Given to Sound

This Is Not A Dark Ride

Tunnel of Love’ was Bruce Springsteen’s first studio offering since 1984’s ‘Born in the USA’. That album catapulted the man to the platform of mega stardom and created hype that, unlike with Born to Run, Springsteen was happy to go with. For many that image of Springsteen is the one that they remember and during that whirlwind tour of 1984-1985 he married. Bruce Springsteen had made it to the top of the mountain with the previous album and to everyone he was a hero. The next album is all about the man behind the image, finding out who that man was and living the married life. It may not have sold as many as its predecessor but to many, myself included 1987’s ‘Tunnel of Love’ is a stronger collection of songs and the concept behind it is truer and more lasting simply because there is no concept. Nothing on ‘Tunnel of Love’ is manufactured because Springsteen ‘needed a hit’, nor is any part of it re-packaged in a bolder brassier arrangement because that would sell more. Throughout this album you get the sense of a man stripped of the image, learning to deal with life’s issues like the partnership of love and marriage and how much it takes to make that work and, ultimately what to do when it isn’t.

The album’s opener, ‘Ain’t Got You’ is as much of a throwaway song as you are going to get here but even this is painful heartache dressed up in a catchy tune. Springsteen literally reels off everything he now has, ‘fortunes of heaven’, material wealth and importantly he brags that ‘everybody wants to be my friend’. This is the first hint of a common thread running through this album, one of appearance and reality. Everybody wants to be his friend but none are and while he has everyone wanting to kiss him he still misses out because he in fact remains ‘the biggest fool’ because he hasn’t got ‘You’. Whether you take the ‘you’ to be his wife or admission that he feels no connection to her, or you want to take the ‘you’ to be more abstract feelings of happiness, love, completion – that’s up to the listener but all of those can be felt within even this opening track and it sets up feelings that come back throughout. This is a conflict of appearance over true feelings – having the world and yet feeling empty, knowing lots of people but having no friends.‘Tougher Than the Rest’ is a complex song. Although it is one of my favourites in the Springsteen catalogue it has always intrigued me also. The song deals with one half proving to the other than they will stay the course, ‘somebody ran out, left somebody’s heart in a mess’, it leaves us with the idea that the man is doing everything to prove that he is up to the challenge of walking the ‘thin, thin line’ and that he is, after all, tougher than the rest. One half of relationships telling the other half, and us, that he intends to stick around through all the challenges. There is ‘another dance’, and we are left to think that they will be okay and can come through whatever darkness may come.The difficulty with this song for me is seeing all that within this song and then watching the promotional video released for it, with your very own Bruce Springsteen making eyes at and singing those lines to one Patti Scialfa and her making eyes at him.

Everything within the song is still there and the sentiment cannot be argued but the visual image is powerful and this song is seen less a rallying call for a failed relationship and more a show of strength for a new one that has begun. On a lighter note, Bruce plays the harmonica and that is always a winner.

‘All That Heaven Will Allow’ is a jaunty track, once again the sentiments are all in place and this is one where you don’t feel too much of the downside. ‘I got a dollar in my pocket, there ain’t a cloud up above’. This is ‘Waitin’ on a Sunny Day’ late 80’s style. This is our hero looking proud, happy in the love of a good woman, once again telling us that ‘rain and storm and dark skies’ do not matter when you’ve got someone special. Trouble, we hear, is no match for the man and all that heaven will allow. He wants ‘all the time’ he can get to enjoy his new happy life but if there is one thing we have learnt by now it is that appearances can be deceiving.

Up to now we’ve had the first person, characters telling someone – I’ve got you, I’m happy with you, or I ain’t got you and there maybe trouble ahead. When there actually IS trouble in this album it comes in an indirect style, third person. ‘Spare Parts’, for instance, is a story by a storyteller – Bobby and Janey and the trouble they, or more specifically she, goes through. This is one of the most direct songs on the album musically; having the guitar sound that flooded ‘Born in the USA’ and thought the pain is less direct it is still brutal. What do you do when things don’t happen they you think they will? You carry on the best way you can. ‘They were set to marry’, but he got scared. He had trouble pulling out with Janey, but had no problem pulling out of the wedding. We are left in no doubt whatsoever that Bobby is ‘never going back’ and we hear of the strength of character that the woman has to make it through life with pride and value her life and that of those around her. It takes all sorts of people in all situations to make the world turn and dealing with consequences is the hardest thing to do but, like the girl in this song, it makes you find out who you are.

Another cautionary tale comes next, yet another third person story with negative tones and Bill Horton, our flawed hero villain. Yet another character who goes into things with the best of intentions. The man lets his cautiousness ‘slip away’ over a woman who he marries and intends to build the perfect life, but who ultimately becomes restless. The character eventually leaves to search for something but ‘when he got there, he didn’t find nothing but road’. He feels as if there is something missing, and goes in search of it but then realises that he doesn’t actually know what that missing something is. He goes back, a common theme in Springsteen, going back to face the music is something his characters have done in the Darkness album

and ‘Born in the USA’, yet he also creates great runners too. The romantic runaways of ‘Born to Run’ could actually be the characters in ‘Cautious Man’, the edges a little frayed and the reality hitting home. Bill Horton goes back, for better or worse, knowing that the emptiness, ‘coldness inside of him’ would always be there. Back with his wife, sleeping and oblivious to the inner torment of her husband, is where we leave this picture. That’s the end of that story and it is a rather uncomfortable ending, quite abrubt in sound as well as content because Springsteen’s put the two back together but there is no resolution, the ending is quick – the storyteller stops and the music does too and we’re left with more questions Spingsteen obviously does not want to answer. How does this end? Does he tell his wife? Do they split up? This would have been all nice and rounded if Bill Horton had got to the highway and decided to go and find answers, like the kids in ‘Born to Run’, but he finds nothing and no questions are answered and that is the whole point.

We return to the first person for the next track, ‘Walk Like a Man’. “I remember how rough your hand felt on mine, on our wedding day’. Not really the best thing to remember about the happiest day of your life is it? It is a hint of reality in the perfect scene of a wedding day. We are lead down memory lane for wedding scenes when Bruce asks ‘would they ever look so happy again’ as they do on that day? The narrator asks all the questions and thinks over the steps he had to ‘learn on my own’.

This song goes from ‘present day’ wedding scenes to yesterday memories of childhood and ‘trying to walk like a man’ literally, behind a father figure on the beach. The literal becomes metaphorical as through life the narrator learns to walk like a man and keep walking. A simple song with a deep message, of dealing with the good and the bad in life ‘like a man’. Not the almost comic book ‘man’ that Bruce was in Born in the USA, a real man asking for strength during testing times. Do you ever look as happy as your wedding day? When the wedding is over and the guests leave and you have to deal with each other on a real level? The narrator does not know but he’ll deal with everything walking his best steps. It’s a largely positive memory song for Bruce, which notably refers to his father.

‘Tunnel of Love’ concerns two people taking a ride into the unknown. The song follows the familiar pattern of having one half speak to the other but it is not clear if one is trying to reassure or seek reassurance. The man that takes the money from his hand, also lets his eyes ‘take a walk all over’ his women, a theme we have heard before when the character from ‘All That Heaven Will Allow’ warns ‘if you didn’t look then, don’t go looking now’. Many characters worried about, or inspiring such wandering eyes. ‘Good luck’ he’s told, he will need it. The crux of this song seems to be the unknown that always happens in love – when the two people have to sit and look at themselves and each other will they like what they see and want to stay? The warning signs are there, shadows making it ‘easy for two people to lose each other’. Then we have the million-dollar statement,

“Ought to be easy, ought to be simple enough. Man meets women and they fall in love.”

It was that easy before now, in ‘Born to Run’ all they had to do was meet and fall in love but now there are higher stakes and this is a grown up problem. The ride taken by two romantic kids in ‘Thunder Road’ or ‘Born to Run’ suddenly ‘gets rough’ here and you have to ‘learn to live with what you can’t rise above’ just like Bill Horton going back to his sleeping wife. For better or worse. It is somewhat ironic that Patti Scalfa’s haunting vocal echoes in the background of this song, with those sentiments about the rocky ride of love.

‘Two Faces’ is one of the few first person songs on this album that directly speaks about problems. ‘The other man’ that the narrator wants to get rid of is the same insecurity that Bill Horton was scared of, the face which shows a relationship up as the lie it is while very quickly we are into another face theme in ‘Brilliant Disguise’. ‘Tell me what I see when I look in your eyes, is that you?’. Appearances are once again deceptive; the man in this song wants truth, the true face of the person he is with. A character ‘struggling to do everything right’ like so many stories on this album, and again like so many, failing when everything is stripped away ‘when out go the lights’. When the fairytale is gone and they are left with each other what happens then? Well, at least in this instance the warning is clear ‘don’t look too close into the palm of my hand’. The character is questioning everything, if everything he has bought into is a lie and questioning trust and wanting to find out what goes on behind the mask. The character accepts half the blame for this mis-trust, on one hand wanting to know ‘if it’s you I don’t trust’ but then warning ‘when you look at me, you better look hard and look twice, is that me?’. In a very real sense, when you are with someone on this level you give a large part of yourself and when you doubt you doubt everything. This is something that Bruce would have more confidence in later on with ‘Leap of Faith’ on Lucky Town. On this record, however, the leap of faith is not paying off. This song, like the album as a whole is not one for the first capture of romance, but the reality of everything that comes with that.

‘One Step Up’ concerns love lessons that aren’t being learned, nothing happening the way it should be. The picture looks perfect but the odd details are wrong, ‘the church bells ain’t singing’. We get more inward analysis and harsh truth, ‘when I look at myself I don’t see, the man I wanted to be. Somewhere along the line I slipped off track’. This character was trying to be the best he could be, but admits to falling short. The reality is a man and woman constantly at battle within a relationship that has descended into a ‘dirty little war’. Perhaps the most telling part of this song is the ending, man and woman in each others arms dancing to never ending music, yet this perfect picture is only a dream.

‘When You’re Alone’ is an honest and at times somewhat bitter message from one person to another who is leaving. ‘Love was not enough’, we are told and that when love goes, no amount of good intentions can get those feelings back. It’s a message that when someone makes the choice to leave, someday the wounds will heal and you’ll think you can make it right and come back. Just in case you were in any doubt about this, listeners and readers, you can’t. When it’s gone, it’s gone and ‘when you’re alone you’re alone’. With sentiments like that and those throughout the album you can see that love and the concept of romance gets a harsh time, romance is in short supply for the characters on this album. Love is something people are without, something that people are untrusting of, or something empty, cold and meaningless. There are very few real ‘true love’ moments here, one only in a dream and another in only a promise. With that in mind the closing track is something of an intriguing number. The title, ‘Valentine’s Day’ for one brings to mind the tacky pink hearts and flowers side of love. The kind of ‘love’ that you show with three or four lines in a card and a teddy, the kind that to a certain extent is throwaway when compared to the actual truth of being with someone for richer for poorer. This song, coming as it does after tales of doubt, self-loathing and uncertainty, brings love back to basics. I love you, you make my heart pound, I can’t wait to get back to you. This is the runaway love we’ve heard before, not the real stuff, the ‘I can’t live without you’ stuff. This is the car song, on most of Bruce Springsteen’s albums there has to be a car song, a driving character and here we even get a bass line climbing like the gears. For all the dream-like sounds and the positive images of being in love, we get very little here about the downside of relationships. This song is not about relationships, it’s about loving someone, driving back to be with them and wanting them to be your valentine. It’s about time we get the ‘love is great’ song without the cold harsh truth that has been delivered elsewhere on this album. Although I can’t help thinking that the perfect picture of love and the title of ‘Valentine’s Day’ are a comment on this type of love. Perhaps that all relationships start like this? Perhaps this is the ‘Man meets women and they fall in love’ bit without the haunted ride. There is a reason this lovey dovey picture comes at the last minute. You can have that type of love, the Valentine’s Day love, chocolates, dates, forever mine, four lines of poetry in a card, maybe take that while you can because for the rest of the time it will take work. Romance isn’t real, relationships with all their ups and downs are.

It was during the European leg of the tour for this album that Bruce’s then wife read in the newspaper that he was having an affair with his backing singer. It must have come as quite a shock to her but when Bruce Springsteen said goodbye to his wife to tour this album; you have to believe she would have listened to it. Are those alarm bells I hear? The man was opening his heart for his audience on record. This is men, women, love and marriage in the truest sense of the words and the men and women here are going through the mill and asking some serious questions. In ‘Born to Run’, Bruce asks ‘I wanna know if love is real!’ the overriding question I get from listening to this album in its entirety is ‘Are you sure you want to know?’. It is really all laid bare for you to hear. It is a collection of tales not of teenage lust and romance, but of grown up relationships and reality. On a very real level this seems to me to be a man who, like so many of his characters, wants to do the right thing and wants everything to work out but fears that it will not.

It is also worth noting that the Chimes of Freedom EP and a video was released in which ‘Born to Run’ was essentially re-dedicated and renewed, a nice touch given the new stage of his life he was entering. You may not buy the idea that ‘Tunnel of Love’ is the kids from ‘Born to Run’ all grown up, serious and struggling but when you look at this song re-presented as if his belief in the meanings behind it are also renewed – it’s almost an announcement that he is ready to take the ride again and this time, he was ready to find the perfect partner for the trip, or maybe he had already found her.

We know now that for Bruce and Patti the story ends happily and he was able to go on to record his ‘happy marriage’ album (Lucky Town, 1992). His unhappy marriage album, is as much a masterpiece as any other I have written about so far because it is real, it is painful, heartbreaking and honest.

This is not a dark ride, but there are many shadows to contend with.

© Simon A Moult / Moultymedia 2007.

Talking about music is like talking about sex”, said Bruce recently. “Can you describe it, are you supposed to?” Well if we aren’t meant to describe music, people who write about it would be asking the immortal questions “Do you want to super size your fries?” at a well known fast food outlet for a living. At no point will anyone writing about this particular album do it anywhere near the justice it deserves, but we must all try. That’s where I come in; it is also why I have held off writing this instalment of my Bruce reviews for this long. I don’t know about you but I am really intrigued as to what I will write about this.

This was make or break for Mr Springsteen, rumoured to be on the verge of being dropped by his record label he had to deliver the goods. His previous offering was acclaimed by many but this did not translate into popular success for the artist. ‘Born To Run’ would go on to provide the wheels on which Springsteen’s career would be driven for a long time but at the point of recording the mood was of something less than joyous, pressure, uncertainty and tension all in the pursuit of the musical perfection that Bruce heard in his head. We all know now that he achieved it, but the journey is a story to tell.

‘Thunder Road’ opens the album, sounding like a slow rising morning. The picture is created quickly with screen doors slamming and Roy Orbison singing. All the while Roy Bittan’s piano cascades in the background and already we know we are in for a different ride from those previously taken. The rambling madness is gone; here Bruce achieves lyrical perfection in a more succinct fashion. “I just can’t face myself alone again” Bruce pleads. This is not an album for isolation, those would come later. This is a two person ride, “show a little faith, there’s magic in the night.” You’d better believe there is and if you don’t you will by the end of the record. Then comes a line that sounds very romantic in a fumbled yet honest way, “You ain’t a beauty but hey, you’re alright and that’s alright with me!” This pick up line should not be attempted by everybody as it may result in slap, if your intended target smiles I would grab her and marry her quickly because she obviously gets Bruce. It saves you many discussions about why that line is romantic! The guy stresses that he is normal, but craving escape from the ‘dirty hood’. They have a chance, however small, to “make it good somehow”, again it mixes certainty with the uncertain. We can make it good…somehow. “What else can we do now?” The band comes in, you jump in your car and take the ride of your life. The possibilities are endless, two lanes…destination unknown. The guitars roar, maybe like the roar of an engine, or maybe that’s my creative side running away with me. “I got this guitar and I learned how to make it talk!” There lies the root of this song for me, the frenzied instrumentation is gone. It is very much, look what I can do! Bruce may not like this line too much but it’s a classic. He did learn to make it talk, he is learning to craft perfect songs and he is introducing them to you here. There is a reference to “words that I ain’t spoken”, presumably about love. Those too would come later, he makes no apologies for that. This is the first flush of romance, not love but more important things…cars, girls, freedom, summer, all there. He doesn’t want to be bogged down with “I love you”, get in the car and come with me. Although we know “the ride ain’t free” so the idea is there. This seems to be Bruce’s coming of age story, graduation gowns in rags, growing up, leaving home. Climb on board, “I’m pullin outta here to win”- Adios, payasos! Then, when the singing’s done and we’re all in the car burning down the road, the electrifying melody takes over, Max’s drums lead us in to the tumbling piano and Clarence’s saxophone. We’re most definitely off in a motor car!

The deliberate nature of this album goes even as far as the sequencing. Bruce wanted the two side openers to be introductions – ‘Thunder Road’ and ‘Born To Run’. Nothing is on there by accident.

“Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out”: think for a minute that the person you’ve taken with you on this road trip is not your woman; instead you’ve filled your car with your best mates and enough music to serenade you across the Sahara. Here’s one most definitely for friendship, brotherhood, band mates. “Everybody better move over that’s all!.” Get out of the way if you’re not coming with us. The exact definition of what a freeze out is, is unknown, possibly even to Bruce. This is irrelevant, it may well mean nothing but that is not important. It is exactly the same as the track ‘Wonderwall’, are we supposed to know? Do we care? No. Friendship, freedom, comradeship on the open road that is all that matters. “The night is dark but the sidewalk’s bright and lined with the light of the living”, notably the night once again, unknown but alive with the music blasting. The horns add a pleasant little ditty underneath a dark and lonely lyric of being all alone and not being able to go home. Maybe, having run away leaving home far behind him the character has a minute moment of regret, “I can’t go home”, soon he wont need to because he is saved by ‘the big man’. The big man’s in the band and he saw that it was good! All that remains is for ‘Scooter’ and ‘the big man’ to bust the city in half. The horns are almost comical and the piano is almost saloon like. I mean that in the best possible way, like when the stranger walks into a bar in a western movie and the piano player is playing a jaunty tune. Let’s all “sit back right easy and laugh”, “little pretties” and big uglies would be raising their hands to this one from coastline to cities everywhere for years to come.

‘Night’ appears to be the first of the ‘work all day, rock and roll all night’ type songs that Bruce would go on to write more on ‘Darkness On The Edge Of Town’. It is more immediate than the two before it because of a lack of a long introduction. If you want to look that deeply into it, the instant saxophone could either be the ‘sound of the bell’ waking you up for work, or the sound of the bell at the end of your shift. Or both. “You get to work late and the boss man’s giving you hell!” It’s hell for the character because he wants to be in a car roaring through the night. “You’re just a prisoner of your dreams!” I’m sure we have all felt like that at some point, I want to be anywhere but here. Bruce’s fascination with cars would not end here. All to briefly the song is over, but that is the whole point of it. Quick.

‘Backstreets’ is the ultimate slow burning build up like dawn’s sunlight breaking through the curtains, gentle piano and droplets of guitar and then the roll and eventual crash of mighty guitars and drum beats. The constant drum beat gives way to the anguished and painful chorus “Hidin’ on the backstreets”, ‘running for our lives’ once again with a partner who thought “we’d live forever”. The strength of youth is that you do feel like that and Bruce captures it in a few lines, but v ery quickly manages to snatch it away with the breakdown of the friendship and the realisation that life is sometimes harsh. “When the breakdown hit at midnight there was nothing left to say…I hated you when you went away!”. The words are Springsteen classics now, watching movies “to learn how to walk like the heroes we thought we had to be.” Once again the imagery is cut down by the next time “After all this time we find we’re just like all the rest, stranded…and forced to confess to hiding on the backstreets”. The ‘forever friends’ is a promise that Springsteen would go back to with the track ‘No Surrender’. The irresistible pound of the drums and the scream of our singer sends us perfectly into the next mini drama. ‘Backstreets’ importantly closes side one, going back to the four cornered approach where Thunder Road and Born To Run were introductions, the two closers, ‘Backstreets’ and ‘Jungleland’ are lamentations, songs of loss and realisation.

The story of recording the title track ‘Born To Run’ is itself a 2,000 word essay. David Sancious and Ernest Carter were in the band at this point, this was already in the can by the time the rest of the album was created. Bruce has since told us that he wanted the track to “explode” on people’s radios and in their homes. He manages the explosion and then some. The crash of drums straight into the opening chords runs against the rest of the album where long and beautiful introductions have been created, this is straight to the point rock and roll with once again the construction of opposites…in the day….at night. The feeling of release evoked is so clear you can taste it, the character has been “sprung from cages”, the place is a “death trap” and the characters have to escape. We are there with them, opening the door for them to roar through the door. “Will you walk with me on the wire…I wanna know if love is real?” That is the classic question when you are young. In his last album the ‘beyond the palace’ part of the song would have included twice as many references and many more wild words but now it is short, clear and just as well defined. The girls and their hair, the boys looking cool and the search for an ‘everlasting kiss’, don’t we all want that. Then, boom! The band is back on a furious section involving some of the best drumming ever captured on record and the ultimate “one two three four!” It’s good to be alive. The feeling of love we get from this song and elsewhere throughout the album is one where it may be true love, but its more the experience that the guys and girls are after. The guy promises to love her but reminds her there’s madness in his soul and then the ultimate promise…. “someday we’ll walk in the sun but ‘til then…tramps like us…” and just hidden in the middle of all this, the arguably overshadowed but very important line, “Come on with me!”. This is a ride for two people. Sometimes it’s a best friend, brother type, sometimes it’s a girl. Either way there ends four plus minutes of the finest rock and roll music ever created. No wonder the rest of the album gave him a head ache. Listen to this song on headphones; you hear much more instrumentation layered in there that just adds to the beauty and power of this song.

To me, ‘She’s The One’ is the confirmation of the main character that the girl he wants is right for him. You can take it to be the same guy that wanted to run away in ‘Thunder Road’ and that finally began the journey in ‘Born To Run’. In a moment of quiet isolation perhaps this is him asking himself. He seems to make his mind up fairly quickly,
“With her soft french cream
Standing in that doorway like a dream
I wish she’d just leave me alone
Because French cream won’t soften them boots
And French kisses will not break that heart of stone”

But he knows that she’s the one. Even though for the rest of the song we get that mix of ‘she’s perfect for me BUT’. There’s an inner determination to not be broken down by this woman but however hard he tries to deny it, she is the one for him. There is a rock background to this and the usual pounding but over the top of this lies a piano melody almost like that type of tune that you hear on a ballerina type jewelry box.

Now to the closing sections of the album. We’ve had the guy that wants to run away with his buddy, his girlfriend, by himself…now to the ones that choose the other way. ‘Meeting Across The River’ begins with the haunting trumpet and piano, Eddie is threatened “You gotta promise you wont say anything…this is our last chance.” We are left in no doubt that the ‘meeting’ is somewhat shady, “If we blow this one, they ain’t gonna be looking for just me this time” It is late night jazz, mixed with the danger of the lyric even though “two grand’s practically sitting here in my pocket!” He has major plans, to finally be the big man and we don’t know if he makes it but in what serves as a continuation of that theme we have ‘Jungleland’ and the strings opening leading to THAT piano piece. This could be the guy from ‘Meeting’, after his late night deals, it could be the guy that was offered ‘easy money’ on ‘Incident On 57th Street’. The picture is set; it is one of danger, friendship and romance. Once again, importantly, however, the romance is never too beautiful. “Together they take a stab at romance and disappear down Flamingo Lane”, it conjures up more clumsy fumbles in the moonlight than night time romance. The idea being almost, “Let’s have a bit of fun and if we feel romanced, fine.” It’s both seedy and exciting all in one feeling. The gangs are there, opera’s and ballets, fights and attempted romance all rolled into one before the law come and ruin it all. Youngsters aren’t interested in romance, they are just horny!

“The hungry and the hunted, explode into rock and roll bands that face off against each other out in the street.” It could almost be Westside Story, but better coz of the guitars. Music, man, thank God we have the music! Then in a blast of Clarence’s saxophone – we do. It’s all there, in every single note that the Big Man plays in the BEST solo ever recorded EVER by ANYONE EVER. Everyone reading this knows the power of that solo, how you want it to keep going and how you almost know each note of it in your head and you might catch yourself humming it if you drifted too much. Strings and piano bring us back to the scene. Rock n Roll, Romance, Gangs, Music all equal and wiped out in a blast of sweet saxophone solo. The rat loses himself to his dream, a beautiful death and a girl shuts out the scene down on the street. Down in the street we watch the ‘death waltz’ of characters reaching for their moment, all in one brilliant nine minute plus orchestral street tapestry. Just like that, it fades.

If you are not ready for the realism that counters ‘Born To Run’, listen to this album again and come up with your own ideas of what’s going on. A lot of it is there, much of it is down to you. Bruce says he never really wrote about men and women relationships until ‘Tunnel Of Love’ but it could be argued that he did. It could be argued that the men and woman spectacularly messing up their relationships and second guessing each other in ‘Brilliant Disguise’ or wondering where the fairytale went in ‘Tunnel Of Love’, are the very people who, here in their younger days took a ‘stab at romance’. The young star crossed lovers who are born to run are possibly the same couple that talk to us as adults in ‘Tunnel Of Love’. Forget the physicality of the years between the albums; the parallel is there if you want it to be.

This would be Bruce Springsteen’s last album for some time and when he returned the landscape would not be the same. It would not be about running away, but returning, staying, fighting.

It is a shame such writing like this had to end, but let’s thank the God of music that it was able to be produced in the first place.

© Simon A. Moult / Moultymedia 2006.
All rights reserved. Copying is prohibited without prior permission from the author.

Coming, as this album does, after a three year break during which Bruce had been written off as ‘yesterday’s man’, you would expect some difference between Born To Run and Darkness On The Edge of Town but the differences are major and they served as a sharp signal of where future Springsteen material would go. Gone are the romantic ideas of “getting to that place where we wanna go” and walking in the sun. In there place a harsher, more realistic tone. We are left in no doubt that running away is not the answer. The characters on Darkness are staying in town and working through their own personal darkness.

The pounding opening of Badlands shows that far from the symphony of sound on previous releases, this collection would pound with raw emotion and sting with Springsteen’s unleashed power. The guitars bleed with a direct sound and the message is clear that “I pray that someday it may raise me above these Bad Lands”. The guitar work on this track and throughout the album is some of Springsteen’s best to date. “It ain’t no sin to be glad you’re alive” and on this evidence we can believe it. Springsteen’s guitar whistles through the opening to Adam Raised A Cain and on this track he has the scorching vocal to compliment the stark production. He moves effortlessly from the gentle vocal of the verses to a throat-ripping chorus. And then, Springsteen strangles his guitar some more for good measure. The drums and other instrumentation does not change throughout this song, that allows the song to really make an impact. The character tells how his “Daddy worked his whole life, for nothing but the pain” and it will become clear on the rest of the tracks that despite the hard life of Springsteen’s characters, they still have pride, a pride in work that in most cases kills the people that they become.

Something In The Night is a reminder of the little piece of freedom, whatever it may be, for the people. We are told that the radio gets turned up “So I don’t have to think”. They have freedom, however small; they have ‘something’ to grip hold of. Cars are usually the freedom they have. The most impressive element of this song, narrative detail aside, is the double-tracked chorus, which in my opinion is neither beautiful nor is it bad, it is bittersweet. On some albums, Springsteen’s vocal ability does not get the credit due to it, but here the effect works well. One feels that double-tracked vocals are the only hint of lavish production that Springsteen has allowed himself on this entire album. Candy’s Room draws the listener in to a track that seems gentle with a spoken introduction and nice piano, the drums set the pace of an express train, quiet in the distance, then to stun you into life the drums pound and the guitars build in the background to a nicely worked solo and an understated ending. Racing In The Street is a truly heartbreaking tale, helped in no small way with a beautifully simple piano track and a solo Springsteen vocal that echoes to every inch of your senses. “Some guys they just give up living…some guys come home from work…and go racing in the street.” This track single-handedly manages to be both an exhilarating ode to the freedom of car racing and another anchor to the harsh realities of life. The uplifting chorus is replaced by the lonely verses – one can’t help but note the background vocals accompanying the last verse, sounding somewhat funereal. Then, of course we have the long fading sequence of just the piano, keyboards and the gentle reminder of a drumbeat. Sheer class! It could go on forever…

The Promised Land is written proof of the newly emerged Springsteen, grown from the ideals of love and happiness and the myth that life is all fun. The character is driven to find a happiness that is rooted in the real everyday life, because as he reminds us “I ain’t a boy, no I’m a man!” And he STILL believes in the Promised Land. The character works all day, drives all night and dreams of taking a moment into his hands, HIS moment to shine. I think this song is the victory call of the working man. The man that works his whole life for nothing but pain (Adam Raised A Cain), the man that has seen his life sucked from him by his work (Factory) and the man that just doesn’t give a damn (Badlands), a reminder that a man can still be fulfilled and can fight back to claim his own ‘one moment’. There are uplifting moments in this track, moments where the E Streeters really do find their own ‘moments’ – Clarence’s saxophone solo, Bruce’s harmonica and the work of Federici and Bittan. For most of the album the piano has been plodding through with beautiful, yet sad melodies, and on this track you can hear some very happy notes from that direction!

As if to bring us back down to earth with a bump, Factory comes in with what sounds like a slightly off-key first note. The drum keeps a monotonous beat, which is only broken by the sounds of some nice work on the piano and organ. Once we are introduced to the “Daddy” of the story and his routine, the song ends. A brief look into the monotonous and soul-destroying day in the life of a factory worker, a factory which both gives the character life, while all the time slowly taking it away.

On Streets Of Fire the bare introduction of one voice and a trace of organ soon give way to a blistering drum, pounding through the darkness as Springsteen stings with a his direct tone and low down, raw guitar solo. All the instrumentation comes together and manages not to overlap but instead compliment the heartbreaking vocal which both screams with a roughness and howls with melody. Then to the final songs of the Darkness experience, Prove It All Night with the skilful combination of all that is good about E Street – Clarence, Roy, Max and Bruce all have chances to show what they can do and the result is a blistering competition between Clarence’s soulful sax and Bruce’s full bodied guitar. A fitting precursor to the title track, which sounds purposefully stripped of any interfering instrumentation for the first few seconds, as only the drum, bass and piano play that familiar sequence. As Bruce breaks into more wrenching vocals on the chorus, so does the band and then we are returned to the stark piano for the verses. The song is the antithesis of the production on Born To Run, it is stripped down, emotional and raw, in keeping with the tone of the whole album.

On first listen the stark emptiness of Darkness On The Edge Of Town might not sit comfortably with some. The vocals could at times be criticised for being unclear and perhaps over sang, but on the other hand the raw energy that Springsteen has when he roars the lyrics, cannot be denied. This is a very clear, direct album where the guitars scream, the drums pound and the whole thing hits you with a force that makes a powerful impression. The tone may be more downbeat than anything signalled on previous recordings but it is a true and honest picture of Bruce Springsteen at is musical best. Life is not all sunsets, guitar bands and circuses. Life is hard work and there is some satisfaction that comes with the knowledge that a hard day’s work is over and the job is done. The days of heady-idealism may be gone for the characters on this album, but in their daily lives they are both tragic and heroic. The characters are living their lives and surviving to not only tell the tale (as many of them do here, through Springsteen) but they also insist that there remains a light at the end of a tunnel that is shrouded in darkness.

© Simon A. Moult / Moultymedia 2006.
All rights reserved. Copying is prohibited without prior permission from the author.

From the first chords of The E Street Shuffle you get a taster of what this album will contain. A mad orchestral introduction, catchy guitars and a vocal that takes you over so many characters it leaves you breathless. Springsteen paints the boardwalk scene perfectly, a crazy cast of characters and quick-tempo instrumentation. A real party tempo introduction, a fine homage to a scene to which Springsteen will soon be bidding a fond farewell.

Quite frankly 4th Of July Asbury Park (Sandy) was and remains one of Bruce’s most romantic songs. The guitars of the opening just drip with a gorgeous quality that makes you glad to be alive. You can see the fireworks, you can feel the warmth of that July night and the characters are so close you can see them, hear them and almost touch them. All that gets blended together to perfection, Springsteen’s quiet – almost lazy – vocal is perfect as his main character lets us know that his boardwalk life is through, true for both him and Springsteen. It’s a heart-warming farewell that is tinged with sadness because, on the verge of greatness, one really gets the feeling that he will never return to this world.

The opening minute of Kitty’s Back is musical perfection. Springsteen teases the notes out so effortlessly that the whole sequence leaves you tingling. If an instrument was ever capable of orgasm, the guitar surely reaches that level. It doesn’t get much better than this, except it does, Bruce’s whispering vocal and the saxophone work in between the verses is nice and everything meets in the middle. It’s quick, slow, every member of the band has a moment in the sun and it keeps the listener gripped at every part. The instrumental part just seems to blend together and keeps going, then we get more of the story before we actually do find out just who is back in town – Kitty’s back and don’t you forget it. “Ooooooh what can I do?” If you are the listener, not much except sit back and listen to a brilliant marriage between Springsteen and his band.Perhaps the weakest song on the album is Wild Billy’s Circus Story but if that is true, it’s still got just enough to make sure you don’t skip the track. No one would blame you, knowing what IS on the other side of this circus story but the picture painted is still extremely eccentrically vivid. A colourful cast of circus folk, all aboard Puerto Rican Jane’s our next stop.

From the piano introduction to Incident On 57th Street you know it’s something special and the drops of guitar notes melt into the organ and give a sunrise on record, the best hint of musical perfection since the last one! The guitar wails and all is well on that score but I think the most impressive part of this track is the lyrics. The picture, as always is clear and the words are beautiful. When “word is out the cops have found the vein” the listener is with them. Then we have the crawling base line as Johnny watches Janey sleeping, those romantic young boys as the line is echoed with a stunning harmony before Bruce stops everything – “Hey Spanish Johnny, you wanna make a little easy money tonight?” With such words of whispering invitation, who would turn it down? Then the drums come back; you can picture Johnny arranging to meet Jane tomorrow on lover’s lane. Springsteen simply talks this final chorus and allows the listener to marvel in the scene and the music before it builds back up – the guitars, drums and the vocal repetition of Good night it’s all right, Jane falls away to leave us with as we came in – with simple piano cutting straight into Rosalita.

The three-song section flows together with such brilliance that it could be the finest track sequence not only from Bruce but on ANY rock album ever made. The three final tracks are the musically and lyrically the most perfect to date. The pictures are crystal clear, the sentiments are poetic and the music is flawless.

Our final track is less a serenade than a piece of rock opera, merging styles and bringing together all the themes to bring the album to an extremely fitting conclusion. An album of this quality would need a final track of some majesty to complete the art; Springsteen delivers with New York City Serenade. The piano piece is enthralling, shut your eyes and you could be at a Rachmaninov recital where the pianist is in tails and you watch as he thrusts his hands down and shakes his head madly with every note, sweat dripping from his white-haired head. Open your eyes again and you realise it isn’t that at all, it isn’t some moody composer in tails playing to a packed Albert Hall, this is just part of the vision of Mr Springsteen and the execution of David Sancious. This is just the introduction! The piano seems to go from moody composer to relaxed jazz instantly, and you pound your hands as every note is played. Then, the piano playing moves between the powerful and the relaxed styles as if the two sides are in a musical joust, before slowing, as if in the war between classical and jazz, old jazz hands has won the day. The sudden introduction of acoustic guitar and the crawling, crystal clear playing is lovely as each note resounds in your ear and then the singer sings his song and you remember what it was all for. “So walk tall, or baby don’t walk at all!” the combination of the piano’s falling scale and the crescendo of the string arrangement is so beautiful, you are almost surprised that he screams “Fish lady!”. We have the gospel-esque “She wont take the train” part and then a return to the pure strings and piano suite. Springsteen doesn’t need to sing over this part, he talks, he gently whispers and lets the music speak for itself. The track is stunning, at once complicated, simple, harsh and gentle, rock and jazz. A perfect end to a perfect album!

The only thing that is better than the tracks on this album is the pure joy that comes with the knowledge that when the final track is done, you can return to the beginning and relive it all again. Aren’t we all glad we are alive!

For many this marked the beginning of the end of Bruce’s long-winded poetically brilliant pieces, they would soon be replaced by harsher images and an altogether more realistic picture backed by either brutal rock and roll (Darkness) or stark acoustic tracks (Nebraska). That is what makes this album a masterpiece; it is a beautiful accident – the kind that Bruce would successfully and intentionally construct in his next album.

© Simon A. Moult / Moultymedia 2006.
All rights reserved. Copying is prohibited without prior permission from the author.