From “The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle” to “Nebraska” to his latest effort, “The Rising,” there has been one constant throughout Bruce Springsteen’s career – quality, hard-hitting albums.
“The Rising” – Springsteen’s 12th studio album, which is due in stores Tuesday – has a different feel from previous allbums, but at the same time it sounds familiar for the biggest of Springsteen fans or the most causal of listeners. And Springsteen will be the first to admit it.
“The sound is very recognizable and very different,” he told The Associated Press. “If you have all of our other records, you don’t have this one. We picked up the level of intensity. I can’t wait for people to hear this record.”
And there’s a good reason he can’t wait for the music to fall on the public’s ears : It’s an excellent album. While I’m not ready to call this the best Springsteen album ever – 1975’s “Born to Run” still garnishes that honor – I am ready to say this album deservess to be a part of your music collection.
The album has an inherent sense of reality to it. All but two of the songs were written after Sept. 11. The album’s closing track, “My City of Ruins,” first performed in 1998, resurfaced during a benefit concert for the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks – an event that greatly influenced the songs on “The Rising.”
Springsteen and his family reside in New Jersey, within commuting distance of the World Trade Center and many of his neighbors were personally impacted by the tragedy.
“It was important to find the right tone, to find an emotional context that felt real to me post the 11th,” he told USA Today. “There was less directness, often less of a literal storyline, than I had used before in some of my writing. You can read different meanings into the songs. I wanted people to be able to use the music how it suited them.”
Throughout his career, Springsteen has been a master of telling stories. On “The Rising,” he takes the craft to a new extreme. In the song “Paradise,” he looks through three different points of view – including that of a female homicide bomber.
“Where the river runs to black/I take the schoolbooks from your pack/Plastics, wire and your kiss/The breath of eternity on your lips,” he sings in “Paradise.”
The album is in many ways the continuation of a journey. Characters like Mary, whose dress swayed long ago in “Thunder Road,” turn up again in “Mary’s Place,” where “we’re going to have a good time,” the singer sings.
The album’s high point is its title track. The song, which sounds like a rock song mixed with a Southern gospel revival, promises hope in a darkened world – the post Sept. 11-world.
“Can’t see nothin’ in front of me/Can’t see nothin’ coming up behind/I make my way through this darkness/I can’t feel nothing but this chain that binds me/Lost track of how far I’ve gone/How far I’ve gone, how high I’ve climbed,” he sings.
So get ready for the gospel – the gospel of rock’n’roll. The Rev. Bruce Springsteen is bringing it to a store near you.
