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It's Monday, July 1. Hope you'll get to spend some time with those you care about on the Independence Day holiday.
That day will also be my 33rd wedding anniversary, so I know where I'll be....
I recently added some music to my collection, from a familiar name but it's music that you would be unlikely to associate with that name. I'm referring to Bruce Springsteen's 19th and most recent studio album, a collection of songs entitled "Western Stars."
I read about this album sometime about a year ago, but as is often the case with showbiz news, sometimes what's publicized never actually occurs, such as casting news of a movie that's never made. But this time the news items were accurate, that Springsteen has for some time been taken by the orchestral pop sounds that emanated from southern California in the late 60s and early 70s. Not the Eagles or Buffalo Springfield or their ilk. Think a little harder, if you're of the right age, and you'll eventually remember artists like Glen Campbell, Harry Nilsson, Jimmy Webb and a host of others.
Hard to remember that well before he was a "Rhinestone Cowboy," Glen Campbell was a pop crooner, with hit records from songs like "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Wichita Lineman," "Gentle on my Mind" and many, many more. They all share a common heritage of layered arrangements featuring string sections and in some cases some horns to accompany the basic guitar-bass-piano-drums sound we all know.
Springsteen has somehow morphed this batch of songs, which I have to believe were written while listening to this particular species of pop music, and he's created a sound which is so unlike anything else he's ever recorded (and I would know, since I own virtually his entire catalog) that I have to remind myself of who I'm listening to.
His singing is evocative of the vocalists mentioned above, his delivery restrained (this is not music designed for the back row of a sports arena) and the words often thoughtful and pensive. Springsteen has always skillfully inhabited a variety of characters unlike himself, and this group of songs is no different, dwelling in faded near-movie stars, never-weres of country music (you read that right) and men searching for lost love or simply peace of mind.
Springsteen and his record label released three songs prior to the entire album's availability and each was different from the other two. The first release was of a song called "Hello Sunshine," which reminded me greatly of "Gentle on my Mind." The second, "There Goes My Miracle," would have fit on a couple of his more recent albums, and the third, "Tucson Train," is just wonderful in most every way, but in a very un-Springsteen-like way.
I played this on a trip for my wife, who does not care much for Bruce's music, and even she commented on how different it was and how beautiful the backing tracks are. She felt his voice didn't suit a couple of the songs on the album and she's probably right about that.
I've listened to it just about every day since I got the entire recording and I keep hearing new things in these songs that I had not heard or noticed or remembered previously.
If you like Bruce Springsteen, you'll like this, and if you don't normally, give it a listen if you have the chance, you'll be surprised and rewarded.
That day will also be my 33rd wedding anniversary, so I know where I'll be....
I recently added some music to my collection, from a familiar name but it's music that you would be unlikely to associate with that name. I'm referring to Bruce Springsteen's 19th and most recent studio album, a collection of songs entitled "Western Stars."
I read about this album sometime about a year ago, but as is often the case with showbiz news, sometimes what's publicized never actually occurs, such as casting news of a movie that's never made. But this time the news items were accurate, that Springsteen has for some time been taken by the orchestral pop sounds that emanated from southern California in the late 60s and early 70s. Not the Eagles or Buffalo Springfield or their ilk. Think a little harder, if you're of the right age, and you'll eventually remember artists like Glen Campbell, Harry Nilsson, Jimmy Webb and a host of others.
Hard to remember that well before he was a "Rhinestone Cowboy," Glen Campbell was a pop crooner, with hit records from songs like "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Wichita Lineman," "Gentle on my Mind" and many, many more. They all share a common heritage of layered arrangements featuring string sections and in some cases some horns to accompany the basic guitar-bass-piano-drums sound we all know.
Springsteen has somehow morphed this batch of songs, which I have to believe were written while listening to this particular species of pop music, and he's created a sound which is so unlike anything else he's ever recorded (and I would know, since I own virtually his entire catalog) that I have to remind myself of who I'm listening to.
His singing is evocative of the vocalists mentioned above, his delivery restrained (this is not music designed for the back row of a sports arena) and the words often thoughtful and pensive. Springsteen has always skillfully inhabited a variety of characters unlike himself, and this group of songs is no different, dwelling in faded near-movie stars, never-weres of country music (you read that right) and men searching for lost love or simply peace of mind.
Springsteen and his record label released three songs prior to the entire album's availability and each was different from the other two. The first release was of a song called "Hello Sunshine," which reminded me greatly of "Gentle on my Mind." The second, "There Goes My Miracle," would have fit on a couple of his more recent albums, and the third, "Tucson Train," is just wonderful in most every way, but in a very un-Springsteen-like way.
I played this on a trip for my wife, who does not care much for Bruce's music, and even she commented on how different it was and how beautiful the backing tracks are. She felt his voice didn't suit a couple of the songs on the album and she's probably right about that.
I've listened to it just about every day since I got the entire recording and I keep hearing new things in these songs that I had not heard or noticed or remembered previously.
If you like Bruce Springsteen, you'll like this, and if you don't normally, give it a listen if you have the chance, you'll be surprised and rewarded.
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