Bruce Springsteen Band • Page 16

My top 5 is the same, and I also am not a Nebraska guy, so you're not alone. I RARELY listen to Nebraska. The Rising is a close 6th for me.

 

My top five are the first five chronologically, but sometimes Nebraska sneaks in there.

 

BTR
Wild Innocent
Darkness
River
Rising

Magic & BitUSA coming in hot right after those

 

1. Born In The USA
2. Tunnel of Love
3. The Rising
4. Darkness On The Edge Of Town
5. Magic

Just strictly on personal enjoyment, not necessarily what I would say are his "best" in the classical sense.

BITUSA is simply a juggernaut and one I have a huge personal attachment too. TOL is as if one of the greatest artists in the world asked me exactly what kind of album I'd want him to make and then went off and brought his absolute A-Game to the table and wrote an entire album. I think my attachment to The Rising boils down to the age I was at when 9/11 happened and seeing how Bruce responded and buried whatever trivial hatchets were keeping them all apart and got the band back together and put it out into the world.

 

The part of his book where he discusses the revival is one of my favorite parts of the whole book.

 

I love the fuck out of Magic but I think it's been lapped by Wrecking Ball among his late career records for me

 

I could never fully get into wrecking ball, idk why. It never really clicked for me. I do love rocky ground though. Great song.

 

Wrecking Ball is his best post-2000 record (and his best post-1990 record), but Magic is pretty fantastic. The Rising is great too, but it's a little bloated.

 

The Rising is great, I get all kinds of U2 vibes from it too, which is cool. I think it holds up well.

 

The Rising is probably his most sonically adventurous record, which I appreciate. And adding the fiddle as a permanent element really made that one stand out

 

This thread has inspired me, I am listening to his 6 most recent albums today, have not listened to any of them in too long.

 

Oh, definitely his most sonically adventurous. I think if it were about two tracks shorter it would be up there with my favorites.

 

High Hopes was super underrated.

I know a lot of people are split on what Morello brings to the band, but I like it, and I dig the enthusiasm and extra step he gives Bruce. It’s like when Jay did the shows with them a few years ago, Bruce digs the young blood.

 

I dug High Hopes a lot when it came out. Haven't gone back to it in a long time, and it's definitely toward the bottom of my Springsteen rankings, but I don't think it's a bad record. I usually think of it more as a b-sides collection than as an official record. There are some seriously great songs on there, though.

 

The Tunnel of Love episode of 20th Century Boss is fantastic, by the way. Might be my favorite episode yet.

 

High Hopes is not great. But a few good songs. Morello on Tom Joad is great.

 

High Hopes is likeable and has some great songs. It only falls short if you hold it to "this is the new Springsteen masterpiece" standards.

 

It's funny Hyden mentions the "Beat the Demo" thing about Tunnel.

Maybe it's just me but I've always thought the guitar solo on "Two Faces" should have been Clemons' sax. Still a great song though.

 

Got inspired to give Tom Joad a very focused listen today after listening to the podcast. Probably first time in years. I might be coming around on that one. I still think it could do with some more musical variation, but the storytelling resonates more with me now than it used to. I definitely see how it could be Jason Isbell's favorite Bruce record.

 

Enjoyed the 90s discussion throughly. I
Enjoy about 70% of human touch actually.

 

I tried Human Touch again today and I still think most of that is junk.

 

There’s some real bad songs for sure. 57 channels, mans job, real man, those are real bad. The rest varies for me with a few highlights being the title track, cross my heart, With every wish.

 

Yeah, there are a few decent tracks. I like the title track a lot, and "Roll of the Dice" sounds almost like classic Bruce, but even those would be middle or lower-tier tracks on most of his other records.

 

There's some good pop stuff on Human Touch (title track is a staple) but the stakes are just so low.

 

Not a fan of any of the 90's records really, but that episode might have been my favorite.