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| Tonight: |
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| (1995) |
Bryan: Tonight we'll have a look at Bruce's second all-acoustic affair, and his third(ish) album without the E Street Band. And by “we” I mean myself and the Two-Fisted Troubadour of Tuscaloosa, Mr. Bryant Burnette.
Bryant: So …
my first impulse there was to make some sort of joke in which I paraphrase the
lyrics of Eddie Money’s “Two Tickets to Paradise.” This is the sort of inanity my brain comes up
with. “Two-fisted in paradise” brings up
unwelcome connotations, so I guess we’ll just move on. Let’s get our Joad on! (*sigh*)
Bryan: A genuine LOL on “Two-fisted
in paradise.” I've sat here trying to segue from that to a "The Ghost of Tom Load" porn-parody title but haven't been able to make it work. As I've sat here trying, though, this whole mythology of Bruce porn-parody (thankfully, not the visuals - I'd have cast Bruce in my head as the lead and who wants to see that. Well, plenty of people, I bet, and more power to them, just hey, not me) kept taking shape, though. It all ended with "Bruce Sproingsteen in... The Ghost of Tom Load: Two-Fisted in Paradise." And the fake trailer would have had Eddie Money playing throughout, too, which undoubtedly would have confused people but man. This has been cracking me up unreasonably for the better part of an hour. I had a junior high buddy who would always say "sprrrrrroing!" in imitation of getting a boner, in case that "sproing" thing doesn't translate across state lines. Nothing like footnoting a boner joke.
Bryant: My cats have no idea why I'm laughing instead of feeding them, but that's because they have no sense of humor. I didn't get the "sproing" thing immediately - I was (weird but true) expecting some sort of Australian-accent joke - but as soon as I saw porn-parody titles were in the offing, I grasped it. This is the type of moron humor that directly appeals to me. Mix in some farts somehow, and I'm in humor heaven.
Bryan: Well, we're off to some kind of start. Let's see where we end up!
Bryant: My cats have no idea why I'm laughing instead of feeding them, but that's because they have no sense of humor. I didn't get the "sproing" thing immediately - I was (weird but true) expecting some sort of Australian-accent joke - but as soon as I saw porn-parody titles were in the offing, I grasped it. This is the type of moron humor that directly appeals to me. Mix in some farts somehow, and I'm in humor heaven.
Bryan: Well, we're off to some kind of start. Let's see where we end up!
"I knew that The Ghost of Tom Joad wouldn't
attract my largest audience. But I was sure the songs on it added up to a
reaffirmation of the best of what I do. The record was something new, but it
was also a reference point to the things I tried to stand for and be about as a
songwriter." - Springsteen, Songs 1998.
Bryan: These are admirable thoughts, but I don't
think it is a reaffirmation of the best of what he could do.
Bryant: I'm sure
that with an artist like Springsteen, his own idea of "his best" may be
very different from what outside observers would think. I'm sure that when
he thinks of one of his songs, it's in an entirely different way than you or I
do. I wonder if he thinks we're all weird for loving Born in the U.S.A. or
something like that. I wouldn't be surprised.
Bryan: I don't dislike this album, but this sort
of thing is just not for me. The only songs my ear recognizes as actual songs
and not just tuneless poetry over indistinct chords are the title track and a
couple of others. In theory and sometimes even in practice, I have no qualms
with poetry over indistinct chords; like I say, though, it's just not for me. I
do like all the lyrics – though
I would never have known without looking them up to read along - and I like the
idea of the album just fine. It’s a
respectable side of Bruce. But between this and its closest kin in the catalog
(Nebraska) I view Nebraska as essential and this for completist’s
only.
"The
Ghost of Tom Joad"
Bryant: 4/5 I
wish I had at least a bit of musical-terminology/composition knowledge so I
could explain this, but there is (I think) something about the chord structure
of this that I really respond to. Performance-wise, I really like the
harmonica. The overall sound is just really crisp and inviting. It's
not the stark, echoey masterpiece that Nebraska is, but I kind of admire
him not trying to replicate that.
Bryan: 3/5 It’s a worthy addition to the catalog. It led to an ongoing association with Tom Morello, so that's cool. Here's one of many versions out there of their performing it.
It’s
tough to score some of these – the only real context is Nebraska, but to
compare these tunes to that album’s is just unfair and results in my scoring
them all “1”s or something, so I’ll go with 3 as my
this-is-perfectly-fine-but-not-my-favorite-thing default.
"Straight
Time"
Bryant: 2/5 I feel you on the subject
of not quite knowing how to score some of these. I've got that same sort
of default score, and in my case, it's a 2. It's not a bad song, it
doesn't make my ears hurt or anything. But it doesn't move me,
either. So, a 2!
Bryan: 2/5
This one might’ve been better served if he gave it to someone else, I think,
and allowed to really breathe. I can see it being a big hit, actually. More than the potential for a hit, it just
seems like it'd have been a better fit for The Indigo Girls or something, or
some harmony-singing duo with multiple acoustics.
"Highway 29"
Bryant: 3.5/5 I like this one a
lot. It's brutally sad, and I admire his ability to make me feel that
about somebody who is clearly a bad person. I got some of that from “Nebraska,”
too, and while this song isn't as great as that one, it's pretty great.
Bryan: 2.5/5
That is definitely one of my favorite aspects of the man’s work. Some good
lyrics here. Here's a decent version from 2005.
Bryant: 4.25/5 My favorite song on the
album. Another brutally sad song. I mean, the album is pretty much
full of 'em. Fine by me.
Bryan: 4/5
Reminds me of "Turn the Page" and "The Gambler" in spots,
but the pedal steel guitar in the background keeps it from sounding redundant
of them. This is a good example of that slice of the Boss’ populism - America’s
vets return to manufacturing jobs that have made the factory owners wealthy –
and even wealthier as they collude with government officials to send the work
overseas – which makes his core audience (who decry concern over outsourcing
and loss of manufacturing as just more xenophobic / economic ignorance from the
great unwashed) worthily uncomfortable. Definitely my favorite on the album.
"Sinaloa
Cowboys"
Bryant: 2/5 Rather than say anything
about this, let me pose a question in the interest of having some back-n-forth:
how would you describe the thematic impact of setting this subject to this
music, as opposed to the sort of thing you find with something like "Factory"
or "Downbound Train"? The sentiments aren't all that different,
but the music clearly makes them feel very different. What do you think
Bruce is trying to accomplish by going this route as opposed to that? Do
you think it's successful?
Bryan: 2/5
Good question. I bet it's what you say - Bruce trying a different musical mood
to mix it up/ explore some other angle on similar material. I don't think it's
too successful. Like all the tunes on this, I like the reading of it but not so
much the musical listening. I don't know what the musical mood should've been
to better convey the lyrical content for "Sinaloa". And I do like
some of the prettier parts of the mix (around the 2:50 mark until the verses
start up again), but yeah, it's just too hard to pick out without reading
along. Not a dealbreaker but not one that wraps me up in the story.
"The
Line"
Bryant: 2/5 These 2s tend to fade right
out of my brain, boy. This might be because I'm paying insufficient
attention; if I'd played this album as many times as I played, say, Tunnel
of Love (not to mention Born to Run) back in the day, I might have a
more individualized feeling for them. Or maybe not; nothing in most of
these ever called out to me to give them that sort of treatment, so maybe it's
best viewed as a sort of discographical Darwinism.
Bryan: 2/5
I’m not a huge fan of the tune, but man, reading the lyrics is like reading the
synopsis to the greatest TV drama never made. If “Tv Shows That Never Were” was
the criteria, I’d score it much higher. But as a song, not so much.
"Balboa
Park"
Bryant: 1.75/5 This one doesn't do it for
me; the music pushes me away rather than pulling me in.
Bryan: 1.5/5
Another one that’s a great story, though - like I say, I've got zero problems
and nothing but admiration for the lyrics/ stories; I wish he'd found a way to
turn them into Raymond-Carver-masterpieces and not try to turn them into songs.
"Dry
Lightning"
Bryant: 2/5 You can almost hear this
one wanting to turn into a more uptempo sort of thing.
Bryan: 2.5/5
I can hear that. I looked around for an uptempo E Street version and didn't find one, but apparently Willie Nelson and Emmylou Harris covered it. Sounds good to me. I kind of like this one,
though. It’s my third favorite from the album.
"The
New Timer"
Bryant: 2.25/5 Not massively a
standout, but I think it's better than much of the album.
Bryan: 2/5
"The New Timer" has a bit of a singalong quality to it (ditto for
"Straight Time). Or would if I could understand a damn word to sing along.
I've listened to this album 3 times this morning, and
it's playing for the 4th, and I still haven't really picked up on practically
any lyrics.
"Across
the Border"
Bryant: Hey, was this where Soozie Tyrell joined
up? (Wikipedia says no, it was Lucky Town.) I'm a fan of what
she brought to the Band later on in their collaboration. This song is
another 2/5, though.
Bryan: 2.75/5
for me. A touch better than most of the songs of the record, I think, but not
quite a 3, which is sort of my unofficial threshold for
songs-that-‘ll-make-my-post-blog-project Final Playlist.
Bryant: 2/5 I'm forgetting this while
I'm listening to it. The lyrics are good, though, and I do like it.
Bryan: 3/5
Galveston Bay is such an evocative name, isn’t it? In any context, really, just
captures my imagination the way “Gobbler’s Knob” or “The Hague” does. I bet
King likes this one. Was he doing the Pop of King when Tom Joad came out? I looked
around for a review but didn’t find one. This whole story reminds me ever so
slightly of “A Death.”
"My
Best Was Never Good Enough"
Bryant: 1.75/5 Is he consciously
channeling Dylan here? That's about all that interests me with this one,
which seems like some sort of obscure eff-you to ... who? I don't get
it. I guess you CAN end an album this way, but I don't know why you
would.
Bryan: 2/5
That’s a wrap. I won’t try to improve on that last sentence of yours as an
album sum-up.
FINAL
THOUGHTS
Bryant: 29.5 total, 2.46 average. This
puts the album above both Human Touch and Lucky Town, but if I'm
being honest, I think I'd rather listen to either of those albums. If I were you, I wouldn’t
feel bad about this album not being for you, because other than Bruce himself,
I really don’t know who this set of songs IS for. With a few tracks
excepted, it just lies there, shrugging at you. You want to write some
poetry, great, do that. But if you're going to set it to music, try to
have some distinct music to go along with it. I don't need every album
like this to be as good as Nebraska, but I do need them to be better
than this one.
Bryan: Total 29.25, Avg. 2.44 And that’s a wrap on that, too, re: your last sentence. I can
understand why they wouldn’t print that on the back of the album, but they
should, sort of like a Surgeon General’s Warning.
Greetings from Asbury Park 2.19
UPDATED RANKINGS
Bryant:
Human Touch 1.7
Lucky Town 2.15
The Ghost of Tom Joad 2.46
In Concert / Mtv Plugged 2.75
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:
Lucky Town 2.15
The Ghost of Tom Joad 2.44
Human Touch 2.84
In Concert / MTV Plugged 2.85
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
Human Touch 2.84
In Concert / MTV Plugged 2.85
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
