Bruce Springsteen - The Rising Review
Posted by Brendan Johnston on 08.27.2002
The Rising blends old-school Springsteen, 21st-century production and post-September 11th sentiment to make for an all-around enjoyable listening experience and a virtual must-hear for fans and non-fans alike.
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Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band- The Rising (2002; Columbia Records)
Let me tell you about me and Bruce Springsteen. I've been a fan of his since I was a freshman in high school and I picked up Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ andThe Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle while on a field trip in Manhattan that eventually took us to Virgin Records in Union Square. (Later a regular hangout place of mine, but that's neither here nor there.) Over the next four years I picked up every album he'd ever released, boxed sets and four-song live albums included, doggedly building a comprehensive collection of his work. While our friends listened to Metallica or Puff Daddy, my best friend Steve and I debated the meaning of "Ramrod" from The River and made lists of all the crimes described in the recordings of "the Boss." When I started college and joined the drama group on campus, the thing that kept me from freaking out before "12 Angry Men" opened was standing in the men's room and discussing the boxed set Tracks with new friends Tom and Lou. During their last tour, Steve and I braved the wrath of the "41 Shots"-angered populace of our hometown to see Springsteen and the E Street Band at the Garden. Two of my (admittedly numerous) dream writing projects involve Springsteen; one is a screenplay based on various songs from Tracks; the other is a script or short story/novella about an imagined meeting between Bruce and Elvis Presley before the King's death.
That whole last paragraph serves basically to illustrate the following point: I really, really, really like Springsteen. So I was very excited to hear about the release of The Rising, Springsteen's first studio album with the E Streeters since Tunnel of Love. My parents- Springsteen fans not half as rabid as their son, but twice as long-standing - picked the album up the day it came out, July 31, 2002.
Almost needless to say, the album does not dissapoint. Ranging to both opposite extremes of Springsteen's repertoire, from the boisterous party guy of "Glory Days" and "Mary's Place" to the snarling cynic of "The Ghost of Tom Joad" and "Nothing Man", The Rising acts as both a refreshing infusion of both new and familiar material for old fans and an entertaining primer for potential new fans.
It's important to note that the album has the aftermath of September 11 all over it. "American Skin (41 Shots)", which caused such controversy back when it was being performed live in the wake of the Amadou Diallo shootings, is nowhere to be found, presumably because of a negative depiction of the New York Police Department which, while perhaps appropriate then, just doesn't fly with most people these days. Also, no fewer than four songs are directly about the attacks on the World Trade Center and the effect they had on the nation.
The Rising opens with "Lonesome Day." Featuring the standard Springsteen dark elements- flaming houses, snakes in the grass, deceit, betrayal- and put upon regular guy attitude- "The joke's on me"- with a re-affirming chorus assuring us that "it's all right", Lonesome Day is a good lead-in for the rest of the album.
Track two is "Into the Fire," the first overtly September 11-related song on the album. The song tells a moving story about a fireman who rescues someone from the Trade Center, then simply walks back in. It is told from the perspective of the person rescued as he or she watches their rescuer walk away. The chorus invokes the listener to draw strength, hope and love from the sacrifice of the main character of the song. The music is understated but effective, seemingly just a guitar and drums, which is really all that's needed to tell the story of this song without distracting from its ultimate message. The song does what it intended, personalizing the potentially vague effects of The Eleventh, an event by which Springsteen has said he was strongly affected.
"Into the Fire" is followed by "Waiting on a Sunny Day," "Nothing Man" and "Countin' on a Miracle." "Sunny Day" and "Miracle" are pretty standard Springsteen numbers (which is why I'm putting them together) about a man finding happiness and redemption in a woman, represented by a generic "you." Both contain some excellent imagery ("Without you, I'm a drummer... that can't keep a beat, an ice cream truck on a deserted street.") and "Miracle" in particular has a good, old-school rock beat to it, counteracting "Sunny Day's" simplistic but catchy tune.
"Nothing Man"- no relation to the Pearl Jam song of the same name (a personal favorite of mine)- features a Springsteen staple character: the snarling cynic, who smiles and accepts accolades on the surface while being eaten alive from the inside by some un-named (or un-nameable) torture. Upon numerous listenings to this song, it may be yet another reference to September 11th, as the song's main character/narrator says "Everyone acts like nothing's changed" and refers to his hometown newspaper mentioning him. His life changed "in a cloud of pink vapor" and he also refers to a gun at his bedside, implying that he is possibly one of the many NYPD cops who were at the WTC site. Maybe it's a stretch, but maybe not.
"Empty Sky" follows "Nothing Man" and is the second (overt) reference to 9/11 on the album. Max Weinberg's drums provide a strong backing for the song, which features powerful imagery about a lost love. The first verse is about the narrator's newly-emptied bed and contains an eye-opening juxtaposition in "I want a kiss from your lips, I want an eye for an eye." The line is later repeated out of the empty-bed context when the narrator is arming himself in yet another juxtaposition whose effectiveness is only increased by its repetition. The chorus is a reference to the "emptiness" of the New York City skyline following the collapse of the Twin Towers. (A clear view of the skyline can be seen mere blocks from my house; I know a good number of people who try to not even look anymore.)
"Worlds Apart" is the seventh track on the album, and the only one I consistently skip. Upon listening to it numerous times during the writing of this review, it's starting to grow on me, but it's far from my favorite. Kudos to Springsteen for trying something new after a long time by bringing in a foreign band called Asif Ali Khan and Group to do backing vocals on the song, but the song just sounds to me like Springsteen's trying to be Sting (Stingsteen?) on this one. I didn't dig "Desert Rose" with the weird yodeling in the back, and I don't really dig "Worlds Apart." That's just me, but hey; it's my review.
That's followed by "Let's Be Friends (Skin to Skin)", which is possibly the most disgustingly syrupy sweet song the Boss has ever put out. It's not that it's bad, by any stretch of the imagination. With a lot of "do do do"s and some dance-music-esque drum beats to open the thing, it's a different tone from most of the rest of the album, and most of the rest of Springsteen's body of work in general.
"Further On (Up the Road)" is a hard, driving rock number in the grandest Springsteen tradition. It's a road movie cut down to four minutes and set to music, along the lines of "This Hard Land" or "Born to Run" (the originator of the genre, really), with a self-indulgent but not out of place guitar solo providing the bridge mid-song. The scruffy, hard-luck regular Joe who knows his days are numbered but still looks to the horizon with hope for the future have always been my favorite of Springsteen's stock characters, and this song has one of his best ever. It's probably my favorite song on the album, which is saying a lot.
"The Fuse" follows. This is another change for Springsteen, utilizing a bit more production than a Springsteen fan is used to hearing, with echoes and differing, merging levels of lyrics. With a rythmic, repetitive beat that can be somewhat haunting and catchy, the only drawback to the song is... I have no idea what it's about. It seems to be about a woman (like a good number of Springsteen's songs) but the verses are predominantly about goings-on in what I assume is some kind of small town.
"Mary's Place", the second single from the album, is the eleventh song on The Rising, and is basically about a house party being attended by a group of old friends. Pretty obviously about the reunion of the until-recently-far-flung E Street Band, this song features something every hardcore Springsteen fan should be able to appreciate; a couple of saxophone solos from Clarence Clemons, the Big Man's first major appearance on the album. "Mary's Place" is, in subject matter and musical tone, the guy from "Glory Days" all grown up, no longer worrying about past achievements, but enjoying the now with good friends, family, and both. "Everybody's here," sings Springsteen, and from the rest of the song, it sounds as if he couldn't be happier.
The tone of the album then takes a drastic turn with "You're Missing." Another effective musical understatement, this is the third direct reference to the tragedy of September 11 on The Rising. What initially sounds like a laundry list of a normal day at home is, upon later listening, a mournful dirge about a lost loved one. I exagerrate not when I say that after really intently listening to this song, I was moved to tears. Easily Springsteen's best and most effective handling of the 9/11 subject matter with which he seems so preoccupied on this album.
The title track, "The Rising," is the next song. I have to be honest: I'm not sure what this one's about either but I still think it's a damn good song. It's another Springsteen road movie infused with some of the maturity that can be found on Tunnel of Love and two songs earlier in "Mary's Place." I'll paraphrase my father on this one. After he heard this song on the radio, we were talking about it and he said, "You listen to that song, you never have to listen to another Springsteen song again because they're all in there. It might be the best thing he's ever done." I'd tend to agree.
"Paradise" follows and is the penultimate song on the album. It's a haunting song, about another lost loved one, in this case apparently a child, and the parent who waits to join his lost child in death. (Nothing depressing about that.) It's a good song, but has the misfortune of following "Mary's Place," "You're Missing" and "The Rising," all of which are excellent songs that represent the crescendo of the album as a whole. After those three it's tough to impress.
The Rising closes with "My City of Ruins," another one about the Eleventh. The song treats the subject of a decimated city with a religious reverence. It ends with Springsteen invoking the Lord in prayer, mentions men on their knees, uses an organ in the bridge and invokes the listener to "rise up." "My City of Ruins" is practically a hymn, and an excellent way to close the album.
So ends my first foray into music review. Hope you all enjoyed it and I hope that 411 Music can be as successful as our beloved parent site.
The 411: The Rising blends old-school Springsteen, 21st-century production and post-September 11th sentiment to make for an all-around enjoyable listening experience and a virtual must-hear for fans and non-fans alike.
