Springsteen VII ~ Wrecking Ball

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Can I just mention again how much I love "Rocky Ground"? I get the impression I'm going to have to say this a lot.
 
I actually don't really like the first 3 or 4 tracks and then everything else on the album is :drool:
 
Glad to see people liking Rocky Ground - seems it's the one song getting the most negative feedback. One review thought the rap portion was "forced", and I think it blends in perfectly.
 
That's not Patti in the female solo in Rocky Ground, is it?

As long as Peter Wolf doesn't jump on stage to do the rap part I'm ok with it. I hope he's busy that night :wink:
 
the entire album features a ton of production elements, and tip toes the line on being over-produced, but doesn't quite get there... except, IMO, on rocky ground, where they tumbled over the line, over-thought and over-produced the song.

there are pieces of it i like very much... but i just think they over-did it. it's this album's unknown caller. they tried to drive the green in 2, but shanked it into the woods.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
the entire album features a ton of production elements, and tip toes the line on being over-produced, but doesn't quite get there... except, IMO, on rocky ground, where they tumbled over the line, over-thought and over-produced the song.
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Really? Because I think the entire thing is overproduced. I know a lot of people made that criticism of Brendan O'Brian's production on the last few albums, but this is far worse IMO (I actually liked O'Brian's work and didn't find it overproduced). I think years from now the production will date this album the same way Born in the USA's did (still love that album tho).
 
bollox said:
Really? Because I think the entire thing is overproduced. I know a lot of people made that criticism of Brendan O'Brian's production on the last few albums, but this is far worse IMO (I actually liked O'Brian's work and didn't find it overproduced). I think years from now the production will date this album the same way Born in the USA's did (still love that album tho).
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:shrug: okay... i can see why someone would think that, i just disagree.
 
bollox said:
Really? Because I think the entire thing is overproduced. I know a lot of people made that criticism of Brendan O'Brian's production on the last few albums, but this is far worse IMO (I actually liked O'Brian's work and didn't find it overproduced). I think years from now the production will date this album the same way Born in the USA's did (still love that album tho).
Click to expand...

I dunno, it's busier, but it isn't as obnoxiously loud and compressed as Magic, and it isn't packed to the gills with cavity-inducing synth sounds like Working On A Dream.

O'Brien should never, ever produce a Bruce album again. I think The Rising sounds slick and dated too.
 
Wonder why they decided to switch it up? I looked up the dude and his credits aren't exactly stellar (Lifehouse, Jars of Clay, Candlebox(!), Barenaked Ladies). He did do Patti's solo record, so there's that.
 
First listen: I like it! A lot!

Man, I love American Land. I think it should be on every Springsteen album from here on out. *dances a jig*
 
LemonMelon said:
I dunno, it's busier, but it isn't as obnoxiously loud and compressed as Magic, and it isn't packed to the gills with cavity-inducing synth sounds like Working On A Dream.

O'Brien should never, ever produce a Bruce album again. I think The Rising sounds slick and dated too.
Click to expand...

LemonMelon said:
T Bone Burnett next time, please.
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Headache in a Suitcase said:
i imagine the next album we see from bruce after this one will be a stripped down, acoustic one... which this one was supposedly first meant to be.
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I'd like to see him work with Lanois, actually.
 
He had his chance. Lanois would have loved to take a second crack at Wrecking Ball, with a dude on vocals.
 
I'm cleaning shit out in preparation for a ceiling-scraping, room-painting orgy, and I ran across an ad for Bruce's seven shows at the Sports Arena in 1984. I was able to get to four of them. The thing is, tickets were 16 bucks. And you could buy them at Ticketron locations. I won't ever throw that ad out, I think.



/nostalgia
 
Finally got a focused listen. It is not at all what I was expecting, but in a serendipitous kind of way. There's a lot of hope and even joy permeating the thing, especially in the instrumentation. It's far from an angry record, and it has a very distinct feeling within his discography, at least from what I can tell. Quality album overall, certainly.
 
Rocky ground is ok, I want to hate the auto tune rap bit more than I really do.

Although my opinion can't be valid, as I've only been a fan since...2003? 2004?

You're getting it anyway.

I really, really like shackled and drawn. I just picture someone stomping the floor of a dusty barn as they play the synth riff in the most in your face, rocking way, totally mocking the incongruity of it. Perhaps as lm fears, the production will sound dated, but it sounds nowhere as cheesy and dated to my ears as early Steve Earle (who is the only other person I can think of remotely capable of a song like it that would not suck). Not the world's biggest fan of the preacher at the end, but I dig the song enough that even something annoying as that doesn't manage to detract from it. It's fucking fun.

Everything else ranges from simply decent to pretty damn good, and this is all very limited number of listens thoughts that are highly subject to change, but I'd agree with a 4/5 pretty easily. Only perfect, flawless albums should get perfect scores, and I hate we take care of our own probably enough to put it up there with hungry heart as Springsteen I absolutely avoid at all costs. I don't care what I read or am told, I keep picturing some asshat wrapped up in an American flag in all the erroneous ways Springsteen-haters like to claim Springsteen is too all-American apple pie or whatever weirdness that makes cobbler and jt not like his music. Part of me knows this is not an entirely accurate assessment of the song, but I can't get myself to listen to it long enough to think anything else. I've tried several times now to make it through the song, and I can't. I'm sure I will see it played live, but I don't hold out a lot of hope for enjoying it much then either. I hate it that much.

Nobody tosses a dwarf.
 
Ha, I've been a Springsteen fan longer than you! I'm only 21. That's great. I remember getting The Rising when it first came out. Great album.
 
Yeah, I was way behind the times. I'm sure there's an old randooooooom thread where headache is telling me what songs I need to hear way back in the archives somewhere. But if I was 18 in 2003...fuck it, it's too late at night for me to do math. Especially since I was 19. Wait. How old am I now?
 
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