Bruce Springsteen Western Stars (the movie)

I thought the movie was too much of a repeat of the Springsteen On Broadway narrative. Bruce already wrote all about his demons and views on the human condition, then did it every night on Broadway, and now he's made a film with many similar observations. I don't really see any of this new stuff as different, or pushing his craft further. The only thing new was a string section and a bunch of different musicians IMO.

 

Well, I couldn’t afford a ticket to the Broadway show, and I don’t have a streaming Netflix subscription, so Western Stars was all new to me. I’m glad I was able to see it in a theater. I loved it!

 

I too saw it in the Theater and loved it , the sound was great , it looked great ......... It was very well done .

 

Looks like the black LP of the live score is available for only 9,75 here:

Bruce Springsteen Western Stars (Songs From the Film) on DeepDiscount

 

Now on HBO.

 

If you have Xfinity, it’s free on HBO this week via a Watchathon.

 

For those who prefer/need physical media, the Blu-ray is currently 14.99 on Amazon.

 

I enjoyed the concert portions of the film, to a point. Listening to the soundtrack album, I realized these live versions sound very, very close to the original versions. The performances seem to loosen up a little by the time "Stones" arrives, but most of the rest are nearly identical to the album. After watching the movie, I thought, "That was nice, but what's the point? Nothing new was added to the arrangements." Don't get me started with the between song monologues and the western wear commercials, which are painfully embarrassing. I love Western Stars, but I can live without watching the movie again.

 

I get that Bruce apparently was a very, very Bad Boss somewhere down the line and made his Jersey Girl very angry. I asked myself, particularly during Stones in the film, why must I suffer for this?

 

Bruce's suffering is America's suffering

 

All I really hoped for and expected was another album as good as his 2nd. Which is great 4th of July listen BTW

 

Except they are all new songs and the short pieces of dialogue are newly scripted, repeating nothing from the Broadway show.

Stones is the absolute highlight in the film. Magnificent.

 

I guess I didn't grasp the relationship between the New Jersey Barn and the Arizona Desert. Say what you want about Mike Appel, he would have insisted on some logic.