LetMeSleep wrote:Any ideas of where he'll head next? I feel the celebratory E Street bonanza touring band may have reached it's end (unless he flogs it to death). Could it be an acoustic album or another project like the Seeger Sessions?
And the worst decision about High Hopes was making it an album. It should have been a couple of throwaway eps. Like he did with those 4 outtakes.
The recent E Street gigs have been fantastic though a break would be nice, however given they've already lost two original members, time pressing on might prompt another tour; and if so, good lord I hope without Morello.
I was looking forward to an acoustic effort when Wrecking Ball dropped, which geared me lukewarm upon release but I came around to really enjoy that album. I believe he had mentioned working toward an acoustic album during the Wrecking Ball press.
Lament wrote:I feel like Long Walk Home towers over every single thing he's done post-1987, with only My City of Ruins, You're Missing, and the studio version of Land of Hope and Dreams even belonging in the conversation.
I agree with this. Long Walk Home is a "modern" Springsteen classic.
I'm also in the camp that Magic is the best thing he's done since 87.
1. Born to Run
2. Born in the USA
3. Darkness on the Edge of Town
4. Tunnel of Love
5. Magic
6. Nebraska
7. The River
8. The Rising
9. The Wild, The Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle
10. Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ
11. Devils and Dust
12. The Ghost of Tom Joad
13. Wrecking Ball
14. Working on A Dream
15. High Hopes
The haven't really paid much attention to the 3 not listed (Seeger, Human Touch, Lucky Town). IMO only the last two albums listed are duds.
I'm listening to Working on a Dream for the first time right now (which, though I'm not very far into it, I feel like is going to be my favorite post-BITU Bruce album). What the hell is up with the production/mastering? Is it just me, or are there weird volume shifts all over this? At the beginning of "Outlaw Pete", the music gets a little quieter whenever Bruce starts singing. And the opening drum burst of "My Lucky Day" is louder than when the rest of the music kicks in immediately after. Same with the intro of the title track. What's the deal? Just BOB being terrible?
"A Night with the Jersey Devil" is quite the outlier in Bruce's catalog. Can we please get a creepy Bruce album full of songs about werewolves and monsters?
Haven't listened to WOAD in years. You've inspired me. Let's Actually Listen...
Completely forgot that Outlaw Pete OPENS THE ALBUM. Lol. The title alone has it dead on arrival. He could have picked anything other than "Pete" for Christ's sake. Outlaw Dave, ftw. Super overwrought, wannabe opus with some redeeming organ. I couldn't make it all the way through. Next.
My Lucky Day - yeah I really don't like the production on this thing. The drums are too airy. This song's pretty good - the chorus has got some real energy.
Title track has always been solid. Makes me realize this album should've been produced by Jeff Lynne. Chorus is full-on Orbison.
Queen of the Supermarket - music from a bad Aldi's commercial. Lyrics worse than Outlaw Dave. Next!
What Love Can Do - this is okay. Can't muster up too much feeling either way.
This Life - Bruce the lost Beach Boy. Kind of a distant cousin to Girls in Their Summer Clothes, which was approximately 7 zillion times better than this.
Good Eye - this has got a really weird volume issue to it, like LV pointed out. Sounds like the song on the opening credits of an HBO show that got cancelled after season one.
Tomorrow Never Knows - This song thought it had half a chance and then Bruce went and named it after a timeless Beatles track and that was all she wrote. Song title suicide. It's got a good beat and I could have a picnic to it. Throwaway.
Life Itself - I'm bored. Is that a guitar solo played backwards?
Kingdom of Days - lost cut from latter day aborted Ringo Starr album.
Surprise Surprise - music from a Viagra commercial. This thing is way too featherweight. BOB did it no favors. Maybe he hates Bruce?
The Last Carnival - this is kinda nice. Starts intimate. Absolutely doesn't need the backing vocals though. Buzzkill city. What the fuck were they thinking with those last twenty seconds?
The Wrestler - good song with a nice amount of ache. Doesn't sound like the rest of the album. Did he do this separately for the movie and then throw it in here?
Yeah, sorry, I still don't really like this album at all. It's hard to believe it's the same guy that bookended this with Magic and Wrecking Ball. Oh well, they can't all be winners. As I said before, I'm just grateful he's putting stuff out at a good clip these days.
And I really like the album. A lot. I'm totally into the light, poppy sound. However, the only thing holding it back is that awful, awful production. I mean, even a quiet, somber song like "The Wrestler" is annoyingly brickwalled. WTF is that shit??? I agree about "Outlaw Pete", though - good song, but that name is goofy and distracting.
These were my feelings on "Working on a Dream" from earlier in the thread:
Kevin Davis wrote:I think "Outlaw Pete" and "Queen of the Supermarket" are ludicrous and among the worst songs of Bruce's career. They do "Working on a Dream" the disservice of causing it to appear ambitious, and they make the remaining (considerably better but also deliberately minor) tracks feel half-assed for not being up to challenge. But I skip those two songs and enjoy the record quite a bit. It plays like a kind of victory lap for "Magic," and I wouldn't be surprised if many of its tracks were leftovers that didn't make the cut the first time, but I liked "Magic" enough to rummage through its trash. I'd rate it at least a 6/10, acknowledging the songs for what they are.
Kevin Davis wrote:I'll admit that I have a soft spot for "Working on a Dream," as it came out a couple days after my first daughter was born, and I'll always remember sitting up with her at night during her first week home and listening to it on my headphones, or softly in the background on the stereo. A handful of those tracks have that airy, sing-songy quality not uncommon to children's songs--I remember at least a few times walking her around the house singing her some self-penned nonsense set to the tune of "Surprise Surprise" to calm her down. I probably like it a bit more than "Wrecking Ball" overall actually, though "Wrecking Ball" probably has higher highs
Pretty much how I still feel. I really love "Tomorrow Never Knows" -- it is slighter than slight, and feels like it could drift off on the breeze. I don't know what "the Tildenberry tracks" are but I love how he sings that line.
"Outlaw Pete" and "Queen of the Supermarket" definitely feel like outliers on the album. They seem bigger, more sweeping than the other songs. But both are severely damaged by their lyrics - the former by the silly repetition of the titular name, and the latter by absymal, overly literal lyrics from beginning to end.
Wow, nice! Seems like a Tom Waits homage right down to his hand motions in the video. I wish he could have achieved the same effect without recycling the "Mannish Boy" riff for the millionth time, but what a great effect -- reminds me of the versions of "Reason to Believe" from the '05 tour, with the bullet mic.
I need to hit iTunes one of these days and do a roundup of stray Bruce tracks.
Kevin Davis wrote:These were my feelings on "Working on a Dream" from earlier in the thread:
Kevin Davis wrote:I think "Outlaw Pete" and "Queen of the Supermarket" are ludicrous and among the worst songs of Bruce's career. They do "Working on a Dream" the disservice of causing it to appear ambitious, and they make the remaining (considerably better but also deliberately minor) tracks feel half-assed for not being up to challenge. But I skip those two songs and enjoy the record quite a bit. It plays like a kind of victory lap for "Magic," and I wouldn't be surprised if many of its tracks were leftovers that didn't make the cut the first time, but I liked "Magic" enough to rummage through its trash. I'd rate it at least a 6/10, acknowledging the songs for what they are.
Kevin Davis wrote:I'll admit that I have a soft spot for "Working on a Dream," as it came out a couple days after my first daughter was born, and I'll always remember sitting up with her at night during her first week home and listening to it on my headphones, or softly in the background on the stereo. A handful of those tracks have that airy, sing-songy quality not uncommon to children's songs--I remember at least a few times walking her around the house singing her some self-penned nonsense set to the tune of "Surprise Surprise" to calm her down. I probably like it a bit more than "Wrecking Ball" overall actually, though "Wrecking Ball" probably has higher highs
Pretty much how I still feel. I really love "Tomorrow Never Knows" -- it is slighter than slight, and feels like it could drift off on the breeze. I don't know what "the Tildenberry tracks" are but I love how he sings that line.
That's cool you have a memory to hang it on.
I just could never really connect with this album.
LoathedVermin72 wrote:"Outlaw Pete" and "Queen of the Supermarket" definitely feel like outliers on the album. They seem bigger, more sweeping than the other songs. But both are severely damaged by their lyrics - the former by the silly repetition of the titular name, and the latter by absymal, overly literal lyrics from beginning to end.
I feel they were aiming for a lighter and poppier album after Magic but those 2 songs shouldn't have been on the album. Nor should The Wrestler. It is less a scrapbook than HH but it never feels like an album.
What Love Can Do is a great songpretty good song though. And a few others are pleasant enough.
I think he was going for the big lush 60s sound on Working On A Dream, but he already nailed it in the previous album Magic with Girls In Their Summer Clothes and Your Own Worst Enemy.
It's funny that one of his best albums and his worst album were released just over a year apart.
"A man who doesn't spend time with the Jamily can never be a real man," - Don Corelone
He claimed that WOAD was the first album sessions that were done here and there whilst touring as opposed to a dedicated recording session for an album. It shows. Same with High Hopes.
I think KD said it that there are probably more than a few Magic leftovers on WOAD.
