reaches back so hard for past glories
\nthat you detect a hint of desperation, although Springsteen redeems
\nthe song with one great line: “I’m a thief in the house of love \/
\nAnd I can’t be trusted.”<\/p>\n
Ultimately, though, the biggest disappointment here is the way
\nthe rockers fail to ignite. “Gloria’s Eyes,” “All Or Nothin’ At
\nAll” and “The Long Goodbye” feature driving rhythms and push
\nSpringsteen’s muscular guitar playing farther out front than it’s
\never been before, but none of them shows more than a quick flash of
\nthe emotional depth and purpose that’s always been at the heart of
\nSpringsteen’s best work.<\/p>\n
The best songs here are the ones where Springsteen remembers who
\nis he is and takes some chances and\/or invests some genuine
\npassion. “I Wish I Were Blind” is one of Springsteen’s finer
\nballads, its initial stately pace building to a strong finish with
\nhelp from Righteous Brother Bobby Hatfield’s high harmony vocals
\nand a magnificent fadeout guitar solo. “With Every Wish” would be a
\nsolid track based solely on Springsteen’s contemplative lyric about
\nthe dark side of wishing, but the addition of Mark Isham’s muted
\ntrumpet is simply brilliant. And “Real World,” “Man’s Job” and the
\ntitle track, while they don’t make any great artistic statements,
\nhave strong moments and good energy.<\/p>\n
Besides the comparatively superficial approach to lyrics, the
\ngreatest flaw of the album lies in the choices Springsteen and
\nBittan make regarding keyboards and production (Bittan received his
\nfirst co-producer credit on this disc). More often than not, they
\ngo with electronic keyboards over Bittan’s trademark piano, and the
\nproduction values are slicker than any other album in Springsteen’s
\ncatalogue. This gives the music a cold, impersonal sheen that feels
\nout of sync with Springsteen’s typically earthy, loose, raucous
\nmusical approach.<\/p>\n
If Springsteen’s lone goal here was to put together a
\nhalf-decent album of guitar-based rock, he hit his mark. In another
\nartist’s catalogue, this disc might be worthy of notice thanks to
\nthe presence of tracks like “I Wish I Were Blind.” But for an
\nartist as accomplished as Bruce Springsteen, it qualified as a
\nsignificant disappointment, his least notable recording since
\nGreetings From Asbury Park<\/i> almost 20 years before and — the
\nreal tragedy — a misstep that nearly obscured the quality of its
\nfar superior companion piece
\n
\nLucky Town<\/a>
\n<\/i> .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":27011,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5832],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-38335","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-bruce-springsteen","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38335","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\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38335"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}