Come On, Rise Up
Published August 19, 2002
And those songs which are inescapably about the attacks are, for the most part, really, really good. Springsteen has a real gift for writing songs that sound like you've known them for years, with infectious choruses that you can't help singing along with. Yeah, "Waitin' On a Sunny Day" is repetitive, but it's catchy, and by the second time through the chorus, it's really hard not to join in. Ditto "Countin' On a Miracle," "Mary's Place," and the title track. The slower songs ("Nothing Man," "You're Missing," and "Paradise") aren't nearly as catchy, and take a little more work to really appreciate them, but they're some of the most effective tracks on the record. The only real clunker here is "The Fuse."
It's a slightly different sound for the E Street Band. There's a heavy gospel tone to the album, with the prayerful chorus of "Into the Fire," the exhoration to "Come on, rise up!" in "My City of Ruins," and, of course, the title track. It's a more spiritual record than his other big rock albums-- Rolling Stone rightly proclaims it "The Gospel According to Bruce"-- but it's fitting, and the band absolutely nails the material. Of course, you'd expect nothing less.
So, is this a five-star album, as Rolling Stone declares? Well, no, as it's a little too long, and sags a bit in the middle. But then I'm awfully picky about rating albums, and this comes about as close as you can get. It's a great album, and the four people reading this who haven't already bought it should go do so immediately.
- Come On, Rise Up
- Published: August 19, 2002
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- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Rock
- Writer: Chad Orzel
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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.