#581

I know why you wanna hate me
I know why you wanna hate me
I know why you wanna hate me
Cause there ain’t been that much work lately
(ON ACCOUNT OF THE ECONOMY)

8 Likes
#582

A few more thoughts as I go through this in chunks:

  • What’s the consensus on 57 Channels? It’s an attempt to do something different which is to be applauded, but I’d imagine this is the kind of lyric that would have made Steve Van Zandt react quite negatively

sopranos-nope

  • I like Cross My Heart, it has a feel that it didn’t involve a lot of effort, but in a good way. Not a million miles from Tunnel of Love material.

  • Gloria’s Eyes has a kind of breezy Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers feel (a good thing). He’s not pushing himself anywhere here, but I’ve got no urge to skip this one when it comes on.

3 Likes
#583

My instincts seem to be way off on this, looks like our Steve did a mix of this for the single

#584

Gave this album a re-listen today and so I’m ready to put down a few thoughts.

In the 5 years since his previous album Bruce had broken up his band, divorced, remarried, started a family, relocated to the west coast, gone through severe writer’s block, and all this led to what he would eventually put out with ‘Human Touch’ It was a frought work to put together and it sounds it! In the intervening years, musically, he went quiet, but for a pair of solo benefit concerts that he performed at the Christic Institute in '90 where several songs that would appear on the eventual album were premiered. The anticipation for a new album was huge and, don’t forget, he’d released an almost peerless run of albums up to this point too. Unfortunately, after sitting on this album for some time due to its difficult gestation, it was released around 2 years too late, right as musical tastes were changing and the grunge movement was taking off. It sounded tired and dated the moment it was released!

This was my first exposure to Springsteen (that I remember), my mum was a fan and I distinctly remember her playing the cassette. For this reason only, I find it really difficult to outright hate it.

The title track kicks things off and I genuinely think this is top tier Springsteen. It sounds like a perfect transition from the last record. Love the guitar tones here and I really enjoy it. However, this is as good as it gets with the exception of ‘With Every Wish’ with its lovely trumpet solo and underplayed instrumentation.

‘Roll Of The Dice’ is a fun song with its classic Roy Bittan piano sound, ‘I Wish I Were Blind’ soars, and ‘Mans Job’ (despite some questionable lyrics) is entirely enjoyable. As much as I don’t mind ‘Soul Driver’ and ‘Real World’ they are severely let down with their horribly dated production choices.

The rest of the record is made up of mediocre to poor mid tempo rockers. Now ‘The River’ could be accused of having a slew of mid tempo rockers on it but they are in a different stratosphere entirely in terms of their quality compared to what we have here!

Fortunately, it does get better from hereonin.

Going back to those Christic shows mentioned, these have genuinely gone down in legend as some of his most magical performances. Some of the songs that ended up on the album were so good in these arrangements which makes the eventual release a missed opportunity. Check out ‘Real World’ here. It could have been one of his greatest songs if done right. Oh well.

4 Likes
#585

I listened to “57 Channels” as the basis of a dark, “Fargo”-esque show where the narrator from “State Trooper” (“Radio’s jammed up with talk show stations / It’s just talk, talk, talk, talk, till you lose your patience”) gets away scot-free with whatever grim shit he did in his past, and rides the American Dream all the way to a mansion in the Hollywood hills, only to end up knocking round the empty rooms at night, haunted by his past misdeeds.

It helped to pass the time until the next song, anyway…

2 Likes
#586

Good to see a bit more love coming through for Human Touch! I probably have a higher tolerance for (read: enjoyment of) soft rock cheese than some, and I would NEVER recommend this album to anyone not already very familiar with Bruce, but I do quite enjoy listening to it.

Certainly it’s too long, with a quite a bit of filler and a couple of outright bad songs, but the faux gospel stylings are fun and it’s not a bad record to bop around to while making dinner. That said, the fourth disc of Tracks is maybe two thirds HT outtakes, and many of them are better than the bottom third of what ended up on the album proper. Swap out a few and this album would probably be significantly better regarded.

One interesting thing about this release is it’s the only time (as well as one outtake on Tracks) that Bruce has ever cowritten songs with another member of the E Street Band. Apparently he and Roy Bitten are good friends, and he’s one member of the band Bruce socialises with outside of recording and touring.

I grew up with BitU, but after that my next main exposure to Bruce was when the Greatest Hits came out in '95 and I was an early teen. Absolutely rinsed it, and as a result have a great deal of love for the title track of this album. I was surprised though when I eventually heard it that the album track was longer (unnecessarily, IMO - the single edit is better). Having seen Bruce 10 times now I think, one of the ways I judge the songs is which ones I’d really love to hear live that I haven’t already. Human Touch is one of these - would absolutely love to hear them bust it out next time I see them.

4 Likes
#587

I have no nostalgia associated with Springsteen, as neither parent really liked him, but I love the title track of this album so much. Feels like it could have fit comfortably on Tunnel Of Love. 57 Channels is fun and interesting, but the rest is pretty much pish init.

#588

I take this back (a bit). With Every Wish is quite nice. And there are a few other moments. Some of the production choices are quite suspect though, as has been mentioned upthread.

#589

I thought exactly the same thing when I re-listened recently, so also very surprised to see that he did this mix.

#590

There’s some good stuff here (Human Touch, the run from Gloria’s Eyes to Real World is decent) some really bad stuff (57 Channels IMO, the last two tracks are dreadful) and a lot that I’ve completely forgotten after quite a fun listens. As a few have said, it does sound like how I imagine those who hate Bruce sound and it’s fairly hilarious that this came out in 1992 - must have sounded so utterly out of the zeitgeist then.

#591

With Every Wish is really good. Man’s Job sounds like the closing credits to some early 90s straight to video feelgood film (this isn’t a compliment).

2 Likes
#592

Listening to Human Touch now and Man’s Job has come on. I came straight to this thread to see if anybody had said anything about it. I’m not disappointed

#593

The Christic shows are incredible, aren’t they? Your post prompted me to listen to both straight through for the first time since I bought them from the live archive, and I was floored once again. Highly recommended to anyone who likes solo Bruce and hasn’t heard them before.

Very true about how different, and MUCH better, the Human Touch songs sound in these performances. Could have been a whole different story if he’s taken a that route in recording the material he’d written.

2 Likes
#594

They really are a thing.

#595

Okay, curious to see how we score Human Touch before we move on tomorrow.

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#596

Carrying on then to the sister album of Human Touch. Record later, but released on the same day, it was slightly less successful than Human Touch, but was it any better?

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Lucky Town

(March 31st 1992)

Better Days
Lucky Town
Local Hero
If I Should Fall Behind
Leap of Faith
The Big Muddy
Living Proof
Book of Dreams
Souls of the Departed
My Beautiful Reward

image

#597

One listen in, and tempo-wise we’re in the same area as Human Touch, but production is pared back (from looking at individual song credits this is pretty much entirely Springsteen plus Gary Mallaber on drums - there’s a little bit of keyboards and backing vocals from others scattered across, but Springsteen does the bulk of the instrumentation on this) and it feels a lot more focused. I’m sure that’ll be partly because it’s four songs and twenty minutes shorter.

Seems like a big improvement, definitely. I know a few of these songs already from live versions, but for most of them this is my first time listening to the studio recordings.

#598

Oh, and it was mentioned last week, but yeah I think this is rock bottom of the album covers. I’m not someone obsessed with graphic design, but why doesn’t the text even seem like it’s aligned to anything?

1 Like
#599

I’ve really fallen off the Boss boat for the past couple of releases here, but the last two is where my Bruce blind spot begins. Back on it this week!

#600

I’ll probably say a little more on this later in the week but what I will say now is that this is a marked improvement on ‘Human Touch’, certainly not top tier Springsteen but possibly my favourite of his '90s records. There’s a lightness of touch and a greater focus here as a result of him breaking through his writer’s block (these songs came quickly) At times there is an alt country vibe with the twangy guitar tones and his drawling vocals. Due to its association with its partner album, I think this is probably his most underrated record.

I’ll get into individual songs later but for now I’m generally enjoying this record.

2 Likes