In the same vein as I went through Tom Petty's catalogue I am now embarking on a trek through the Boss's oeuvre. It is a much more daunting task than the Petty binge. First of all there are so many more albums to listen to. Second of all I fear that I will not be able to come up with enough superlatives, as I like so much of his stuff. Third, I am much more familiar with Springsteen's output than I am with Petty's, so my opinions are pretty much already formed.
But I'm gonna get through this...I hope. Don't be disappointed if I give up mid-stream 'cuz you never know, I might be stricken with "Springsteen Burnout", especially around the time of Live 1975-1985 or, if I make it that far, the Tracks box set.
Gonna use a star rating system this time around, all ratings are relative to Springsteen's other work, and I'm also going to list "Favorite Tracks" and "Least Favorite Tracks" (both of which will be limited to, but not necessarily including, 4 songs...this is going to be hard on albums like Darkness on the Edge of Town and Tunnel of Love.
And one last thing before I get to the man's debut album...I am DREADING the time when I get to the dismal Pete Seeger Sessions.
As for Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J., it's a wildly uneven affair. I wouldn't blame anyone for turning the damn thing off after the silly, meaningless and pointless "Blinded by the Light". It's junk like this that garnered the "Next Bob Dylan" accolade, but the only thing he has in common with Zimmy is a tendency to be verbose. At least Dylan's wordy stuff makes a little bit of sense. "Blilnded by the Light" seems to revel in it's inability to be anything more than an exercise in the proper use of a rhyming dictionary.
And it doesn't get much better with "Growin' Up", which for some bizarre inexplicable reason is a fan favorite. But just take a gander at this lyric: "When they said come down I threw up". Huh?
There are lots of silly lines scattered throughout this album that seem written just to fill up a verse. Even "Mary, Queen of Arkansas", a song I quite like, contains this horrendous line" "I've been a shine boy for your acid brat and a wharf rat of the stage". What the fuck is an acid brat, I want to know? And why does he need a shine boy?
"Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street" is a monotonous affair with such sage wisdom as "Don't trust men who walk with canes". Why not? Why are they less trustworthy than those who have full use of their legs? I'm sure there's some deep symbolism involved, but it sure as hell went over my head.
After this 1 for 3 hitter we finally get to a good, possibly great song, "Lost In The Flood", a precursor in many ways of "Jungleland". It took me awhile to figure out what he was really saying with "Nuns run bald through Vatican halls, pleading immaculate conception"...I thought, well why would they be bald? Then I realized he was playing with words and the implication was "Nuns run BALLED...". Maybe I'm wrong on this one.
"The Angel" has long been my favorite song on this album. It starts out kind of like something you might expect from Nebraska until a cello comes in at about the half-way mark. The singing is equal parts weary and impassioned. My only question is, Who are "The Servants", what is their purpose, and why do they keep popping up in this song? I've ALWAYS wondered this.
Another fan favorite, "For You" has never been a favorite of mine (especially after hearing Manfred Mann's Earth Band's version). That said, I have to say it sounded better to me now than it did in the past. It has a minimal share of ding-dong lyrics, and that's saying something.
Likewise, "Spirit In The Night" is another one I never cared much for in the old days. But aside from the music, which I'll probably never cotton to, the song was actually pretty impressive (which would mean that I thought the lyrics, vocal performance and melody were pretty good). Nice story song, and who can resist a line like "Janey's fingers were in the cake"?
Taking it all home, where most of it belongs, is "It's Hard To Be a Saint In The City". It's not too bad, but it has it's share of goofy lines. Reminds me too much of "Does This Bus Stop...". They should have closed the whole show with "Lost In The Flood" and who knows why they chose this one. Not me.
2 Stars
Favorite Tracks: "The Angel", "Lost In the Flood"
Least Favorite Tracks: "Blinded by the Light", "Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street"
No comments:
Post a Comment