Online Editorial: "It's Time to Fire the Boss" (Springsteen)

Good point (although to hear him warble "Oh What A Beautiful Morning" was cringeworthy enough to make your hair stand on end!) (whoops, sorry James)

 

Too much Bruce?

I'm really surprised that the article writer would pick out Bruce to feature in an article like this. With all of the celebrity worship going on these days it seems that Bruce is relevant to his fan base and not the public at large.

Compared to media saturation of "news" about Britney Spears, Madonna, Brad and Angeline, Jennifer Anniston and all of the others who get so much coverage about things having nothing to do with their music and/or acting activities, Bruce seems rather low key. Bruce has done albums every few years, made some political appearances and has done some touring but I would hardly call him a household name outside of 35+ years old rock fans. The rest of the complaints about being an older act applies to many rock and non-rock stars (Tony Bennett) who are still active decades later.

Scott

 

Glory Days makes me cringe , and especially when he sang it this past August in Foxboro
and had everyone singing with him...

 

When I woke up this morning I had no idea I'd be defending James Taylor, but you really should listen to Squealy and disregard the whimsical notions of "many" casual fans who don't seem to be aware of the fact he's made hits out covers throughout his career. I own nothing by the man and even I knew that.

 

"Wichita Lineman" suits him, though.

 

Hey I've got nothing against James, but it was a boring as hell show; the covers were slow and lazy and didn't suit him and people didn't like it!
I was there and heard everyone moaning about it at the end of the night.

You never hear that at the end of a Bruce show; everyone's exhausted from a 2.5 to 3 hour workout!.

 

Glen Campbell owns that one.

 

Well of course, but the song works for JT too. (It might work for anyone.)

 

Well, I know my eyes were tired after squinting to see the performing flea that claimed to be Bruce.

 

You gotta have connections; get right down on the floor and rock out...(I've been lucky and always had good seats for his shows)

 

Ban James Taylor's music.

 

I haven't heard anything from the new album yet, but I was extremely impressed with Magic (especially "Terry's Song") and don't think its the work of an artist who should be "fired". I don't always agree with everything Bruce says but I respect what he says and I have tremendous respect for the way he has conducted his career. In fact he's pretty consistent as he's never made an album that I thought sucked or was a bad misfire.

 

He's a class act in every way. He's wonderful to his fans too!

 

agree about Working On A Dream but

My Lucky Day is ok and Life Itself is really good in a haunting kinda way.

I haven't given up on this album yet. The River & BITUSA both had a few clunkers too (I'm Goin Down, Fade Away)

 

I remember reading an interview with him in Guitar World, I think it was around '95 or '96 where the interview was conducted at some small coffee shop or diner and he pulled up for the interview with no entourage or "superstar handlers" and even left a very generous tip for the waitress. I can't help but root for someone with that kind of laid back attitude rather than someone with some sort of "diva" or "male diva" complex.

 

Now if it was Fire The Stones......

 

This stuff really annoys me. Fans are never happy. If Stones, Springsteen, etc were “fired” people would be bitching right away…where’s the album?...where’s the tour?
Let them do what they do. For me, a new album by veteran artists is the icing on the cake and you should be thankful that they are still inspired to record and write rather than be a Vegas act playing the same hits over and over again. No one complained that Brubeck and Davis recorded dozens of albums after their heyday so why do rockers get all this flack? If you don’t like it don’t freakin’ buy it and don’t go to their concerts.

 

But in the ad for JT's new album, Sony says his covers are "legendary"!

 

Oh, I've heard fine and I've heard lame...

Sweet Baby James album = fine
Covers = lame

 

His mistake is doing R&B stuff. He's James Taylor, for crying out loud. But we digress.

 

Fire him??? I never hired him.

 

Reading your question, and later listening to some alternate takes of songs online at youtube, hearing one of those takes in particular that I really liked, I thought of your question again, and putting the two together, the following is one song which is of the perception, image, and/or reality, pertaining to the subject you mention.

Factory
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCUnnIZWURE

 

It is understandable that fans are disillusioned with Bruce's rather bland past couple of projects. There is just no way he can be expected to produce anything close to his pre-1988 work. Of course nostalgia will be a component with certain fans purchasing tickets hoping to hear some of the milestones he recorded, but there is a lot of newer material in his nightly sets. Still hoping he can dazzle me one last time and with the amount of recorded material he is currently churning out, the possibility exists. More than that, I hope another archival release surfaces sooner rather than later.

 

Thanks. I know the songs but Springsteen is still an act. The fact that people really believe he's that working class guy is odd to me. For a while it was a convincing act but he's also been a brooding folk guy, a slick 80s pop singer etc etc.

Steven Van Zandt talked about this when he was on Howard Stern - about how people really believe that the characters Springsteen puts out are real. The premise the writer of the article is putting forward hinges soley on that image and a couple of political stances.

To me its not a whole lot different than an actors character being so closely associated with him. Sort of silly.