Springsteen Tunnel Of Love (Love or Hate) ?

I think a key factor in the album was that it was a twist on things musically and thematically and at the time it seemed a bit of a challenge initially but became rewarding over time so much so that the two biggest Springsteen fans I knew at the time proclaimed it his greatest.

Whilst I never went that far I considered it a classic over time. It was noticeable some younger Springsteen fans I knew didn't get it I always related that to a life experience thing-the issues didn't resonate with them.

I think another key factor is that when Springsteen returned with his next two albums that he returned settled and as a father and that has meant pretty much since then there's been less of himself in his songs-of course Lucky Town and Human Touch told the story of the end of that journey but I tend to think as much as Springsteen's songs always had characters post TOL the characters in his scenarios seemed to be told far more from an outside perspective rather than someone close to the events-and maybe he largely stopped exercising ghosts after TOL.

For me it is a cut off point I think he has made a few good/great records since but I've never really considered anything post TOL as good as it but of course that happens when you are so close to an artist and for me TOL was the last time Springsteen would throw something at me that made me go...wait a minute and come out the other end a total convert to one of his records.

 

I was 31 when it came out and had just been through a bad breakup when it came out. I could identify with every song on the album. It's one of my favorite Bruce albums.

I know his marriage was all but over at the time he wrote it and he and Patty were together, so it made a lot of sense in that respect as well.

 

There's good dated and there's bad dated. Born In The U.S.A. is good dated, in my opinion. It's of the time but very enjoyable, like a lot of great music (most of it, really).

In comparison, the sound of Tunnel Of Love represents pretty much everything that's wrong with late '80s production. I'd imagine it could be remastered into something far more enjoyable via the liberal application of EQ, but some of that sound is "baked in" due to the instruments, reverb and so forth.

 

Great, highly under-rated album. If you're just getting into Bruce Springsteen, get this album in your first bunch of albums.

 

Great record. His last all-round good one, though

 

OK, first listen after 20 years or so, I don't love it, but I do like it a lot. It's aged really well and the CD I ripped sounds really good.

 

I like the album Tunnel of Love.

I love the song Tunnel of Love.

 

Just found a clean vinyl copy today. Man, great sounding and a great album. At least 75 percent of the songs are memorable, stand out melodies. How many albums can say that?

My favorite lyric:

Fat man sitting on a little stool
Takes the money from my hand while his eyes take a walk all over you

Read more: Bruce Springsteen - Tunnel Of Love Lyrics | MetroLyrics

 

Prefer this to BITUSA. Anyway it's got my favourite Springsteen song 'Brilliant Disguise'. Arguably he has not reached the same heights since.

 

It's a great album, and continues with the themes of the material recorded from The River onwards. By this time, the River era, Bruce was starting to look more personally at his own set of circumstances, and how he related to the world. Tunnel of Love is Bruce pre-therapy. Human Touch and Lucky Town are Bruce during, and post-therapy, after the breakdown of his first marriage. My Hometown, on Born In The USA, is the precursor to the entire Tunnel of Love album, as you can see where Bruce is going, but, again, it all stems from The River. The River has this yearning, which continues through some of Nebraska, and even into the soundscapes of some of Born In The USA.

 

It's one of my favourites and I've always recommended this album to so many people over the years...
It's also the first Springsteen's album I listened. My father bought it for some reason, despite the fact he hated Bruce.
I was 11, and loved every song on it. I have never stopped listening to his, and 28 years have gone by.
As I grew, I found more things to love in it. I've been through some of the stories in Tunnel of love myself.

 

I think that the album is tremendous. It requires you to get past the 80's drum sound and reverb, but once you do, you've got the songs. Everyone's got their favorites. Mine are probably the title track, "Brilliant Disguise" and the long and slow-moving, but ultimately rewarding "Tougher than the Rest". There are videos of the band on tour (complete with day glow late-80's fashions, maybe even a mullet or two), and the songs take on a new life played live by the full band - not necessarily better, but interesting.

As for what came next - I thought that Lucky Day and Human Touch were OK, but when I saw him in concert at the LA Sports Arena, I realized how much I missed the E Street Band. It was like seeing Mick Jagger solo in the 1990's - you can get the best musicians that money can buy, and they may hit every note perfectly, but it won't sound right. The magic returned with The Rising.

 

Love it. Good stories that are well written.

 

How did I miss this thread? This is my favorite Springsteen album. I pull it out more than any other.
One Step Up for anyone who has been in a relationship, is killer. It might be my favorite Springsteen song.
As you can guess, I love it and I amazed that a Springsteen fan wouldn't like it.

 

Don't hate it but don't own it.

 

Love it. It was one of the first albums that I owned on compact disc. As a teenager at the time I didn't have that much money to spend so I played the album almost each and every day for quite a while. And eventhough I haven't played it much the last decade or so, it still is one of my favourite Springsteen albums. I love the melancholic atmosphere of the songs.

 

Love it. Just bought the live download from the '88 tour

 

One of the funny things about this place is that sometimes you just can't understand how someone could feel differently about some things. 90% of the stuff you may say, yea well OK, I guess I get it, this is just something I feel that way about. But sometimes you just can't fathom why people feel the extreme opposite of you.
I dislike Tunnel so completely (except for the three songs) that it really boggles my mind how someone could enjoy it, treasure it, etc. It is one of the greatest letdowns I ever had in music.

But c'est la vie. This is coming form someone who think Heroes are Hard to Find is fantastic.

 

Were you actually referencing Bob's stupid Chrysler commercial? I wondered what he thought (or if he cared) about the recent recall. "America will build your car..." Anyways, your entire post was insightful. I wish Bruce or Jon Landau would read it.

 

Actually, I don't care for Bruce very much but Tunnel is a great GREAT GREAT record. It's the only one of his I own.

 

Big Springsteen fan here, and I don't care for it much.

This is the sound of an album where an artist was surprised by mega-superstardom so much that he became torn between what was true to himself and what he thought the fans wanted.

That said, if Bruce had stripped these songs down and presented them in a Nebraska type fashion the album might have been much better. You just can't hear very much if Bruce in here unless you concentrate... and his music was never about effort to get "it."

 

As it is, it's a great album. I really enjoy it, but then I enjoy heartbreak more than contentedness, having been there.

Human Touch and Lucky Town have less great songs on them, but then Bruce falls into a different groove some time in the mid 90s, what with Tom Joad, and becoming a mini Woody Guthrie. Since then, the albums have been good, apart from Working On A Dream, which is, in my opinion, worse than Human Touch and Lucky Town.

 

I agree with Pretty much all the OP said.

I have bought all or most of his output since Tunnel of Love. I have a lot of time for Wrecking Ball and The Promise, and indeed some of last year 's release, or even The Rising, but I think Tunnel was his last classic, and is up there among his very best with Born to Run, Nebraska, Darkness on the edge of Town, and The River.

Tunnel has real depth and profoundness to it. Not always an easy listen, but real substance.

 

An amazing album. Surely a true concept album taking the story of a love affair through all its stages. The fact that the tour to promote it took place through his divorce gives it even more poignancy to me. One of his best.

Philip

 

The last great Springsteen album.