Bruce's Nebraska vs. The Ghost of Tom Joad

[Dorian Gray]

Bruce's Nevada vs. The Ghost of Tom Joad

Two phenomenal acoustic records here.
Which do you think is the better album?

I'd go with Joad...

 

[HeadsOnSticks]

Nevada ALL the way. I like stark records.

 

[Dorian Gray]

Nevada ALL the way. I like stark records.

Nevada is great... so goddamn bleak though!

 

[u2popmofo]

I've honestly never heard either album in their entiretly.

Nebraska has my favorite Springsteen song on it though, Atlantic City.

Rage Against the Machine did a cover of Ghost of Tom Joad...

 

[~LadyLemon~]

Hands down...

Nebraska.

 

[Blue Room]

Yeah my favorite song on Nevada is "Carson City" Personally the New Hampshire album is my fav!

 

[Dorian Gray]

oops,
Nebraska, not Nevada!


finals are really getting to me...

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

I edited the thread title, lol.



Nebraska

 

[Dorian Gray]

I edited the thread title, lol.



Nebraska

thanks!

well I guess nearly everyone prefers Nebraska, and I do agree with you that it's a terrific album. But you have to admit ...Joad is an great Springsteen record too right?

almost got a bit of soul to it

 

[IWasBored]

I've honestly never heard either album in their entiretly.

Nebraska has my favorite Springsteen song on it though, Atlantic City.

Rage Against the Machine did a cover of Ghost of Tom Joad...

"atlantic city" is great, and RATM did cover that. and i've not heard the entirety of their album as well...moo, it scares me how much we have in common

 

[Johnny Swallow]

Nebraska, no contest.

An album that beats the hell out of 99.9% of all albums that comes out today. Albums that have 10 songwriters, 30 studio musicians, 2 years of production time and all the $$$ a studio can offer. Case in point: 'Invincible' et al.

 

[menzies]

Although Nebraska is a favorite, I have to say the songs on Joad are killer (and will have more and more meaning to Americans as the decade goes on...the lyrics are so real...Bruce was just ahead of the public consciousness...once again)

menzies

(side note: just as the Nevada typo happened hear, when The Ghost of Tom Joad was released, one of the Sunday advertising-glossy-supplements, I think Target or Wal-Mart, had it listed as: The Ghost of Tom Jones !!! ...it's not unusual...)

 

[UnforgettableLemon]

Mmmm... Nebraska as a whole... but....

The Ghost of Tom Joad
Dry Lightning
Sinaloa Cowboys
Youngstown
My Best Was Never Good Enough (Talk about bleak )

Are all stunning songs.

 

[IWasBored]

this is interesting. the last time i responded to this, it appears i hadn't quite had my major springsteen fan conversion (that just happened last summer).

i hadn't heard nebraska in its entirety (and i sure as hell hadn't heard ghost of tom joad), and it's currently my favorite springsteen album. as a whole, i can't say i like every song on it more than every song on any other album. if i were going on songs alone, i'd say 'darkness on the edge of town' is my favorite. but albumwise, how it fits together as one collective piece of art...then nebraska all the fuckin' way.

oh, and speaking of covers (RATM's was mentioned), the hudson falcons do a pretty cool cover of "open all night" on their 'for those whose hearts and souls are free' album, an album which is just a fantastic example of kickass working class street rock n roll (yes i'm aware of how cliche a term that is, but i'm throwing it out there anyway cos those guys embody they music genre).

 

[UnforgettableLemon]

Holy skunks, I didn't realize how old this thread was. It was during my sabbatical from Interference

 

[IWasBored]

i didn't realize it either, i didn't remember it, and then i scrolled past something that looked a lot like my avatar...

 

[TheBrazilianFly]

Nebraska's songs are all demos, just Bruce and an acoustic guitar and Tom Joad's got a bit more production behind it but both sound great. Even though Tom Joad's lyrics are better than Nebraska’s and probably the highest point for Bruce as a lyricist I'll go with Nebraska because of all the classics it's there. Atlantic City is one of Bruce’s best and Reason To Believe is simply amazing and one of my personal favorites! Mansion On The Hill, State Trooper, Nebraska and My Father's House are powerful songs that are hard to beat as well.

By the way has anyone ever heard the song Vietnam that Bruce wrote Nebraska but didn’t used? It’s got a great melody, lyrics (some of them that we would soon know better) and guitar playing and I wish he had at least finished it and used as a b-side for some single from BITUSA later or something. Too bad.

 

[If you shout...]

For me, there's really no doubt about this one: Nebraska, without a doubt.

But people've been talking about cover versions of songs and the like....

There is actually an album which is a covers-only version of Nebraska. I can't for the life of me remember too much about it, but I THINK that it came out sometime last year. I don't know...it's out there. I know that much. I seem to remember a mostly mixed critical response.

 

[Blue Room]

Definately Nebraska. My favorite song on it is also Atlantic City, I think someone else mentioned that in this thread. Although I must confess I liked the full band plugged in live version of the song over the acoustic one. They are both good though.

 

[Bono's shades]

Nebraska. I love how stripped-down it is, and Atlantic City is one of my favorite Bruce songs ever. All this talk makes me want to listen to it right now!