Review #21: Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen
#21: Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen
The important thing to understand about Bruce Springsteen is that he is a cult leader. Keep in mind that Bruce graces the cover of the physical copy of the magazine, despite the fact that he doesn’t appear on the list until #21. (Alright, the feature article is about him, but the point stands.)
I went to a Bruce concert in college with a friend who happened to be one of his disciples. While we were there, my friend connected with the burly pair of men sitting next to us.
“I’m going to another Bruce concert in Philadelphia next week,” my friend said.
“So are we!” the men bleated. This is the madness which infects Bruce Springsteen fans. (Though I’ll admit the concert was a blast, a religious experience.)
I’ve never been interested enough in him to listen to one of his albums all the way through before, but it was really nice to listen to something a little more grounded after suffering through Kid A, which is decidedly NOT a road tripping album.
FAVORITE SONGS:
“Thunder Road” — I always think of Bruce as being very macho, and he is! But he also starts every single one of these songs with a very delicate piano melody.
“Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” — Hell yeah.
“Night” — Aw HELL yeah. The saxophone. I wish I’d been able to see Clarence Clemons in concert. :(
“Backstreets” — Love the piano intro, love the desperate lyrics, love the howling. The outtro to this song was the best part of the Bruce concert.
“Jungleland” — Okay I lied, THIS was the best part of the Bruce concert.
LEAST FAVORITE SONGS:
“Born to Run” — Why can’t I get into Bruce’s most popular song? I do love when he wails, though, and the saxophone makes every song better. I’ll take this moment to link Clarence Clemons’ amazing appearance in Lady Gaga’s “The Edge of Glory.”
“She’s The One” — Eh. Here’s the thing, I like a lot of these songs but a lot of them sound exactly the same in my ears.
“Meeting Across The River” — Too slow.
IS RS FULL OF IT?
No. I think that the Clarence Clemons-Bruce Springsteen duo is unstoppable.
