From: owner-luckytown-digest@luckytown.org (LuckyTown Digest) To: luckytown-digest@luckytown.org Subject: LuckyTown Digest V9 #62 Reply-To: luckytown@luckytown.org Sender: owner-luckytown-digest@luckytown.org Errors-To: owner-luckytown-digest@luckytown.org Precedence: bulk LuckyTown Digest Thursday, August 8 2002 Volume 09 : Number 062 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: Bruce Springsteen Shows To Go On Sale This Weekend ["Kevin Kinder" ] For all those disappointed... ["Lisanne Biolos" ] My View ["Debbie Honick" ] 8/7 [JerzykB@aol.com] Re: Opening night thoughts [NSesta1687@aol.com] tour setlists ["Eric Douglas" ] Re: LuckyTown Digest V9 #61 [DuoStudio@aol.com] LTD #57 & Worlds Apart & O Brien & LINYC DVD [garethmmorris@netscape.net ] Someday we'll look back on this.................. [Tom Ross ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2002 21:19:52 -0500 From: "Kevin Kinder" Subject: Bruce Springsteen Shows To Go On Sale This Weekend Most of you probably know this already, but: Tickets for most if not all of the remaining US tour dates will go on sale this Saturday and the following Saturday. See http://brucespringsteen.net/therising/tour.html for dates. Info for most of the sales is already up on http://www.ticketmaster.com . Kevin Kinder kinder@luckytown.org ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2002 20:34:49 EDT From: Enders@aol.com Subject: Meadowlands Drop Line For those who want to take their chances at Madison Square Garden, here's a report on the drop line from the New Jersey show. Arena personnel passed out about 350 wristbands, which were gone by about 2:30 pm. Shortly after 3 p.m., the first 187 wristbands were allowed to buy tickets. Since each wristband entitled you to buy four tickets, a great many of the dropped tickets ended up in the hands of scalpers, who were waiting right outside the door offering to buy the extras. After Bruce had been playing for about 35 minutes, they started selling tickets to the rest of the drop line. I was wristband number 292, and I did get into the show. However, I missed exactly half of it, the first 11 of 22 songs. It looks like they dropped at least 1,000 tickets, although there were certainly people who wanted tickets but were turned away. The drop line was managed extremely poorly by the morons who work at Continental Airlines Arena. They were very rude to the people waiting in line, and they also kept making incorrect and conflicting announcements throughout the day. A policy of one or two tickets per person would have gotten more tickets into the hands of fans, and fewer into the hands of scalpers. Also, 9 p.m. seems a little late to start selling tickets. But the tickets do exist if you want to go after them. Eric Enders ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2002 21:34:11 -0400 From: "pembrton@mindspring.com" Subject: Length of shows Hi all, I dug out an old box of live Springsteen cassettes, and did a bit of research. Here's what I found about some of his widely lauded shows from "back in the day." 7/13/74 Bottom Line 13 songs, about 2 hours. 2/5/75 Main Point 18 songs, about 2.5 hours 8/15/75 Bottom Line 14 songs, about 2 hours 3/25/77 Boston Music Hall 18 songs, about 2.5 hours Another comparison really caught my eye: 5/23/78 Buffalo (1st night of the Darkness tour): 22 songs, 12 of them either from new record or unreleased new songs, about 2.5 hours. 8/7/02, Continental Airlines Arena (1st night of Rising tour): 22 songs, 11 from new record, about 2.5 hours. Michael Pemberton - -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://mail2web.com/ . ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2002 22:02:01 -0400 From: "Lisanne Biolos" Subject: For all those disappointed... ...with the Aug. 7 show, it's even more disappointing reading your comments. I was not fortunate enough to get tickets, so I only live vicariously thru friends who went and those who write about it. Isn't it enough that at 52, Bruce is both putting out substantial new music AND giving two and a half hours of his heart and soul to us? Would you really rather have Bruce be like the Who (what's left of them) playing two hours of work they recorded thirty years ago? Granted, Bruce's work tends to grow with us as we grow old better than Who Are You?, but why can't fans appreciate the growth of an artist and someone who is not trying to be someone he isn't anymore? Sure, I'd love to hear that Bruce was bouncing off the walls, spinning around like a top during Rosey. But at some point, he'd become a museum piece, like Roger Daltrey and others who've been unable or uninterested in evolving their art. Perhaps when Bruce stops trying to do 30 cities in 45 days, he'll come back to New Jersey and play his classics for 15 nights. Maybe it'll be all acoustic. Or, maybe it'll be as raucous as 1981, when he opened the joint. But in the unlikely event that this happens, it won't give you anything new to think about. And you won't have a gem like Mary's Place to compare to the three or four other band intro songs he's done over the past 20 years. You won't have a Land of Hope and Dreams. Maybe it's time we evolve as fans the way he's evolved as an artist. Gracefully. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 08 Aug 2002 21:38:48 -0400 From: "Debbie Honick" Subject: My View Congratulations to Chris O'Hearn, who so eloquently put my feelings into words. I can not believe how many people complain that Springsteen is playing so much off of "The Rising". That is the name of the album, and the tour. And personally speaking, I am looking forward to hearing him play the new material live. So many fans, or so called fans, gripe and complain that Bruce plays so much from the new album. If it were not for this new album, would he even be giving us the honored opportunity to see him in concert? Ask yourselves that. Would I like to see him play like the olden days? A 4 hour marathon, rocking show that made me fall in love with his music and performances? Sure I would. Could I stand on my feet for 4 hours throwing myself into a show like I did 10 years ago? Probably not.......age is not on my side. But, none of us are the same as we were when we first faced the Springsteen music. I don't know about any of the complainers out there, but oddly enough, as Springsteen has aged in years, I have too. I was 15 when I saw my first Springsteen show, and since then.........I unashamedly admit I am addicted. I have grown with his music, his lyrics.......because I can respect that he too is a different man. Aren't we all different in some ways then we were when we first heard the man and made that connection to what he had to say? Why should we have the right to change as life throws us different punches, but not the man behind the music? Those people that have nothing but negativity to share, certainly have a right to speak their minds, and to present their opinions. But why not show some maturity as well......or understanding that life is not what it was in 1975. Or 1988.....or 2000? I have seen Bruce over 65 times in concert. And yes, sometimes I too leave dissappointed that he didn't play what "I" wanted him to play. But as always, I trust his perspective and respect his decision as an artist to present his music the way he wants to present it. As a fan, I have the right to not purchase an album, or to not spend my money on a ticket for a show I don't wish to see. Do us all a favor..........to the folks out there that bitch so much. Don't go to the show, and mail me your ticket. I'd prefer to spend my 2 and 1/2 hours with true fans. Those who can respect an artist for their craft and their talent. Not those fans that are selfish, because Bruce didn't play "Rosalita" for them. For those of you that admire Springsteen for his honesty, his talent, and his portrayal of true life...............see you on tour. _________________________________________________________________ Join the world's largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2002 13:58:25 EDT From: JerzykB@aol.com Subject: 8/7 I couldn't disagree more with John Moye's review of the first show (except for his comments about the length -- 2 1/2 hours was too short!). The show was exciting, emotionally draining, inspiring, rocking, intense, happy, poignant..... John cites Empty Sky as an example of the faults in the show -- I thought Empty Sky was THE HIGH POINT of the show! Bruce & Patti did this as a duet -- the song exemplified how clear Bruce's voice is (and it was clear and strong throughout the night) and how beautiful Patti's is. One could see and feel the love and fear in the 2 of them. I can just imagine that they were imagining what it would feel like if one of them lost the other -- how that song would capture their grief and despair. I was very proud of the crowd for actually being quiet, as Bruce requested, for this song, and allowing us all to appreciate it. Waitin' On A Sunny Day was a great crowd pleaser and sing-along, equal to any in the past. It was one of many dancin', singin', joyous moments in the show. Counting On A Miracle started the show dragging? OHMYGOD! That was a rockin' song! Another high point of the show! 41 Shots is horribly dated? I look at it another way. After 9/11, I was sure 41 Shots would never be performed live again, because of the widespread misperception of it as anti-police in the wake of police (and fire) men as heroes. Personally I thought the furor over the song was why Bruce didn't perform at The Concert For New York, with the audience made up of so many police & firemen and their families. I admire Bruce for having the balls to perform it now. And I thought Born In The USA did belong. I don't particularly like this song, but I thought the guitar work last night was blistering, and the song worked as a good warning against being overly jingoistic in the wake of 9/11 and the emotions stirred up & reflected by The Rising and the show. And I sure like the fact that Bruce gave us so much new music last night. Rosalita is not the be-all and-end all of a Springsteen show. I'll take new music -- especially such excellent new music -- over an oldies show any day (and I love the oldies too). Last night's show was special for me for another reason. My wife -- a music and concert fanatic like me -- has never been into Bruce (despite the fact that she's a proud Jersey girl). She's seen him twice, but both shows (for different reasons) were major disappointments. She's never "gotten it". Yesterday morning she & I are laying on the beach (down the Jersey shore, of course), and I'm getting ready to leave to go up north, to do some things and pick up my daughter to go the Springsteen show, and Shirley says, you know, I think I'd like to go to the show. (She liked some of the stuff she heard from The Rising). So I explain about the drop line, and she says she's gonna try it. So I give her the new CD for the ride, and she goes -- and gets a floor GA ticket!! She ends up right up against the barricade behind the golden circle -- the equivalent of, oh, 10th row center, with something to lean on. Is that unbelieveable or what? (And from where I was sitting, behind the stage, I could actually see her reaction throughout the show.) And she loved it! Now she says she "gets it", and figures she's entitled to similar seats (or standing) at all future Bruce shows. I don't know how to rank last night's show against the many many other times I've seen Bruce. I hate trying to quantify shows. I'll just say it was great, and that you should look forward to it with great anticipation. And if you don't have a ticket, get one at all costs! Jerry ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2002 20:44:15 EDT From: NSesta1687@aol.com Subject: Re: Opening night thoughts Okay, I'm not as eloquent as some of you folks, but I'll give it a whirl. I've been reading these posts on all the boards about how dissatisfied everyone was with opening night. Personally, I was thrilled and had a huge smile on my face the entire night. I was just happy to be there and thankful I was able to scrounge one ticket...I might be one of the Bruce fans out there that thinks Bruce can do no wrong, but I seriously think everyone needs to give him a break. Of course he's off to promote the new CD. What usually follows the release of a new CD is a tour, correct? For general purposes (aside from the reunion tour) a tour is usually to promote a new CD be it from Bruce or any other artist. So why do people sound shocked when they say, yeah, Bruce is really trying to promote this new CD...well?? To me that would be classified as a no brainer. Secondly, I understand a lot of bitching about the crowd sitting, etc. It was a little awkward and I admit at times I didn't know if I should remain seated or stand (it IS a concert after all.) But upon reflection, the Rising tour follows the Rising CD which is a somber, sad, and reflective CD with points of redemption and hope. I would find it mighty inappropriate if someone should be standing and dancing and clapping during You're Missing. All in all I found the show to be fantastic. Of course I'd like to hear the real gems too, Jungleland with Soozie on the violin would be incredible ~~ in NJ only now;) (kidding) ~~ but let's not forget Bruce is playing for a new generation of fans as well. I'm confident that after the barnstorming things will get looser and the band even more tight, which they were AWESOME last night, technical problems aside. I honestly couldn't have been happier being at opening night and if Bruce wants to play 1 hour or 2 hours and 15 minutes and just wants to sing the A, B, C's, I'd be happy to listen all the same. Just my .02 [text/html attachment deleted] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2002 19:46:23 -0700 From: "Eric Douglas" Subject: tour setlists To the people who criticize the setlist for not having enough "old" songs, not enough rarities...I laugh at you. Give it up already! And many of you are the same people who say, "I'd go to see Bruce if he read the phone book..."!!!! By my count, Bruce played 11 world premieres at CAA on August 7, plus a version of a song not seen for 10 years (BITUSA, except for, I think, one night in Barcelona, 1999). Sounds like a concert to keep you on your toes. To the folks who think that "Into the Fire" is a poor set closer, I think you need to be more open minded - this ain't 1992, or even 1999 anymore. This is art at its finest, Bruce pouring his heart out, with a prayer to end the set, before he finally blows it open with some crowd pleasers for the encores. So many people "desperately needed" a ticket for opening night.....then turn around and criticize the setlist. Anytime you like, you can make yourself a CDR of what you think is the perfect show, and leave the concert tickets for the appreciative fans who truly listen to what is said. Will wonders never cease, Eric. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2002 22:04:55 EDT From: DuoStudio@aol.com Subject: Re: LuckyTown Digest V9 #61 Chris o' Hearn hit the nail on the head with his response to John Moye's (and his fellow bus riders) pathetic gripes about the CAA show last night; I was there, and agreed with everything Chris said and nothing Moye said! Way to go, Chris--well said! --Arlen Schumer ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 07 Aug 2002 01:53:01 -0400 From: garethmmorris@netscape.net (Gareth Morris) Subject: LTD #57 & Worlds Apart & O Brien & LINYC DVD Hi all New album, brilliant. Best thing since TOL in my opinion. I still struggle to sit through a complete listening of TGOTJ (but the live acoustic shows, well, that's another story...which goes to show, it's not the songs but the way they are produced...Now Nebraska on the other hand, I never tire of....funny that) Anyway, everyone has their opinions, and that's mine. In LTD#57 Kevin McClintlock mentions Into the Fire working something like U2 live in '85. I agree it would certainly work like that except it was more than likely '40' that was being played when they walked off and not 'New Year's Day' (I'm sure he knew that though.) I don't think 'Worlds Apart' would have turned out so brilliant and experimental had Plotkin et al done the producing. So in that case cudos to O Brien. On the other hand, Plotkin et al know the E-STreet band very well and would probably have exploited more of their talents on this album rather than sometimes making them sound like a very expensive session band. Hey, Don't get me wrong....I LOVE THIS ALBUM!!! One last final question, does Max lose a drumstick at the start of 'Ramrod' on the LINYC DVD? It seems he skips a beat and his right hand takes a while coming up to hit the snare again. Just wondering.... (still sure that Steve says, 'boss time'....but...let's not open that can of worms again :-))) As for John (at end of LTD #57) "Keep strong mate and sorry to hear about your loss. I trust you will gain some solace in the music of the man." Enjoy the live shows for all those lucky enough to get to see them....'one day buddy when my number comes in, I'm gonna catch a plane to NYC and watch Springsteen live in the USA.' Cheers Gareth in South Africa __________________________________________________________________ Your favorite stores, helpful shopping tools and great gift ideas. Experience the convenience of buying online with Shop@Netscape! http://shopnow.netscape.com/ Get your own FREE, personal Netscape Mail account today at http://webmail.netscape.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Aug 2002 10:02:24 -0400 From: Tom Ross Subject: Someday we'll look back on this.................. Deb Murphy made a good point in the last LTD. A lot of people have dismissed this cd, or parts of it awfully quickly. I came to being a Bruce fan early. In February of '74 I heard Kitty's Back on Cleveland radio, ( Thanx Kid Leo! ) and was hooked immediatly of course. Went out the next day and bought all of his lps, ( well both of them ), then a year and a half later was knocked out by BTR when it came out. I was a ripe 17 by this time. I seemed to carry those 3 lps everywhere, those 24 songs represented to me EVERYTHING that was great about rock and roll. I remember my brother 11 years my senior, wondering what all the fuss I was making was about, so he convinced me to loan them to him for a week, after a week he mentioned how worn out they were, he took me to the store and bought us both new copies of all 3 lps. He is now 55, and will be in the crowd in Cleveland a week from tonight, as will my younger brother who will be 33 a week after the show, who hated Bruce as a youth cause he had it shoved down his throat for so long, was forced to take his girlfriend to a show on the Tunnel Of Love tour, and spent the whole next day looking for tickets to the 2nd night, also 3 of my 4 sisters will be there. One person who won't be there is my older brothers youngest son, 19 who gets it. He saw the reunion tour and knows that Bruce is the best performer out there. He won't be there because he is out on the road with his Punk rock band, The Sign Offs. I was lucky enough to see them here in Las Vegas 2 nights ago. I will have to wait 4 more days than my 5 siblings so I will get calls and e-mails from all of them about how great the show is, a kind of mini-LTD. I am rambling about the importance of Bruce and I got totally off the point!!! After waiting for 3 years after BTR, when Darkness came out, I WAS REALLY DISAPPOINTED IN INT!!!!!!! I like 2 or 3 songs, Badlands, Adam Raised A Cain, but that was it. It took a full 2 or 3 months for the lp to grow on me, and at least a year to realize it was truly another Bruce classic. My real point I guess is, most of us on here are too close to it. Give it some time, it took me almost a week to realize this cd ( The Rising ) rates with Bruce's best. Sure there were a couple of songs I did not care for, but eveb Waiting On a Sunny Day, is growing on me, I suppose even Let's Be Friends will eventually, because every other one has. I won't go into a song by song rating, too many have already and this post is way too long already. Looking forward to seeing a lot of you in Vegas, and at the pre show here. Again sorry for the length, Tom In Vegas ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Aug 2002 17:03:57 +0100 From: "Perkin, Richard" Subject: A small contribution... Reading the reader reviews on the 'Rolling Stone' site, I felt that I had to contribute to the debate. Whatever the roots and wellsprings of Springsteen's words and music, be they in small town America or in the received experiences of the working man, that music has a world wide appeal. Why? It's a phenomenon which is now repeated with 'The Rising'. Clearly based on the agonies of the events of 9/11 in the USA, the music transcends the geography and has a much wider appeal. Why is that? For what it's worth, here's the small contribution I posted as a 'Rolling Stone' review: So. One of the reviews below says: "Bruce avoids real issues, such as the scum that murdered my fellow Americans". And another says Bruce has a "rare gift of being able to capture the American experience". Where does the truth lie? I live in England. On 9/11 I was in a business meeting with a number of Americans. Together, we watched in astonishment the on-line news. Later, at home, I could not tear myself away from the news coverage. I experienced - from a distance - the unbearable heartache of the bereaved. There has been much soul searching this side of the Atlantic about the political and military response to those events, and this debate continues. Now we have The Rising. As a long time Bruce fan I might be expected to enthuse uncritically, and I'm pleased it's at #1 in the UK album charts. But frankly, it has taken me over a week (I received an early copy - thanks Badlands!) to absorb and take the time to listen to and appreciate the music. And I have now come to appreciate it as a fine work. Why? Because it focusses - as does most of Springsteen's work - on the impact on the individual. I believe it directly addresses the emotions and grief of the bereaved and goes to the heart of the problem. It does not ignore the politics - it rightly sidesteps them. And by doing so, it has a wider appeal. Not just to those directly affected in the USA, but to all those affected by loss and crisis however and wherever caused. I was personally very moved. And there's not many rock artists can do that to a man in his 50s... Richard Perkin richard.perkin@atosorigin.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Aug 2002 23:35:00 -0700 From: Chris Ryan Subject: Come On, Rise Up! I could describe myself, especially in relation to some on this list, as a lapsed Springsteen fan. Since "Tunnel of Love" his releases have been so sporadic that his work has, for long periods, all but fallen off my radar screen, if not my turntable/CD player. Sure, I enjoyed parts of "Lucky Town" and I liked "Tom Joad." But perhaps more significantly, I haven't been listening all that much to the genres he has tended to inhabit (even though I've sometimes thought of Bruce as a genre of one, very much an independent artist: I've never lumped him with the likes of Mellencamp, for instance, as many continue to do). I've tended to wander into everything from folk to electronica, and probably haven't put on "Born in the USA" in ten years. (Not that that is, in itself, perhaps that unusual for many on this list; but it seems "The Rising" is being compared most often to that disc.) I despise the limiting idea of "classic rock" and I think there's lots of great new music. Yet I found myself in the record store on July 30, picking up the special edition of "The Rising." I know how wonderful Springsteen's best work can be. And, with the exception of last year's live set, I've bought every release since "The River" on the day of its release. A 22-year habit is hard to break, and provides, for me, a feeling of connection to the artist as well as my own past. It's been particularly difficult, with this CD, for me to think of it as a straight sequence of fifteen songs. The critic Robert Christgau has lamented the disappearance of "sides" that came along with vinyl incarnations of albums. Perhaps because Springsteen has had so few post-vinyl era releases (I think Human Touch/Lucky Town was the first I bought initially on CD), I still expect these neat divisions in his work. I found myself creating these movements subconsciously at first, and then deliberately going back and wondering how I would have sequenced the work myself. So my review here follows this pattern. 1 (The Uneven Beginning) Lonesome Day Into the Fire Waitin' on a Sunny Day Nothing Man Countin' on a Miracle The CD kicks off with a workaday Springsteen track. "Lonesome Day" is fine, but it's not a strong album opener. "Into the Fire" shows much more promise, and I agree with some here who have peeled away its layers of sophistication, lyrically and musically. I enjoy "Waitin'"--c'mon, it's just fun, and it has a good melody. However, in the context of the surrounding songs, it doesn't have the power it could as a musical respite. "Nothing Man" is fine, late period Springsteen. This set wraps up with the first really weak track, "Countin' on a Miracle," which goes into the bin with "Real Man" etc. Overall, not bad, but not up to the standards I'd been hoping for. 2 (The Promise of Great Things to Come) Empty Sky Worlds Apart Let's Be Friends Further On (Up the Road) The Fuse Mary's Place "Empty Sky" was the track that really led me into exploring and understanding the album. It's simple, almost a throwaway, but it resonates: the straightforward anguish of the lyrics is supported by that lovely, subtle drum riff. Get in, get out, well stated. "Worlds Apart" is the kind of thing I expected Bruce would try ten years ago with his new band. I really think this track works, primarily because the main motive is Springsteenian, not merely gratuitously Eastern. Critics who are crying "Sting did it first!" don't get the point: not only does Springsteen write better lyrics, and use the musical styles to make a more sophisticated point; but if for some ridiculous reason the whole of rock music gets only one shot at this sort of thing, one has to go back at least to Zeppelin's "Kashmir." I, unlike some others, won't bother mentioning "Let's Be Friends." :) "Further On"--well, let's just say that I really would like to hear the E Street Band perform "Lucky Town." "The Fuse" is another bit of Bruce stretching, but quite gracefully not breaking. I wonder how much credit we can give Brendan O'Brien for this. I like this track, though the vocal delivery is a little lethargic in places. Finally, this segment devolves again with "Mary's Place," which, though it might be fun at a show, should probably have been reserved for the live set. The album is getting more interesting for me in this middle section. The best tracks are quite strong, partly because they don't aspire to be "anthems" (in other words, they're modern rock tracks). This has been a problem, post-BITUSA; he succeeded with parts of "Tunnel of Love," but has been struggling a bit since, I think. 3 (The Masterstroke) You're Missing The Rising Paradise My City of Ruins For me, these final four songs are the payoff, and also probably the strongest sequence of tracks EVER on a Springsteen studio recording. Thematically and lyrically they wrap up the album (and give many of the earlier tracks context, and a boost); musically and sonically they are diverse, and a subtle step forward; and if there's to be a hit on the album beyond classic radio, I think it's either "You're Missing" or "Paradise" (though I'm probably not qualified to be in any focus groups on the subject). Does "You're Missing" remind anyone else of Bruce Cockburn? I can hear, in this cut of "My City of Ruins," everything from "Wild & Innocent" to "Tunnel of Love." It neatly sums up a career, without sounding like an endnote. I am almost certain that these tracks will be among what I play of Springsteen's music in the years and decades to come. That's saying something: you can have a so-called "classic" song but if it isn't something you'd actually put on, what does that mean? Here's how I would probably set up a vinyl version of the set: My "Side One" Into the Fire Waitin' on a Sunny Day Empty Sky Worlds Apart Further On (Up the Road) My "Side Two" The Fuse You're Missing The Rising Paradise My City of Ruins It's obvious to me that this is not only a far better record than "Born in the U.S.A.," but also a pretty great album by any measure, even within Springsteen's canon. And it's not that much of a stretch to see the entire "Rising" CD, with its extra five tracks, in the same light. This work has helped me to understand September 11 as a personal tragedy. I'm not American, and though I could see the massive horror in what happened that day, it was difficult for me to understand the tragedy as unique on a national level: thousands of people around the world, mostly civilians, have and continue to die every day since the Second World War through violence and/or neglect. Springsteen gets us into some of the individual stories, and this is the scale I think is necessary to understand what I think is the most significant impact of the attacks. What he has done is, in this respect, brilliant. Has anyone else noticed that there doesn't seem to be a single reference to cars and driving on this album? :) Musically perhaps the most interesting thing is that we finally hear Nils Lofgren on a Springsteen studio album (I know, he soloed on "Tunnel"), eighteen years and three major tours after joining the band. Sounds great. I do think the album sounds fresher than those that took years to record. Complaints? I have a few. I don't think the band had the chance to add the subtleties to this material that they used to when they regularly toured (or, perhaps, spent three years in the studio!)--especially, perhaps, piano and bass (though I have to listen more with headphones). Looking at the credits, I wish Roy Bittan had used more Kurzweil and less Korg M1; the dated strings sound is a little cheesy at times. I didn't even like it back in '84. And I wish there was a little more electric guitar in places. The critical response has been interesting. The main complaints, musically, seem to be split (sometimes even in the same review) between suggestions that the sound is dated--which are sometimes valid--and objections to attempts to update the band's sound, which I think work very well for the most part. (I think it's often problematic for artists with a strong original sound and perspective: much of the audience simply hears something new, and assumes it's an innovation WITHIN the artist's work, when it's simply their own unique voice.) What bothers me most is the ageism. A number of youth-obsessed reviewers think valid rock and roll is impossible after the thirties. But this is not the only CD that proves them wrong. I once defined (to my girlfriend, now wife) a fan as someone who gives the benefit of the doubt to the performer in question. Part of Bruce Springsteen's genius has been that he has been able to turn many people into fans, at least for the span of a few minutes. I believe this is largely through his infectious sincerity. "The Rising" will be judged in the context of all the albums that preceded it. In some ways, this makes sense, and in some ways it skews our ability to judge. I think most fans (of any artist) tend to reject, at least at first, new material that follows--however distantly--seminal work. I think this is a very good record that will take its place among the best of his writing, which, as we all know, is saying something. 22 years on, I find myself in a similar, but new, mode of discovery to what I experienced the day "The River" was released. I think it's important to realize that we almost certainly won't have something new like this from Bruce Springsteen 22 years from now. Come on, rise up! Chris ------------------------------ End of LuckyTown Digest V9 #62 ****************************** ********************************************************************* ** 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.