It’s well known that Miami Steve wasn’t so hot on the direction Bruce took with Tunnel Of Love, but I’ve always wondered what he thought of the music itself. Sure, he wasn’t happy with his man offering forth a first-person perspective on things, but what about the sounds? I’d love to ask him.
Because by the time I got to “Two Faces,” I’d heard enough freaking clave clicks and lightly-strummed guitar (or is that lightly-strummed guitar with clave accents?) to last me a lifetime. Sadly, there are more songs left in this album’s playlist and thus more opportunities for the clave to appear. But honestly, I shouldn’t blame this all on the clave when the blame can be spread among the other offenders — the effects-laden guitar solo (those dual harmonized lines just do not work here) and the cheese-o-matic keyboard accents. All of these things made me cringe.
…but maybe they didn’t make me cringe as much as that “Two faces have I” thing. And I bet that Mr. Van Zandt had some choice things to say about that particular line.
Up next: Brilliant Disguise
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Awwww…. I can’t believe this, but I’m gonna stick up for this album – well, some of it, anyway. Tunnel of Love, Two Faces, and Brilliant Disguise are all good tunes; add Spare Parts, Ain’t Got You, and Lucky Man (a B-side if memory serves) and there’s half a good album in the songwriting department. I think Bruce started losing his cool factor when he decided he needed a synthesizer with string samples to keep himself “updated,” or “fresh,” or “relevant” or whatever the heck he was thinking – or whoever in the organization was thinking it and put that bug in his ear. If he would have had Dan Federici take all those synth parts and make organ riffs out of then, or borrowed some horn players from Southside Johnny, he would have have at least an album that sounds classic, instead of dated. I think the novelty of the synth clouded some songs, and he was unable to hear some of them for what they were… just OK.
Listen to Little Steven’s Men Without Women, his first album after leaving the E Street Band (did he anticipate the upcoming “layoff?”). Sure, that synth shows up in a couple of spots (tastefully), but mostly it’s the traditional rock n roll drums and guitars with horn section, Hammond organ, pianna and accordion to thicken the gumbo, not that non-nutritious corn starch string machine. Patti Scialfa’s first album would have sounded a lot better off without that particular keyboard as well.
Speaking of….. does anybody know anything about a Patti Scialfa song called Some Things, Baby? I think it was from around the time of her first album, but it isn’t on there – a B-side, perhaps?
no need to apologize, since there are plenty of people out there who consider this album to be Bruce’s last masterpiece. and then there’s me, who considers it to be a piece of crap.
who knows why he went this direction musically, except that maybe he had tired of his original sound, or was just enthralled with all of the new technology now available in the home studio. all i know is that the music comes off to my ears as sub-demo quality.
Men Without Women is a tremendous album. basically, it’s the Jukes with Van Zandt singing. Southside played the whole thing live not too long ago (it’s on spotify and is a load of fun).
never heard of that Patti song…time to go exploring…
I thought it was a good album. I liked One Step Up, Two Steps Back, and Brilliant Disguise, in particular. The Beatles’ White Album, on the other hand, I thought sounded like a lot of filler and outtakes. I’m apparently in the minority there. In 1975, when Springsteen was anointed as the Next Next One, I gave Born To Run a listen, and was kind of disappointed. That album is now one of my favorites (by any artist). Time marches on, opinions can change, but damn that Revolution #9!
LIke a few others, I think you’re absolutely wrong-headed about the “Tunnel of Love” album (then again, I’m not, and never have been, a wannabe, guitar-playing rock-n-roll star, like so many of our gender, it seems). 🙂
Also: not sure if you know it — you don’t mention it, so I’m assuming you don’t — “Two Faces” (as with many of Spring’steen’s songs/lyrics/titles) is also paying homage to an earlier rock song (“Two Faces Have I”), and, of course, the “cheesy” keyboard lines have their origin in that sentiment as well.
For my money, “Brilliant Disguise”, “Tunnel of Love”, “One Step Up” and “Valentine’s Day” are top-notch Springsteen tunes, with the rest of the album riding a only a few notches below, quality-wise.
vint, how can a person be wrong-headed about an opinion? i just don’t happen to like the music on this album. and if i never hear another clave click again, i will be a happy person.
yes, i have plenty of Bruce-loving friends who say the sam ethings about these tunes. i glad that they (and you!) enjoy them.
for the many reasons already stated in the Tunnel part of this series, i will probably never listen to this album again. yes, i dislike it that much.
and thanks for the info about that lyric. i didn’t know that ,though i still think the line is cringe-worthy in the context of this song.