I was reading up on this album's Wikipedia entry. Came across this: "Rolling Stone gave it a five-star rating and compared it to 1975's Born to Run in scale and ambition." You keep being you, Rolling Stone!
At RS, untouchable artists who you could not write anything bad about, where called "FOJ", as in "Friend of Jann's"
I really don't know where to start with WOAD. @Dr. Zoom said a lot of the things I'd say about it in his initial post about it...but I am going to ramble on about it anyway... I don't know if it is my least favorite Springsteen record. It would definitely be a toss-up between WOAD and High Hopes. I don't own High Hopes, but I do own this one, so maybe its my "second least favorite" Springsteen record. I did not buy it when it came out. I heard the single/title track and it really did not do anything for me. I can't remember if the record came out before or after the Super Bowl performance - I know it was some time after that when I did buy it. Somebody posted an excerpt from the Rolling Stone review - and I remember seeing a good number of positive to gushing reviews and decided to give the record a chance. As an aside I do like Baroque Pop quite a bit and so the description of this record as one in that vein (which I really don't agree with at all) may have had something to do with it. But anyway I did buy it. I remember trying to work through it after I bought it and I just did not like it at all. Nothing other than "The Wrestler," which I think I had heard before, made any type of impression on me. It just did not connect with me in any way at all. And there were some songs on it that I thought screamingly bad. IT has been a long, long time since I listened to this record. Other than "Outlaw Pete," which I really don't like, and the title track, I can't recall any other songs on this record. I saw one show from this tour in Greensboro. It was pretty good - after the European leg of the tour so it was not a heavy WOAD set list. I am pretty sure he was doing mid-show requests on this tour - could be wrong - and that was a part of the shows I listened to I was not crazy about (although he did a cover of Stephen F. Foster's "Hard Times" during the encores which was stupendously good as I remember.
the title traq might be the worst of bruce’s lead singles. a shameless and highly unappetizing propaganda whopper
I might be in the minority here, but I quite like the over-the-top music and story of Outlaw Pete, and Queen of the Supermarket brings out the kind of effort and fullness in his voice that Bruce had often abandoned on his more twangy and adenoidal vocal performances we had to get used to on some of the 1990s and early 2000s songs. Other songs I like from this album are This Life, Kingdom of Days, and The Last Carnival. I guess I just love the Beach Boys / Phil Spector / Roy Orbison influences that I hear on this album. It's definitely not one of my favourite Springsteen albums, but it's a fun and nice album to listen to when I'm working out and looking for a rhythm.
See, I don’t hear much Spector or Orbison on Springsteen’s pop stuff. Maybe a little Brian Wilson. QOTS is a nice melody, but the lyrics are horrid. The F bomb at the end is the lyrical turd on the cake.
Give me an entire record of baroque-pop numbers and you makes me happy And you know what? I made it for myself, and it's great From "Girls In Their Summer Clothes"" to "Sundown", that's my Bruce
I didn’t realize that TR was such a constant feature. I’ve been to probably 20-25 Springsteen concerts and have only heard it played at less than half of them. As I’ve said, I’ve never heard a strong performance of it. Like “The Promised Land” (another one I could do without hearing again), he has seemed to just go through the motions when playing it with the band at the shows I’ve attended.
Nicely said but your approach isn’t for me. I don’t care where the concert is or how many people are in attendance. I have zero tolerance for people who aren’t 100% focused on the music, and I will never enjoy hearing the crowd sing.
I haven't had the same experience. Granted I have not seen Springsteen as much as you have, but I don't think the watered-down sing-alongs (Thunder Road, Badlands, Hungry Heart, etc.) represent a commitment to the material. I also would not describe the full-band assaults of staples like Born To Run or Born In The USA as committed. He certainly doesn't mail them in, but to my ears, they are clearly perfunctory performances. That said, the fact that he can interact with the audience and receive extra adulation perhaps provides him with that extra incentive, extra inspiration not to mail-in those performances.
I would switch out My Lucky Day for Life Itself, but I agree with your position. This album contained a short EP at best.
“Classic” in my post has nothing to do with how anybody else sees a song. If I consider it a 5-star song that ranks among his best work, it’s a “classic”. It could be that I’m the only one who likes it, but that means zilch to me. My view is the only thing that matters. I’m not trying to speak in generalities; I can only accurately characterize my thoughts about music. D&D at least had “Reno”, “Long Time Comin’”, and the title track. HT has “Human Touch”, “Soul Driver”, and “Real World”. Nothing on WOAD, even “Good Eye” and “Life Itself”, rises to that level. They’re very good but not “classics” in my book.
Not a big fan of WOAD by any means, yet two of my absolute-fave 21st-century Springsteen songs are "What Love Can Do" and "Life Itself"...both have really good lyrics, the former really rocks and I love the music to the latter as well. "The Last Carnival" is also fantastic, though it's one of the saddest songs ever, and I enjoy "Tomorrow Never Knows," "The Wrestler" and even the much-loathed "Outlaw Pete." The rest of it, as I'm sure has been discussed, is largely fecal matter, with the title track, the cringe-inducing "Queen..." and the awful "Surprise, Surprise" bringing up the (pun intended) rear.
I don’t think the motorcycle song is even one of his better songs. It mystifies me that it has somehow become THE song he must play when I think there are dozens and dozens of superior songs in his notebook.
Anyone else hear a bit of Western Stars on Tomorrow Never Knows? It sounds like it could be an outtake from that album (obviously it predated it). Perhaps it was one of the early tracks for his western-themed material -- IIRC, some of Western Stars may date back to the O'Brien era.
As others have stated, I, too, found Working on a Dream to be a step down from Magic. Perhaps it is the case that having product available in time for the Super Bowl performance was a factor although I like to think I'm not that cynical. Then again, it's not unfair to claim that several of these tracks could have used a little more time in the oven, particularly from a lyric standpoint. That's my criticism of "Kingdom of Days," a song with which I very much appreciate the sentiment and musical accompaniment but, which seems like a rough draft lyrically: "I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I do; You whispered then prove it, then prove it, then prove it, to me baby blue." "Surprise, Surprise" is a more egregious offender in that regard, as it's a catchy little pop tune bogged down by some of the most disappointingly trite and generic lyrics of his career. Springsteen's title tracks are almost universally amongst the best tracks on the album. "Working on a Dream" is the first one that I can't find a way to consider worthy of the distinction. "The Last Carnival" is pretty easily my favorite on this collection, as it's a dotted line back to "Wild Billy's Circus Story," which is one of my favorites from the early era. But as @chervokas mentioned upthread when commenting on @Rockford & Roll 's post, it probably falls more in the category of "underappreciated gem" as opposed to "classic." @robcar , thank you for noting that Working on a Dream is not a collection of outtakes, as is not uncommonly assumed amongst fans (both here and on other forums). You're correct, "What Love Can Do" was conceived during the mixing of Magic so it was considered the first song for the new album, as opposed to a late contender for inclusion on Magic. I seem to be incapable of commenting on an album without also briefly mentioning the tour and this release is no different. The Working on a Dream tour was the very first time I can recall Springsteen releasing a new album and not performing most of the album (at least during the early part of the tour). Springsteen seemed to have observed the new material not connecting with his audience during the Asbury Park rehearsals and subsequently limited the new album's song selection in each setlist to usually three or four songs, then two to three, then one or two. There was at least one concert on the Working on a Dream tour to feature zero songs from the album, which is telling. That hasn't happened since.
It is terrible, but the next album's atrocious lead-off single, We Take Care of Our Own, is also a contender for the worse lead-off single.
Yes, good catch, WOAD are not Magic outtakes as I erroneously stated. One thing worth keeping in mind as we scrape along (what many believe to be) the nadir of his recording career...he was sick for much of it. According to his bio, the 2009-15 period, he struggled mightily during this period. As any sufferer will tell you, it’s extraordinarily tough to work during periods of bad depression. So maybe WOAD was just a way to work through a rough period. Write light, fluffy songs when all around is dark?
I'd agree that TR is seldom done well live . I really like the one on Live 75-85 . This really made me laugh about Badlands. While I don't share the sentiment on this one , totally get the feeling and am beyond bored by BTR live.
It is certainly a valid consideration. One should not discount the impact Springsteen's depression and medication had on his writing and overall work. That said, there were definitely some good songs written and developed during this period, but collectively speaking, he struggled to piece together consistently strong song cycles -- and the fact that he was with the wrong producer did not help. I think if one takes the best of Magic and WOAD, there is a solid album there (similar to the idea of combining Human Touch and Lucky Town) -- not an album that matches the greatness of his classic period, but certainly a respectable effort. Funny enough, as uneven as WOAD is, and as bad as some of it is, I find that it has three or four redeemable cuts (maybe five if I am being generous), and that is more than I am willing to salvage from The Rising, an album with a far greater reputation amongst the fan-base (and participants of this thread). As previously stated, Brendan O'Brien was one of the worst things to ever happen to Springsteen's music, and in some ways this lower-tier album is a fitting final chapter to the Springsteen/O'Brien collaboration, highlighting why it never worked.
At the end of the day, I think Springsteen is always his own producer. I don’t think O’Brien ever had much input on things like artistic vision, message or track selection. I think his function was to be more of a glorified engineer. Based on the Sonics of The Rising & Magic, he failed pretty miserably.
I agree. But I remember Springsteen talking about how O'Brien would go through his notebooks and suggest certain songs or ideas to develop, so he definitely was involved on some level in a creative manner (I would guess they also went through his old reels and discussed what to revive, as in the case of the Devils & Dust project). That said, he biggest function was engineering the music, creating the sound of the recordings -- and that is what both Springsteen and Landau wanted at the time. They wanted Bruce to sound more "contemporary." Rolling Stone loved it, but outside of his deep fan-base, I would argue most of the public, at least in America, didn't really notice or care.