Background Noise: Bruce Springsteen “Working on a Dream”
February 7, 2009
First off, I missed my deadline. I apologize. I had written a sort of place holder on my iPhone to put up until I got home to do the real thing but the post failed. I need to play with the WordPress App more I guess.
Second, and most importantly, the album. I flat out don’t like it. I wasn’t a fan of “Magic” and I only like half of “The Rising.” I feel the need to explain why I don’t like the album. If you have spent anytime reading music articles on the internet I’m sure you’ve noticed Dream has been almost universally praised. In order to explain why I do not like “Working on a Dream” I need to explain my history with the boss.
My friend Jay got me to go to a show once in college. I knew the greatest hits but sort of thought it was all cheesy. I learned the cheese is what made it fun. The show was a blast, everyone was into it, and the band was really in top form and gave everything to make the show a good show. And it was in Hartford, not exactly the place bands go to and lay it all out on stage like its their last performance.
Skip ahead years later. “Nebraska” is in my top five albums. It’s dark, lonely, and I feel an excellent portrayal of the dark side of this country. “Born to Run” is a classic. The album paints a picture of what it is like to grow up as a kid on the outskirts of a big city. The album shows he has dreams and a need to escape. The man, without any kind of doubt, is capable of great, sometimes epic and other times personal, music. If you have seen him live, in any incarnation, you can understand this.
So why doesn’t this album work? I have to blame it in part on lack of conflict. Had this exact album came out in a McCain administration, its might serve as a sad what could have been. The material, in that context, might work better. Instead it came out in a time when everyone has a song like “Working on a Dream” or “Surprise Surprise.” These songs never attempt to feel original. Bruce is best when he is exploring the dark underbelly of America. “Nebraska” explores desperate people in desperate times. “Reason to Believe” ends that album with a song of hope. It’s a scary song and even there hope seems so far off. It works well. This album ends with a song of despair. “The Wrestler” is the track that ends the film of the same name and it is a beautiful end piece to an even better film. Here, it doesn’t fit.It is even listed as a bonus track further removing it from the album.
The band here is fine, and the material says its the E Street Band. I’m sure on some tracks it is. But it doesn’t feel like it. “Magic” was made on the fly, with members flying in and out of the studio and never playing together. That creates a sense of distance on that album. The same feeling can be said here. There are songs where the E Street Band is certainly not present. The days of them crammed into a studio slaving over sound are gone. Instead Springsteen welcomes over production.
Production, a gift and a curse. A band like Animal Collective can turn it into a tool that paints a masterpiece. Someone like Springsteen, McCartney comes to mind as well, these men use it to make themselves perfect. Music is not perfection. I argue that it is the imperfections that make music beautiful. “Born to Run” and “Nebraska” are beautiful because of that raw imperfect sound. The squeaky clean feel that has plagued the boss on his past few outings does not compliment his style and often times his subject matter.
Perhaps it is unfair to compare this album to his past masterpieces. I disagree. There are similiarities I see between this and “Nebraska” and it’s hard to discuss the E Street Band without discussing Born and the precedent they set for themselves with that album. In short “Working on a Dream” is a picture of hope, and not an original one, that is hurt even further by over production. If you want to listen to Springsteen give the Seeger Sessions band another listen. Especially “Live in Dublin.”
