Oddly enough, I think Bruce is in the same place. His new album is full of admiration for everyday courage, and it's amplified by casting that against the tragedy of Sept. 11. The album is filled with allusions to the event, images of blood, ruin, loss, empty bed, empty sky. Over and over, Sept. 11 is seen through the eyes of someone who has lost a loved one. And that person is praying that they, and by extension the country, can rise up and face evil down, not militarily, but personally, in their hearts.
Unfortunately, it's not a very satisfying album. It's not half bad, or rather, it's about half good. The big mistake, to me, was to bring in producer Brendan O'Brien. I don't know anything about his work, but the production is atrocious. Waiting on a Sunny Day is a nice pop song, but it's nearly ruined by the tiring, pound-you-over-the-head sound.
When I read in my local paper that the Boss had updated his classic sound, I knew we were in trouble. Uh, oh, I thought, a producer is going to engineer it to appeal to what is perceived to be the sound people want to hear, circa 2002.
When I bought the CD (the day it was released), my fears were confirmed. Where is the E-Street Band, the guts of that classic sound? Any band could have produced this. It sounds like your average product from your average group of studio musicians. Where is Roy Bittan's bittersweet piano? How about a "classic" organ solo, as in the middle of Fade Away? Could we have a little more harmonica? Shouldn't there be something here that touches us as does the understated beauty of Independence Day?
Yeah, the band is there, but they are lost in the mix. These songs would have been well-served by a more stripped down sound. A little more music, a little less large pop gesture. Some songs couldn't be saved. Lonesome Day, which reaches for some kind of Born to Run wall of sound, is formulaic in the extreme, especially with its uninspired "it's alright" refrain. Further On is a hard, hard rocker with a plodding badump-bump base and thudding drums. The Rising is just okay, but again, the rock sound here is much more earth-bound than intended.
You're Missing, at least, proves the exception to the rule, as far as letting the band really put out some good music, including a great organ solo! And Let's Be Friends is a near-classic pop song, even if it does flirt with a generic beach band/Motown sound. With My City of Ruins, Bruce returns to his soul music roots, to stirring effect.
Article comments
1 - Jimmy Jazz
The glory of Bruce in the mid-70's is one of the few things that makes me wish I were older.
Good piece.
2 - George Partington
Thanks, Jimmy Jazz. I only wish I had discovered Bruce before his 1978 visit to the Fox Theater in Atlanta, Ga. The show was broadcast, and I did pick up a copy of it a couple years later. Oh my, was Bruce ever on fire then. If you can find it, I highly recommend that show, or some others from that tour I'm aware of (many were broadcast on FM radio) such as Winterland and Philadelphia.
3 - Chris Browne
Well, Bruce is back to his best.
4 - Leon
Joey Fabian never understood..........
5 - XB Cold Fingers
Thanks. While I grew up on Dylan and Phil Ochs, courtesy of older brothers, I followed a similar path to Bruce in high school. So while others were listening to pop from Billy Joel to Stevie Wonder I listened to "Greetings From Asbury Park" and "The Wild, the Innocent, and the E. Street Shuffle." These are timeless, as is "The Rising."
6 - XB Cold Fingers
After watching the World Trade Center burn and fall - from Broadway between 34th St and 18th St - I wrote "City of Heroes," along with a few hundred thousand other people who responded with their guitars, pens and keyboards. My friends said "this is good but ... listen to 'The Rising.'" I did. Over and over again. Then I wrote "Gone Now Forever," which can be streamed (free) from xbcoldfingers.com slash gonenowforever.mp3