Music

Not his best, not by a long shot. (2008-11-28)
Poor Bruce Springsteen, getting old and moving sideways, wrapped-up in leftist political struggle, confused about life...sad, oh so very sad.

His 'glory days' behind him, he pushed this one out. The music sounds forced, stale; like a poem without a theme or a rhyme; like a sunset on a clear night. Nothing fresh here, only confused notes and words. This one misses the boat (in my opinion, and after all, these reviews are only opinions).

If you can relate to this CD, good for you. If you can connect to the music, good for you. But I know what's good and this isn't good at all.

Bruce can do better; he's done oh so much way better!

If you want real Springsteen; real hard, raw, innocent, righteous stuff, you gotta try the 'Tracks' 4-disc compilation. Now that's what music is!

Thanks for reading this.

Hitting Home (2008-08-05)
This record is nothing less than Springsteen at his best. It's like I woke up to the Boss in his heyday again. It's hard to believe that the cataclysmic events of September 11, 2001 have channeled one of rock's greatest voices in such a mesmerizing way. How fortunate we are that his rededication to passionate musicmaking, along with the band that helped make him famous, have coincided with an urgent need to rebuild a city.

Like a missile honing in on its target, The Rising begins with distant allusions to the event and progressively builds in verisimilitude until the ashes of Ground Zero are staring you in the face. Intensity rises, too, as more playful tunes adroitly give way to those with dramatic fury. I love the way images of faith infuse the record as well, giving the downcast, as Springsteen does like no other, something to hold on to when things are very black.

Clarence Clemons' saxophone has never been more uplifting, and the tunes with his solos are some of the record's catchiest. In the last third of the album, the ballads "You're Missing", which encapsulates the unspeakable misery of a grieving family, and "Paradise", which I interpret as the reflections of a suicide bomber in the moments before his death, are stunning lyrical foils on either side of the title track; they beg us to broaden our sympathy for our fellow man and feel how even when at war, we are really one. The album closer, "My City of Ruins," is a rousing call to action in the form of an impassioned gospel-tinged power ballad; it's a poetic missile to my heart.

Most important album of this decade (2008-07-04)
By far Springsteen's best work since Nebraska. A haunting collection of songs reflecting the horror of 9/11. Most recommended songs are "Nothing Man" with the poignant line "How my brave life young life was forever changed in a cloud of pink vapor" which evokes past horrifying descriptions of falling bodies hitting the streets below the WTC, and the title cut. IMHO-this album is the single most important recording of this decade.

Springsteen's best CD (2007-11-15)
I absolutely love this CD, I've been listening to it for 5 years now, and still have tears running down my face when certain songs are on. He captured the raw emotion I felt on 9/11, and it still to this day can capture me. Now that's fantastic music.

musically boring (2007-10-19)
I love Bruce, have just about all of his albums. Even like some of the albums many others don't, like Tom Joad, Human Touch, Devils & Dust, etc. I'd never give any of his other albums fewer than 3 stars, and some are of course astounding 5-star classics (my fave is The Wild, the Innocent...).

But I REALLY dislike The Rising, I just find it extremely boring musically. Basic hooks, repeated over and over. I'm all for lyrics, but first the music has to be interesting. There are a few good songs here, most notably Worlds Apart, but mostly they are just boring. Even the basic poppy songs on Born in the USA were much more advanced than this.