Bruce Springsteen — Working on a Dream

9/10 When I review something, I always have to decide between going in depth or just being brief and general. I really want to go in depth with Springsteen’s decade-ending Working on a Dream, but the nature of the album almost begs I don’t.  The songs contain more experimentation than Bruce has ever dared, but

Bruce Springsteen — Magic

9/10 After the artistically energized Devils & Dust and the joyous Seeger Sessions, one would think Springsteen’s first foray with the E Street Band in five years (and only second in twenty-three!) would take all that positive energy and run with it.  And one (that being me) would be wrong.  Magic is energized in certain ways,

Yankee Hipsters, Stop Saying "Y’all!"

STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT! That is our word. If you aren’t from or living in the Deep South, don’t say it. You sound like an idiot. It isn’t ironic, and don’t even act like you know what irony means. Just say “you guys” or whatever your regional word is and stay out of

Bruce Springsteen — We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions

8/10 After the revelatory Devils & Dust, Bruce Springsteen found himself at an artistic highpoint.  Instead of taking time off to write a new album, he dove directly into a new project.  The Seeger Sessions album was released exactly a year after Devils & Dust and is…different. The positive energy and life from Devils &

Bruce Springsteen — Devils and Dust

9/10 And now we finally reach the great victory lap that is modern day Springsteen. After bringing himself back into the public conversation with the well-regarded, but bloated and overrated The Rising, Springsteen was ready to again stretch his artistic muse.  On Devils & Dust, Springsteen channels his experiences, artistic passions, and musical aspirations into an

Bruce Springsteen — The Rising

6/10 After a seven-year album hiatus, Bruce Springsteen returned in 2002 with The Rising, and to much fanfare.  After ten years, it’s a bit difficult to see what the fuss was about.  This is a bunch of mid-tempo, timid rock songs with generalized lyrics more in the vein of Springsteen’s early 90’s releases than his

Bruce Springsteen — The Ghost of Tom Joad

9/10 The Ghost of Tom Joad, or For the First Time in Eight Years, Bruce Springsteen Shows Some Ambition.Nothing that Bruce Springsteen released between 1988 and 1994 is worth listening to.  There, I said it.  That is quite a drought to have not one good song.  To an extent, Bruce’s real life got in the

Breathing Lessons

Don’t forget that without the efforts of tall trees in the dirt and tiny little plankton in the ocean, your great big lungs would have no oxygen to take in.

Bruce Springsteen — Lucky Town

6/10 Lucky Town starts off strong. “Better Days” seems like about as autobiographical a song as Springsteen could write in 1992.  It’s pretty simple to see that the better days he speaks of involve his new life with his new wife (and now wife of over 20 years), and his time out of the spotlight.Well

Bruce Springsteen — Human Touch

5/10 My major complaint with Bruce Springsteen’s Tunnel of Love is the uninteresting, uninspired music. Bruce follows that album with a collection of b-sides that takes the most lackluster elements of that music and runs with them.  What’s that?  These aren’t b-sides? These are the real songs and the guy who made Nebraska made them? I