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

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