#521

Ah, yeah, of course. Not sure what that was about?!?

#522

Ah, it’s more obvious there. Is the whole thing live though? I think it’s him singing over the studio recording but I’m not 100% sure

#523

‘this so-called “Berlin 95” version (which was also released on CD singles) just features Springsteen’s live vocals and audience noise laid over the song’s original 1980 E Street Band studio recording’.

#524

Never listened to Tunnel of Love so I’m going into this one blind. I missed out on the Live album completely last week, only listened to a couple of songs, I will get to it eventually.

I have heard Brilliant Disguise before but never realised it was off this album! I really like this song, feels very much like a Tom Petty and the Hearbreakers song for some reason, maybe it’s the type of guitars and synthy organ he uses? Fantastic song about doubt and a relationship that is falling apart.

All That Heaven Will Allow has a very similar vibe to Brilliant Disguise, just that little tick going along in the background and the echoey, spacious feel to the instrumentation. Much more hopeful song than what we’re used to from Bruce in the previous era.

Walk Like a Man is a beautiful song, about Bruce trying to keep things together and follow in the footsteps of his father and the lessons he taught, though their time was short together. Really liked this one.

Tunnel of Love starts out super funky, I thought it was a Prince song :joy:. Even heavier on the synths and the random crashing noises in the background with the booming drums. This song is a bop, and holy shit that guitar solo in the middle is absolutely killer. The lyrics are super fun, at least until the last verse:

It ought to be easy, ought to be simple enough
Man meets a woman and they fall in love
But this house is haunted and the ride gets rough
You’ve got to learn to live with what you can’t rise above
If you want to ride on down in through this tunnel of love

One Step Back was another marriage falling apart song, loved the backing vocals here and the fits and starts of the electric guitar in the background. Really spacey too like the other songs. Bruce a lot of the time saves his most killer lyrics for the end of the song:

There’s a girl across the bar
I get the message she’s sendin’
Mmm she ain’t lookin’ too married
And me, well, honey I’m pretending
Last night I dreamed I held you in my arms
The music was never-ending
We danced as the evening sky faded to black
One step up and two steps back
One step up and two steps back
One step up and two steps back

Tougher Than The Rest did certainly sound tougher with those big foghorn synths out the gate, really enjoyed that. One of the catchier songs on the album, I can see why it was one of the singles. The beautiful organs and synths really sold it for me, and the message of two down-and-out people who’ve been hurt by others getting together to support one another. The Nebraska harmonica and “ooh-ooh” throwbacks at the end of this song were special too.

Two Faces has an absolutely killer little synth breakdown in the middle of it and really picks up from 1:30 onwards. The one from 2:20 is almost comical though, made me laugh, it sounded like the Sanford and Sons song :joy: . All of these songs have such an edge to them, totally not real love songs though they sound like them.

Spare Parts was almost a country tune, I love it when Bruce dips his toes into this genre, but it also had a recognisable E-Street undercurrent as well, especially with the gospel organ. When all the guitars and other instruments are ripping along at the end it’s a great feeling.

Overall this album felt really stripped back in an “80s” kind of way, not like Nebraska which is stripped back in an “abandoned shack in the middle of a cornfield” kind of way. It had the vibe of an album full of love songs, but obviously it’s faded, dying love when you listen to the lyrics. It’s amazing how different and more intimate it feels than Born in the USA. Feels like Bruce is trying to keep things together and not screw up all his good fortune and the things he holds dear. I really dug it, and I think I’ve been sleeping on this album! Will definitely add it to my Springsteen rotation.

P.S. I listened to this album on shuffle unwittingly, so I need to listen to it again now to get the proper feel of it! :man_facepalming:

7 Likes
#525

As I said before, have always really loved this one and would probably put it in my top three Springsteen albums overall. For some reason ended up becoming obsessed with it a few Christmas’ ago, so has nice associations when I put it on now.

It reminds me a lot of Blood on the Tracks (as someone said above) where it has this feel of an after the peak classic, where the artist comes back a little world weary with a slightly of-its-time production style (not that Bruce was coming back from anything at this point). Tougher than the Rest is probably in my top ten Springsteen songs, and whilst it takes a little while to get going, the run from Walk Like a Man onwards is almost perfect.

I think Nebraska - Born to Run - Tunnel of Love is such a beautiful run of albums. Three diverse classics. I’m flying blind now until the recent albums, having never listened to the nineties stuff so interested to see what happens next (please God tell me its better than the eighties stretch in the Neil Young club…)

1 Like
#526

I think this will be the case for quite a few of us.

1 Like
#527

I don’t think I’ve listened in full to Lucky Town/the other one but there’s some really great odds and ends in the nineties. Not sure how it’ll all play out in this format

1 Like
#528

Human Touch is the only real slog in there - very little typical Bruce stuff but most of it is at least interesting

#529

ha! wrote in the unpopular music opinions thread that i prefer 1990s bruce to 1970s bruce. i mean it! all about those odds and ends. 1980s bruce is top for me

#530

Enjoyed listening to this on repeat, this week. Tbh, it’s an album I come back to regularly and I think it’d comfortably make its way in to my Springsteen top 5.

Love how understated it all sounds, following on from the massive success of ‘BITUSA’ Alas, he wanted to be seen as a serious songwriter rather than chuck out rehashes of previous material. I think he admitted that he balked at the success of the previous album (‘Bruced out’) and pulled it right back.

By this time, Bruce was making use of a home ‘studio’ and these were the first fruits of him working through new material. Basically a solo record, he’d get various band members to come to the studio to add little embellishments here and there but, essentially, they were there to beat Springsteen’s demo tracks or they wouldn’t be on the record! This, and the subsequent tour, signalled the beginning of the end for the E Street Band.

As others have said, there are comparisons to ‘Blood On The Tracks’ in documenting the dissolution of a relationship. Some of my favourite songs are here- ‘Tougher…’, ‘Brilliant Disguise’, ‘Valentines Day’ I even like the fact he pokes fun at himself on the opener.

Think this will be a solid 10 for me, and probably his last 10 (even though I LOVE a lot of his later stuff) I think the next few albums will provide some interesting discussion!

Not loads of unreleased stuff (that we know of) from this time but ‘The Wish’ remains a favourite of mine. A lovely song to his mother (after writing many about his father, she finally gets one!) with great lyrics and melody.

4 Likes
#531

Let’s see what we think are the highlights this week then

  • Ain’t Got You
  • Tougher Than the Rest
  • All That Heaven Will Allow
  • Spare Parts
  • Cautious Man
  • Walk Like a Man
  • Tunnel of Love
  • Two Faces
  • Brilliant Disguise
  • One Step Up
  • When You’re Alone
  • Valentine’s Day

0 voters

1 Like
#532

The midweek bonus listen for us is Chimes of Freedom, a live EP, released to promote Amnesty’s Human Rights tour that Bruce and the E Street Band would perform on (I think the last tour involving the E Street Band before the reunion at the end of the 90s).

The recordings are all taken from the Tunnel of Love Express tour (as usual, we’re only covering releases available on Spotify/YouTube/etc).

Chimes of Freedom

(August 1st 1988)

Tougher Than the Rest
Be True
Chimes of Freedom
Born to Run

image

1 Like
#533

As much as I love the album version, this is the definitive ‘Tougher…’

#534

When I think of my perfect music video/song combination, this is possibly top of the list.

The most simple video combined with one of the most devastating songs, by anyone. The fact it takes place in the most domestic of settings says it all. Another one for the Bruce Top 10.

Perfection.

1 Like
#535

I really liked Tougher than the Rest because of the Camera Obscura cover (upthread), but reading this article has really made it feel like one of my favourite Springsteen songs; it talks at length about it as being a distinctly queer song, and I won’t

It’s something that I’d never really thought much about it as a song, but this other piece also talks about him using his popularity with a mainstream audience as a way of subverting expectations of what masculinity means, and how TttR really is just one of the best/subtle subversions of certain expectations of toughness/masculinity.

Sorry, I’ve got no real point to this post, more that it’s just a song that just has an unexpectedly nuanced central premise, I guess. Basically, I agree with @hardworking, but also read these essays.

2 Likes
#536

I remember this was I think the last official Springsteen release I didn’t own for years as it always seemed very expensive on CD in HMV or wherever. Did finally pick it up, and now also have it on vinyl as I got the Vol. 2 vinyl set as a present a few years ago.

Anyway, the first two tracks don’t do a lot for me to be honest, but the second two definitely land. He perhaps does too much of a direct Dylan impression on the Chimes cover, but it’s still great. As for BtR, if there’s one song that should NOT work as an acoustic rendition, it’s this, but I find it really affecting and quite powerful. Would love to hear this version on a solo tour sometime in the future.

#537

Let’s wrap up the 80s then by getting a score for Tunnel of Love

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10

0 voters

1 Like
#538

Been meaning to post about ToL all week, and here we are on the last day. Not too much time to post right now, but I wanted to get in that so far it has been the revelation of this club for me. It was the first Springsteen album I ever bought as a new release and tbh the fourteen year old mlh was a bit nonplussed by his new tape. As I got older and understood more what it was about I admired it more, without ever quite loving it. But now as a middle aged man listening to it for the first time in a few years, it’s never spoken to me as directly and honestly as it did this week. I’m not going through a failing marriage or anything, but the conjuring of difficult times and plowing through life’s vicissitudes really connected with me on a base level. It’s another 10/10.

8 Likes
#539

I’ve fallen behind this week due to being far too fond of the last Lambchop album, I’ve only given this 3 or 4 spins. I thought that it would be a more typically 80’s sounding album, it’s softer and a lot more subtle than I was expecting, when the synths come in I think they really work. I love the 20 second intro on the title track, what a fun little bit. Wtf is that solo on the otherwise lovely Two Faces about though, I dunno. To throw my weight behind it and maybe state the obvious Brilliant Disguise is one of his very best songs.

It’s one I can imagine spending a lot more time with and in terms of a front to back, consistent listen I think I might only prefer Nebraska.

1 Like
#540

Gave this one an 8. Excellent record and I’m really happy it’s in my rotation now, but not quite up there with the masterpieces of Darkness On The Edge Of Town, Born In The USA, and Born to Run.