Somewhere Along the Line I Slipped Off Track: Tunnel of Love (1987)

To-night!

(1987)

"There's the songs you're writing and things you're telling, and then there's what's happening to you and that's a different story. Your success story is a bigger story than whatever you're trying to say onstage." 
– Bruce (from somewhere in the Carlin book)

Bryan: How do you follow up one of the biggest albums on the planet? If you're Bruce Springsteen, you: 

- marry a movie star and start wearing bolo ties

- put out a country album of songs exploring "the promises people make to each other and the way they renege on those promises, about the romantic dreams we're brought up with and the internal demons that stifle those dreams," according to perennial Bruce-boosters Rolling Stone.

- and then get divorced and marry the girl everyone in the band thought you were going to marry to begin with.

Still going strong 30 years on. Guess it worked out!

Bryan: This album was waaaaay too mellow for me when it came out. This was at the height of my Bruce fever, and I was looking forward to Tunnel of Love coming out about as much as I'd looked forward to anything, including Temple of Doom or Star Trek IV. (Or any of the Star Treks of the 80s for that matter; I was pretty psyched for all of them.) When it came out, I had too much invested in the idea and identity of being a Springsteen super-fan for me to do anything but love it, but I distantly registered something was amiss.

Bryant: I suspect a LOT of people had similar experiences. As I didn't turn into a Springsteen fan until college, myself, so I avoided the whole disappointment angle with this one. That said, I like it a lot, but I don't think it's a great album. A good one, but arguably the worst - "worst" - he'd put out up to then.

Bryan: Let’s dig in.

"Ain't Got You"

Bryant : 2.5/5 Not bad, but right off the bat, you sense that something has changed for the Boss. And not necessarily for the better.

Bryan: 3.4/5 I kinda like this little off-the-cuff number. Like you say, it's an announcement that something has changed. A very Bruce-way of announcing his new direction. It probably could have benefited from the E Street Band kicking in halfway through and fleshing it out a bit. But that wasn't Bruce's bag at the time. It’s an interesting beginning / now-hear-this, but not a full-fledged tune.

Bryant: Part of me feels like my score should be closer to yours, but I'm once again using my Asbury Park scores as a calibrating agent, and with that in mind, I don't think I can go higher than this. I do like the song, though; another one that one have made a strong Elvis single.

Bryan: Absolutely!

"Tougher Than the Rest"

Bryan: 4/5 Nice and simple. Pure country, really. If it came out now there'd be no question, but back then the synths and drums weren't (to my knowledge) part of the country landscape.

Bryant: 3.75/5  Great song. If you haven't seen the video, I highly recommend it if only for the looks Bruce and Patti are giving each other. "Them two 'bout to FUCK," you're apt to think. I watched it again just to make sure I hadn't oversold it. Nope. Not even a little. Good God, nobody has EVER looked at somebody the way Patti is looking at Bruce in that video. If anybody ever makes a biopic about their love affair, that performance needs to be the triumphant finale.

Bryan: Sheesh - get a room, you two. Well, I guess they did.

Bryant: It's a great video in general, though. I'd forgotten that a few gay/lesbian couples got included. That sort of thing would be de rigeur nowadays, but it must have seemed edgy as fuck in 1987/88. And it's really sweet. That costs nothing (and therefore means little) now, but back then, different story altogether. So yeah, I'm a 3.75/5 on the tune itself, but I'd give that video a 5, though.

"All That Heaven Will Allow"

Bryant I like this one just fine, but it's nothing special. 2.25/5 from me, but I do like it.

Bryan: 4.5/5 Man, this one really sticks with me, especially that melody on the chorus. I went up a quarter point, I think, every time I listened to this album. I love it. A really sweet little tune. More country! I never would have picked this as my favorite from this album before this project, but it just might be.

Bryant: Boy, this really IS a country tune - the whole album is in some ways, isn't it? A fairly credible one, too, by modern standards. (He said, knowing very little - on purpose - on that subject.)

Bryan: I should probably mention the very same: I’m not an authority even remotely on what is and what ain’t country. This sounds like my idea of a “good” country tune, though. Just missing the twang. Get this to Randy Travis or Lyle Lovett or something - and I apologize for my dated country references here  - and it'd have been one of their defining songs.

"Spare Parts"

Bryan: This, not so much. 2.5/5


Bryant: 2/5  You can hear the next two albums taking shape in this one, not exactly to my liking.Worst song on the album for me, but it's not bad.

Bryan: Agreed - worst song on the album, although. I like it a little more than you do. Garden variety non-single country-rock. Something about the vocal rhythms on the verses remind me of U2’s “The Fly.”

Bryant: I'd never noticed that before, but now that you've pointed it out, it's absolutely there. I don't have the musical vocabulary to describe what I'm hearing very well; something do with running up and down a scale, maybe? 

Bryan: That could be it. Some chord progressions push melodies/ vocalizations in certain directions.

"Cautious Man" 

Bryant: 2.25/5 Next-to-worst song on the album for me, but again, not bad. I can certainly see how somebody coming to this album as a big Born in the USA fan would have hated it, though. "Born down in a dead man's town" to "Bill Horton was a cautious man..." is a big step sideways. It's better than I remembered, though - very much in the Nebraska mold, although it would not be a standout on that album except in a negative sense.

Bryan: 2.25/5 I guess it's okay. It feels more like atmosphere than a proper song. The story he’s singing kinda goes on too long for me. I sometimes feel like Springsteen is waaaaaay overexplaining this sort of guy in his career. I get his fascination but come on, dude. This song could use a bagpipe.

Bryant: Bagpipe would almost certainly give it another full point. Or a saxophone, for that matter. (coughcoughahem)

"Walk Like a Man"

Bryant: Anyone who is put off by that faux-country thing Bruce sometimes likes to do would be prone to hate this one, I'd imagine. But it's okay. 3.5/5 from me.

Bryan: 3.5/5 Yeah this one's nice. I like the sparse arrangement. Got that sweeping up lone lightbulb on stage dreamy quality to it. Another nice quiet country tune. 

Bryant:  That "sweeping up lone lightbulb on stage dreamy quality" description is lovely and appropriate.  This plays almost like a sequel to "Independence Day," and it's another one that I'm enjoying now much more than I have in the past. 

"Tunnel of Love"

Bryan: 4.25/5 Love it. Kind of another "hey I'm going a different way now," especially that beginning with all the sequenced stuff. Nice stuff from Nils and another good yield from sparse arrangement on this one. Good yodelin’. 

Bryant: 3.5/5 I'm not quite as fond of Nils' work as you are, but I gather that I'm still more positive on the song than is typical among Springsteen fans. I always kinda liked this, even before I was a fan of Bruce's in the formal sense. I never disliked any of his stuff I heard in those pre-fandom days; I just didn't turn into an actual fan until the early nineties. I can't even now remember what did it! I think turning into a Bob Dylan fan (which happened on account of "Hurricane" being in Dazed and Confused) led to it, somehow. Or maybe "Streets of Philadelphia."

"Two Faces"

Bryant: 3.75/5 I like this one a lot. I'm all about some melancholy, and this has buckets of it.

Bryan: 4.25/5 When Rolling Stone asked him about the depressive nature of his work in 2016, he singled out this record – and “Two Faces” by name - as having “plenty of it.” Easy to agree on that one. This one is deceptively awesome. The organ kind of makes it. The Carlin book mentions how when it came time for him to show the E Street Band these tunes, he'd already finished the songs and made it kind of a challenge, like "if you can top what I did/ add anything, great; if not, this is coming out as it is." There are some disgruntled responses from some of the guys, but what comes through on a re-listen with that in mind is how perfectly arranged/ mixed these tunes are. Whatever balance was struck was the right one, disgruntled or not. Anyway, Danny Federici deserves credit for his contribution here. * It says "All Songs Written by Bruce" but in my thinking, if Federici heard this tune and added the organ, he should be credited, too. But, when it comes that stuff, I'm sure the band worked out its arrangement internally. Could be Bruce hummed the melody or told him what to play, who knows.

Bryant:  I agree with every word of your assessment, especially regarding Federeci's contribution. This is top-notch stuff, and the only thing keeping me from going higher on my score is that I can't honestly say I prefer it to "Blinded by the Light," which earned a 3.75 at the outset of this project.

"Brilliant Disguise"

Bryant: Maybe the best song on the album? 4.25/5 on this one, great stuff.

Bryan: 4.25/5 I used to think so and I still think it’s a great tune, but it’s my 3^rd favorite now, possibly 4^th. Not that “favorite” and “best” are always one and the same. Hearing this now it almost sounds like the Traveling Wilburys or something. I bet Julianne isn't a fan. 

Bryant: Fuck Julianne! She got what she deserved! I say this assuming the whole thing was her fault, which to be fair, might not be the case.

Bryan: Everything I've read seems to indicate she's not really at fault, but who knows except the two of them? No one. Maybe Patti. And Bruce's therapist. Or Julianne's. 

Bryant: I will meet your 4.25/5 with my own.

Bryan: Someone made this Bruce-without-Bruce version of the video, which is equal parts amusing and disturbing. And probably another equal part of pointless.

"One Step Up"

Bryan: This was way too mellow for me as a kid, but man do I love it now. Could be the song (or life) just finally wore me down. 4.5/5.

Bryant: Oh, it's mellow, for sure. But only on the surface. On the inside, this one is full of torn-up emotion. It's the sound of a man forcing himself to be mellow.

Bryan: Mellow only for the music, I mean. I agree the lyrics describe a man surrendering to torn-up emotion, deadened by it perhaps, giving in is easier but he’s tortured about it. (Hard not to project on what he might have been torn up about at the time!) Another pure country/ Sunday afternoon NPR vibe. Always liked the lyrics but it took me awhile to age into the appreciation (if that was indeed what did it.) Summer of 1988 anecdote: I remember my friend's family inviting me with them one getaway weekend to Cape Cod, and they allowed me to put this cassette in for part of the drive. Going from where I grew up to the Cape, distance-wise, isn't too bad, but the traffic is murder. The mellowness of Tunnel of Love inspired road rage from my friend's Mom and it was during "One Step Up" that she finally snapped and ejected it. "This is not an album for Cape Cod traffic," was the quote of the afternoon.

Bryant: Which seems to me like it would be PRECISELY the album for heavy traffic. Mellow enough to actually help with the frustration, but catchy enough to not be mere pablum. Nothing is good in heavy traffic, though; the whole world sucks at those times.

Bryan: From all the other evidence, my friend’s Mom didn't have the greatest appreciation for either music or traffic mitigation.

Bryant:  This is a 5/5 from me. Powerfully sad stuff, but it somehow manages to put a wistful little smile on my face. What's THAT all about?!? Federeci and Patti add very powerful separate dimensions to this one, and without their work, I'd drop about a point and a half from this song.

Bryan: I scored "One Step Up" 4.4 at the beginning of this whole project. Now it's like the ultimate song in Springsteenland for me. What a fucking great song. "I'm on Fire" level. I'm going to revise my score to reflect this Friday night enthusiasm to 7/5. 

This speaks to the whole Springsteen Tunnel of Love/ Lucky Town/ Human Touch problem for me. As I attain the age he was recording these things, it's like suddenly I feel fine with almost all the artistic choices a younger me thought were bland, too mellow, etc. Is it a trick of beign 43? A general dulling of the senses after 40? Or even refinement of them? I hold no allegiance to any one theory. It just continually cracks me up how I find myself enjoying things put out by artists who were the same age as me (emotionally - ergo hair metal - or otherwise) as I follow my own spacetime vector.

"When I look at myself I don't see/ the man I wanted to be/ somewhere along the line, I slipped off track... / one step up, and two steps back."

"When You're Alone"

Bryant: Not bad. I'll give this one a 2.5/5, which seems a bit low, but so be it.

Bryan: 3.5/5 Man this chorus gets in my head all the time. I can easily “hear” it sped up and appearing as an E Street number in the vein of "No Surrender" (the Born in the USA version, not the acoustic slowed-down live version.). It's too bad they've never tried this, as I bet it'd sound great. As it is, I like the chorus a lot - this is a great vibe/ expression of that sentiment, but the rest is okay/ good but not great.

Bryant:  God, I can absoLUTEly hear this in the sped-up mode you suggest. Don't you love it when you can mentally do that to these songs? Similarly, I can do the reverse version of that and hear "Dancing in the Dark" as a forerunner to this album's style.

Bryan: Makes me wish I had my old turntable and could slow/ speed things up so I could get a more literal idea of it. Someone really needs to get him to do a rocked-out version of this, though, especially with some warbly SVZ backing vocals and Clarence (now Jake I guess) wailing along. 

Bryant: I'm with you - I can absolutely put a mental E Street Band filter over it and imagine it being on one of the earlier albums.

"Valentine's Day"

Bryant: I fucking LOVE this song. I swear I've never heard another Springsteen fan even mention it; I think I might actually be the only person who's ever heard it. Unlikely, but I have no proof to the contrary. Anyways, it's just always struck me as being incredibly sad, and there ain't much I love more than an incredibly sad song. 5/5, which might be too high, but, again, so be it.

Bryan: 4.75/5 I was curious to get back to this one based on your praise. I can't quite go to 5/5 on this, but you are definitely correct: this is superb and thanks for the heads up. Another one where the organ/ keyboard makes it for me. I'm not the biggest fan of the vocal phrasings and rambling non-melody of the verses, but the lyrics/ vibe and musical mood of this one is top notch. I love the sway of the chord progression as it goes along.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Bryant: 40.25 total, 3.35 average, which places it toward the lower end of the spectrum thus far. But I think that's a sign of how good the upper end of the spectrum thus far is; this is a very strong album, and if it isn't quite in the league of, say, Born in the USA, well, shit, very few albums are. If you look at his early albums, they chart a course that leads directly to Born in the USA. A few sidesteps, granted (Nebraska and some of The River), but essentially, that's a sustained narrative running about a decade. And the thing is, Born in the USA is the pinnacle/climax of it. Nowhere to go from there except to get out of the car, catch a bus, and go someplace else entirely. That's what Tunnel of Love (and most of the rest of his career) is. It feels to me like every once in a while he looks back and says, "Boy, it sure was cool to have THAT," but then remembers he'd be a fool to try and recapture it.

And he never did. But who could have?

Bryan: Total 45.65 Avg 3.8 It’s interesting – I’m the same age now Bruce was when he made this one. Is that why it sounds so damn good to me? I had to kind of trick myself into affection for it in junior high; now I genuinely find the country mellowness of it very agreeable.

Bryant: I think we tend to build up mental images of who artists like Springsteen are and then often prove to be very resistant to their attempts to deviate into some other mold. But really, that's just life working its normal course. If a person is still exactly the same at age 43 as they were at 23, then they are probably a sad sack of shit. I don't want to Bruce to not change any more than I want me not to change. I mean sure, it'd be cool if we could somehow actually all STAY 23 forever, but since that option is currently off the table, I like for there to be people out there doing the legwork in advance to let me know what being 43, 53, 63 is going to be like. I almost certainly will manage not to learn from their advice (because that's how I do), but I nevertheless appreciate their efforts. 

So yeah, if this album is Bruce settling in for the long winter of what was coming down the road for him, then it's not only a good thing, but a GREAT thing that he was able to put it into songs for the rest of us to enjoy. 

Bryan: Hear, hear.

Bryant: Maybe some people didn't enjoy it at the time, but I'm pretty sure he wasn't making the album for those people.

PERSONNEL

Mostly Just Bruce – lead vocals, backing vocals, guitar, mandolin, bass guitar, keyboards, harmonica, percussion, drum machines
and Max – drums on "All That Heaven Will Allow", "Two Faces" and "When You're Alone"; percussion on "Tougher Than the Rest", "Spare Parts", "Walk Like a Man", "Tunnel of Love", and "Brilliant Disguise"

Roy Bittan – piano on "Brilliant Disguise", synthesizers on "Tunnel of Love"

Big Man – backing vocals on "When You're Alone"

Danny Federici – organ on "Tougher Than the Rest", "Spare Parts", "Two Faces", and "Brilliant Disguise"

Nils Lofgren – guitar solo on "Tunnel of Love", backing vocals on "When You're Alone"

Patti Scialfa – backing vocals on "Tunnel of Love", "One Step Up" and "When You're Alone"

Garry Tallent – bass guitar on "Spare Parts"

* I guess it was just Bruce on "Valentine's Day." As mentioned up there, the deal with this one was he recorded almost all of it solo then "dared" the E Street band - if they could come up with something, they were free to add it. And as you can see from the above, they did. (From the Carlin book, this new approach didn't sit too well with the E Street band. But they all went out on tour just the same.)

THE SCORES SO FAR...

Bryant:

Greetings from Asbury Park 2.75

Tunnel of Love 3.35

The River 3.39

The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle 3.68

Live ’75 - ‘85 3.7

Born to Run 4.35

Darkness on the Edge of Town 4.4

Nebraska 4.63

Born in the USA 4.88

Bryan:

Greetings from Asbury Park 2.19

The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle 3.43

The River 3.71

Tunnel of Love 3.8

Darkness on the Edge of Town 3.82

Live ’75 - ‘85 4

Born to Run 4.41

Nebraska 4.5
Born in the USA 5.44