Ok, this one is terrible. Can’t get past the 5 second mark.
Ok, this one is also pretty bad. Can’t get past the 10 second mark.
Now we’re talking. I recently said Gave it a Name was my favourite song of the 90’s. That may have been an overstatement, but the point remains: it’s beautifully written, composed, performed, sung... It breaks my heart with it’s perfect simplicity.
I remember Sad Eyes coming out as a single with some airplay when I was in high school and I thought it was pretty cool. It’s a pop love song, but a great one. Also, this older girl said she fell in love with me when she heard this song and she knew I was a fan. It wasn’t enough for her to leave her boyfriend, though...
My lover man is an odd Bruce song. It’s written from an unusual point of view. I find it, however, very appealing and mysterious. It’s beautifully sung and has a great melodic line.
It’s easy to accept that the guy who composed 57 channels, also composed Over the Rise. However, if the former is a nice, fun, novelty song, Over the Rise, has some real meaning. “Is a promise that love couldn’t keep the same as a promise broken” may be reminiscent of “is a dream a lie if it don’t come true or is it something worse?”, but it stands as one of Bruce’s best lines.
When the Lights go out is another bass-driven song. Dark, spooky and paranoid. What’s not to like?
Loose change has a beautiful falsetto (reminiscent of Letter to You’s). I love the pace on it, the theme, the singing... I could listen to it forever.
I absolutely hate Trouble in Paradise. Can’t even let him finish the “You” that opens the song. Dreadful.
Happy is probably one of Bruce’s best long songs. I mean, there’s nothing in it that’s not perfect. Actually, I struggle to find a better pure love song in his catalogue.
Part Man, Part Monkey is fun. I’m not very fond of this arrangement though I quite like the D&D tour versions.
Another bass song. I wish Bruce had released the hip hop influenced mid-90s album. I really like this and find it quite similar to stuff like Missing, which I love.
Back in Your Arms is good enough. It doesn’t help it that I think it’s a bit overrated by many fans. It’s a nice song, but I don’t think the vocal take on this version is the best Bruce could have done. It could use some more subtlety, nuance and dynamics.
Brothers under the Bridge I’m not quite sure why it was left off Tom Joad. I’m sure it’s unanimous it would have been a better fit that My best was never good enough. Love it.
And that’s it. I find this disk extremely under appreciated.
1. Leavin Train I never listen to, I don't like the sound of it, it's too much noise. 2. Seven Angels is a bit better, 7 is at least a fairy tale number. 3. Gave It a Name is... mystifying. It's one of his songs from the edge... Am I a good guy, or a bad one? 4. Sad Eyes I love. I love how he sings, the melody, the percussion. Playing hard to get story, with falsetto. I think this might be Cynthia, later on. 5. My Lover Man is another one I love, I like how it sounds, and what it is saying. I think the lyrics are really fine.
Life is short and love's a dirty game Now there's no need for our game to end Come close and we'll begin To find our beautiful selves again 6. Over the Rise is a short intermezzo, I quite like it, the beat is cool. 7. When the lights go out is another one from the edge, but I don't particularly like it. 8. Loose Change... I'm pulling a full Mario here, and am reposting my stuff.
Loose Change is a multilayered gem if doom and gloom is your style. I treasure all Springsteen's songs where the male protagonist is a rootless, numb, probably dysfunctional man. He meets the most ordinary woman, and you instantly know what's going to happen. Despite acknowledging how meaningless encounters will only provide him with feelings of deep alienation and isolation, he always makes the move. On the surface, it appears to be just another song about casual sex, but it is indeed a song about a man who's caught inside his own head. He doesn't possess the strength, or the willingness to get out of that endless cycle. Loose change I think is a metaphor for the void in his life that accompanies him constantly. No serious fan could ignore the lyrical and thematical connection between Loose Change, The Losing Kind, and Highway 29. And on Western Stars, we can again observe the same guy, an older, more died down version of the same man. Musically, the song is interesting, too. It doesn't really go anywhere, it is monotonous, repetitive. The keyboards are distant, the bass and the vocal put in the center, and on the whole, it doesn't sound like a typical Springsteen song, more like 80s alternative pop. Dr. Jekyll's work ended on HT/LT, and Mr. Hyde's on Tracks 4? 9. Trouble in Paradise is like a bad TV commercial, although I like how he switches from concrete house chores to intangible emotions. Back and forth, they intertwine. I love the line And you're sure you've seen the ending twice. 10. Happy I can't stand. I get a rash. I don't like happy Bruce, I don't like happy love songs, they make me nervous. 11. Part man part monkey is a cool song, I love how it sounded live in 88, love his candid acknowledgment of the facts of evolution. Whenever I see men doing stupid things, I simply think to myself, part man, part monkey, what can you do? 😋 12. Goin' Cali I love for its autobiographical value. Some nice lyrics there. I like how he had met his girl in a desert song. 13. Back in Your Arms is not a song I'd often listen to. I guess I wasn't properly heartbroken since Tracks came out, so the song never got to fulfill its cathartic task. And as an aside, there's something about this song that screams Celine Dion. Might be the overuse of pathos. 14. Brothers Under the Bridge, you guys said it all. Amazing song, with one of the best ending lines ever.