BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN - THE RISING
First
things
first:
leaving
politics
and
sociology
aside
for
a
minute,
this
is
the
least
musically
interesting
Springsteen
album
ever.
For
starters,
there
is
hardly
anything
here
that
could
even
be
mistaken
for
a
hook.
"Empty
Sky"
comes
out
about
the
best,
as
it
might
be
mistaken
for
being
vaguely
catchy.
I
couldn't
quite
remember
how
most
of
the
other
songs
went
even
while
I
was
listening
to
them.
There
were
no
significantly
interesting
melodic
moments,
or
substantial
melodic
development.
Nor are there any other significant points of musical interest. There are no interesting harmonic turns, no unusual chords or harmony. The rhythms are totally generic. The arrangements and production are totally generic.
Even Max Weinberg can't breathe life into this tired turd of a pile of songs. Is he even playing? Most of this sounds like it was recorded with drum machines programmed by the most unimaginative minimum wage white idiot the Boss could find.
Springsteen
used
to
be
a
major
artist.
His
first
four
or
five
records
came
from
a
hungry
artist
with
a
restless
soul.
He
expressed
this
with
music
that
went
beyond
being
catchy,
searching
for
new
sounds
and
wild
rhythms.
There
was
nothing
else
that
sounded
like,
for
example,
his
original
"Blinded
by
the
Light."
Over
time
however,
he
has
pared
back
his
spiritual
vision
and
limited
his
musical
palette
to
such
a
point
that
he's
making
Jon
Bon
Jovi
start
to
sound
good.
Even
the
lobotomized
rock
of
"Living
on
a
Prayer"
or
"You
Give
Love
a
Bad
Name"
is
more
musically
adventurous
and
truly
soulful
than,
say,
"Nothing
Man"
which
is
just
watered
down
"I'm
On
Fire"
or
"Brilliant
Disguise"
-the
difference
being
that
those
bland,
soul
deadening
mid-tempo
"rock"
songs
had
HOOKS.
At
this
point,
Springsteen
really
IS
a
nothing
man.
Even "Into the Fire" lacks any substantial emotion in composition or performance. It would be difficult to come up with a scenario with more natural drama than the firemen rushing into the WTC, yet there isn't an ounce of actual feeling here. This recording shows less genuine emotion than a Hallmark card. Speaking of trite Hallmark sentiments, "May your strength give us strength/ May your faith give us faith/ May your hope give us hope/ May your love bring us love." Yet, if you mock these words, YOU will be the bad person, much as you would be for disagreeing with some congressman's support for "family values" or "the children."
Any emotions the listener may feel are likely from memories of the firemen, not anything to do with Springsteen. Reference Milhouse's dad on the Simpsons singing "Can I borrow a feeling?" Springsteen exploits the memory of those lost heroes like the cheesiest congressmen getting his picture taken with his arm around a fireman at ground zero. Hey, he might as well run for senate, as some have suggested.
"Worlds Apart" might in theory sound like a promising idea for musical expansion, as he brings in some Middle Eastern singers for a tale about a star-crossed interracial love affair. Paul Simon he is not, however. He's not really going to substantially explore alien musical terrain; he uses the singers only for just the least bit of slightly exotic coloring for his standard tuneless mid-tempo rock song. It's about the best song on the record.
In short, there is little or nothing to recommend this album musically. On merit, this has to rate among the least interesting major releases by a major artist in rock history.
Knowing this in his heart, Springsteen of course is not counting on MUSIC to sell this thing. See, he's making a Major Statement about the 9/11 attacks. After all, he's the self-appointed spokesman for the working class- and by gummy, firemen are working class. He's much like Al Gore in this regard- though even Al Gore would likely have come up with more interesting attempts at songwriting than this.
Indeed, Springsteen has become a politician instead of an artist. He speaks for his audience- not himself. None of this album comes across to an objective listener as the heartfelt personal reaction of an artist. Rather, these are the carefully calculated and extremely predictable responses of a politician looking for votes. What can I say to express my sympathy, without saying anything controversial to cheese anyone off? Note how he carefully doled out a couple of minor compliments to the president during pre-release interviews on the "thoughtful" way he has conducted the war in Afghanistan- the precise little gesture to appease anyone put off by his typical and well known tired moderately liberal political beliefs.
I'm not even accusing Springsteen of dishonesty. I could appreciate a little cynical marketing. No, far worse, you can practically hear the gears whirring inside his head as he figures out his stance and talks himself into believing it. Give me the real and uncalculated if simplistic feelings of Toby Keith's "Angry American" any day.
I cannot in good conscience review this album without calling him out for the gross immorality of the song "Paradise." It is a sad, gentle acoustic ballad detailing the last thoughts of a suicide bomber. A sympathetic look at these petty life-hating monsters, ascribing them decent human character is a DISGRACE. Perhaps he will follow it up with a nice song about the internal angst of a guard at Auschwitz as he herds some jews into the oven. Placing this amongst the songs about the heroic firefighters is to piss on their memory by the equivalence.
You
could
find
no
more
direct
example
of
the
wickedness
of
liberal
multiculturalism
and
moral
equivalence.
Worse,
the
song
is
such
a
passionless,
hookless
rote
expression
of
the
proper
PC
posture
that
you
most
likely
won't
remember
it
five
minutes
later.
The
pure
blandness
of
the
song
keeps
it
from
generating
even
the
heat
of
outrage.
Yes,
this
record
will
sell
big-
for
a
week
or
two,
until
people
actually
listen
to
the
damned
thing
a
couple
of
times
and
realize
how
musically
unworthy
it
is.
Then
at
some
future
point,
this
album
will
be
rightfully
regarded
as
a
black
mark
on
Springsteen's
career,
a
crass
and
exploitative
cash
in
by
a
has
been
latching
on
to
a
national
tragedy.
When Springsteen appears on tv saying this is one of his best albums, it is understandable. Hey, he's got a record to sell, and he has to psych himself up for a big tour. Anyone not on his payroll who says such things, however, is a damned fool.
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