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Post by Kapitan on Jul 3, 2023 18:59:53 GMT
That's the same territory I was thinking on my first listen, 5 or 6. And I have to admit it kind of feels like a bummer to have a lukewarm rating in a short week to end the thread! But that's just the way it is turning out.
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Post by B.E. on Jul 4, 2023 20:10:35 GMT
Catch-up comments on Letter to You: I think opening the album with "One Minute You're Here" was a questionable decision both because it's such an atypical (e.g. slow/quiet) opener but also because it's got nothing in common with the rest of the album (which rocks). I like the track, but you'd expect it to either be buried somewhere in the middle of the album or possibly as the closer. It actually reminds me a bit of "With Every Wish" from Human Touch (which was buried in the middle of the album). After sufficient listens I realized that the sequencing as whole also doesn't work for me because the last five tracks are five of my six favorites! I'd rank the tracks as follows: 1. Janey Needs a Shooter 2. Song for Orphans 3. Rainmaker 4. If I Was The Priest 5. I'll See You In My Dreams 6. Ghosts 7. Burnin' Train 8. The Power of Prayer 9. Last Man Standing 10. One Minute You're Here 11. Letter to You 12. House of a Thousand Guitars Also, thanks to Kapitan's posts I realize that 5 of my 7 favorites are the older songs. My main issue with "Letter to You" is a subpar lead vocal by Bruce and with "House of a Thousand Guitars" is the repetitiveness of the title line (sung nearly a thousand times). I rated it a 7 and I'm sticking with that.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 5, 2023 14:29:16 GMT
I went with a 6, but it's a reluctant 6. For my own enjoyment, 5 might be more accurate. But I do think this is a pretty good album, just not one that's for me. I felt really similar about some of the McCartney covers stuff--or, for that matter, Lennon's, Wilson's, and others' too. This album just isn't something I could imagine wanting to listen to all that often regardless of its quality.
For me, I guess Springsteen's catalog begins and ends (so far) with mediocrity.
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Post by kds on Jul 5, 2023 18:19:39 GMT
Before we did this exercise, my opinion of Bruce was basically that he started off with two decent albums before hitting a golden period from 1975-84, then after that, it was a mixed bag.
I thought maybe I was unfair with that assessment considered I'd only listened to a handful of his post 1984 albums in full. But, after listening to his whole catalog, I think my original assessment is actually quite fair.
I do think I was surprised in finding a late gen like the Magic album.
I'd wondered if this exercise would sway my decision one way or another to try to get a ticket to see him in Baltimore in September. For now at least, I'm still leaning towards not going.
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Post by B.E. on Jul 9, 2023 19:00:38 GMT
Thanks for waiting for me to chime in.
I actually rate the album a solid 7/10. I think my main issue is just its length and a bit of a sameness or indifference on my part to some of the songs. I like the genre but I'm not overly familiar. In a way, though, that makes me the perfect audience. I'm a huge Bruce fan, I like the genre, but I'm not particularly attached to the source material. So, if I'm in the mood, this is an enjoyable listen and I'm not mentally (and needlessly, IMO) comparing any of the songs to other versions. And I have listened about a half dozens times and enjoyed it. If I cut 3-5 of the 15 tracks, I'm really enjoying it. That said, I was let down. Going into it I had heard, and loved, "Turn Back the Hands of Time", so my expectations were a bit too high. That's the clear stand out in my opinion. But I also liked "Don't Play That Song", "I Wish It Would Rain", "Any Other Way", "Soul Days", "Do I Love You", "Night Shift", and "Western Union Man" quite a lot. Bruce didn't sound tired or bored to me. In comparison to other similarly rated albums (relatively low 7s), such as, High Hopes and Devils in Dust, I think Only the Strong Survive is more consistent and less in need of reducing to an EP. Tracks like "Reno" and "Down in the Hole" were far worse than anything on this album, IMO.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 9, 2023 19:28:53 GMT
Three voters rated Bruce Springsteen's Only the Strong Survive an average of 6.0.
This concludes the thread. I'll post some stats and summaries later. Thanks for participating.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 9, 2023 22:10:49 GMT
With the 2022 album Only the Strong Survive completed, we have finished the rolling Springsteen thread. I hope you’ll indulge me a wrap-up post that both reviews the board’s findings and weaves in some of my own.
A few of the board’s findings, splitting the data in a few obvious ways. As context, we reviewed 21 studio albums, nine of which are considered solo albums, 22 as E Street Band albums. (The E Street moniker seems inappropriate for the first, and maybe the second, albums. But that’s how they are regarded. A few others are debatable: some sources consider Tunnel of Love and E Street Band album while others do not. For our purposes here, I consider it solo.)
Highest-rated album: Born to Run, 9.7. This could be considered surprising or expected. It’s inarguably regarded a major classic, but Springsteen’s Nebraska and his and the band’s Born in the USA are a huge critical darling and a massive pop hit, respectively. Sure enough, all three were among the four top-rated albums, with Nebraska’s 9.0 tied with Darkness on the Edge of Town.
Lowest-rated album: The Ghost of Tom Joad, 5.0. A solo album that some saw as the successor to Nebraska, general critical acclaim did not help push the album to typical-to-then popular success.
Average E Street Band album rating: 7.43, with the E Street Band albums through Born in the USA rating an average of 8.1. The remarkable 4-album run from Born to Run through Born in the USA saw an average rating of 9.2.
Average solo album rating: 6.7, with the first, 1982’s Nebraska, far and away the highest rated, at 9.0. The next-highest were the 1992 duo Human Touch and Lucky Town, both at 7.3.
Album ratings by decade are: 70s: 7.7 (4 albums) 80s: 8.4 (4 albums) 90s: 6.5 (3 albums) 00s: 6.8 (5 albums) 10s: 6.4 (4 albums) 20s: 6.0 (1 album)
For me, this was a great chance to listen to more than a dozen albums I’d never heard, and several more with which I was not familiar. I was by no means a massive Springsteen fan, so I learned a lot.
My average score was slightly below our average, at 7.0 (compared to just over 7.1). My average for E Street Band albums was slightly below our average of 7.4, at 7.3. My average for solo albums was right at our average, at 6.7. I gave two 10s, one solo and one E Street Band album. My low was for a solo album (Joad), but I gave three fives…two of them to (latter day) E Street Band albums.
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Post by B.E. on Jul 9, 2023 23:22:46 GMT
Thanks for the stats! I really enjoyed them. That four(five?)-album run average rating of 9.2 is pretty awesome. Overall, I think I came away a little bit more impressed by his catalogue than I was before. Mainly from a professionalism point of view, but also learning of his impressive work ethic. His reputation as a live performer is legendary, but the guy also wrote, wrote, and wrote some more. Regarding professionalism, the quality control, I think, was very high. He didn't release a single "bad" album, but he did follow his muse into less commercial areas and therefore some of his albums certainly won't be for everyone. That said, I think you could categorize the 90s as not reaching its potential. Just looking at the ratings by decade, you might have expected something in the mid 7 range, but the drop was more significant than that and he actually scored a higher average in the 00s (and nearly matched it in the 10s). Personal preference aside, I think it's probably better that artists stray into other areas from time to time. Though he had mixed results, I don't think he ever strayed too far.
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Post by B.E. on Jul 9, 2023 23:34:51 GMT
Here's my final album ranking. I had done this once a few years ago but I hadn't included every album. There weren't any major changes, but I did promote a few albums into a higher tier this time around.
1. Darkness on the Edge of Town (10) 2. Nebraska (9) 3. The River (9) 4. Born in the USA (9) 5. Born to Run (9) 6. Lucky Town (8) 7. Human Touch (8) 8. Tunnel of Love (8) 9. Western Stars (8) 10. Magic (7) 11. The Rising (7) 12. Wrecking Ball (7) 13. Working on a Dream (7) 14. We Shall Overcome (7) 15. Letter to You (7) 16. Only the Strong Survive (7) 17. High Hopes (7) 18. Devils and Dust (7) 19. The Ghost of Tom Joad (6) 20. The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle (6) 21. Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ (6)
Dang, I'm tempted to call Magic and The Rising a tie for 10th and proclaim that a mighty fine top 10!
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Post by B.E. on Jul 9, 2023 23:42:45 GMT
Sometime over the next week or two I think I'm going to create a playlist of his 21st century material. I'm not sure of the parameters, but I'm thinking a concise 10-12 track playlist of some of my favorites that hang together best. If I succeed, I'll post it here.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 9, 2023 23:59:01 GMT
Here's my final album ranking. I had done this once a few years ago but I hadn't included every album. There weren't any major changes, but I did promote a few albums into a higher tier this time around. 1. Darkness on the Edge of Town (10) 2. Nebraska (9) 3. The River (9) 4. Born in the USA (9) 5. Born to Run (9) 6. Lucky Town (8) 7. Human Touch (8) 8. Tunnel of Love (8) 9. Western Stars (8) 10. Magic (7) 11. The Rising (7) 12. Wrecking Ball (7) 13. Working on a Dream (7) 14. We Shall Overcome (7) 15. Letter to You (7) 16. Only the Strong Survive (7) 17. High Hopes (7) 18. Devils and Dust (7) 19. The Ghost of Tom Joad (6) 20. The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle (6) 21. Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ (6) Dang, I'm tempted to call Magic and The Rising a tie for 10th and proclaim that a mighty fine top 10! I've never rated all his albums before (or even listened to them). But here are mine. All ties are just listed in alphabetical order, not ranking. 1. Born to Run (10) 2. Nebraska (10) 3. Born in the USA (9) 4. The River (9) 5. Magic (8) 6. Western Stars (8) 7. Darkness on the Edge of Town (7) 8. Devils & Dust (7) 9. Human Touch (7) 10. Letter to You (7) 11. Lucky Town (7) 12. The Rising (7) 13. The Wild, the Innocent... (7) 14. Working on a Dream (7) 15. Greetings From... (6) 16. Only the Strong Survive (6) 17. Tunnel of Love (6) 18. High Hopes (5) 19. We Shall Overcome (5) 20. Wrecking Ball (5) 21. The Ghost of Tom Joad (4)
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 9, 2023 23:59:19 GMT
Sometime over the next week or two I think I'm going to create a playlist of his 21st century material. I'm not sure of the parameters, but I'm thinking a concise 10-12 track playlist of some of my favorites that hang together best. If I succeed, I'll post it here. I was having similar ideas.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Dec 17, 2023 12:56:19 GMT
Stumbled across this... Bruce is promoting Letter To You but I thought it was a pretty good interview:
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 1, 2024 16:09:43 GMT
Bruce Springsteen announced he will release Best of Bruce Springsteen, a career-spanning, 31-track compilation album, on April 19. It will be his sixth such release, following Greatest Hits, The Essential Bruce Springsteen, Greatest Hits , Collection: 1973-2012, and Chapter & Verse. (He has also released numerous box sets and compilation albums focused on specific albums, unreleased material, rarities, etc.) The track list is: 01 Growin’ Up 02 Spirit in the Night 03 Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) 04 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) 05 Born to Run 06 Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out 07 Thunder Road 08 Badlands 09 Prove It All Night 10 The River 11 Hungry Heart 12 Atlantic City 13 Glory Days 14 Dancing in the Dark 15 Born in the U.S.A. 16 Brilliant Disguise 17 Tougher Than the Rest 18 Human Touch 19 If I Should Fall Behind 20 Living Proof 21 Streets of Philadelphia 22 The Ghost of Tom Joad 23 Secret Garden 24 The Rising 25 Long Time Comin’ 26 Girls in Their Summer Clothes 27 The Wrestler 28 We Take Care of Our Own 29 Hello Sunshine 30 Ghosts 31 Letter to You[/a]
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Mar 3, 2024 0:14:03 GMT
The Boss Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee!
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