From: owner-luckytown-digest@luckytown.org (LuckyTown Digest) To: luckytown-digest@luckytown.org Subject: LuckyTown Digest V9 #50 Reply-To: luckytown@luckytown.org Sender: owner-luckytown-digest@luckytown.org Errors-To: owner-luckytown-digest@luckytown.org Precedence: bulk LuckyTown Digest Tuesday, July 30 2002 Volume 09 : Number 050 NOTE: Sale/trade posts should be emailed to luckytown-ads, *NOT* to luckytown. That includes tix wanted/tix grovels, post them to luckytown-ads, please. Contents: The Rising Review 7/28/02 [ALateJuliet@aol.com] Review from UK newspaper 'The Times' ["Perkin, Richard" ] UK newspaper reviews etc ["Perkin, Richard" Subject: Review from UK newspaper 'The Times' Published on Friday 26-Jul-02: Very favourable review from one David Sinclair: There is a sketch in a satirical magazine in which George Bush pleads with the pop community not to record any more charity ballads in the wake of September 11. "To America's recording artists I just want to say, please, there has already been enough suffering." Well, there were some dire records released in the immediate aftermath of the atrocity, but overall the pop community has proved surprisingly unwilling - or perhaps unable - to address the events of that epoch-making day. While cardboard cut-out revolutionaries such as Primal Scream were hopelessly wrongfooted by the apocalyptic turn of events, elder statesmen like Bob Dylan and Bono were either nonplussed or else at the wrong stage of the writing-and-recording cycle to do much about it in musical terms (a notable exception being Neil Young with his gung-ho call-to-arms, Let's Roll). But, cometh the hour, cometh a 52-year-old man at something of a crossroads in his career, whose creative antennae locked on to the human dimension of the tragedy like a diviner's rod passing over water. Given his impeccable credentials as a loyal but questioning chronicler of the American way, it is hard to imagine a performer better equipped than Bruce Springsteen to provide a sounding board for his nation's grief, confusion and anger over the awful events of less than a year ago. His new album, The Rising (Columbia, released July 29), does just that, with magisterial dignity and a burning sense of mission which is, at certain points, simply overwhelming. Written almost entirely since the destruction of the twin towers, The Rising is Springsteen's first all-new recording with the E Street Band since his 1984 classic, Born in the USA, and brings him back musically to the epic arrangements and widescreen production values of that era. The difference is in the more modern, guitar-driven sound supplied by the producer Brendan O'Brien - a new pair of ears in the Springsteen camp - otherwise known for his work with bands like Pearl Jam and the Black Crowes. But it is Springsteen's rejuvenated songwriting and deeply heartfelt lyrics which make this an album of such timely passion and irresistible vitality. The songs vary from the stark, acoustic lament of Paradise to the glorious roadhouse rock of Further On (Up The Road) with variations along the way that range from the sort of programmed beats and chiming guitars associated with U2 on The Fuse to the more agrarian-sounding Lonesome Day and Waitin' on a Sunny Day in which the prominent violin parts echo the work of John Mellencamp. Naturally a sense of anger and loss permeates many of the tracks. "I want a kiss from your lips/ I want an eye for an eye/ I woke up this morning/ To the empty sky," he sings on the unbearably sad Empty Sky. The title track itself is a sensationally powerful rock-spiritual song which tells the story of a fireman climbing the stairs of one of the burning buildings to meet his inevitable death: "There's spirits above and behind me/ Faces gone black, eyes burning bright/ May their precious blood bind me/Lord, as I stand before your fiery light." If music and musicians have anything worthwhile to tell us about such a life-altering event - and let's hope that they do - then Springsteen is clearly the man for the job. Amid all the sham and hype of the modern pop industry, The Rising shines like a beacon of truth. Richard Perkin richard.perkin@atosorigin.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2002 00:42:12 -0400 From: mendez@comcast.net Subject: re-born in the usa: the marketing Well it all dawned on me about two minutes prior to Bruce waving to me and others in the small crowd that waited for him as he pulled out of the Convention Hall in his Corvette. As I was talking with Arlen Schumer about the story of Marc Brickman (for those not familiar Mr. Brickman was Bruce's lighting director for 12 years until he was fired prior to the BITUSA tour) I somehow figured out the marketing strategy for The Rising, though it is not like I feel this is a major accomplishment... it is all there, plain as day. For weeks I couldn't figure out why the heck would Bruce do the 'Today' show. All of a sudden soccer moms are his market? Didn't make sense. Well, now it does. In fact it makes perfect marketing sense. The entire push (or is it a shove) is not to get new fans. The push is to get the 30-45 year old demographic that bought most of 15 million (US) copies of "Born in the USA" and 13 million copies of "LIVE 75-85" and haven't purchased another Bruce release in the subsequent years. Think about it, that's about 10 million people. Even if you only get a third of them...cha-ching! The 13-21 year old girls who thought Bruce was so hot back in 1984-85 and then and snatched up many of the 15 million (US) copies of BITUSA are now all in their 30's. Many are home, probably with kids and probably watching the Today show. If they're not watching the Today show or if they happen to be guys, maybe they watch Nightline... or maybe they watch Letterman, or VH 1. Hell, if they're out there watching TV or reading magazines and newspapers they will hear about the new record (and its 9-11 theme). As every good fisherman knows when you're fishing in the same lake you previously caught the big one in, you'd be stupid not to use the same bait again. Thus the references to Born in the USA are everywhere. Open to the full page ad in this Sunday's New York Times and you'll see as the headline "HIS FIRST ALL NEW STUDIO ALBUM WITH THE E STREET BAND SINCE BORN IN THE USA." Take a look at the cover of this week's Time magazine and its title 'Reborn in the USA." Coincidence, I think not. As for the tour we can expect the re-born in the USA fans to get their fill with a good dose of the old material to be played from BITUSA. My Hometown, Glory Days, BITUSA were all played at the 7-26 rehearsal and other tracks from it were rehearsed at Ft. Monmouth. The use of Born in the USA's nostalgia as a hook to get sales for The Rising is both marketing genius and emotional tragedy. Herein lies a problem, and it is a big one. There is a clear path being paved to market this 9-11 themed album to those who relate most closely to the tragic events of 9-11. One third of the victims of 9-11 were in their 30's. Do I find solace in Bruce's response to questions about 9-11 exploitation marketing in the current Time cover story? Here's his quote on the subject: "When you're putting yourself into shoes you haven't worn you have to be very ... just very thoughtful, is the way that I'd put it. Just thoughtful. You call on your craft, and you go searching for it, and hopefully what makes people listen is that over the years you've been serious and honest. That's where your creative authority comes from. That's how people know you're not just taking a ride." With all due respect, his craft and his creative authority are not what is being called into question. I hate to say it but Bruce is ducking the issue here. Jon Landau, will he answer the question about exploitation? Mr. Landau has never sat for an interview about his involvement with Bruce or his work and I don't expect that to change now. The questions exist and they have not been answered because they can't be answered. No one will say the plain truth of this; we want to make millions of dollars from a new Springsteen disc about 9-11 and we have a strategy for that. So, while I love many of the songs on the new album and I'll even be at the Today show, I also have a pit in my stomach knowing that Bruce, the same guy that tore down those all those "Finally..." posters in 1975 signed off on this crass mass media blitz to promote a work and subject matter as sensitive as The Rising. Everything Is Everything, Jon Mendez Secaucus, NJ [text/html attachment deleted] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2002 17:23:34 +0200 From: "Han Med roda mulen" Subject: Bruces "Darkness"-voice etc.. Hi all. First of all, "The Rising" came out here in Sweden today, the 29th, and I was the first one in the music store and got the "Limited Edition" for about 23 bucks, I guess. (249 SEK) I've listened to it about three times and the album is great, just fantastic. There are different opinions on whether Brendan O'Brien made the record better or ruined it, but... Bruce seems happy and satisfied with it and when he is the rest of the world usually is too. Anyway, I'm not gonna review the album song by song or anything, every- body has pretty much done that already, so I'm just gonna say that I love it. It has the sorrow and darkness that "Darkness" had, but it has the hope and spirit of "Born to run" and "The river". I'm not comparing them, I'm just saying that they have certain things in common. (To be a bit tough, the record *has* some weak spots, and it can't com- pete with "the golden 70s" when Bruce served us som of the greatest rock'n'roll-records ever made.) I think I read somewhere that this album is the last one in a trilogy (BTR, BITUSA..).. Is that BS or for real? Uhm. Anyway, what I really wanted to do here was to reply to someone, I don't remember who though, who said that Bruce even uses his Darkness- voice on this record... I don't know about that. Of course you can hear traces of his young voice, hey it's the same guy, but in "Further on..." which he/she who wrote the message was referring to, I'd rather say that he uses his "Land of Hope and Dreams"-voice, with others words the voice he uses today. I don't even know if a person can USE a voice. Whatever. The song that *I* heard most traces in is actually the last one, "My city of ruins". The voice Bruce had on "Darkness" was dark and deep, the voice he has on the entire "Rising"-album is basically the same voice he had on the last tour, but mixed in a studio. But of course there are traces, absolutely. _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2002 10:39:12 +0100 From: "Perkin, Richard" Subject: UK newspaper reviews etc A few notes from the UK: 1. Insightful pre-release interview published in UK newspaper 'The Observer' (a weekly, published on Sundays): Here's a short extract: The album provides comfort without flinching from sadness and bitter fury. In a way, it brings together the topics that have occupied Springsteen for two decades: work and love. The 15 songs are filled with characters who have lost their closest companions. 'I want a kiss from your lips/ I want an eye for an eye,' Springsteen sings in 'Empty Sky'. Grief wrestles with perseverance; come-ons arrive with intimations of mortality. In the album's title song, one man's afterlife is an endless longing for the physical touch of those left behind, and the music climbs toward jubilation as an act of will. The repercussions of 11 September permeate the songs, but there is no jingoism or self-righteousness, just individual stories from all sides; the narrator who opens one song, 'Paradise', is a suicide bomber of unspecified nationality. Despite their sombre subjects, the songs still find the possibility of pleasure and a recurring hope that there is a way to rise above suffering. The music maintains the E Street Band's reassuring solidity, built on drummer Max Weinberg's steadfast march beats, Garry Tallent's basslines and the heft of three guitars and two keyboards, along with Clarence Clemons's soul-band saxophone. Springsteen often follows a songwriting strategy that dates back to songs such as 'Badlands', with verses full of travail, and choruses that ring with optimism. 'The verses are the blues, the chorus is the gospel,' he says. That was published on 21-Jul-02. There was a proper Review (mostly complimentary) published in yesterday's issue (28-Jul-02) - but it doesn't appear to be online yet... 2. I received my copy of 'The Rising' CD on Saturday 27-Jul-02 (thanks, Badlands!). I'll save my initial impressions for now - suffice to say I've listened to it almost constantly both at home and in the car, and it's growing on me. 3. In a visit to the local supermarket yesterday, 'The Rising' was listed at No 2 on the UK album chart, and that's before its release. I imagine Sony Music will be pleased by that... As an aside, in the No 1 slot was a compilation album of current pop (Now! 52 I think). Richard Perkin richard.perkin@atosorigin.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2002 09:25:57 -0500 From: Barry Kaplovitz Subject: Review: 'Come On Up For The Rising' (National Review Online) From National Review Online July 29, 2002 Come On Up For The Rising The latest from the Boss. By Kevin M. Cherry In 1984, Bruce Springsteen released a little album called Born in the USA, which catapulted him from ordinary rock star into media phenomenon. After the excesses of that period, Springsteen retreated. 1987's Tunnel of Love was a frank portrait of a marriage falling apart. The end of the '80s brought further withdrawal, as Springsteen sacked his longtime colleagues, the legendary E Street Band. In 1991, he released two albums simultaneously. Neither made much of an impact, even among his fans, most of whom sorely missed the E Streeters $ especially on the lackluster tour that followed. And 1995's Ghost of Tom Joad was really a folk album, a horse-drawn carriage next to the '57 Chevy that was Born to Run. Despite all this, Springsteen remained astonishingly prominent. He won an Academy Award and Grammy for the theme song to the movie Philadelphia. He reunited with the E Street Band for 1995's Greatest Hits, and a track from that album, after being used in Jerry Maguire, became one of his biggest hits ever. In 1999, to celebrate his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he reunited with the band, embarking on a worldwide tour to critical and popular acclaim. Three-hour marathon shows were the norm; the band pulled out songs not played in years and others never before played live. And yet the Boss $ hailed by many as one of rock's greatest poets $ was treading water. He was living in the "glory days" of his past, with only a few tentative steps forward. The band's re-formation helped him write "Land of Hope and Dreams," which closed almost all of the reunion shows; the shooting of Amadou Diallo inspired him to write "American Skin (41 Shots)." But he needed a push to come up with enough new material for an album. September 11 was that catalyst. Springsteen opened the "Tribute to Heroes" telethon, singing "My City of Ruins." The song $ written late in 2000 about the deterioration of Asbury Park, N.J., where he grew up $ fit the moment perfectly. What most fans did not know was that Springsteen had written another song for the show, but decided at the last minute that it was not ready. That song, "Into the Fire," appears on The Rising, a farewell from those left behind by the firemen who ran in the twin towers: The sky was falling and streaked with blood I heard you calling me then you disappeared into the dust I need your kiss, but love and duty called you someplace higher Somewhere up the stairs into the fire In contrast to the stark verses, though, the chorus is a prayer that we learn something from these heroes: May your strength give us strength May your faith give us faith May your hope give us hope May your love give us love This shift is present on most of the album's songs. As Springsteen puts it, "The verses are the blues, the chorus is the gospel." What Springsteen has done brilliantly, therefore, is capture the two near-opposite feelings of most Americans in the days and weeks after September 11: on the one hand, a deep grief for the lives lost; on the other, a belief that we will "rise up." All of the songs are tinged with despair, but there is something else $ something far less than optimism or hope, but more akin to, well, faith: faith that we can join together and struggle through difficult times, that we can "rise up." As Springsteen told the New York Times, "I've been at my best when I'm connected to what's going on in the world outside." And in this album he certainly is thus connected. Some of the songs are directly tied to September 11. For instance, the song "Paradise" $ a solo performance that recalls Dire Straits's "Brothers in Arms" and which is the starkest and perhaps most gripping track on the album $ is about a suicide bombing. On most tracks, however, Springsteen takes the feelings of September 11 and universalizes them, addressing the sorrow of anyone who has lost a loved one. The lyrics of "Lonesome Day" are about losing a loved one, whether or not she died in a car accident or a plane crashing into the Pentagon or simply left. The song "Nothing Man," for instance, could easily be read as the emotions of the firemen who didn't die $ but Springsteen wrote it in 1994. The reunited E Street Band has been a huge part of Springsteen's own rejuvenation, yet the album has a different sound than fans might expect. Drummer Max Weinberg pounds as forcefully as ever, but pianist Roy Bittan and organist Danny Federici are less prominent. The band features a three-guitar attack, in which Bruce is joined by Steve van Zandt and Nils Lofgren. (This is, one might suspect, a result of new producer Brendan O'Brien, known for working with harder rock bands like Rage against the Machine and Pearl Jam.) Big Man Clarence Clemons has few moments in the sun, but that shows good judgment, as most of the songs do not lend themselves to soaring sax solos. In many places, a string section replaces the keyboards and horns; for the most part, they add a color and warmth that elevate the songs. In many ways, this album is more satisfying than most of the artistic response to September 11. Anthems like "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue" and "Freedom" are just that: songs that shout a lot but say little. Springsteen has always found his heroes in everyday events, and the firefighters and policemen of 9/11 are the archetypes of people he has written about for thirty years. The universality of their heroism allows him to write something deeper, more meaningful, than Toby Keith or Paul McCartney did. None of this is to say the album is flawless. Tracks like "Mary's Place" (a surefire concert favorite) and "Waitin' on a Sunny Day" are undercut by joining downbeat lyrics with upbeat rhythms $ a mistake also made on "Born in the USA." The acoustic "My City of Ruins" played for the telethon is more powerful than the full-band version on the album. The forgettable "Worlds Apart," to which several Pakistani musicians contribute, recounts an interethnic love affair. "The Fuse" is about making a desperate physical connection in the face of emotional despair but doesn't work. "Let's Be Friends" is, depending on how you read it, an attempt to ease ethnic tensions in the wake of 9/11 or an attempt to get a girl in the sack. Its bouncy rhythm might make it appealing to a certain audience, but it's the weakest track on the album $ although it's got some competition from the Bon Jovi-ish "Counting on a Miracle." While the strings are, on the whole, a welcome addition, they are overused on some songs. Overall, though, The Rising is the best album Springsteen has made since Tunnel of Love $ and an album likely to reach Born in the USA-size audiences. Bruce Springsteen and Sony are well aware of the massive potential this album has. The publicity push started with releasing four tracks in advance over the Internet. It includes numerous interviews and television appearances and a nationwide barnstorming tour. While Born in the USA may well have been swept up in the "morning in America" sentiment of the Reagan years, The Rising is equally likely to capture the hearts and minds of an America still shaken by the events of last fall $ as well as an America ready to move beyond boy bands and Britney Spears. More importantly, on a substantive level, it is a work of which Bruce Springsteen can, and ought to, be proud. http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-cherry072902.asp ------------------------------ End of LuckyTown Digest V9 #50 ****************************** ********************************************************************* ** LuckyTown WWW URL ** The LuckyTown FAQ, back issues, web-based subscription/unsubscription, and many other things can be found on the LuckyTown WWW Page: http://www.luckytown.org ** LuckyTown mailing list addresses ** You can send email to go into the next LuckyTown Digest to: luckytown@luckytown.org You can send email to go into the next LuckyTown-Ads Digest to: luckytown-ads@luckytown.org Any questions for the list admin should be emailed to: owner-luckytown@luckytown.org To unsubscribe, send email to majordomo@luckytown.org with message body: unsubscribe luckytown-digest To get further information on how to subscribe/unsubscribe/change your subscription address, as well as the other available commands, send email to majordomo@luckytown.org with message body: help ********************************************************************* The contents of this digest are not necessarily approved by the list admin.