Bruce Springsteen

[wease]

Either I’m on Fire or Lift Me Up is my favorite. IOF is a flawless song that absolutely should not be longer.

IOF or Secret Garden for me. Cover Me would be 3rd. I’m by no means a connoisseur, tho. I’m not really a huge fan at all.

[liebzz]

Born in the USA - my overall rating A (I can just see Brice in the studio looking dead straight at his band saying “we’re gonna make this record and it’s going to be HUGE. Damn thing runs like a greatest hits record)

Songs to convert tree_: Cover Me, I’m On Fire, My Hometown

Also good listening (really the rest but I will restrain myself): Born in the USA, Working on the Highway, No Surrender, Bobby Jean, I’m Goin’ Down, Dancing in the Dark (pure pop genius even though easily his most gratingly overplayed and overhyped song - still mind blowing live as well)

[liebzz]

Tree: “Not really a fan, where might I potentially change that?”

RM: “Listen to every single dong.”

I’ve kept the must hears on each album to 2-3 songs each...I just really needed a good excuse to take this journey through a great catalogue.

[tragabigzanda]

Top 10 maybe?
Hello Morning
Close Captioned
The Kill
Place/Position
Do You Like Me?
Latest Disgrace
Recap Modotti
Nightshop
Break
Life & Limb

I'd maybe bump Life & Limb for Epic Problem

[liebzz]

Tunnel of Love - my overall rating B (there’s a lot off strong songs sitting here but the synthesizer or keys or whatever it is doesn’t do it for me much. A song like Valentine’s Day would be great with just that acoustic guitar, bass, drums and vocals but gets sort of ruined in the wall of weird keys hanging around. I think this is a microcosm for this album)

Songs to convert tree_: Ain’t Got You, Spare Parts

Also good listening: Tougher Than the Rest, Walk Like a Man, Two Faces, One Step Up, Brilliant Disguise (many of these are essential without some added something that throws me off)

[liebzz]

Human Touch - my overall rating D (I can’t remember the last time I heard this album and I don’t think I may ever hear it again. Everything is well overdone and possibly compensating for the lack of inspired writing. The songs, to my ears at least, range from average at best and probably low end of any other album to downright embarrassing - Pony Boy might be worse than an ill conceived b-side.)

Songs to convert tree_: none

Also good listening: maybe Human Touch, All or Nothing At All, or the Long Goodbye could cut it somewhere sometime but it’s really just the top end of generic.

[LoathedVermin72]

At least half of Human Touch is great. A few songs are top tier Bruce.

[LoathedVermin72]

Pony Boy truly is godawful though

[LetMeSleep]

Pony Boy truly is godawful though

Thank god.

[liebzz]

Pony Boy truly is godawful though

Thank god.

Man’s Job is also quite cringeworthy, though not as patently ridiculous. It’s really fascinating because Bruce’s voice sounds good, the chords are there, but there’s a lack of storytelling in the manner that Springsteen delivers, where he can transport you somewhere else and place you right in someone else’s spirit. That essence just isn’t there. And to top it off, and song that threatens to bring that power is immediately deflated by weird instrumental effects that turn the song into a parody of itself. 57 Channels could have been a decent enough tongue in cheek nod to the times, but becomes cruelly hokey and stupid with the sound effects. Again, it’s a microcosm to me for the album.

Note that I purposefully stopped at Human Touch last night so that this evening I could listen to Lucky Town without attaching it to Human Touch, which I think would drag down the experience.

[liebzz]

Bonus!

The Ties That Bind - my overall rating A/A- (this was the originally submitted album to follow Darkness on the Edge of Town that ultimately got expanded upon and released as The River and included on the expanded River boxed set. Whereas The River makes this grand attempt and encapsulating life through the lense of small victories, life’s determination and it’s failures, The Ties That Bind is a bleak (suicidal in its final turn) look at disintegrated characters only held together by broken ties. Where the title song to this album on the River feels like the larger summary for all of life, here unchanged it instead feels like chains bound around the characters’ ankles. Context also sheds like on other tracks to survive to The River - Hungry Heart unchanged in context highlights this character’s depressing story rather than the quasi-anthemic quality it has on The River. I Wanna Marry You comes across much more sinister and creepy here rather than a weird crush on the River - all on context. The first arrangement of You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch) is superior here as a moment of levity amongst the sadness (carries a rockabilly rhythm that gives it a more harmless aesthetic), though I think that Stolen Car sounds better on The River. Loose End closes out the album in such a bleak manner that there’s no redemption, something nearly all of Springsteen characters share, even the murderers, crooked cops and gamblers to come on Nebraska.)

Songs to convert tree_: You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch), The River (in context), The Ties That Bind (in context), Loose End

Also good listening: The Price You Pay (in context), Be True, Hungry Heart, I Wanna Marry You (in context)

[JuanHamm]

Did tree ever listen to LVs mix?

[tree_]

Not yet. I listened to a few songs on the new album and didn't like how he was singing so switched to Radiohead. He sounded like he was doing a comical impression of himself. I'll get to the mix sometime this week and report back my findings.

[liebzz]

Lucky Town - my overall rating B-/C+ (massive improvement from Human Touch, but the powerful imagery that makes Springsteen still isn’t much present. There’s really no moment where any songs soar, but neither is there a floor).

Songs to convert tree_: none

Also good listening: Lucky Town, The Big Muddy, Soulds of the Departed, My Beautiful Reward

[evenslow]

Christ, I can't keep up with this thread. For all those waiting and wondering about my personal favorite Bruce song it is Tenth Avenue Freeze Out.

[LetMeSleep]

Christ, I can't keep up with this thread. For all those waiting and wondering about my personal favorite Bruce song it is Tenth Avenue Freeze Out.

Whoa, don't stress out tree, man.

[evenslow]

Christ, I can't keep up with this thread. For all those waiting and wondering about my personal favorite Bruce song it is Tenth Avenue Freeze Out.

Whoa, don't stress out tree, man.

Fine, it's Something In The Night.

[LetMeSleep]

Christ, I can't keep up with this thread. For all those waiting and wondering about my personal favorite Bruce song it is Tenth Avenue Freeze Out.

Whoa, don't stress out tree, man.

Fine, it's Something In The Night.

Too many songs.

[evenslow]

Christ, I can't keep up with this thread. For all those waiting and wondering about my personal favorite Bruce song it is Tenth Avenue Freeze Out.

Whoa, don't stress out tree, man.

Fine, it's Something In The Night.

Too many songs.

What's your personal fav song LMS? (sorry if I missed it)

[LetMeSleep]

For mood, tone and execution it's You're Missing.

Most often played lately (last 5 years) would be Ain't Good Enough For You or Racing In The Streets '78.