Genevieve gave me the new Springsteen tonight, and I listened to it with Mike. I just saw the Koppel interview from the other night, and am waiting around for the first of two nights of Bruce on Letterman.
I listened to some of The Rising in the car, and didn't immediately warm up to it. There's a lot of production there, and sometimes the melody and lyrics get a little lost. Then I listened a second time, and it really hit me. Springsteen is a great writer, there's a lot in these lyrics. His singing is awesome. Some of the melodies, as Mike said, are "timeless," the songs remind you of other things, but you can't quite put your finger on what. Bruce's stuff has almost always rewarded repeated listenings and this one really demands it.
As always, even when writing about things that are very serious and depressing, Springsteen is about hope; his concerts are especially about hope. There's always hope in his real characters, and it's the real characters themselves that are hopeful, that he makes them so real. Art doesn't have to be upifting to be good, but great art is almost always uplifting, if for no other reason than its existence.
Jeez, rambling.
11:16:39 PM Permalink
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