Bruce Springsteen

JimmyB wrote:

You know what I want to hear Bruce Cover? "Summer Of 69"

Do you just want to hear everyone cover that song or something?

I was only going for artists who I think would do a good job on it. Since Bruce has already covered a Bryan Adams song-why not his other most known song.

BossTime wrote:

Rolling Stone posted a new article with the full interview with Bruce about High Hopes.  He mentions at one point about Brian calling him to record either The Wall or a similar song and Bruce kind of dashed his hopes and told him the E Street Band had just done it.

Which is strange, because I can't really see Brian trying to tackle Springsteen material as of late.

Barresi wrote:

BossTime wrote:

Rolling Stone posted a new article with the full interview with Bruce about High Hopes.  He mentions at one point about Brian calling him to record either The Wall or a similar song and Bruce kind of dashed his hopes and told him the E Street Band had just done it.

Which is strange, because I can't really see Brian trying to tackle Springsteen material as of late.

Here's the actual snippet from the interview:

Was there one point during the making of this record where you realized, "Yes, I have a record here?"
Yeah. We cut a few sessions on the road and I said, "Well, these sound good." I said, "Okay, we’re taking it one step at a time. We have these fresh sessions of 'American Skin' and 'Ghost of Tom Joad' and 'High Hopes' and 'Just Like Fire Would' and then I have this body of work that I’ve been searching for the context for. These things blend together." Suddenly, it began to feel very fresh and fit together quite well.

I had songs that I really liked. I had the song "The Wall" that I also thought was a really, really good song that just didn’t go on The Rising or the record that came after it, that I had been kind of holding. It’s funny, because Brian Fallon from Gaslight Anthem called just a little bit after we cut it saying,  "Hey, I’ve been thinking about cutting this song." And I said, "We just cut it for our next record."

That song was kind of out there under the radar, but it was just a song that meant a lot to me. If I keep working on things, they turn into something of their own. You may not meet the right person to finish something for a decade, or you may meet them tomorrow. An outgrowth of having a long career is that I have a lot of interesting things around that I get to revisit and, someday, get to the place where they become something that I want to do next.

Yeah, I went and found it. It's a really great interview. But this must have been some point during 2013. What does "cut" mean, exactly? That Brian wanted to record it?

JimmyB wrote:

You know what I want to hear Bruce Cover? "Summer Of 69"

Has the world not been subjected to Summer of '69 enough?

sandyangryjohnnyormary? wrote:

JimmyB wrote:

You know what I want to hear Bruce Cover? "Summer Of 69"

Has the world not been subjected to Summer of '69 enough?

Rather more of Bryan Adams song "Summer of 69" instead of more Beiber,kesha or miley. I just realized how dirty that originally sounded.    

sandyangryjohnnyormary? wrote:

Thunder Peel wrote:

I think it's just okay. It has some great tracks and a lot of forgettable ones, at least to my ears. It isn't bad by any stretch but it sounds like what it is, which is a hodgepodge of random tracks that don't necessarily form a coherent whole.

I like about three songs on this, and one of them isn't even Bruce's.  I think I try to like modern Bruce way more than I actually like modern Bruce.  Kind of a bummer.    

That's a bit how I feel too. I love The Rising and Magic but everything else is very patchy for me. None of the other albums are bad, per say, but I don't find myself connecting with them the way I do with his 70's and 80's stuff. I think it may be that he's become more political and heavy-handed with some of his writing, whereas in the early days he was a bit more vague in those areas and focused more on broad storytelling. I like the storytelling Bruce better than the activist Bruce. It's just my personal preference.  

Barresi wrote:

Yeah, I went and found it. It's a really great interview. But this must have been some point during 2013. What does "cut" mean, exactly? That Brian wanted to record it?

Yeah, that's what it means. I've noticed Bruce almost always uses cut and very rarely ever says "record".

Jack wrote:

Barresi wrote:

Yeah, I went and found it. It's a really great interview. But this must have been some point during 2013. What does "cut" mean, exactly? That Brian wanted to record it?

Yeah, that's what it means. I've noticed Bruce almost always uses cut and very rarely ever says "record".

Hm, interesting. Thanks!

Also, here's an interview Bruce did with E Street Radio (I think yesterday) for those interested. Pretty insightful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpiSZ78pD68

Thunder Peel wrote:

sandyangryjohnnyormary? wrote:

Thunder Peel wrote:

I think it's just okay. It has some great tracks and a lot of forgettable ones, at least to my ears. It isn't bad by any stretch but it sounds like what it is, which is a hodgepodge of random tracks that don't necessarily form a coherent whole.

I like about three songs on this, and one of them isn't even Bruce's.  I think I try to like modern Bruce way more than I actually like modern Bruce.  Kind of a bummer.    

That's a bit how I feel too. I love The Rising and Magic but everything else is very patchy for me. None of the other albums are bad, per say, but I don't find myself connecting with them the way I do with his 70's and 80's stuff. I think it may be that he's become more political and heavy-handed with some of his writing, whereas in the early days he was a bit more vague in those areas and focused more on broad storytelling. I like the storytelling Bruce better than the activist Bruce. It's just my personal preference.  

It's funny because I like all of Dylan's political and topical songs, but I can't make it through two chants of 41 Shots without wanting to throw the disc away.

sandyangryjohnnyormary? wrote:

Thunder Peel wrote:

sandyangryjohnnyormary? wrote:

Thunder Peel wrote:

I think it's just okay. It has some great tracks and a lot of forgettable ones, at least to my ears. It isn't bad by any stretch but it sounds like what it is, which is a hodgepodge of random tracks that don't necessarily form a coherent whole.

I like about three songs on this, and one of them isn't even Bruce's.  I think I try to like modern Bruce way more than I actually like modern Bruce.  Kind of a bummer.    

That's a bit how I feel too. I love The Rising and Magic but everything else is very patchy for me. None of the other albums are bad, per say, but I don't find myself connecting with them the way I do with his 70's and 80's stuff. I think it may be that he's become more political and heavy-handed with some of his writing, whereas in the early days he was a bit more vague in those areas and focused more on broad storytelling. I like the storytelling Bruce better than the activist Bruce. It's just my personal preference.  

It's funny because I like all of Dylan's political and topical songs, but I can't make it through two chants of 41 Shots without wanting to throw the disc away.  

I get what you're saying with 41 shots. While I agree with the idea behind the song, and honestly in general I agree with Bruce's political views, there's something about SOME of his more preachy songs that I just don't like, and that one's not a favorite of mine.

I think part of it is Dylan's style vs Bruce's. Dylan's not an in your face, larger than life, performer and Bruce is. Both their styles work, but I think that's why Dylan can get away with being preachy without seeming annoyingly self-righteous.

I thought 41 Shots was a great song, probably my favorite on the album. Good to have such a well done studio version. Personally, Bruce's political songs I really enjoy especially when they're fairly poetic and not extremely blunt, like American Skin or a lot of the Magic album. Bruce's political views when he's just talking are definitely preachy and not super entertaining, but I can deal with the political songs  

i dunno why anyone would have a problem with 41 Shots.

in addition to saying that the guy got unfairly shot and killed, it takes a pretty honest look at the emotions and thought processes of both the police and a fictional woman (Lena) who is dealing with the aftermath.

MKULTRA wrote:

i dunno why anyone would have a problem with 41 Shots.

in addition to saying that the guy got unfairly shot and killed, it takes a pretty honest look at the emotions and thought processes of both the police and a fictional woman (Lena) who is dealing with the aftermath.

It touched a nerve big time when it premiered on the Reunion tour. The police union in NYC took major offense. Their beef was that the officers who killed Dialo where acquitted of any crime (as if that immunized the tragedy from social commentary). They accused him of trying to profit off of the incident (which was pretty rich seeing the song had not even been released at that point).

I was embarrassed by the audible booing during the shows at Madison Square Garden in 2000.

The New York Times was even critical of Bruce when this song came out by calling him a "limousine liberal" in an editorial.

MKULTRA wrote:

i dunno why anyone would have a problem with 41 Shots.

in addition to saying that the guy got unfairly shot and killed, it takes a pretty honest look at the emotions and thought processes of both the police and a fictional woman (Lena) who is dealing with the aftermath.

The lyrics are just obvious and lazy to me. It sounds like Bruce trying to send a political message rather than write a worthwhile song for the song's sake. Hattie Carroll...now that's how it's done.

I'm really enjoying the album on first listen.  There are a few kinda duds for me.  I agree with a previous poster that a couple tracks sound like the Boss in the 90s, which wasn't a great time for him, but I also think they sound like the better of the 90s tracks (some were still pretty solid).

The only song I feel complicated about is Frankie Fell in Love.  It has super corny lyrics, but I still enjoy it a lot just because 1) the music is fun, and 2) the cheesiness is a straight up guilty pleasure.  "One and one make three, ah, that's why it's poetry." THAT'S SO FUCKING CUTE.  I hate liking it, but I do.

I've only heard the album once, so everything below is subject to change.

So far the tracks I really like are: Harry's Place (fuck fuckity fuck fuck), American Skin (I liked it when it first came out but Morello's guitar work kills, on both this song and the album overall), Just Like Fire Would (goddamn that song is catchy), Frankie Fell in Love (*blushes*), Ghost of Tom Joad (It's impossible to release a bad version of this...wait a second...FUCK YOU NICKELBACK.), Dream Baby Dream (goh'jis).

Recordings I'm not a fan of: Heaven's Wall (I didn't know Bruce did a B-side for River of Dreams!), This is Your Sword (not really a bad song, but sounds better suited for use as an introductory example in the hypothetical "How to Write a Rock Song" by Bruce Springsteen, which annoys me), The Wall (I want to like this song so much because I respect the subject matter, but this is one of the tracks that reminds me what a compilation this album is.  Wasn't a big fan of it on the D&D tour and was hoping for more to be done with it.)

The in-betweeners: High Hopes (it's fun enough...), Down in the Hole (I like the song overall a lot, just not the arrangement itself.  I'd like to hear the music a little heavier.  YOU CAN USE OTHER INSTRUMENTS BESIDES AN ORGAN AND STILL BE SENTIMENTAL.  Even when it picks up it's still organsorgansorgans), Hunter of Invisible Game (solid, but I think this might be a mood song for me.  Don't foresee myself listening to it each time through)

This new record is terrible. Such a let down. Morello is completly out of step since the demise of RATM. At least I could enjoy Wrecking ball just a little, but this... Also, do we really need another subpar version of Ghost of Tom Joad, which the original version is awesome, and the RATM cover was very good ?
Dear Bruce, kick out Brendan O'Brien, get back to some guitar driven music please.

I'm pretty sure the best thing he could do is hire Brian Fallon to write him a record. THAT would be killer!

The_River wrote:

Dear Bruce, kick out Brendan O'Brien, get back to some guitar driven music please.

Brendan O. hasn't produced a Bruce record since Working on a Dream.

Brendan does Gaslight albums now, remember? Handwritten was Brendan's production....I just hope for the next one, they get away from Brendan's "wall of sound". I like hearing individual instruments-which is a plus on "High Hopes" and "Wrecking Ball" for Bruce's material. I really hope they get around to remastering "Magic"

The_River wrote:

This new record is terrible. Such a let down. Morello is completly out of step since the demise of RATM. At least I could enjoy Wrecking ball just a little, but this... Also, do we really need another subpar version of Ghost of Tom Joad, which the original version is awesome, and the RATM cover was very good ?
Dear Bruce, kick out Brendan O'Brien, get back to some guitar driven music please.

I'm pretty sure the best thing he could do is hire Brian Fallon to write him a record. THAT would be killer!

Magic was one of the most guitar-driven records Bruce has ever made and it was produced by Brendan O'Brien. And as someone said, not all of these are produced by Brendan.

Bruce plays Jazz Fest in New Orleans May 3rd

You guys get what I mean anyway. We all tend to agree.

Go check out all the clips from him on Jimmy Fallon last night....HILARIOUS! Espically the one with the duck question.

Yeah those shows are always such joyous occasions.