Into the fire (Bruce Springsteen) (LP 3878 - 3884)

Bruce Springsteen  The Rising (CD, Columbia Records, 2002) ****  

Bruce Springsteen  Magic (CD, Columbia Records, 2007) *** 

Bruce Springsteen  Working on a Dream (CD, Columbia Records, 2009) *** 

Bruce Springsteen  Wrecking Ball (CD, Columbia Records, 2012) ****

Bruce Springsteen  High Hopes (CD, Columbia Records, 2014) **** 

Bruce Springsteen  Western Stars (CD, Columbia Records, 2019) ****

Bruce Springsteen  Letter To You (CD, Columbia Records, 2020) ****

Genre: Rock

Places I remember: JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Radio Nowhere (Magic)

Gear costume: Outlaw Pete (Working on a Dream); Land of Hope and Dreams (Wrecking Ball)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: I did buy his nineties albums on cassette (Human Touch, Lucky Town, In Concert Unplugged) or CD (The Ghost of Tom Joad) but they have long gone from my collection. 

I was really disappointed with them all generally. No E Street Band in the nineties and no real inspiration. I tried really hard to like Tom Joad (I adore Grapes of Wrath and Steinbeck) but it was just too depressing.

So, it was the return of the E Street Band and Bruce's return to form on The Rising that made me pay attention to his career again. It's a masterful collection of songs that came in the aftermath of the World Trade Center atrocities of 2001. They reflected on that traumatic event but obliquely and that was important. He wasn't preaching, he was sharing.

The songs are terrific: Lonesome Day; Mary's Place; Waitin' on a Sunny Day and the title track are all exceptional. The E Street Band had grown by the time they were reconstituted for the album. Core members (Roy Bittan, Clarence, Danny Federici, Garry Tallent, Steve Van Zandt, and Mighty Max Weiberg) were joined by Nils Lofgren and Patti Scialfa). 

I did buy both Devils & Dust and We Shall Overcome; The Seeger Sessions but I didn't keep them. I found Devils too dour and the drunken Pete Seeger homage too shouty. So Magic is up next.

It kicks off with a fantastic song - Radio Nowhere. While nothing comes close to that one (Terry's Song comes closest), the rest of the album has a reinvigorated E Street Band (yes, another reunion after a couple of 'solo' albums). The band doesn't quite rock out as the opener suggests, so for me this one is a bit of a missed opportunity.

Working on a Dream followed up in the same manner as Magic as, glory be - he retained the E Street Band! It again starts with a great song - Outlaw Pete and The Big Man has more of a presence on a few tracks. That sax sound is unmistakably his alone. Dan Federici had passed away by this album's creation and The Last Carnival is a great tribute to him.

Another E Streeter would soon fall in 2011 - titan of the band, King of the world, master of the Universe - Clarence Clemons - The Big Man. His presence is all over Wrecking Ball, even if he only appears on two songs. Land of Hope and Dreams is one, and that plus Bruce's liner notes about his friend are worth buying the album for alone. Bruce expands his musicians for this one, although a few E Streeters appear. 

It feels like things were revving from Magic onwards and I think High Hopes is a climactic moment. The growing inclusion of Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine) from two tracks on Wrecking Ball to most of High Hopes is telling. He integrates brilliantly with the E Street Band members - check out the electric redo of The Ghost of Tom Joad. 

American Skin (41 Shots) was also revived (the album is a curious mix of covers and outtakes that works well when joined together). What a song that is. I'll save it for my highlights on the live section of posts.

Western Stars was a different look. It was a fair distance from rock'n'roll as Bruce embraced his country side - his inner Glen Campbell if you will. Who doesn't like the mythic western heroes of yester-year? I was brought up on John Wayne, John Ford and the iconic westerns they starred in or made. He called it "a return to my solo recordings featuring character-driven songs and sweeping, cinematic orchestral arrangements". It was a perfect realisation of that goal.

Letter to You was his twntieth studio album. That's something! His quality control has been pretty amazing too (I'm ignoring those nineties albums). The E Street Band regroups for this one - a song cycle looking at mortality and aging. One minute you're here, next minute you're gone. Some of his bandmates have gone - and he's aging - that must be a sobering thought.

He's relatively nostalgic on this album - even reviving three unrecorded songs from when he split his first band - The Castiles. It's fitting that the E Street Band rip into these songs. They were recorded live in the studio, rather than the painstaking overdub/ tinkering methods he used in the early days, and they sound pretty vital to my ears.

Where do they all belong? I'll have a listen to his latest studio album - Only the Strong Survive. Like We Shall Overcome, it's a covers album - this time of R&B and soul songs. Up next are the live albums.