 "IT IS BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN" | 2009-06-05 |
| - Reviewed By ardellyoung |
This CD was purchased for the original versions of "Open All Night" and "Reason To Believe".
I am not fond of Springsteen CD's without the E Street Band but this CD displays some of his best lyrical work. |
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| "It's bleak in Nebraska" | 2009-02-28 |
| - Reviewed By knightlander |
| Anyone who gives Bruce Springsteen a guitar and a harmonica and expects the same results they'd get by giving Bob Dylan the same instruments is, well, not going to get what they expect. Dylan would craft something beautiful, melodic, eloquent, twisty, like "Simple Twist of Fate" or "Shelter from the Storm." On "Nebraska," Springsteen adheres to his "working-class hero" formula, minus the salvation, plotting ten tales of hopelessness brought to life through ghostly vocals, weepy harmonica, and stark guitar. The crown jewel is "Atlantic City." Other draws include "Johnny 99," a sharp homage to Chuck Berry, the bitterly sarcastic "Reason to Believe," and the expected "troubles with father" tune ("My Father's House"). Even if these pieces don't excite you--and they certainly strike me--this man certainly has stories to tell. |
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| "Winter Never Ends" | 2009-01-31 |
| - Reviewed By richardcoreno |
Sparse and dark, Bruce Springsteen delves into the great depression of the soul when unbridled evil grips the mind, economic forces destroy the hearts of hard-working people and the real ramifications of rolling the loaded dice with organized crime.
Released in September 1982, the tracks are demos Springsteen recorded on a 4-track cassette recorder. His voice powerfully conveys the bleakness, while his work on acoustic guitar and harmonica are timeless. An electric guitar is only used on Open All Night. The album peaked at #3 on the Billboard chart and the single, Atlantic City (#10), had the best Billboard showing of three songs that were released.
This is life when winter never ends, with the Grim Reaper moving swiftly into the picture, while doing a victory dance. |
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 "The power is in the lyrics - you need to listen!" | 2008-08-03 |
| - Reviewed By User: A32XSKO7TOI0BH |
Twelve and a half years after the release of his debut, Greetings from Asbury Park N.J. and two years after The River was delivered, Bruce Springsteen gave us Nebraska. This 1982 record represented an abrupt change in direction for this most popular of American artists. Springsteen's new course was so surprising and dramatic that you would be hard-pressed to find adequate words to describe it to a fan who had not yet been exposed. Gone are the horns; gone are Springsteen's electric guitar solos; gone are the anthems. We are no longer cruising in Jersey. We have moved to the mid-west and we are running from murder. Rock music is replaced by folk music - not gentle folk music either, but, rather, sparse music that is roots-driven, edgy and minimalist. We have Springsteen, his acoustic guitar and his harmonica. There is no-one else. On his prior recordings Springsteen told many stories that were not exactly uplifting. He wrote of economic and romantic hardships. On Nebraska he addresses violent death, the narrator's longing for a time when life was better and suicidal depression brought on by plant closings. The bleakness is unrelenting. The narrator of each song is at one stage of despair or another. Some suggest that the final cut, Reason to Believe, offers some hope. I don't think so. These people may think that they have a reason to believe but in reality they are done like toast.
If you love Born to Run or Born in the USA there is absolutely no guaranty that you'll appreciate Nebraska. By the same token, if you are turned off by Springsteen's "anthemic" rockers but enjoy, say, the moody cds released by Johnny Cash in his last years then this may be for you.. Nebraska doesn't represent "popular" music. These aren't background songs for a cocktail party! The record is not an easy listen. However, if you do play it you must listen. The power is in the lyrics.
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| "Tales of cops and robbers" | 2008-06-09 |
| - Reviewed By bekintex |
If you painted pictures from these songs, they'd be in starkest black and white with splashes of red. The music itself is stark--just Bruce singing with his guitar and a harmonica howling sharp.
The title track is probably one of the scariest songs I have ever heard. The opening lyrics will make your hair stand up on end:
"I saw her standin' on her front lawn just twirlin' her baton
Me and her went for a ride sir and ten innocent people died"
If Bruce isn't talking killers, he's talking cops. In "Highway Patrolman", Sgt Joe Roberts has got to put up with family trouble:
"Now ever since we was young kids it's been the same come down
I get a call over the radio Franky's in trouble downtown
Well if it was any other man, I'd put him straight away
But when it's your brother sometimes you look the other way..."
There's poor kids watching how the rich live in "Mansion on the Hill," driving in the dark in "Open all Night," and a whole lot more. It's harsh, but in some cases hopeful. This is definitely not a party album or one you would listen to if you were needing to be cheered up, but the storytelling's some of the most solid around.
Rebecca Kyle, June 2008 |
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| "Rusty metal" | 2008-05-06 |
| - Reviewed By User: A48NIJ13MSR5V |
Take your car on a late afternoon and drive to a wide open place far from the city, with short wild vegetation and rocky mountains in the background. Find a spot beside the road where to park your car, get off and walk to some old abandoned rusty car frame.
Sit down, while the sun is setting and the soft wind is clanging against and through the metal.
Listen. This is Nebraska. |
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