Bruce Springsteen

[LoathedVermin72]

Wow, Lucky Town is terrific. Not a bad song in the bunch. No way does this deserve to be considered one of his weakest.

[LoathedVermin72]

Oh my god Devils & Dust is a snoozefest. I haven’t made it to the end of a single song so far.

[LoathedVermin72]

Okay “All I’m Thinkin’ About” is great great great. I LOVE when Bruce pushes his voice in unnatural ways like this.

[LoathedVermin72]

Okay so that was one great song and 11 duds.

Onto WB.

[Kevin Davis]

"Devils and Dust" has some superbly written songs on it, but Bruce's delivery is so dry and noncommittal on most of them that it's a really dreary album to sit through, I'd imagine impossibly so if you have no taste for acoustic/folk or narrative-driven music. "Tom Joad" is kind of the same way.

[Strat]

Okay “All I’m Thinkin’ About” is great great great. I LOVE when Bruce pushes his voice in unnatural ways like this.

Yea this is absolutely one of my favorite bruce tracks.

The title track is also top notch

[guestT]

Man I love Lucky Town. The Live in Concert/MTV Plugged album from around that time is great too.

[LoathedVermin72]

So is WB Bruce saying “Sorry about that last record. Let’s have fun!” or something? It’s like the complete opposite.

Not super exciting so far.

[LoathedVermin72]

The lyrics on this album are...not good

[LoathedVermin72]

God I love “Death to My Hometown”

[Kevin Davis]

So is WB Bruce saying “Sorry about that last record. Let’s have fun!” or something? It’s like the complete opposite.

Not super exciting so far.

Not sure if I'm reading you right but "Wrecking Ball" followed "Working on a Dream," not "Devils and Dust." Same logic could apply, but I seemed to remember you (like me) were a fan of "WOAD."

"Wrecking Ball" has a few winners, but a few of them ("Land of Hope and Dreams" and "American Land") are rehashes. I like "We Are Alive," "Death to My Hometown," and "Shackled and Drawn" a lot. The title track I find insufferably corny, a career low.

[LoathedVermin72]

So is WB Bruce saying “Sorry about that last record. Let’s have fun!” or something? It’s like the complete opposite.

Not super exciting so far.

Not sure if I'm reading you right but "Wrecking Ball" followed "Working on a Dream," not "Devils and Dust." Same logic could apply, but I seemed to remember you (like me) were a fan of "WOAD."

"Wrecking Ball" has a few winners, but a few of them ("Land of Hope and Dreams" and "American Land") are rehashes. I like "We Are Alive," "Death to My Hometown," and "Shackled and Drawn" a lot. The title track I find insufferably corny, a career low.

Oh shit, you’re right. I am dumb.

“This Depression” is a weird hodgepodge of elements but I think I really like it

[LoathedVermin72]

Yeah the title track is embarrassing. I remember this and “Rocky Ground” from the tournament because some huge dumbass drafted them. Mindblowing.

[oasisfan35]

"Devils and Dust" has some superbly written songs on it, but Bruce's delivery is so dry and noncommittal on most of them that it's a really dreary album to sit through, I'd imagine impossibly so if you have no taste for acoustic/folk or narrative-driven music. "Tom Joad" is kind of the same way.

I tend to enjoy D&D practically for those reasons and 'Joad' as well, I just take the album listen under the guise of an almost beaten man just hanging on; very much the opposite of Bruce's stage presence during a full band gig. That aspect just draws me in a bit further. Funnily I thought of the D&D acoustic tour on the ride in and tossed on the 'Love, Tears & Mystery' comp when I got in to work this morning. Storytellers was around this time too which I thoroughly enjoy and recommend.

[LoathedVermin72]

“Rocky Ground” is seriously unlistenable

[LoathedVermin72]

LOHAD sounds very much like U2. Not in a good away.

[LoathedVermin72]

Holy shit WTF is “We are Alive”

This album is bad

[LoathedVermin72]

“Swallowed Up” is way more interesting than anything that made the album. Beautiful song.

[LoathedVermin72]

Wow, he’s really swingin’ for the fences on High Hopes.

[Kevin Davis]

"Devils and Dust" has some superbly written songs on it, but Bruce's delivery is so dry and noncommittal on most of them that it's a really dreary album to sit through, I'd imagine impossibly so if you have no taste for acoustic/folk or narrative-driven music. "Tom Joad" is kind of the same way.

I tend to enjoy D&D practically for those reasons and 'Joad' as well, I just take the album listen under the guise of an almost beaten man just hanging on; very much the opposite of Bruce's stage presence during a full band gig. That aspect just draws me in a bit further. Funnily I thought of the D&D acoustic tour on the ride in and tossed on the 'Love, Tears & Mystery' comp when I got in to work this morning. Storytellers was around this time too which I thoroughly enjoy and recommend.

The D&D solo tour was extraordinary, a career retrospective that saw Bruce engage with his audience and his material in a way that reflected his genuine artistry arguably more than anything else he's done in his career. There are a few songs on the D&D album that convey that feeling you describe, but as a whole the songwriting, delivery, and presentation just fall short for me. Pull the highlights off and put them on a more eclectic album and I think their impact would be heightened -- as it is, the overall album feels too monotonous for any one song to have its full
potential impact, yet not monotonous enough for it to succeed as an aesthetic statement like "Nebraska" or (to a far lesser extent) "Tom Joad." It's the kind of record he has the chops to pull off, but it just isn't strong enough.

What is the comp you reference? I'd be interested in checking that out...