The LA Times today had an interesting observation that Springsteen is a seminal contributor to the Rock Album pantheon. His records were carefully and meticulously crafted for the deep listen. Now he's trying to make it in the grabcan hodgepodge world of singles and, truth be told, he doesn't have that ability. In preparation for this record I listened to the entire studio canon from Greetings to Magic. I blurbed a bit on facebook and I girded myself. See, I really thought Magic was a mess. A poor collection of songs with no coherent vision or resonance. Ditties, at best. Dream is a few notches below Magic. It's as though it was created by the SpringsTron 2000. Able to craft songs in the Bruce Springsteen idiom but with none of the power or grit. Forget Outlaw Pete, an egregious ripping off of Kiss's I was Made for Loving You and poorly devised "epic" track. Wait, let's not forget it for a second. Bruce has done these 8 minutes Opuses before: Jungleland, arguably one of the most interesting and powerful tracks of the 70s and Drive all Night, a claustrophobic cautionary from The River. But Outlaw Pete??!?! This is garbage. GAR-BAGE. And then there's the matter of Queen of the Supermarket. Written by someone who, it would seem, has been so cloistered as to not even enter a supermarket. Bruce's infatuation with being the voice of the Middle Class has always been suspect. A concoction of Landau's to take the Dylan wannabe and turn him into a superstar. It worked for a long while, mainly because Bruce was working out his own demons with his father and his childhood. He tossed off that mantle in the 90s as he got awards for songs he could write in his sleep, like Streets of Philadelphia. The Rising was the first time in more than a decade that Bruce had something to say and it worked. By Magic and now Working on a Dream, the man is so divorced from those working class "roots" that he almost seems glib. I would always jump at the chance to see him in concert but, knowing that he doesn't care for L.A. (where I live and his concerts are always lackluster and not well thought out or generous) and that fully half of the concert will be filled with crap from this album, I'm gonna have to take a pass. I beg you to go back and listen to this record again with a decidedly objective ear. Being a Springsteen fan all too often clouds the critical ear. (Being from NJ I totally get it. He's a god, etc.....) I think if you revisit this one in a short while you will come to the same conclusions-that Working on a Dream would be better if you never woke up and discovered you had paid for this nightmare.
kshane
· 9 months ago
Allen, thanks for your comment. I listened to the album all the way through at least five times before I wrote this piece, and I've listened since. My feelings have not changed. In fact, repeated listenings have revealed more to like about the album. "Kingdom of Days" is for me one of the most powerful and beautiful songs in the Springsteen canon, and as I said, the title track gets better and better in the context of the album.
I pointed out my bona fides at the start because I was about to slag "Outlaw Pete." I assure you, I am completely objective about Bruce. I have had no love for much of his later career, or behavior. I wasn't a big fan of the Rising, or Magic. They were largely ruined by Brendan O'Brien's production. Of course there were great songs on each, but not a whole album's worth. This album, with the one exception, is much more consistent, and the production isn't nearly as annoying.
mojo
· 9 months ago
Well, if he is going through a Byrds and 1960s phase...those bands were all about grabcan (nice word) singles LPs and not fully flowered albums, right? Booker T & the MG's "Soul Dressing" is the grabcan'niest record I own...and is in my personal top 10 of all time.
I have not heard the album all the way through. Just saying, this notion of "singles anthology" isn't as bad as its cracked up to be.
DwDunphy
· 9 months ago
I do a Tom Petty impression. It's kind of easy: you strain your mouth and jaw into the EEEEEE shape and hold it. You keep your tongue slack in the bottom of your mouth. Practice with songs like "Deliver Me" until you get the right "dee-liv-uhrr mee" enunciation.
Now, all of that is to say that "What Love Can Do" specifically doesn't sound like Springsteen aping Roger McGuinn, but like Tom Petty who made a career out of his inherent Byrd-isms.
Allen
· 9 months ago
Perhaps not, Dw, but the beauty of much of Bruce's work is that there is a cohesiveness to the tracks as collected on an album. This is an artist who painstakingly chose what songs would and would not be included on a record (all too often leaving out "Roulette" in the 80s, why, I know not) and it feels like he's just sort of gotten dodgy. Bruce has a musical idiom, to be sure. He excels at that Bruce sound. Somewhere bridging the gap between 50s trashcan warblers and Journey is the world that Bruce inhabits. (Go with me, this isn't a comparison) I would suggest that his style has been left in the wake of changing musical styles, for the most part and that may have been why so much of his output after the 80s was abysmal. The only time he really resonated and connected with his audience was with The Rising. There was a cohesiveness, not a "concept" album but one informed by events. The River, BitUSA, B2R, Darkness, Nebraska, all of these share that sense of "album" by definition. You wouldn't make a scrapbook of your family and, in the middle, toss in a picture of an office party, would you? You connect to both pictures but the office party one is out of place and would stick out. That's what's going on here. Cohesion has been tossed out the window. Okay, if Bruce was a singles writer then I would say, fine, gmme the best tracks and I'll be on my way, uploading them to the minivan. But he isn't. It doesn't wear on him. Which is why the pastiche nature of these two records and the slapdashed feel of them is annoying. Queen of the Supermarket is better than any other tracks he was writing??? Then, please, god, let us never ever hear those songs. I enjoy a good grabcan record every once in a while. I just expect more than a toss off by this guy.
outsidecounsel
· 9 months ago
"[A]rguably the best rock vocalist in history"?!? I'm not so sure that you can make a case for Springsteen being in the top ten. Lessee, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Orbison belongs somewhere in the top five, Elvis, Paul McCartney, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, maybe Mick Jagger, probably John Lennon, certainly Janis Joplin, arguably Dusty Springfield, Carl Wilson.... and that's not even considering crossover artists like Howlin' Wolf or Muddy Waters, or Ray Charles.
Certainly Bruce belongs on the list, probably somewhere between Burton Cummings and Neil Diamond.
kshane
· 9 months ago
So I'm assuming that you've never heard "Adam Raised A Cain," "Jungleland," or "Kingdom of Days" for that matter.
outsidecounsel
· 9 months ago
"Adam Raised A Cain" and "Jungleland" are well done. I'm not saying Springsteen isn't a fine singer-- a great singer, even. I'm not saying he's one-dimensional, either, although all of the singers on my list are more versatile. What I think I'm getting at is that if a claim is going to be made that a singer is one of the greatest of all time then that singer should meet certain criteria. I'd like to suggest that a sense of swing is important;and an ability with a ballad, as well as with a straight-ahead rocker. I'd like to hear how the singer does with other people's material-- does he (or she) make it his/her own? I want rock singers to be able to demonstrate some facility with the blues-- something Springsteen has not done. If we are talking "greatest in history" for this still young art form I'd like to see evidence that the singer has influenced other great singers. Who has Springsteen influenced? Meatloaf? Have a look at the dozen I reeled off without even pausing. Can you seriously say that Springsteen is a better singer than any of them? By what possible measure? I mean the man no disrespect. He is certainly a powerful singer, and he is able to convey multiple emotions-- although perhaps not the full palette of human feeling.
kshane
· 9 months ago
I love all the artists that you mentioned, and have enormous respect for their contribution. That said, explain to me the diversity of Chuck Berry or Janis Joplin as singers. They were extremely one-note, no pun intended. If you really think about it, so was Orbison. Where is his flat out rock and roll track?
Springsteen has more than proven himself as a ballad singer. One listen to "Racing in the Street" will show that. He has also proven himself an excellent interpreter of other people's material, though the best of that has always come in live performance.
outsidecounsel
· 9 months ago
Check Berry is one of the inventors of the form. He sings straight ahead rockers ("Johnny B. Goode", "Back in the USA"), straight blues, country, callipso, ballads--in his versitility he is more like B.B. King or Elvis than just about any other artist in the form.
Janis handled the rockers, the blues and ballads with consistent excellence. I don't think there has been a woman singer in rock that could do as much so well.
"Racing in the Streets" is not the example I'd have used-- but there are numbers on "The River" that illustrate your point. Again, I'm not saying he's a bad singer- that would be absurd.
EightE1
· 9 months ago
He has certainly done much with what, at first listen at least, is a limited instrument. He's always had the rocks and gravel thing down, but he can also soar, and, to my ears at least, the last couple records have shown more versatility than we're used to hearing from him. Ken picked a good one with "Kingdom of Days" off the new record, but I'd also point to "Thunder Road" (lead and bg vox) and, if you can find it (I'll have to dig up some of mine), live versions of "Youngstown," from Ghost of Tom Joad. I have a bootleg called One Night in Amsterdam or some such thing, from the Tom Joad tour, and what he does with his voice in the tail end of that song is otherworldly.
Rob EightE1
outsidecounsel
· 9 months ago
I need to let go of this, but I just can't. Over the course of about an hour in the car last night and today better singers kept coming up. Sam Cooke. Brian Ferry. Rod Stewart. Levi Stubbs. Probably the singer that everyone cites as the worst, or most irritating-- ladies and gentlemen Mr. Bod Dylan. Freddy Mercury. Van Morrison. Neil Young. In the middle of my reverie "Candy's Room" came on, and you know what? I over-rated Springsteen by putting him with Burton Cummings and Neil Diamond. I'm actually hard pressed to say who Bruce is better than at this point. Phil Lynott? Mark Farner?
Dan
· 9 months ago
I found 2 versions of The Wrestler on the net. One is 3:50 and the other is 5:28. Any idea what that is all about?
kshane
· 9 months ago
The one I have is 3:51.
Malchus
· 9 months ago
The longer one is probably the version used in the actual film. It's longer to cover the entire end credit sequence. Where did you find it because I think having the piano play all the way out at the end instead of the fade out is far more moving.
kshane
· 9 months ago
Good point Scott. I think you're right about that.
Bummer, the file has expired. Would you mind emailing it to me?
Dan
· 9 months ago
No, it was re-upped to a mediafire file. Scroll down the comments on that page.
Malchus
· 9 months ago
This is fantastic. Anyone who loves this song should download the long version of it.
Thanks, Dan.
Elaine
· 9 months ago
I'm listening to the song (long version) for the first time. It's good. I'm sorry to report that my mind goes to the 'movie version' of what I figure the images will show me. That's a bummer. Guess it's the price we pay for advance notice.
My own personal annoyance at the way Bruce says long-A "dance" survives, too.
sigh
EightE1
· 9 months ago
"It’s not easy growing old, a fact that Springsteen acknowledges throughout this record." Good point. I would add that he's acknowledged such in recent interviews, as well. He's pushing 60 (hell, Clarence is 67), he just lost a bandmate he's had for, what, 40 years? It seems to me that records like this one and Magic are less about striking out into the singles market than allowing himself the luxury of releasing more music this late in the game, before it's too late. Isn't that what we all wanted from him when he was taking 5 or 6 years between records?
Magic grew on me with repeated listens, and so has Working on a Dream. There are a couple clunkers ("Outlaw Pete" and "Surprise Surprise"), but I'll deal with them in order to have "My Lucky Day," "Life Itself," "Kingdom of Days" and "The Last Carnival, " just as I was willing to trade "I'll Work for Your Love" and "Magic" for getting to hear "Girls in Their Summer Clothes," "Long Walk Home," and "You'll Be Comin' Down" last time out. Them's is decent trade-offs, to my ears.
Rob EightE1
kshane
· 9 months ago
Great comment Rob. To the great songs from Magic, I would add "Last to Die."
Allen
· 9 months ago
Just another point since I am a huge fan masquerading lately as a Bruce hater. I've read (and agreed) that Outlaw Pete steals its melody from a KISS disco tune and that's horrible enough. What does that say in the shadow of Radio Nowhere's blatant rip of Jenny 8675309)? For that matter, while, yes I hear the Meatloafiness of the back end of Queen of the song I ran out of ideas for....but does no one hear that the BEGINNING of that track sounds suspiciously like the theme to St. Elmo's Fire?? What's the deal, Bruce?
Stu J
· 9 months ago
Interesting review, I have to stick up for Outlaw Pete as a clearly-defined allegory for Bush's America crossing over to Obama's - that although the American public has seen fit to eject the violent and destructive old world in favour of a more peaceable approach, there's still things that can't be written out of history which the country will carry on it's shoulders.
"We cannot undo these things we've done". Particularly after D&D and Magic (the songs) this track opening the album hits me as a kind of mission statement which puts his politics aside for the rest of the album, and I've got to say I love it as a song and musically. Really great stuff, combining the GOTJ obsession with the west with the modern E Street Band. Real one-of-a-kind track for me.
kshane
· 9 months ago
Good analysis Stu. I'm going to keep listening in the hope that maybe this can become an even better album.
Allen
· 9 months ago
D&D? Magic? Perhaps Bruce is telling us something. Maybe he should have called this album "Dragonball Z".
Allen
· 9 months ago
D&D? Magic? Perhaps Bruce is telling us something. Maybe he should have called this album "Dragonball Z".
Stu J
· 9 months ago
Ha ha, I think so. Next up: Bruce Springsteen - Part Man, Part Pokemon
Gary
· 9 months ago
Ken - I believe that Outlaw Pete is a great song. The song uses the western backdrop as a symbol of what we all go through -- trying to live a life without our demons. To one extent or the other, we all struggle to do the right thing. Sometimes we disappoint ourselves. While Outlaw Pete attempted to put his past behind him; his instinctual nature, his history and his very being would not allow him to be successful.
1JOSIGUERRAA
· 3 months ago
I love Bruce, I would very much like he would in Brazil!! kisses!!
1JOSIGUERRAA
· 3 months ago
AMO BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, WAS PART OF MY YOUTH I THINK IT IS WONDERFUL IN ALL THAT HAVE MUCH IN MU ORKUT VIDEO DELE OHC IT ALL IN GOOD NEED TO COME IN BRAZIL, I WANT TO KNOW YOU PERSONALLY... KISSES
All Comments
Now he's trying to make it in the grabcan hodgepodge world of singles and, truth be told, he doesn't have that ability.
In preparation for this record I listened to the entire studio canon from Greetings to Magic. I blurbed a bit on facebook and I girded myself. See, I really thought Magic was a mess. A poor collection of songs with no coherent vision or resonance.
Ditties, at best.
Dream is a few notches below Magic. It's as though it was created by the SpringsTron 2000. Able to craft songs in the Bruce Springsteen idiom but with none of the power or grit.
Forget Outlaw Pete, an egregious ripping off of Kiss's I was Made for Loving You and poorly devised "epic" track. Wait, let's not forget it for a second. Bruce has done these 8 minutes Opuses before:
Jungleland, arguably one of the most interesting and powerful tracks of the 70s and Drive all Night, a claustrophobic cautionary from The River.
But Outlaw Pete??!?! This is garbage.
GAR-BAGE.
And then there's the matter of Queen of the Supermarket. Written by someone who, it would seem, has been so cloistered as to not even enter a supermarket.
Bruce's infatuation with being the voice of the Middle Class has always been suspect. A concoction of Landau's to take the Dylan wannabe and turn him into a superstar. It worked for a long while, mainly because Bruce was working out his own demons with his father and his childhood.
He tossed off that mantle in the 90s as he got awards for songs he could write in his sleep, like Streets of Philadelphia.
The Rising was the first time in more than a decade that Bruce had something to say and it worked.
By Magic and now Working on a Dream, the man is so divorced from those working class "roots" that he almost seems glib.
I would always jump at the chance to see him in concert but, knowing that he doesn't care for L.A. (where I live and his concerts are always lackluster and not well thought out or generous) and that fully half of the concert will be filled with crap from this album, I'm gonna have to take a pass.
I beg you to go back and listen to this record again with a decidedly objective ear.
Being a Springsteen fan all too often clouds the critical ear. (Being from NJ I totally get it. He's a god, etc.....)
I think if you revisit this one in a short while you will come to the same conclusions-that Working on a Dream would be better if you never woke up and discovered you had paid for this nightmare.
I pointed out my bona fides at the start because I was about to slag "Outlaw Pete." I assure you, I am completely objective about Bruce. I have had no love for much of his later career, or behavior. I wasn't a big fan of the Rising, or Magic. They were largely ruined by Brendan O'Brien's production. Of course there were great songs on each, but not a whole album's worth. This album, with the one exception, is much more consistent, and the production isn't nearly as annoying.
I have not heard the album all the way through. Just saying, this notion of "singles anthology" isn't as bad as its cracked up to be.
Now, all of that is to say that "What Love Can Do" specifically doesn't sound like Springsteen aping Roger McGuinn, but like Tom Petty who made a career out of his inherent Byrd-isms.
Bruce has a musical idiom, to be sure. He excels at that Bruce sound. Somewhere bridging the gap between 50s trashcan warblers and Journey is the world that Bruce inhabits. (Go with me, this isn't a comparison)
I would suggest that his style has been left in the wake of changing musical styles, for the most part and that may have been why so much of his output after the 80s was abysmal.
The only time he really resonated and connected with his audience was with The Rising. There was a cohesiveness, not a "concept" album but one informed by events.
The River, BitUSA, B2R, Darkness, Nebraska, all of these share that sense of "album" by definition.
You wouldn't make a scrapbook of your family and, in the middle, toss in a picture of an office party, would you? You connect to both pictures but the office party one is out of place and would stick out.
That's what's going on here. Cohesion has been tossed out the window. Okay, if Bruce was a singles writer then I would say, fine, gmme the best tracks and I'll be on my way, uploading them to the minivan.
But he isn't. It doesn't wear on him.
Which is why the pastiche nature of these two records and the slapdashed feel of them is annoying.
Queen of the Supermarket is better than any other tracks he was writing??? Then, please, god, let us never ever hear those songs.
I enjoy a good grabcan record every once in a while. I just expect more than a toss off by this guy.
Certainly Bruce belongs on the list, probably somewhere between Burton Cummings and Neil Diamond.
Springsteen has more than proven himself as a ballad singer. One listen to "Racing in the Street" will show that. He has also proven himself an excellent interpreter of other people's material, though the best of that has always come in live performance.
Janis handled the rockers, the blues and ballads with consistent excellence. I don't think there has been a woman singer in rock that could do as much so well.
"Racing in the Streets" is not the example I'd have used-- but there are numbers on "The River" that illustrate your point. Again, I'm not saying he's a bad singer- that would be absurd.
Rob
EightE1
Thanks, Dan.
My own personal annoyance at the way Bruce says long-A "dance" survives, too.
sigh
Magic grew on me with repeated listens, and so has Working on a Dream. There are a couple clunkers ("Outlaw Pete" and "Surprise Surprise"), but I'll deal with them in order to have "My Lucky Day," "Life Itself," "Kingdom of Days" and "The Last Carnival, " just as I was willing to trade "I'll Work for Your Love" and "Magic" for getting to hear "Girls in Their Summer Clothes," "Long Walk Home," and "You'll Be Comin' Down" last time out. Them's is decent trade-offs, to my ears.
Rob
EightE1
I've read (and agreed) that Outlaw Pete steals its melody from a KISS disco tune and that's horrible enough.
What does that say in the shadow of Radio Nowhere's blatant rip of Jenny 8675309)?
For that matter, while, yes I hear the Meatloafiness of the back end of Queen of the song I ran out of ideas for....but does no one hear that the BEGINNING of that track sounds suspiciously like the theme to St. Elmo's Fire??
What's the deal, Bruce?
"We cannot undo these things we've done". Particularly after D&D and Magic (the songs) this track opening the album hits me as a kind of mission statement which puts his politics aside for the rest of the album, and I've got to say I love it as a song and musically. Really great stuff, combining the GOTJ obsession with the west with the modern E Street Band. Real one-of-a-kind track for me.
THAT HAVE MUCH IN MU ORKUT VIDEO DELE OHC IT ALL IN GOOD NEED TO COME
IN BRAZIL, I WANT TO KNOW YOU PERSONALLY... KISSES