Snap Judgement- Bruce Springsteen ‘Working On A Dream’
If good looks was a minute/ You know that you could've been an hour- Smokey Robinson, 'The Way You Do The Things You Do'
All hair on my chest has been transplanted to my head.
NPR streams the Boss’ new album, Working On A Dream. The album will drop proper on the 26th. The album starts out slow. ‘Outlaw Pete’ doesn’t really end up going anywhere that you don’t think it will. ‘My Lucky Day’, though, is classic Bruce. Which means it will make most of the unconverted yawn. But for me, it has that bright, hard-charging, deep E Street sound we Boss fanatics love. It reminded me a lot of ‘Ties That Bind’, and that’s a huge compliment. The title track comes next, and I dig it as well. Brendan O’Brien, the producer of this and the last album, gives these songs some rich bass. Especially on Inaugration Day, this song works real well. Less said of ‘Queen of the Supermarket’ the better. ‘What Love Can Do’ gets everybody back on form. In fact, it’s a great song. Guitar is right where you want it. ‘This Life’ is fantastic! Sounds like it could have snuck off side 2 of Born In The USA. So far, I’m very impressed. He hasn’t had such open, big production in a while. ‘Good Eye’ has Bruce doing R.L. Burnside. No, it’s not laughable- it’s actually tough. Again, Brendan provides the most sympathetic production for E Street since everyone got off hard drugs. ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ is not a cover of a great Beatles track, but instead a quaint country shuffle. Whatever you may say about this album, it’s got some range. Have to love the shaky background singers. Very ethereal.
Now to the lead single, ‘Life Itself’. Has the judgement changed in a day? No. This song would have fit on The Rising, but with Bruce doing his Exile Great Rock Album thing here it just wrecks the vibe. Interesting guitar work here by Nils that I didn’t catch on first listen. ‘Kingdom Of Days’, meh. He’s really screwing up the forward momentum of this album. ‘Surprise, Surprise’ swings, wide and open. ‘Last Carnival’ earns its spot. If the album kept up where it was going, it would have sensibly ended here. ‘The Wrestler’, from the Mickey Rourke film of same name, should be Example 1A of why the Boss is still necessary. Nobody writes songs so straight and true. Excellent.
Final grade- This album’s a burn. Even if you’re a fan. Bruce really screwed up his momentum with a couple of opaque clunkers that steer the album away from the tight Great Pop Album orbit it was tracing through various ’60s styles. But find a place for ‘The Wrestler’. It is that special. 
Born To Run Through The Years (UPDATED)
NPR has an old appreciation of ‘Born To Run’ up. ‘Born To Run’ is not my favorite Boss song, but it is undoubtedly the song and sound which defines him. He needs to play it every show. How do you not get sick of something that’s become as big as you are? Here’s how the Boss has done it:
The first is the Boss in London, 1975. My favorite performance of the song because if there is any song that reflects youth, this is the one.
Now here he is, biggest rock star in the world.
Born To Run 1982 by Bruce Springsteen
This time, slowed down and acoustic in 1987. Even stripped down, this song wants to bust out.
Without the E Street Band in 1993. And it shows. Who IS that chick playing sax?
Finally, with REM in 2004. This is pretty much the sound and set you get when you see him right now. No word if Michael Mills asked Little Stephen afterwards how to get away from your frontman.
A 1 2 3 4!
- Yesterday’s Guardian contains an interview with the Boss and an exclusive download of a track, ‘Life Itself’, from his upcoming album Working On A Dream, out January 26th.
Snap Lead Single Judgement- Umm, Bruce. Pick a new first single. That one is lame. And not getting played at the Super Bowl, I imagine.
Snap Judgements- Antony and the Johnsons’ The Crying Light & M Ward’s Hold Time (UPDATED)
Fragile- This End Up
Antony and the Johnsons’ second-album The Crying Light drops the 20th, but you can stream the album at Spinner. Antony Hegarty and his spectral vocal-stylings have been busy, guesting on everything but the last Lil’ Wayne album. I bought the last Antony & the Johnsons album a few years ago when it topped a number of best-of lists. I wanted to hear what all the fuss was about. I really dug it. In fact, I drove a number of friends crazy with the amount of times it spun. The new album arrives in a much different world. Listening to this record, I couldn’t stop thinking about Proposition 8 in California, and the struggle for gay rights. I don’t know if this album contains a ‘Bitter Fruit’, but Antony is his struggles’ Billie Holliday. His voice sounds like the wounded dreams of every gay person. Seriously. I don’t believe there is a more wrenching vocal in pop music today than Hegarty. Especially as The Crying Light moves onto its second side with I think the three best tracks on the album- ‘Another World’, ‘Daylight and the Sun’, and ‘Aeon’. You can hear the hopes of millions of gays here in the States. Antony sings of tolerance, acceptance, and filial love- all goals of the gay rights movement. This is the first great album of 2009. Buy it.
Yeah, this smells like last night.
- Never Had Nobody Like You by M Ward
M Ward returns with Hold Time on February 17th. You can stream it at NPR. I saw M Ward at Pitchfork last year and he put on the kind of set he could easily pull off on his front porch. I told my friend that day, “He’s the Dickey Betts of indie rock.” I still like that comparison. Just like Mr. Betts, Mr. Ward’s music doesn’t come with his clothes or his tour bus. No, his music is how he lives every day. Listening to M Ward’s albums, you definitely think you know M Ward. That’s not easy for any artist. Hold Time starts off slowly, with none of the burn we heard in Ward’s last album, Post-War. Where that album had him posing effectively as an indie Hank Williams, showing the indie kids the joys of ’40s songcraft and shuffles, Hold Time makes a much more assertive nod to the pop world. Sometimes that works well, as in ‘Fisher of Men’, the best song on the album. This song has the cockiness and worldliness of a young Johnny Cash. Great stuff. But at worst the album has covers of Buddy Holly’s ‘Rave On’. Buddy’s strident response to Sun Records becomes a loungey, slow meander by Ward. I couldn’t stop thinking to myself, what an awful cover! Overall, nowhere near as good as Post-War, but still good. Burn this album, and it’s worth a buy if you’re a fan.
- The mp3 posted above reminds me of exactly what makes M Ward so great. The song sounds like something you’ve heard before, not because it’s stale, but because of his sense of melody. I love the lo-fi sound of his guitar and that piano cutting in and out of the song. And yes, that’s Zooey Deschanel of She And Him fame on back-up vocals.
Snap Judgement- Andrew Bird’s Noble Beast
Mwwaaahaaahaaaa...who's laughing now, Mr. Tweedy.
Hometown hero Andrew Bird’s new album, Noble Beast, is streaming now at NPR. The album is due out January 20 on Fat Possum. Snap judgement on the new album after one listen- really good. A definite buy album. I have to admit, Mr. Bird snuck up on me. I saw him years ago, and thought he was a bit twee for my taste. Then I saw him again at Lollapalooza and thought again, “Good, but not for playing venues this size.” Then last year I heard he packed the Pritzker Pavilion, Wilco-style. I couldn’t believe it.
Well, now I believe it. The new album has all the the Bird wistfulness which makes the skinny girls blush, plus a new found love of lush production. The album has a true sense of space and scope that a production dork like me can’t help but appreciate. Andrew even almost cuts it up-almost-on a few tracks. Overall, if you’ve missed the real R.E.M. since Bill’s been gone or have been waiting for Beck to release that great country-pop album you know he has in him, you need to hear this. Andrew, you make Chicago proud. Hope to see you soon at the Hideout, brother.
O'Hare Arpt., IL
