17th October - Bruce Springsteen's The River

Artist – Album: Bruce Springsteen – The River

Released: 17^th October 1980

Sounds Like: Nice to see you…

With The River, Springsteen joins Dylan as the most blogged about artist on my stupid boy project…, one more album covered than The Beatles, one more than Neil Young and The White Stripes, one more, even, than the inescapable Elbow. Congratulations Brucey! …to see you nice!

His four previously featured albums – Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, Born in the U.S.A and Tunnel of Love – charted the highs and lows of the Boss’s small-town strugglers, growing ever more disenchanted and world-weary as time passes. This album is no different, and songs such as ‘The Ties That Bind’ (somewhat self-explanatory), ‘The River’ and ’Wreck on the Highway’ are almost brutal in their sense of being stuck in a rut.

The River though is a double album, unlike those other spectacular records, and this allows Springsteen the breathing space to inject just a teensy bit of frivolity and silliness into a number of his songs – the likes of ‘Sherry Darling’, ‘Crush on You’ and ‘I’m a Rocker’ are all wholly enjoyable fluff – whilst still having enough of the tracks pulling in the same direction of entrapment and lack of escape as before (and after) albums. In that sense, The River is one of the easiest to listen to in Springsteen’s whole repertoire.

Albumaday... rating: 8/10

1.       The Ties That Bind – 3:34

2.       Sherry Darling – 4:03

3.       Jackson Cage – 3:04

4.       Two Hearts – 2:45

5.       Independence Day – 4:50

6.       Hungry Heart – 3:19

7.       Out in the Street – 4:17

8.       Crush on You – 3:10

9.       You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch) – 2:37

10.   I Wanna Marry You – 3:30

11.   The River – 5:01

12.   Point Blank – 6:06

13.   Cadillac Ranch – 3:03

14.   I’m a Rocker – 3:36

15.   Fade Away – 4:46

16.   Stolen Car – 3:54

17.   Ramrod – 4:05

18.   The Price You Pay – 5:29

19.   Drive All Night – 8:33

20.   Wreck on the Highway – 3:54

Listen to ‘Out in the Street’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8yphj2hUI8

9th October - Bruce Springsteen's Tunnel of Love

Artist – Album: Bruce Springsteen – Tunnel of Love

Released: 9^th October 1987

Sounds Like: Don’t panic!

Last night I was at Manchester’s Opera House to see the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Radio Show… Live!: an absorbing show that was all things to all men – part theatre, part live band, part story time, part stand up routine and, exactly as it says on the tin, part radio show. It was a live performance in five parts if you will. The radio show element was the strangest thing: the actors performed mostly in front of large microphones; the set design seemed to consist entirely of a white board and a projector, and the sound affects were all conjured up by a beardy bloke armed only with a laptop, a bucket, some clogs and a wobble board. It all made for hilarious viewing and reminded me that, even though some things can look and feel dated, they can still be a riot. Which is where Tunnel of Love comes in.

In sound terms alone, Tunnel of Love has aged the worst of all of the Boss’ albums. Like all things Eighties, what seemed fresh and exciting and futuristic then is garish and unsophisticated today – the synths, the drum machines, the reverb-tastic vocals. Even the cover looks out-of-date: Springsteen with slicked-back hair, a bolo tie and just the whiff of shoulder pads, leaning against his Thunderbird with awkward style. But, as last night proved, aging matters not a jot when the material is this hot. Tunnel of Love contains Springsteen’s most personal lyrics and they’re delivered from a man who’s got some demons. The love in here is not the love of a Richard Curtis rom-com, this is the nitty-gritty stuff, written by a man whose own marriage was falling apart (he divorced Julianne Phillips months later). On the strength of this set of songs, Springsteen is likely to approve of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy’s advice on the subject of love: Avoid, if at all possible. 

It’s not as immediate as Born to Run or Born in the USA, nor as stark as Nebraska, but in its own way Tunnel of Love – and its highlights such as ‘Ain’t Got You’, ‘Tougher Than the Rest’, ‘Tunnel of Love’ and particularly the confused, untrusting ‘Brilliant Disguise’ – belongs to the top echelon of Springsteen records.

Albumaday... rating: 8/10

1.       Ain’t Got You – 2:11

2.       Tougher Than the Rest – 4:35

3.       All That Heaven Will Allow – 2:39

4.       Spare Parts – 3:44

5.       Cautious Man – 3:58

6.       Walk Like a Man – 3:45

7.       Tunnel of Love – 5:12

8.       Two Faces – 3:03

9.       Brilliant Disguise – 4:17

10.   One Step Up – 4:22

11.   When You’re Alone – 3:24

12.   Valentine’s Day – 5:10

Listen to ‘Brilliant Disguise’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idnJnjV_8rg

Also released on 9^th October:

2000: The Beautiful South – Painting It Red

Also released on 9^th October:

2001: Death Cab for Cutie – The Photo Album

Also released on 9^th October:

2007: Beirut – The Flying Club Cup

25th August - Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run

Artist - Album: Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
Released: 25th August 1975
Sounds like: The need to break away

Last night I read Douglas Adams' introduction to the final, unfinished novel of legendary wordsmith P.G. Wodehouse. In it, Adams delighted in retelling his favourite Wodehouse quotes such as "the Duke's moustache was rising and falling like seaweed on ebb tide" and "ice formed on the butler's upper slopes". How very refined. Hidden away on my Facebook profile are the Eighteen year old me's list of favourite quotes. In there, amongst those from The Princess Bride and Father Ted ("its like a big tide of jam coming towards us, but jam made out of old women!"), is the opening line of this album - "the screen door slams, Mary's dress sways, like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays". It may not quite be literary genius, but Springsteen expertly sets the scene of young heroes attempting to drive away from the rut of their working class existence.

Born to Run is chock full of lines about escaping the downtrodden, small town life, each delivered in the Boss' trademark air punching, fist clenching style. The music is almost Meatloaf-esque in it's drama and theatricality. 'Thunder Road' and the title track are stone cold classics, but every single song here is downright brilliant, from the near-Northern Soul 'Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out' to the skittering, lovelorn 'She's the One'.

Eight anthems make up the album that made Springsteen a star, and the record still stands as the pinnacle of his wonderul career. I can't explain it as eloquently as Adams could for Wodehouse but, rest assured, I really do love this album.

Analbumaday... rating: 10/10

1. Thunder Road - 4:49
2. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out - 3:11
3. Night - 3:00
4. Backstreets - 6:30
5. Born to Run - 4:31
6. She's the One - 4:30
7. Meeting Across the River - 3:18
8. Jungleland - 9:34

Listen to 'She's the One': www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw-e8GNxqKM

Also released on 25th August:

1988: Metallica - ...And Justice for All

Also released on 25th August:

1998: Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

Also released on 25th August:

1998: Elliott Smith - XO

4th June - Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A

Artist – Album: Bruce Springsteen – Born in the U.S.A

Released:  4^th June 1984

Sounds Like:  Bossing it

...Meanwhile, back in Springsteen’s universe:-

The downtrodden losers of Darkness On the Edge of Town (released 6 years or just two blogs earlier depending on your point of view) had tumbled even further on follow up album Nebraska, shifting from working class nobody’s with no chance of escape from the monotony of their small town lives to petty criminals and full blown murderers. The situation had seemingly become hopeless, and the Boss appeared stuck in a rut.

But as Yazz would point out, when you hit the bottom, the only way is up (baby!). Born in the U.S.A., his seventh album, features the same cast of downtrodden blue collar characters – Vietnam war vets and disaffected, disappointed guys who peaked in high school. The difference here though is Springsteen has instilled some hope into their doldrums existence. With titles like ‘No Surrender’ the Boss showed that they weren’t about to give up, and his more positive approach was backed up by the music, his poppiest to date. Where Nebraska featured sombre, seemingly unfinished pieces composed with simple guitars and harmonicas, his next record had synths and pounding drums. Where there were no hits to be found on his bleak sixth effort, Born in the U.S.A was chock full of them (the seven charting singles here – ‘Dancing in the Dark’, ‘Cover Me’, ‘Born in the U.S.A’, ‘I’m on Fire’, ‘Glory Days’, ‘I’m Goin’ Down’ and ‘My Hometown’ – is a joint record high for one album).

All this results in one great big giddy rock pop album that satisfies both superficially with its singalong choruses, and deeply with its local caricatures and sketches. Superb.

Albumaday... rating: 8/10

1.       Born in the U.S.A – 4:39

2.       Cover Me – 3:27

3.       Darlington County – 4:48

4.       Working on the Highway – 3:11

5.       Downbound Train – 3:35

6.       I’m on Fire – 2:37

7.       No Surrender – 4:00

8.       Bobby Jean – 3:46

9.       I’m Goin’ Down – 3:29

10.   Glory Days – 4:15

11.   Dancing in the Dark – 4:00

12.   My Hometown – 4:34

Listen to ‘My Hometown’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CSFSX-Qh54

2nd June - Bruce Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town

Artist – Album: Bruce Springsteen – Darkness On the Edge of Town

Released:  2^nd June 1978

Sounds Like: A working class hero is something to be

Last time, on Bruce Springsteen’s album – Huge, wall-of-sound music partially hid the Bosses’ disdain for the working class hero that he had previously celebrated.

On Darkness on the Edge of Town, his characters are still losers, and they can only really find solace in driving and working like they love it. Despite the, as ever, euphoric anthems the boss manufactured there is a terribly disillusioned sentiment to his songs on this set; possibly his most depressing aside from the notorious Nebraska.

The adult rock of ‘Adam Raised a Cain’ is quite good, but the rest of the first half is much more interesting – ‘Badlands’ is a full-on Born to Run-esque sing-a-long ; ‘Something in the Night’ and ‘Candy’s Room’ are wistful indie rockers. ‘Racing in the Street’ is the obligatory, end-of-side slow burner, replete with bittersweet lyrics. The second half of the album begins with the excellent ‘The Promised Land’ and continues in a similarly impressive fashion.

Anthemic but disenfranchised, Darkness on the Edge of Town fulfils both of the typical Springsteen themes. It’s a full on classic, and definitely worth a listen if you’re interested.

To be continued...

Albumaday... rating: 8/10

1.       Badlands – 4:01

2.       Adam Raised a Cain – 4:32

3.       Something in the Night – 5:11

4.       Candy’s Room – 2:51

5.       Racing in the Street – 6:53

6.       The Promised Land – 4:33

7.       Factory – 2:17

8.       Streets of Fire – 4:09

9.       Prove It All Night – 3:56

10.   Darkness on the Edge of Town – 4:30

Listen to ‘Badlands’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF1jH6Cv0tk

Also released on the 2^nd June:

2003: British Sea Power – The Decline of British Sea Power