Sparks Fly On E Street: Bruce Springsteen, “Further On (Up The Road)” (2002)

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With that varied styles employed throughout The Rising, it was kind of refreshing to hear “Further On (Up The Road)” come blasting out of my speakers. Very little in the way of violins, mandolins, or anything else that might get in the way of the insistent bombast. But there was a problem: I didn’t really like the way it sounded.

It would be five years before Brendan O’Brien’s production would squeeze the life out of Magic, and this song was the first hint. The guitars grind away and provide tons of momentum, but the flatness of the soundstage and the everything-louder-than-everything-else compression levels? These were not things I was used to hearing on Bruce Springsteen records. I looked back at these thoughts when Magic came out, though in the latter case I began to wonder if the decades of rock and rool hadn’t done permanent damage to Bruce’s hearing.

Next up: The Fuse

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Mark Saleski