http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2002-2006 by the authors Fri, 2 Jan 2004 15:33:14 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/archives/2002/08/19/212108.php#comment-34905 I was incredibly slow to warm to "The Rising", and I have been a Springsteen fan since at least 1975. I blame it on an MP3 download and poor system speakers. This is a dense, layeered, textured record which sounds horrible on inferior equipment. That, and he always seems to make his first sinle so middle-of-the-road that it seems lame to me. I remember this so well from "Tunnel Of Love," a superbn record which was far better than that sappy single "Brilliant Disguise." And I think "The River" is one of the worst songs on "The River." So, "Lonesome Day" fit right in for me. "Da-da-da-da, dada-da-da-da..." I mean, it could have been Paul Westerberg with a hangover for God's sake. But still I downloaded it anyway and proceeded to hate it. I got maybe 3 songs in and killed it, never to look back. Then I heard "Worlds Apart" on public radio and said, "this sounds like Bruce, but not like any Bruce I've ever heard." Then I started hearing "The Rising" on radio and decided it was a decent song. Still, I did not think that the album could possibly be a solid whole. He hadn't delievered a solid whole album since "Tunnel Of Love," and that was 1988 or thereabouts. But of course I had to get the "Live In Barcelona" DVD, and everything changed for me. For one thing, he is in INCREDIBLY good voice these days, able to sing in several different characters, all completely effectively. Bruce is in some sort of Barry Bonds-like state of getting better as he gets older as a singer. The DVD blew me away, and the songs from "The Rising" stood up as complete equals with his catalog of hits and standards. He relies heavily on "Darkness On The Edge Of Town" in Barcelona, and since this is my favorite Springsteen record, for me to say that "The Rising"s songs stood up to those - "Badlands", "Promised Land", "Prove It All Night", the title track - well, that's as high as my praise goes. I have better sound on my PC these days, so I gave the MP3 another listen. It sounded much better except for one thing: Bruce's singing is tentative, especially early on. Where he lets go furiously in performance, he is almost reverentially cautious on the record. Which only goes to prove that Bruce and the E Street Band are basically a single entity, inspiring each other to - well, to "Rise Up." I ended up wondering how much better the record would be if they recorded it now. Or how much better a record of the best live cuts of these songs would be. So my advice - if you haven't bought the CD yet, re-direct your money and buy the DVD instead. I don't care who you are, when you were born or HOW FAR AWAY FROM NEW JERSEY: You will fall in love with Bruce, all of his bandmates and his incredible abilities as songwriter, arranger, bandleader and performer, once you have sat through this concert. And that my $.02. ]]> 34905@blogcritics.org Fri, 2 Jan 2004 15:33:14 EST