Bruce Springsteen -The Candid Discussion

To be fair, it's tough to keep up a blistering pace. Dylan couldn't do it. If he got a new producer, it might go a long way towards better quality records. My vote is Steve Van Zandt. Soulfire is the best sounding record I've heard in years.

 

It's not terrible, but the joke quickly got stale. Total B-side material....

 

Have you heard Magic?

 

Cannot speak for the critics, but saying his fans are devoted to him beyond reason completely misses the point. We connect with music and musicians not with the more advanced portion of our brains where our reasoning and logic originate, but with the more primitive portion where emotions and feelings come from.

I have been "devoted" to Springsteen since my senior year in HS when 'Born To Run' was released. Closing in on 70, he's clearly not the same artist he was in the 1970's or 1980's.

That said, and agreeing with several earlier posts in this thread, I think both 'The Rising' from '02 and "Magic" from '07 are both very strong albums that I continue to enjoy. And I appreciate 'Nebraska' and 'The Ghost of Tom Joad' in a way I didn't upon their respective releases.

 

I’m sure it’s been said somewhere in this thread but his 2002-2006 stretch from The Rising through Devils and Dust to the Seeger Sessions was an excellent run. Daring and bold, with great tunes to match. It was from Magic onwards that I felt the tunes began to slip, though the material from Wrecking Ball worked very well live. Something about his production started to sound stifled as well.

 

So who could produce Bruce in the 21st century? As has been noted in September he will be 69 years old. If he goes with an established producer he's playing it safe, someone younger and 'current' he's trying to be hip and trendy. Jack White?

 

I would like to hear what the Springsteen/Landau/Van Zant trio could once again deliver. It would be a fresh change of pace to hear something organic, natural, and vibrant. Just to hear Weinberg's drums not sound like he is hitting tin cans or cardboard would be a great start.

 

Van Zandt would be a good choice. Not very likely though.
Bring in a producer who can make the band sound good.
Go to Nashville and hire Dave Cobb. Not very likely either I know.
But anything beside himself/Landau/O'Brian/Aniello please.

 

Just Springsteen/Van Zandt would work.

 

I remember at the time O’Brien was brought in one of the reasons given was they didn’t know how to record the drums for a modern rock record. The albums from The Rising are too compressed and muddled. I know the song Born to Run had a bit of a Wall of Sound feel but back then on his very best records there was a separation between the instruments which was a real signature sound. The piano and the organ each had their distinct parts and the sax didn’t disappear in the mix when not playing a solo. I think one of the reasons the song The Wall is so loved is It harks back to that E Street Sound almost like a modern Meeting across the River. Even in the 70s Bruce didn’t make modern sounding rock records although he was young. He made records that had the very best of sixties rock and r’n’b. He made a mistake trying to capture a modern rock sound.

 

A question I never see classic oldsters rockers asked about their 80s and on output would be along the lines of "You started off with your records having a certain sound. Presumably you thought that was a GOOD sound and you built your fanhood on it. As you progressed along following the general regnant sonic and production trends of pop/rock music over the years, were you at all times enthusiastically thinking (and I'd point out like TUNNEL or MAGIC each of which to ME sound insanely bad, certainly compared to classic 70s Bruce sound) really sounded exactly like you wanted them to, like, really great? Or was it really mostly a concession to advisors about how to stay "relevant" as time went on?"

 

I have to say I am biased but I disagree.

I like Lucky Town and Human Touch. I really like Ghost and I absolutely love the Rising and Magic. Wrecking ball is an enjoyable listen to me Everytime.

I like devils and dust also.

There are no pop hits on the magnitude of the 80's singles but not many artists ever had that before or since.

 

I like Magic alone among Springsteen's 21st century work and to tell the truth---unlike with Wrecking Ball and High Hopes--I don't even notice the bad production because the songs are so good.

 

Quite right. Can we name a legacy artist who has NOT had a drop-off in quality from their artistic zenith? Even if they have had the occasional high point in the years since?

 

I am trying to think of a songwriter who has really maintained an equal-to-their-very-best consistency into their sixties. I have heard it claimed for Leonard Cohen. I'm not enough of a fan to make an informed judgement.

 

I think their commercial or popular appeal are no different then were Sinatra or Pat Boone or Neil Diamond towards the latter half of their careers. I am not that familiar with Mellencamps nw work but am more familiar with Stings. I don't think his releases are irrelevant and I actually think they are quite good -- but he will not be riding the charts like he did with Blue Turtles or Nothing Like the Sun. Also don't forget the world of popular music has changed a great deal since then. The music of Sting and Mellencamp have no place in a world populated by R&B/Hip Hop, EDM and the likes of Drake's, Beyonces, DJ Khaled's, Kendrik Lamars.

I think Springsteen would probably be more interesting being produced by something like Rick Rubin.

 

FWIW.. if I recall correctly, Tunnel of Love was panned when it was released. I recall it had little place in a world populated by U2 and REM at the time.

 

Mellencamp, he's gotten darker and sparer


Mellencamp: Isolation of Mister (2014)


John Mellencamp "Truth" From Ghost Brothers of Darkland County (2012)

John Mellencamp - Longest Days (2008)

John Mellencamp - Grandview (Lyric Video) ft. Martina McBride (2017)

 

I can't think of any one. But Tom Petty's last 25 years in the studio is so much better than Springsteen's. Way better singer, his records sounds great, both in terms of production and sound quality. And I like his songs more.
But there are definitely flaws

 

Yes, interesting. I agree entirely - he managed to preserve his voice better than most; always well produced and well mastered. I am a huge Petty fan - there is no-one whose music has meant more to me over such a long period of time (since 1985). But I still would be hard-pushed to distill a dozen songs from anything he released post-Wildflowers that I would choose to listen to above any album up to and including Wildflowers. Does that make sense?

 

Practically no one. But is it too much to ask for Springsteen to have that 'occasional high point?" Bowie certainly did and Dylan has had several.

 

I liked his band --The Heartbreakers--much more than the E-Street Band, which ever-growing, unwieldy and at times overplays the song.
I mean I always dreamed of Bruce making a stripped-down rock album--two guitars, bass and drums--with only the occasional organ or piano.
Why does everything but the kitchen sink--but including the glockenspiel and accordion --have to be thrown into the mix?

 

You could say this about almost every single artist whose maintained a career longer than 10-15 years. McCartney's never going to make another Band On The Run and Bruce is never going to make another Darkness On The Edge Of Town. That doesn't mean the music they made as elders isn't worth listening to.

I'm convinced we're never actually going to hear this record in Bruce's lifetime. I imagine it got shelved after 2016. I think most of the songs date from around the time of Wrecking Ball as well. It's entirely possible he hasn't really written anything in the last 5 years. Not that he has to, but the last five years of activity have made me wonder if he's pulled a Billy Joel and is just done with being a creative artist. I sincerely hope not, though.

 

I can't really hum a single song Tom Petty wrote after 1996 to you. Every album sounded nice, but the well of catchy, memorable melodies really dried up after he made She's The One and "Walls."

 

I too was going to mention The Rising and Magic as both being fine releases. I have lyrics from Radio Nowhere as my current quote as that song just blew me away first time I heard it and still does. I don't own Wreaking Ball but I heard it when it was first released and I made a mental note to put it on my to buy list. The fact that I don't own it yet says more about personal procrastination than anything.

He may be more hit and miss than he was, but I can say the same about several other favorites who I still listen to.

I think he's still hanging in there just fine.