Ours Go To 11: Volume 11, My Favorite Bruce Springsteen Songs

Hard to winnow down my very favorites of my favorite artist, but as of right now, these are my Best of the Boss:

1. Backstreets
2. Badlands
3. Thunder Road
4. Born to Run
5. Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
6. The Ties That Bind
7. Darkness on the Edge of Town
8. The Price You Pay
9. Incident on 57th Street
10. Something in the Night
11. Born in the U.S.A.

And a few more
The River
Jungleland
Roulette
My Love Will Not Let You Down
Rendezvous

Here's a link to a Spotify playlist of these songs, and a player you can just listen to here.

Unstill Current: 35 Years Downstream, Bruce Springsteen's 'The River' Continues to Overflow [Spotify Playlist at bottom]

Box Set Review

Bruce Springsteen
The Ties That Bind:
The River Collection
featuring The River album,
numerous outtakes,
a new documentary and
a classic concert DVD
@@@@@

The River, initially released on October 17, 1980, two days after my 12th birthday, was the first Bruce Springsteen album I ever owned.

I probably didn't buy the double-LP set immediately, but as "Hungry Heart" hit the Top 10 in early December--the Boss' first song to do so--it likely wasn't too long thereafter.

Though I hadn't made a point of adding Born to Run or Darkness on the Edge of Town to our family's record collection, I undoubtedly already knew the anthemic "Born to Run" and have never forgotten hearing some WXRT DJs discussing the "poor man wanna be rich, rich man wanna be king, and a king ain't satisfied till he rules everything" lyric from "Badlands" (off Darkness) while visiting Terri Hemmert on a Junior High assignment to "interview someone in a job you admire." (It's possible this was after I already owned The River.)

I believe at the time I was already familiar with the concept of an album as an artistic statement beyond a mere collection of songs; either my dad or I had bought albums like the Eagles' Hotel California, Led Zeppelin's In Through the Out Door, Cheap Trick's At Budokan, ELO's Out of the Blue and Pink Floyd's The Wall for the household, the latter two acquainting me with double albums that weren't soundtracks like Saturday Night Fever or Grease.

Still, with the stark photograph of Bruce on the cover, I remember there being something intense, even intimidating, about The River beyond the poppy lilt of "Hungry Heart," itself a song chronicling familial desertion, loneliness and longing.

Certainly the album's sheer sprawl contributed to this, and I'm sure sides 1&2 of the first LP became much more worn than sides 3&4 of the second.

Reviews I recall reading praised the album's duality of bar band songs and pensive, poignant ballads, the latter coming more so on the second half, so I almost instantly appreciated the album's scope on some level, but it's taken me years to fully digest it.

And even today the low-key, loss-themed, character-driven storytelling of songs like "Point Blank," "Fade Away," "Stolen Car," "Wreck on the Highway" and "Drive All Night" can make for dour listening, en masse.

I now have a far better understanding of Springsteen's oeuvre than I did at 12, and get that the bleak ballads, including "The River" and "Independence Day" not only provided a sonic and/or thematic counterpoint to rockers like "The Ties That Bind," "Jackson Cage," "Two Hearts," "Out in the Streets," "Cadillac Ranch," "Ramrod" and "Hungry Heart," they more so reflected Bruce's ongoing commentary on blue collar America (and his appreciation of classic country music).

Springsteen has often spoken of consciously wanting each of his albums to make a cohesive statement. Not as a concept album, or even clearly defined in its messaging, but perhaps in a more ambiguous overall sense of tonality and feel.

Which helps to explain why he has left oodles of material many others would kill for on the cutting room floor.

Or more accurately, the Columbia Records' vaults.

As a rather hardcore Springsteen fanatic ever since The River, who came to own every album, EP and DVD he officially released, and was aware that several notable songs were never included on his studio albums yet played live or otherwise disseminated--"Because the Night," "Fire," "Pink Cadillac," "Seeds" and "Be True" among them--my mind was seriously blown with the 1998 release of the 4-disc rarities set, Tracks.

It wasn't just that there were 66 songs that, for the most part, had never been released, and in most cases were completely unknown to me.

Sure, there were a handful of alternate versions, such as an acoustic "Born in the U.S.A.," and well-known B-sides like "Pink Cadillac," but even more fascinating than being able to hear "Lost Springsteen" songs I had long heard about--"Rendezvous," "Thundercrack"--was the preponderance of material that was truly revelatory in every sense.

It felt as if 20 years after making Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T., Steven Spielberg suddenly shared a bunch of similarly splendid movies that he shot around the same time but never bothered to release.

Most notable on Tracks was its second disc, which was chock full of buried treasures, the bulk of which were outtakes from The River.

These included "Restless Nights," "Roulette," "Dollhouse," "Where the Bands Are," "Loose Ends," "Living on the Edge of the World," "Take 'Em as They Come," "Be True," "Ricky Wants a Man of Her Own," "I Wanna Be with You" and "Mary Lou," along with "Bring on the Night," which was on Disc 1 of Tracks. 

Almost all of these are Grade "A," or at worst "A-/B+/B" songs, and Springsteen has worked some into his concerts in subsequent years, beginning with the 1999-2000 Reunion Tour with the E Street Band.

(For the record, I have seen Springsteen live 44 times dating back to 1984, with 40 shows since 1999; I now have tickets to two upcoming gigs supporting The River box set.)

On October 17, 2015, the 35th anniversary of The River, it was announced that a box set called The Ties That Bind: The River Collection would be released in early December, analogous to how Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town had previously been commemorated.

The Darkness box set had been highlighted by The Promise, two CDs featuring 22 songs that didn't make it onto the 1978 album, which was notoriously delayed by legal issues between Springsteen and his manager.

But although many of the songs on The Promise are stellar, most are quite sonically distinct from what would wind up on Darkness, or had been on 1975's Born to Run.

It essentially plays like a very good album Bruce might have released in 1976-77, but not the equal of what came before or after, and with a few exceptions, the songs didn't make me wish they had been included on Darkness on the Edge of Town.

In other words, that so much of The Promise long sat on a shelf was a bit more comprehensible than the clandestiny of so many stellar River outtakes.

And now there are even more, uncovered.

The first two CDs of The Ties That Bind set appropriately contain a remastered version of The River--not so important to me as I got such a thing last year as part of The Album Collection: 1973-1984, though both new editions sound superb--and the third reveals a single-disc album called The Ties That Bind that Springsteen had actually turned into Columbia in 1979 before pulling it back, deciding it "wasn't big enough."

This is an interesting listen as it includes some great songs that would make it onto the 2-disc River, including "The Ties That Bind," "Hungry Heart," "The River" and "The Price You Pay," along with alternate versions of River songs "Stolen Car" and "You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)" and three tunes that wouldn't make the official album: "Be True," "Loose End" (sometime pluralized, sometimes not) and the never before heard "Cindy."

Hearing The Ties That Bind now, I believe Springsteen was right to take it back and work for another year on what would become The River.

As he explains in a new documentary included in the box set--the doc by longtime Springsteen associate Thom Zimny is also titled The Ties That Bind--as well as in an interview with fansite Backstreets.com, with The River Bruce was trying to give listeners a sense of his incendiary but sonically diverse concerts.

"I'd gotten to the point where I wanted to include everything that I did, from the party material to my character studies, and I didn't think I could do that successfully on one album at that time," Springsteen recently told Backstreets.com's Chris Phillips.

Hence the bar-band rockers were mixed together with the deliberate character studies, most written in the wake of "The River" song, which set the tone in terms of Springsteen stepping "into a character's shoes and trying to get your listeners to walk in those shoes for awhile."

As mentioned above, most of the the ballads are about blue collar Americans struggling with hardship, broken relationships, longing and similarly poignant matters, so I perceive this great lyric from "The River" as serving as something of a thematic thread:

"Is a dream a lie if it don't come true or is it something worse?"

So the box set, accompanying materials and related press have given me a newfound appreciation for The River and why Springsteen made some of the choices he did.

In serving as the official bridge between Darkness on the Edge of Town and Nebraska, which was followed by Born in the USA and Tunnel of Love, The River, as it stands, makes a lot of sense.

And it's also worth noting that from still somewhat regional arena-sized stardom, The River took Springsteen to superstardom before Born in the USA took him to megastardom.

But the quality of the outtakes continues to boggle the mind.

Even more so, as in addition to including the 11 River sessions songs that were on Disc 2 of Tracks--for some reason, "Bring on the Night" is missing--the Outtakes CD of The Ties That Bind box set includes 11 additional outtakes that weren't previously released. (Though the instrumental "Paradise by the 'C,' powerfully featuring the late saxophonist Clarence Clemons, was heard in live form on the Live 1975-1985 box set.)

And most of these are also terrific, including "Meet Me in the City," "Party Lights," "Night Fire," "The Man Who Got Away," "Little White Lies," "Whitetown" and, IMO, the best ballad from this era outside of "The River," a somber, haunting vignette called "Stray Bullet."

That there are this many high quality outtakes, including 12 ("Cindy" being the one not on the Outtakes disc) that are just now being shared with the public 35+ years after Springsteen not only wrote, but in most cases, fully produced them--many with some rather nifty instrumental and/or vocal effects--is rather astonishing.

Not least from a creative ego standpoint.

I can't really consider myself an artist, but whether in the professional realm of advertising copywriting, or writing articles for this blog, or being an avid photographer, occasional amateur poet, greeting card maker and more, for me wanting to share what I've made has always accompanied the act of creation.

So for Bruce Springsteen to have written and recorded so many stellar songs, and then contentedly put them on the shelf only to revisit decades later, is anathema to my own innate need to have others see what I've done.

Including "Bring on the Night," but leaving out alternate versions--and one outtake, "Mary Lou," that shares many similar lyrics with another, "Be True," as Bruce was prone to re-use bits and pieces in finalizing what worked best--I count 25 "extra" songs that well could have been put on 20-song River, or compiled on a follow-up double studio album.

And these finished but largely forgotten songs--a few supposedly have re-recorded vocals by Bruce in 2015, but I can't tell which--were culled from (as stated in the documentary) 95 solo home demos Springsteen recorded before convening the E Street Band, and 104 demos with the band.

Although some of the outtakes are demonstrably better than songs that made The River--in the documentary, Bruce himself mentions the most obvious oversight, the unsubstantial "Crush on You" being in and the phenomenal, blazing "Roulette" being out--even now it's hard to second guess the product that hit record stores on October 17, 1980.

Sure, it's been fun on Spotify--where the entire 52-song The Ties That Bind: The River Collection can freely be streamed--to make playlists that mix together album songs and outtakes into The River that could have been, with a variety of double-album iterations.

But simply to pick one's 20 favorite songs from the 46 different ones (including "Bring on the Night," though again, it's not in this box set) is a different exercise than to appreciate Springsteen's vision for what it was.

For other than "Stray Bullet," there aren't any meditative ballads among the outtakes, many of which are uptempo rockers with redundancy in tone & theme, to each other and album tracks. While several of these, both previously known and not, are first-rate--"Roulette," "Dollhouse," "Where the Bands Are," "Take It As it Comes," "Restless Nights," "Party Lights," "Loose End," "Be True," etc., etc.,--few are as musically distinctive as "Hungry Heart," "Out in the Streets," "Cadillac Ranch" and other uptempo tracks that wound up on vinyl.

And though in the documentary, Bruce himself notes that "The River," "Independence Day," "Fade Away," "Stolen Car," "Drive All Night," "Wreck on the Highway," meant including several songs that are "long and slow" and pretty much mandating a double-album, not only did they help strike a balance reflective of his concerts, and served to bring greater sonic diversity to River Tour concerts, they pointed in the direction Springsteen would take on Nebraska and Tunnel of Love.

So in sum, the audio portion of the new box set serves to enhance for me the original River album and the astonishing amount of quality music that was long hidden to history.

Whether you are a hardcore Bruce Springsteen fan like me (or beyond), an avid but less obsessive
appreciator or a relative newbie to his brilliant oeuvre, there is a substantial amount here with which to happily acquaint yourself.

But at $92 on Amazon, is The Ties That Bind: The River Collection worth buying, as a gift to yourself or Boss fans you know? 

Though owning the physical set--which through Amazon comes with a free MP3 Rip of the whole thing--delights me, it's hard for me to answer in the affirmative to the question above, especially as you can hear everything on Spotify.

Adding to its value and appeal, the box set includes a coffee table book with 200 rare photos and a reproduced (though sadly not in full) notebook of Bruce's in which he hand-wrote lyrics. Oddly, the printed lyrics to the River album, which were part of the original LP set, are not provided anywhere in the box's materials.

But along with the 4 CDs of audio, there is some fine video.

Unlike similar films for the Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town retrospectives, the 54-minute documentary by Zimny--which was shown on HBO--does not have the benefit of studio footage shot as The River was being recorded. So most of the doc is a modern-day interview (by Zimny) of Bruce, holding an acoustic guitar, which he uses to play and sing lovely versions of "Two Hearts," "The River," "Independence Day" and more.

And then there is a concert DVD, or Blu-ray, of a Bruce Springsteen & the E Street band show in Tempe, Arizona on November 5, 1980.

On the one hand, this is outstanding, as Zimny has newly edited together multi-camera footage and excellent sound, and although I can say this about almost point in time--including hopefully the upcoming tour--Bruce & the ESB in 1980 were as good live as anyone who has ever played rock 'n roll.

But while the concert film is a wonderful document and phenomenal in what it depicts, because at the time the concert wasn't being filmed for full release, 10 of the 34 performed that night at Arizona State University are not included on the DVD. (There are also 5 songs, though not unique ones, included from a tour rehearsal.)

Thus is the passion of a fanatical Springsteen aficionado.

He releases a pristine-sounding collection of 52 mostly-great songs, including 11 you never knew about, plus a book, notebook, documentary and concert video, and you can help but be a bit chagrined that "Backstreets," "Darkness on the Edge of Town" and other songs you've heard & seen in myriad other packages were unavoidably left out.

But then the ties that bind are mightily strong and steadfast for Springsteen devotees.

And The Ties That Bind only tightens, and deepens, that grip.

I truly can't wait to hear The River, in full, and hopefully a good chunk of outtakes played live in the weeks ahead.

---
Compiling 24 prime River outtakes included in the Ties That Bind box set, along "Bring on the Night," (from Tracks, Disc 1), this is a playlist imagining a double-album follow-up to The River, entitled Night Fire.

Although lacking the fast/slow balance of The River, I think it's nonetheless filled with great music, and may even have a few too many songs than would have fit on 4 sides of vinyl. Given how important song sequencing has always been to Springsteen, I'm imagining this as 4 sides of music, not just 25 songs.  

Crunching Numbers for the Boss (and Reasons to Believe Bruce Springsteen is the Greatest Entertainer of Our Time)

Concert Review, Recap and Reverence

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Nationwide Arena, Columbus, OH
April 15, 2014
@@@@@

"You may be backstage, you may be tired, you maybe want to go to sleep, but that walk, whatever it is, 25 yards from the dressing room to the stage, it's never failed me. Something turns on between those two points."
-- Bruce Springsteen, March 2014
From RollingStone.com

Tuesday night in Columbus, Ohio, I saw Bruce Springsteen live in concert.

For the 44th time.

It was my first Springsteen show in 2014, and my first in Columbus. I live in the Chicago area, where I first saw Bruce 30 years ago, at the Rosemont Horizon on July 17, 1984.

38 of the 44 shows have been with the E Street Band, including 36 since Bruce reunited with his longtime mates in 1999. Overall, I have seen him 40 times since 1999, including in 13 of 16 calendar years.

I have seen Springsteen 15 times in Chicago (or Rosemont), and 8 times in Milwaukee (just 90 minutes away). I saw him twice in Los Angeles when I lived there in the early 1990s.

Which makes 19 Springsteen shows in 10 different cities away from home, counting New York City (Madison Square Garden) separately from nearby East Rutherford, NJ, where I saw him at the now-demolished Giants Stadium 7 times.

Besides Columbus, I've also traveled to St. Louis, Indianapolis, Atlantic City, Detroit, Cleveland, Louisville and London.

With help from Setlist.fm, I know that I have seen Bruce play 1,122 songs, including 218 different ones.

And with an average of 3 hours per show being a safe estimate, I've seen Bruce Springsteen onstage for about 132 hours, or 5-1/2 days.

Now, all of this simply suggests that I am a Springsteen fanatic, which was established long ago.

And certainly, everything about entertainment enjoyment is a matter of opinion, and what I am soon to opine is merely mine.

Some may wholeheartedly agree, some may see merit but have debate, others will vehemently disagree and many will frankly not give a damn.

But as this is an indulgent exercise that I'm enjoying, I feel it worth mentioning that Bruce Springsteen is far from the only performer I greatly relish seeing live and in person.

Give or take a few, I have attended 591 rock concerts in my life (on Tuesday I turned 45.5 years of age), by more than 200 different headline artists. 

This includes seeing Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, The Who and The Kinks (or a Davies brother)--all "past their prime" but IMHO still great every time--a total of 37 times.

U2, R.E.M., Pearl Jam and the Smashing Pumpkins a combined 56 times.

Wilco, Radiohead, Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Soundgarden: 33 

Bowie, Clapton, Dylan, Elton and Neil Young (including this coming Monday): 26

Alejandro Escovedo, Willie Nile, Dinosaur Jr. and Bob Mould: 26

Seger, Mellencamp, Petty and Billy Joel: 21

AC/DC, Metallica, Rush, Van Halen and Cheap Trick: 28

Foo Fighters 12 times.

And Nirvana just once, but it was glorious (though notoriously one of their "worst shows.")

I've also seen Prince and Madonna a combined 7 times, but never Michael Jackson. (He never played Chicago when I lived in the area, excepting the Jacksons' Victory Tour of 1984.)

I never saw Led Zeppelin, and it doesn't look like I will, but I've seen Robert Plant 6 times, including 2 in tandem with Jimmy Page.

I've seen over 50 rock artists at least 4 times each.

Aside from the Springsteen shows, I have attended 119 concerts outside Chicago, in more than 25 different cities. (It's incomplete, but you can see my concert stats at Setlist.fm)

So it's not like the Boss is the only rocker I love.

And it's also quite true that rock 'n roll also isn't the only form of live entertainment I love.

Primarily including musicals and plays, but also classical and jazz concerts, comedians, improv, opera, ballet and more, the number of live performances beyond the rock (and blues) realm that I have seen totals:

850.

This includes seeing The Producers--my favorite Broadway musical--12 times, including 3 times with the great Nathan Lane, who I saw on stage 4 other times.

I've seen Les Miserables live 9 times, including on Broadway and in London.

I've seen over 200 different musicals and more than 200 plays. Of 112 new musicals and plays nominated for Tony Awards since 2000, I've seen 81 (including 11 on Broadway). I've attended 53 total works on Broadway and in London's West End.

I've seen the great Broadway star Patti Lupone 6 times, highly decorated Broadway favorites Sutton Foster and Audra MacDonald a combined 10 and the legendary Chita Rivera 4.

In addition to theater stars like Joel Grey, George Hearn, Michael Crawford, Bernadette Peters, Harvey Fierstein, Topol, Theodore Bikel, Idina Menzel, Kristin Chenoweth, Norbert Leo Butz and Elaine Stritch, onstage I've seen several Hollywood stars including Denzel Washington, Hugh Jackman, Antonio Banderas, Billy Crystal, Martin Short, John Lithgow, Daniel Craig, Diane Lane, Jason Alexander, Teri Hatcher, Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie Perez and Matthew Broderick, among many others. (This Pinterest board compiles many of the theatrical luminaries and famous stars I've seen on-stage.)

Locally, I've seen John Mahoney (of Frasier fame) 9 times, Brian Dennehy 7 times and--being a bit young for his Steppenwolf heyday--John Malkovich once.

I've had the pleasure of seeing the mind-blowing tap dancer Savion Glover--recent review here--on 5 occasions, and have seen such legendary musicians as Sonny Rollins, Ornette Coleman, McCoy Tyner, Wynton Marsalis, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Evgeny Kissin, Tony Bennett, Buddy Guy (7 times), B.B. King and numerous notable opera singers, in nearly 50 different operas. (I never saw Sinatra.) 

I've also seen many of the most esteemed comedians, including George Carlin, Jerry Seinfeld, Robin Williams, Chris Rock, Steven Wright, Bill Maher, Jon Stewart, Don Rickles, Joan Rivers, Gilbert Gottfried, Colin Quinn, Jackie Mason and Joel McHale.

And in Chicago and Las Vegas, I've seen 6 official Cirque du Soleil productions, and at least that many other shows of a similar ilk, as well as Riverdance and other showcases of spectacular talent.

As with rock and roll, I've seen theater and other types of shows in many different cities and venues, including 25 locales beyond Chicago, from a Spanish guitar showcase in Barcelona, to summer stock theater in Sullivan, IL, to jazz in New Orleans, to tango dancing in Buenos Aires.

This doesn't include sporting events I've attended, but with a small margin for error, I've had the pleasure of witnessing 1,441 live entertainment performances in my lifetime, with 90% of these coming since 1999, after the age of 30.

So while many--excepting those who have been following Phish around for years, and even more voluminous Springsteen attendees (and there are several)--may think my seeing Bruce 44 times, and continuing to go on Thunder Road trips, may be fanatical and then some, the Boss has really only accounted for 3% of my live entertainment intake.

And while I fully cop to being a Springsteen sycophant, disciple, acolyte, etc., all of the above is meant to substantiate that it is not simply as a devout E Street fan--or without plenty of points of comparison--that I state this:

Bruce Springsteen is the greatest live entertainer of my lifetime. 

Still, now, today. At the age of 64.

And as was wondrously reiterated on Tuesday at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, any time, money and effort I've expended in seeing Springsteen so many times has not only been worth it, but has been paid back several times over.

Sure, except sometimes for the driving itself, the road trips have been tremendously rewarding, as I love to explore and on this trip discovered much to enjoy in Columbus and nearby Dayton; I will be writing a separate travel recap in the days ahead.

And I've had many fun conversations with other Springsteen fans and diehards.

But I'm not really referencing either of these aspects. I'm talking about the man himself. The Boss. And his great band.

Besides the shows I've seen, I've heard hundreds more dating back to the early 70s, and while I love all the Springsteen eras--including the hallowed '78 and '80/'81 tours which were phenomenal if a bit before my time--I honestly think Bruce still sounds as good as he ever has.

For his 2014 shows--in South Africa, Australia and the U.S.--he has begun selling online downloads. I own six (and will buy the Columbus show when available) and like them as much as any shows I've heard from years past.

In Australia, Bruce had fun opening shows with songs of local relevance, including AC/DC's "Highway to Hell," the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive" and the Easybeats' "Friday on My Mind," and also covered Lorde's "Royals" in the singer's home country of New Zealand.

In Dallas for a show tied to the NCAA Tournament, he opened with Van Halen's "Jump," and in Virginia Beach on Saturday night he paid tribute to a local musician by covering Bill Deal & the Rhondels' 1969 single "May I."

So there was fan speculation that Bruce would open in Columbus with "Hang on Sloopy," not because the McCoys were from there, but because the song has long been a fixture at Ohio State football games and thus highly connected to the city.

But he opted for "High Hopes," the title track from his latest album. Not quite as fun as a surprising cover, but fine with me as Bruce tends to avoid what everyone expects.

With the mighty E Street Band--which has expanded to include a horn section, percussionist and backup singers, as well as Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, but is currently without Steve Van Zandt, who is filming Lilyhammer in Norway--he went on to play "Adam Raised a Cain," "Hungry Heart," "Blinded by the Light," "Trapped," "The River" and "Prove It All Night" with the extended '78 introduction.

And that was just within the first hour.

We also got great versions of newer songs, a rare "Light of Day," a typically great "The Ghost of Tom Joad," with a monster solo from Morello, "Badlands," "Born to Run" and much more. There was nothing that wasn't good, and that would have been true if 26 completely different songs were played.

With the setlist already terrific, even for someone who has seen Bruce so often, to open the encores Bruce delighted me with my favorite song of all-time--not just by him--"Backstreets." It was an awesome version.

Although Springsteen's closing the show with his solo cover of Suicide's "Dream Baby Dream" clearly confused some of the Columbus contingent, I enjoyed hearing it in lieu of "Thunder Road" yet again.

All told, Bruce Springsteen was onstage for 3 hours with no break, played 26 songs, crowd surfed through the audience, danced in the dark with both young and old fans, sweated through his shirt entirely and made me completely forget that it had taken me basically all day to drive to Columbus to see him.

And though he didn't do much overt talking in Columbus--a city in which he had campaigned for Obama, twice, as well as John Kerry--he's one of the few artists who dares to comment on the state of the world.

Sure, he's 64, but IMHO he's still as great as ever (or close enough) and yes, I still need him. Hopefully he'll come to Chicago this fall, but right now there are no tour dates beyond May 18 in Connecticut.

No, I won't be there.

But for now I've gotten my fix. Who needs drugs, alcohol or even religion when you've got the Boss?

And if I haven't convinced you that Bruce Springsteen is the best performer of any artistic type over the past 40 years--at least--I just hope that your hero satisfies you just as much. 

---
From YouTube, here are videos of "The River" and the beginning of "Backstreets" in Columbus.

With 'High Hopes,' Springsteen Meets Mine -- Album Review

Album Review

Bruce Springsteen
High Hopes
@@@@

Although I always have High Hopes whenever a new Bruce Springsteen album is announced, given the Boss' smorgasbord approach to his so-named latest release—including cover songs, outtakes and tunes long part of his live canon—I didn't expect this would be a record to rank with his masterpieces, nor even exceed most of his 21st century output.

But, except for the bulk of Human Touch, there has never been a Springsteen album I haven't found enjoyable and worthwhile—even Working on a Dream was pretty solid beyond the title song and cover art—and this continues with High Hopes.

No, it is not Born to Run or Darkness on the Edge of Town, nor even The Rising or Magic. If you are not a Springsteen fan, this is not the album you should start with.

But while all the songs were written awhile ago and have never made their way onto a studio album, despite lacking the thematic cohesion that earmarks Bruce's best records—including 2012's Wrecking Ball—High Hopes is by no means a "throwaway" album.

Some Springsteen fanatics might begrudge the fact that 6 of the album's 12 songs are already familiar, thanks to renditions heard in concert, on official or bootleg live recordings or via YouTube clips. This serves to make High Hopes not truly sound like a "new" album, and it also lacks the vast sense of hidden treasure that accompanied archival releases like Tracks, disc 3 of the Essential Bruce Springsteen or The Promise.

But—after several streaming listens ahead of the album's official release on Tuesday—I really like it.

Sure, there are the songs I've heard before—"American Skin (41 Shots)," "The Ghost of Tom Joad" (electrified, with Tom Morello's staggering guitar solo's), "The Wall" and 3 covers that also aren't entirely new for Bruce: the title song, "Just Like Fire Would," "Dream Baby Dream"—but they all sound good and many are souped up from past renditions due to the participation of Rage Against the Machine's Morello, who toured Australia last year with the E Street Band when Steven Van Zandt was off filming Lilyhammer in Norway.

And while I'm still acclimating to the previously unheard songs, and not yet finding any of them to be tunes I'd want swapped out for "Badlands" or "Backstreets" the next time I see Bruce live, all of them are pretty strong and, honestly, better than most of what passes for new rock music these days.

They may not be as operatic or anthemic as the songs that made Springsteen a superstar, but "Harry's Place," "This is Your Sword," "Heaven's Wall," "Frankie Fell in Love," "Down in the Hole" and "Hunter of Invisible Game" are all quality works that were obviously not lightly selected from the Boss' vast backlog.

I particularly like rousing "Heaven's Wall," which infuses gospel as it rocks, and the fun "Frankie Fell in Love," which works in Einstein and Shakespeare sharing a beer, but the others are sounding good as well.

I've read some other reviews that decry Morello's guitar stylings—he plays on several tracks—as not meshing with the sound of the E Street Band. I haven't noticed this at all and appreciate how he has brought some new vitality; I wouldn't mind seeing Springsteen and him collaborate on truly new material.

So far, High Hopes—understandably given the cover songs and the way it was cobbled together—hasn't had me overtly dazzled by the lyrics (except for "American Skin" and "The Ghost of Tom Joad").

And I don't foresee that I or anyone—including the Boss himself—will ever cite High Hopes as one of their very favorite Bruce Springsteen albums.

But having created a legendary legacy by the time he was 35, I'm impressed by how strong Bruce's work has continued to be in the 21st century. In fact, I don't think any other rocker has ever been as prolific, passionate and just plain great past the age of 50—both on record and even more so on stage—as the now 64-year-old Boss.

If you're hoping for this album to be a bold, brilliant artistic statement to equal Springsteen best work, you're apt to be disappointed. But if you can be contented with a group of high-quality songs that sound good, fit adequately well together despite their disparate origins and make for an enjoyable listen—repeatedly—meet the new Boss, same as the old Boss. 

Especially with the ability to hear it for free—here for now and on Spotify upon official release—there is no reason not to check out High Hopes, which has sufficiently met mine.

Born to Run: Galloping Down to Louisville to See the Boss Yet Again -- Concert Review: Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band

Concert Review

Bruce Springsteen
and the E Street Band
KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, KY
November 3, 2012
@@@@@

I certainly didn’t need to go see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in Louisville—a 6-hour drive from Chicago and what felt much longer coming back—on Saturday night.

After all, I had seen the Boss in concert 41 previous times, all but 6 with the E Street Band, all but 4 since 1999 and most recently for two sensational shows in Chicago at Wrigley Field, the most cherished venue in which I could imagine seeing him.

I have now seen Springsteen at least 4 times in a calendar year in 7 different years, and Louisville is the 10th city outside Chicago in which I’ve seen him.

I had even taken a previous “Thunder Road Trip” this year, in April, to catch Bruce and the band do an “arena gig” at the Palace of Auburn Hills outside Detroit.

And while I enjoy Louisville and liked the other things I did there—if the trip had a theme, it would be “Pinnacle of Fame,” given that I toured the Muhammad Ali Center, saw an exhibit on Princess Diana at the Frazier History Museum and paid homage to baseball legends like Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Ted Williams and Joe Dimaggio at the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory, in addition to seeing The Boss—it wasn’t like I was heading to the Big Apple, which I have devoured on several Springsteen-spurred occasions.

But there are few things in life better than a concert by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, no matter where it is, and whenever the opportunity presents itself, I’m likely to take it (though I’d be happy to let someone else do the driving).

While I have met several Springsteen fans who have seen him many more times than me (and know Phish fans who may see them more in a year or two than I’ve seen Bruce in sum), I guess I’m hardcore enough to (somewhat) judge his shows on how novel they are for me personally. Although I respect that Bruce’s first responsibility in any given city is to please fans likely seeing him for the first time on tour, or perhaps ever—and he hasn’t played Louisville since 2000—I can’t help but hope to hear some different songs than I have on previous tour dates (while always hoping for some personal favorites, like “Backstreets.”)

Suffice it to say that despite the show not being quite as special for me as the two at Wrigley—beyond the setting and my companions for the first and seat location for the second, those transcendent performances also featured guest appearances from Tom Morello and Eddie Vedder—I don’t think anyone at Louisville’s KFC Yum! Center (a nifty new 22,000 seat arena with an unfortunate name) went home unsatisfied. Or, in my case, to the Motel 6 in Jefferson, Indiana, just across the Ohio River.

In the midst of several campaign appearances for President Obama and coming off an appearance on the Hurricane Sandy telethon, with havoc wreaked on his Jersey Shore domain, Bruce opted to open the show with a couple of songs more recent and impassioned—“Shackled and Drawn,” “Lonesome Day”—than classic and ebullient.

A version of “Hungry Heart” was great fun, and everything he and the band played early sounded great but the first half-hour felt a little too familiar to quite be phenomenal on a personal level. I can’t complain about “Spirit in the Night” or “The E Street Shuffle,” as the latter sounded particularly fantastic, although I had heard both songs earlier this year.

I should note that due to not having bought a Louisville ticket when the show went on sale, I wound up fairly recently buying a ticket that was in the 3rd deck, behind the stage (though not directly behind). This gave me an interesting perspective on the band, as well as Bruce’s vantage point, but didn’t offer the utmost in immediacy.

Still, as Bruce started running through some songs he doesn’t play that often, many via fan requests—“Streets of Philadelphia,” “Growin’ Up,” a blistering version of “Open All Night,” “The River”—I was struck anew by just how good the E Street Band is.

I recently had seen a band with just 4 albums turn down a fan’s song request by saying, “We didn’t rehearse that one.” This sounds somewhat logical, but Springsteen routinely grabs signs from the audience and asks his cohorts—including a 5-piece horn section, percussionist and three backup singers besides the core E Street Band—to instantly play songs they don’t regularly perform, haven’t rehearsed and may not have played for 25+ years (or ever, in the case of cover versions). So even to someone who admittedly hopes for substantive “personal setlist variance,” the true magic of a Springsteen show—and I believe he is the greatest live performer ever—comes not in what he plays, but how he & the band play it.

Yes, “Because the Night” sounded much the same in Louisville as it did on Night 2 at Wrigley, but E Street Band guitarist Nils Lofgren does such a phenomenal extended guitar solo on it that you’d have to not have a pulse not to enjoy it, no matter how many times you’ve heard it. Though at times I felt more like an observer than a part of it—like Statler and Waldorf on the Muppets—the Louisville crowd was tremendously energetic and fun; even Bruce seemed noticeably dazzled as he paraded numerous audience members onstage during various songs and also walked out to perform on a riser in the middle of the floor a few times (crowd surfing back on one occasion).

Would I have ideally loved to hear “Backstreets?” Of course. But given that Bruce Springsteen & the E Street band performed for 3 hours and 8 minutes without leaving the stage, without playing anything I didn’t like and doing much that I did—including a rocking “Rosalita” in the encore—I really have no complaints. (You can see the Louisville setlist here.)

Was the Louisville gig as good as this show or that show?

Who knows, maybe not, only because I've caught some particularly great ones. 

But otherwise completely sensational?

Hell yeah.

And now that I'm home again, it was definitely worth the drive.

The Boss Knocks It Out of the Park, Twice -- Chicago Concert Review: Bruce Springsteen

Concert Review

Bruce Springsteen
& the E Street Band
September 7 and 8, 2012
Wrigley Field, Chicago
@@@@@ (both shows)

Shocking, I know.

I saw my favorite musician performing at my favorite venue--twice--and I loved it.

Not too hard to predict this review, you might be thinking. But that's what makes what Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band did at Wrigley Field on Friday and Saturday nights all the more glorious.

Not that they played 55 songs--including 42 different ones--over the course of 6-1/2 hours (Friday's show ran half-hour longer than Saturday's rain-soaked affair).

Not that they included touches that Bruce acolytes like me would appreciate--"Prove It All Night" with the '78 intro, "The Ties That Bind," a rare "None But The Brave"--and plenty of socially-conscious new songs, along with classics that sounded great in the classic setting--"Hungry Heart," "Born To Run," "Thunder Road," "Jungleland" (Friday) and "Rosalita" (Saturday)."

Not that both shows included stellar guest appearances by alt rock superstars and social crusaders, Tom Morello (of Rage Against The Machine) and Eddie Vedder (of Pearl Jam), two of my other favorite musicians.

And not even that on Friday I enjoyed the show from an upper deck perch along with three close friends and my sister, while on Saturday I was in the third row on the (sacred) field, off to the side of the stage, allowing me not only to touch the ivy and stand on the bullpen mound before the show, but actually put my hand on the Boss' shoulder as he parted the crowd on the way to & from a riser in the audience. (The moment came at about the 4:02 mark of this video; on a second excursion I caught the photo at right).

No, what made these two shows not only terrific concerts--high among the 41 Springsteen performances I've now seen--but among the greatest experiences of my life was that they, like relatively few things in life, fulfilled my highest hopes...and beyond.

If you didn't already know it, I am a hardcore Springsteen fan, as I have been since the early '80s and especially the first time I saw him and the E Street Band in 1984. Since Bruce reunited with his band in 1999, I have seen--and traveled to--as many shows as I could, and though all came after Springsteen turned 50, I've never been disappointed. Sure, some gigs have been better than others, but in my estimation, there isn't any performer in any genre who is better than Bruce Springsteen is as a concert performer. Still.

Over the years, I've seen Bruce & E Street in some pretty cool places. Madison Square Garden. Giants Stadium (7 times). Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. Chicago's United Center and U.S. Cellular Field, among many others. And in April of this year, I went to Detroit to catch a Wrecking Ball tour show at The Palace of Auburn Hills--and it was absolutely phenomenal.

But as a lifelong Cubs fan, who believes Wrigley Field is not only the best ballpark on Earth--and I've been to 38 other major league stadiums--but high among my very favorite places, this was the perfect confluence of performer and place. There is literally no place on Earth I would rather be, ever, than where I was on Friday and Saturday night. 

Excepting perhaps a Cubs World Series game, but of course, that would be at the same place.

And though I've seen some special concerts there since they started allowing them in 2005--The Police, Billy Joel & Elton John, Roger Waters doing the Wall and two outstanding Paul McCartney shows last summer--I've been eagerly anticipating, to say the least, these concerts since they were rumored early this year.

To the point that I almost expected something to prevent them, or me being able to see them. Or that perhaps--though experience told me otherwise--they just wouldn't be as good as I was hoping.

But they were. And then some.

My friend Ken, who is a big music fan that (like me) considers rock to be his religion, had never before seen or fully appreciated Springsteen, so I insisted he go with me and my friends Paolo, Dave and sister Allison on Friday night.

Ken has seen many concerts in his day, and yet, within the first half-hour of the E Street Band taking the stage, turned to me and said, "I've never seen anything like this."

So yes, in large part, this review is unnecessary. If you were at the shows, or have ever seen the Boss with his band, you know--or can imagine--how good these two shows were. (While I'm sure there was much setlist nitpicking on the Backstreets.com message board, I thought Bruce mixed things up pretty perfectly, both nights; there is no setlist from this year's tour that stands out as substantially better. See all Bruce setlists on Backstreets or Setlist.fm)

And if you weren't there, or don't care, this review likely isn't going to convince you. But even if it isn't at the sacred grounds of Wrigley, I strongly suggest you see Bruce Springsteen & the E Street band live in concert any time you still can.

Few, if any, things in life get any better. 

---
Some video highlights:

Darkness on the Edge of Town (w/ Eddie Vedder), Saturday
The Ghost of Tom Joad (w/ Tom Morello), Friday
Thunder Road & Born to Run, Friday 
Atlantic City (w/ Vedder), Friday
Rosalita, Saturday

---
Some more photos I took:

Show A Little Faith, There's Magic in the Night - Concert Review: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Detroit / Auburn Hills

Photo Credit: Mike Itchue, MLive Media Group

Concert Review

Bruce Springsteen
and the E Street Band
The Palace of Auburn Hills
in the suburbs of Detroit, MI
April 12, 2012
@@@@@

Some people have religion.

Some people have psychiatry.

Some people have controlled substances.

I have Bruce Springsteen.

Not that things are so bad in my life, although I have been frustrated by being unable to find work of late and chagrined by the ongoing chicanery in the world.

And not that I ever need a reason to see Springsteen in concert, especially when he tours with his erstwhile E Street Band. For those maintaining the tote board, this was my 39th Bruce show, the 33rd with the E Street Band.

But in case you were wondering why I opted to take a Thunder Road Trip up to the Detroit area to see him, well, the simple answer is that he isn't playing Chicago on the spring leg of his Wrecking Ball tour, although a September 7 date at Wrigley Field was just announced. But more metaphysically, to paraphrase The Cars (apt for the Motor City, though they're not from there), a blow-my-mind, restore-faith-in-mankind show by Bruce Springsteen was just what I needed.

And the Boss delivered. 

This isn't a surprise, nor should it be given my longstanding devotion. While all the culture and entertainment I often write about here offers emotional nourishment along with much else, and there are many great rock 'n roll artists that I truly love--I've seen well over 200 different acts in concert, more than 50 of them at least three times--I say this with no degree of whimsy:

As a performer, there is Bruce Springsteen and there is everyone else. 

Particularly in his full band shows with E Street, he is that good. With great regard for artists as cherished as Paul McCartney, U2 and Pearl Jam--all of whom delivered @@@@@ shows last year--no one else is close.

Photo Credit: John T. Greilick, The Detroit News

And with a magnificent 3-hour, non-stop show at the Palace of Auburn Hills on Thursday, he proved it all night (though the song that line references isn't one of the 26 he played).

Bringing his legendary band onstage to the recorded strains of Martha and the Vandellas' "Dancing in the Street," he began with an Apollo Theatresque self-introduction--tongue firmly in cheek--as he copped to being the only performer in the world "who insists on introducing himself."

The band then kicked into "We Take Care of Our Own," a strident rebuke of democracy inaction from his excellent new Wrecking Ball album. Although Palace security was particularly vigilant about not letting patrons bring in cameras--I had to bring mine back to my car--they didn't stop everyone nor ban cell phones, so I found this clip of the intro and first song on YouTube. Shot from behind the stage, it gives a pretty cool perspective.



One of the first things I noticed was what was missing: Clarence.

I never before had witnessed an E Street Band show without Bruce's longtime saxophonist and main onstage foil, Clarence "Big Man" Clemons, who passed away last June after suffering a stroke. So without meaning to imply a similar gravity, seeing the band on-stage without his sizable presence was a bit like the first time I saw the Manhattan skyline without the Twin Towers.

Yet despite the vastness of the void in myriad ways--Clemons will forever be an intrinsic part of Springsteen's legend, lore and iconography--musically things were in good stead, as Clarence's nephew Jake Clemons is along on this tour and covers most of his uncle's sax solos with no apparent deficiency. Smartly, rather than position Jake stage right, acutely in Clarence's shadow, Bruce has Jake stationed on a riser in the back along with four additional horn players (there are also two backup singers and a second percussionist; even with Bruce's wife Patti Scialfa absent from the Detroit show, there were up to 17 people on-stage at a time).

Photo Credit: Mike Itchue, MLive Media Group

In taking his solos Jake stepped up into the spotlight, sometimes all the way to the front of the stage. On his first big solo, during "Badlands," I felt chills. Clarence is gone, but his shoes are well-filled, from within the family.

As for Bruce himself, although I initially saw him in 1984 on the Born In The USA tour, most of my shows have come since he reunited the E Street Band in 1999. Yet while he's now 62 years old, he doesn't seem any worse for wear.

His voice is still quite robust and his stamina and showmanship remain amazing. Though he's not the dervish he was on the legendary '78 tour, anyone wondering if it's too late to see the Boss at his best--or at least a highly acceptable approximation--shouldn't be disappointed.

But it's not just his showmanship, musicianship, endurance or plethora of sensational songs (including always several worthy new ones) that make Bruce Springsteen the best concert performer my world has ever known. I realize the believers already know this and cynics won't care, but along with the music and length of the shows, three things set Springsteen concerts apart:

1. Bruce structures his shows to have a narrative arc. Reflecting the latest album's impassioned anger at Wall Street's malfeasance and mass destruction, with new songs like "We Take Care of Our Own," "Wrecking Ball," and "Death To My Hometown" coming early in the set, Springsteen was clearly aiming his wrecking ball at the Palace walls (in this case, literally). And in pairing "Jack of All Trades," a new song about just trying to survive, with "Trapped," his classic Jimmy Cliff cover about battling oppression, he maintained a palpable thread of social injustice. But along with chronicling societal hardships, Bruce's songs also champion hope on a personal level, and singing along with "Badlands," "The Promised Land," "Land of Hope and Dreams," "Waiting on a Sunny Day" and "Born to Run" helps to explain why the Boss is also my de facto therapist. 


2. No two Springsteen shows are alike. Although every tour has a basic setlist structure--you can see the full Auburn Hills set on Setlist.fm--he makes a point of ensuring each city, and each night's audience, gets its own unique show. That's why I and others like to see so many of them. Of the 26 songs played at Thursday's Detroit area show, just 16 of the same ones were played the next night in Buffalo (no I didn't get to that one).


3. No one else has Bruce's exuberance. It's not just the length of the shows, nor that he goes into the audience and crowd surfs back to the stage, but from the great smile plastered on his face to the way he interacts with his bandmates to his banter with the crowd, its eminently clear how much he loves what he does. 

Thus, so do I. And though I could say this about at least a dozen shows, his performance in Auburn Hills was one of the best I've seen.

Springsteen paid touching tribute to both Clemons and late keyboardist Danny Federici; "if you're here and we're here, then they're here."

He and the band played amazing versions of rare old classics like "The E Street Shuffle," "Candy's Room," "Because the Night" and for the first time this tour, "Incident on 57th Street" (video below).

Photo Credit: Jarrad Henderson, Detroit Free Press

And although he's been including an "Apollo Medley" ever since his tour warmup gig at the legendary theater in  Harlem, two Motown songs -- "The Way You Do The Things You Do" and "634-5789" -- plus a nice spoken intro went over especially well in the suburbs of Detroit (the Palace of Auburn Hills is about 30 miles north of downtown).

Bruce danced with two young girls from the audience during "Dancing in the Dark," brought a boy onstage to help him sing "Waiting on a Sunny Day" and ended a 6-song encore that included "Thunder Road," "Out in the Street" and "Born to Run," with "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out."

At the part after he sings, "...a change was made uptown and the Big Man joined the band," the band stopped playing, a spotlight shone on Clemons' steadfast stage-right spot, a video screen showed some great Clarence moments and the crowd cheered and cheered.

I still haven't stopped.

The only things that could have made this show any better would have been if Bruce opted to play "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)"--sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't--and if he had brought his longtime friend and Detroit area legend Bob Seger on-stage to sing a song with him. I don't know if Seger was at the show or even in town, but he had brought Bruce up to duet on "Old Time Rock 'n' Roll" when Bob played New York's Madison Square Garden in December, so the possibility didn't seem that remote.

But that might have been a bit too unbelievable. And along with all else Bruce does for me, it's nice to have something I can still believe in.

---
This is a pretty cool video. After Bruce finishes crowd surfing to the stage at the end of "634-5789" he honors a sign's request to play "Incident on 57th Street." The video was shot by the father of the guy whose sign it was and provides a rather amazing vantage point.

With Powerfully Targeted 'Wrecking Ball,' The Boss Employs Constructive Force -- Album Review: Bruce Springsteen

Album Review

Bruce Springsteen
Wrecking Ball
@@@@1/2

Even without considering the plethora of rock critics--and those of us that like to pretend--who will weigh in on Bruce Springsteen's new album, Wrecking Ball, most through outlets with viewership that dwarfs mine, I realize the inconsequence of my writing this review.

39 years after the release of his debut, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., "The Boss" isn't exactly an unknown entity. He's one of the most legendary of living rock stars, and into his 60s, remains one of the most active.

Wrecking Ball stands as his 6th album of new material to be released in the past 10 years, which has also brought multiple tours, live albums & DVDs, celebrated reissues of his two best albums--Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town--and considerable unearthing of previously unreleased material, including The Promise, which hit stores in 2010 but was originally slated to come between BTR and Darkness.

So if you wanted to explore Springsteen's oeuvre, old or new, or even better, his legendary live shows with the E Street Band, it's not like you haven't had ample opportunity. And if you've chosen to consciously avoid him, you're not likely to suddenly see the light this far down the road.

Thus, as Wrecking Ball comes out today after considerable hype and ample opportunities to have already heard all the songs online--you can even stream the whole album at BruceSpringsteen.net through day's end--I am guessing most people fall into one of four camps.

1) Faithful Springsteen fanatics, of which there are still many, who will buy the album regardless what anyone else thinks and explore its songs until their merits are readily apparent

2) Casual Springsteen fans who will likely ignore or dismiss the album because there is nothing--except possibly "We Take Care of Our Own"--that clearly echoes the classic sounds of "Born to Run," "Badlands," "Cadillac Ranch" or "Born in the USA." This camp might also include some who like Bruce but disdain him railing against the devastating malfeasance of greedy bankers.

3) Those who avowedly dislike Bruce and have already decided the new album must suck.

4) Anyone oblivious to Springsteen and his music. 

Admittedly part of the first camp, I think Wrecking Ball is really good but can't envision anything I say will motivate anyone not already so inclined to buy it. Even though I wouldn't call it a radical departure, with traces to past songs that a diehard will discern, it doesn't really sound, in full, like any previous Springsteen album. This is, perhaps a bit deceptively, one of Bruce's great strengths; rather than try to recreate past glories, he consistently ventures in new directions. 

Other than "We Take Care of Our Own," there are probably no songs here that I would include in a comprehensive 25-track Springsteen compilation playlist, and even my 2000-2012 Boss playlist would be heavier with songs from The Rising and Magic. Which is to say that even if rock music still spawned radio hits, Wrecking Ball isn't chock full of obvious singles. And yet...

There is nothing on it that I don't like, much that I do, and I appreciate the statement Bruce is trying to make.

After four decades of mining his considerable talent and delighting huge crowds around the world, Bruce himself is obviously part of the 1%. He is aware of this and at a recent press conference, when asked about the burdens of the economic crisis, he knowingly joked, "I’m terribly burdened, and at night when I’m sleeping in my big house, it’s killing me."

But unlike some detractors--such as former Chicago Sun-Times rock critic Jim DeRogatis, who penned this harsh review--I don't feel that Springsteen's wealth or not-inconsequential ticket prices (though I'd argue they are consistently lower than comparable acts) disqualifies him from earnestly offering commentary such as:

Gambling man rolls the dice, workingman pays the bill
It’s still fat and easy up on banker’s hill
Up on banker’s hill, the party’s going strong
Down here below we’re shackled and drawn

In fact, I think Springsteen's success and stature only add to the power of his venom. The uber-wealthy can dismiss the Occupy protesters as jealous whiners, but when Warren Buffett says the rich are undertaxed, the resonance is harder to ignore. Say what you want about his potency, but Bruce is rallying against his own financial interests, rendering his social commentary--in my eyes at least--legitimate and laudable.

Though there has always been a workingman, Main Street bent to his work, in becoming demonstrably anti-Bush, pro-Obama in the past decade, Bruce has clearly cost himself some fans. So I see this album as a continuation of his empathetic, liberal tendencies and neither crassly opportunist nor disingenuous. And given my constant whining about the dearth of socially commentative artistry, even at risk of seeming a sycophant to some, I'm going to cheer when--perhaps not coincidentally--my hero swings his mighty axe at Wall Street transgressors and empathizes with the "Jack of All Trades" who must constantly adapt just to survive.

No, this isn't a punk album with withering musicality to match the message, but not so unlike The Clash's London Calling--without scaling quite the same heights--Wrecking Ball appeals as a album to be heard in full, elevated as a whole by the stylistic diversity yet thematic kinship of the songs.

"We Take Care of Our Own" sounds a bit reminiscent of "Badlands," but actually reminds more of "Born in the U.S.A." as its anthemic chorus is actually a tease, inverted by the angry verses that take America very much to task.

"Easy Money," "Shackled and Drawn" and "Death to My Hometown" are folky stomps likely derived from Springsteen's Seeger Sessions forays, but though the latter seemingly alludes to "My Hometown" of Born in the U.S.A., musically "Jack of All Trades" is much more similar, with guest guitarist and fellow megastar-cum-rebel Tom Morello raging in a more low-key fashion than typical.

On "Death to My Hometown," of which I'll include a clip at bottom, Bruce is at his most lyrically strident, slyly suggesting an insurgency against those who wreaked havoc on the world. 

Sing it hard and sing it well
Send the robber barons straight to hell
The greedy thieves who came around
And ate the flesh of everything they found
Whose crimes have gone unpunished now
Who walk the streets as free men now

They brought death to our hometown...

Nicely juxtaposed amidst the tales of social injustice, "You've Got It" is a charmingly simple love song while "This Depression" openly expresses the need for emotional sustenance amidst tough times. And though Bruce and the band have been playing "Land of Hope and Dreams" live since 1999, the initial studio version fits in well here and provides a great opportunity to hear the late Clarence Clemons wailing away on his saxophone for the last time.

For those of us who listen to our Boss rather intently, it's also interesting to note how album closer "We Are Alive" answers the question "Is there anybody alive out there?"--posed in "Radio Nowhere," which opened 2007's Magic, and exhorted by Bruce in almost every concert since--with an emphatic, if a tad wearisome, "Yes."

Although the rest of the E Street Band only shows up sporadically on the album--whose liner notes are highlighted by a touching tribute from Bruce to Clarence, taken from his eulogy and ending with "Clarence doesn't leave the E Street Band when he dies. He leaves when we die."--several of the songs should transition well to the concert stage. Though I won't say at this point that I would rather hear any of these tunes than "Backstreets," "Jungleland" or "Rosalita," I would also be disappointed if several of them aren't sprinkled into the setlists, and wouldn't mind the inclusion of any of Wrecking Ball's 11 songs.

So take this review for what it's worth; I'm such a Springsteen fan that I am uncertain of my own objectivity. But whereas I felt his last album, Working on a Dream, was subpar (though not awful) and several of his recent releases have been overrated by Rolling Stone--including probably this one, which they gave 5 stars--this is a quality work by a great artist. I was wavering between awarding @@@@ and @@@@1/2, but this feels like an album that should only grow with time.

As I end with a clip of a performance of "Death to My Hometown" by Bruce and the E Street Band--joined by Morello--on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, I thought I would throw out that few rock artists have ever been as prolific and productive as Springsteen past age 50. It seems one could only argue Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Paul McCartney and Leonard Cohen as having anywhere near Bruce's output this late in their careers. Wrecking Ball only adds to his legacy--he was inducted in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1999--and though you probably made your mind up long ago one way or the other, I really think you will enjoy it.

With a Fantastic Show at Fitzgerald's, Willie Nile Continues to Flow Upstream -- Concert Review

Concert Review

Willie Nile
with the Nicholas Tremulis Orchestra
September 23, 2011
Fitzgerald's Nightclub, Berwyn, IL
@@@@@

Yesterday, September 23rd, was the 62nd birthday of my favorite musician, Bruce Springsteen. Besides walking on my treadmill to one of his concert DVDs and posting a brief tribute to the Boss on Facebook, the best way I could think of to celebrate was to attend a club show by an artist I only know because of Bruce.

Although Willie Nile is a year older than Springsteen and has been a recording artist of some renown since his self-titled 1980 debut, I've only come to know him over the past decade due to mentions on the great Springsteen fansite, Backstreets.com. Willie has appeared onstage with Bruce & the E Street Band on a number of occasions, but I really took note when his 2006 album, Streets of New York got praised on Backstreets and elsewhere.

It's really a wonderful album, with 2009's House of a Thousand Guitars just a little lesser, and a show I saw at Martyrs in '09--on which Nile was backed by Chicago's Nicholas Tremulis Orchestra--was fabulous.

So when I noticed that same pairing would be playing at Fitzgerald's on Friday night, I couldn't help but make the trek down to Berwyn.

Boy am I glad I did, because this one was fabulous too.

Within the erstwhile venue with origins in the 1920s and operating as a great music club under present ownership since 1980--and at which tables & chairs made it more comfortable for those of us no longer fanatic about standing for 3 hours--the Nicholas Tremulis Orchestra (essentially a soulful rock band led by its affable namesake) opened the night with a highly enjoyable hour of its own material before backing Nile for a 90-minute set that was pretty much perfect.

With a sound that marries Dylan and Springsteen to the Clash and Ramones, Nile opened with one of my favorite songs of the last several years, "Run," and amplified by the stellar musicianship of the NTO, blazed through 14 more songs without a wrong note (setlist here, posted by me).

After ripping through his brilliant rebuke to terrorism, "Cell Phones Ringing in the Pockets of the Dead," Nile introduced "Singin' Bell," the first song off his forthcoming album, The Innocent Ones, by suggesting it bridges Pete Seeger-style messaging with rawness reminiscent of the Ramones and Social Distortion.

Like two other songs played from the new album--which I was able to buy and have Willie sign after the show--"Singin' Bell" sounded great amidst a mix of songs from Nile's recent and more distant musical past. Commenting throughout the night about how much fun he was having playing with the Nick Tremulis Orchestra--another combo show takes place tonight in Valparaiso, IN--Willie asked that someone film "Singin' Bell" and send him the video, so I hope he appreciates the clip below despite some weak production values at the outset.



Although Nile could have swapped nearly all 15 songs in the set--including covers of the Stones' "Satisfaction" and Jim Carroll's "People Who Died" as the encores--for others in his repertoire and still delivered a performance every bit as good, virtually the whole show was a highlight. His new single, "One Guitar" has clear Clash influences and sounds great, and his ever-pertinent "Hard Times in America" was taken to the stratosphere by scintillating guitar work by the five axmen on stage. Here's a clip of most of it:



Excepting years highlighted by multiple Springsteen shows, the past 6-month span has been one of the most glorious stretches of my concertgoing life. I've seen great shows by cherished favorites that everybody knows--Bob Seger, U2, Peter Gabriel, Paul McCartney, Arcade Fire, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, The Cars, Rush--but just as fulfilling have been the phenomenal performances I've caught by personal favorites like Roger McGuinn, the Ike Reilly Assassination, Alejandro Escovedo, Smoking Popes and now, once again, Willie Nile.

It's a shame that most of these artists are getting a bit long in the tooth, as I'm not aware of many ready replacements of either ilk.

Especially in a week that has seen the retirement of R.E.M. and a year in which Clarence Clemons passed away, it could be easy for me to rue intelligent, hard-hitting rock 'n' roll as an endangered species.

But on the 20th anniversary of the release of Nevermind, there's always hope that the next Nirvana will somehow rise like a phoenix and thrash us out of our collective ennui.

And as long as I can still see rock shows as good as the one Willie Nile and the Nicholas Tremulis Orchestra put on last night--especially for just $15--the hard times in America won't seem quite so bad.