Boss melds introspection and power well (Devils & Dust - Bruce Springsteen)

Member Name: Wezzo

Product:	Devils & Dust - Bruce Springsteen
Date:	07/05/08 (105 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Generally excellent material; bonus DVD good value

Disadvantages: Couple of weak songs

Bruce Springsteen has spent much of his career alternating between introspective acoustics and bombastic exuberance. Both sides have their fans; he has tried to appease both sides by alternating between the two as much as possible. The fun of 1980's "The River" was countered by the grim bleakness of 1982's "Nebraska"; the hit-laden "Born In the USA" of 1984 was followed up in 1987 with the subdued "Tunnel of Love"; poppy double-act "Human Touch" and "Lucky Town" were succeeded two years after release by 1994's "Ghost of Tom Joad". But despite occasionally mixing the two sides of his persona on one album - take 1978's "Darkness On The Edge Of Town" - Bruce has never really allowed the his bleak storytelling to quite fit in with the bombast of his E Street Band backing, keeping the two sides relatively separate. This is, until 2005's "Devils and Dust".

Bruce's previous set had been the post-9/11 "The Rising", a generally upbeat collection that sought to document the tragedy through all manner of perspectives - those who were "Countin' On A Miracle", those who were coming to terms with the "Lonesome Day"s ahead, those who were "Waitin' On A Sunny Day". By 2005, a more sombre tone had to be taken: the nation had come to terms with the terrorist attacks and had another problem on their hands - albeit, this one of their own accord: the Iraq War. It goes without saying, then, that Brucie, ever the left-leaning spokesman of the working class, would mine this particular issue for lyrical territory on what previous trends hinted would be a lyrically-focused, poetic and quiet affair, surely?

The reality was not quite so. Certainly, the Iraq War plays a key role in the stories Springsteen tells here - nowhere more so than on the title track, "Devils & Dust" - but it never dominates; the lyrics here are more wide-ranging in their scope, telling of every facet of small-town America that recalls "The Rising" in its sheer breadth. The music, meanwhile, is denser than previous "quieter" Springsteen efforts: some tracks tend towards the sparse acoustics of "Nebraska" but more lean towards a slightly more rocking approach, where the E Street Band prevent descent into tedium while never overpowering the moving tales Springsteen has to tell.

So, the songs themselves. The previously-mentioned "Devils and Dust" begins the album, and it's among the set's finest. Springsteen sings with conviction of the soldier who ponders the question "what if what you do to survive kills the things you love?" Regardless of your position on the current wars, it's a question we can all empathise with: even if "we've got God on our side", as Springsteen sings, killing people is not an easy thing to come to terms with. War will "take your god-filled soul and fill it with devils and dust", we are told, explaining the precise meaning of album's title.

Lyrically, Bruce is certainly on top form - but musically, it's a fine achievement too. Producer Brendan O'Brien - who many Springsteen fans have criticised for making the Springsteen sound of late "overblown", as if "Born to Run" was some kind of lesson in restraint - allows the slight backing to swell to a powerful climax - not powerful in its depth, like "Born to Run", but powerful in its emotional conveyance.

The album's most thoroughly out-and-out rock'n'roll tune is well-placed as the second track. "All the Way Home", originally written by Springsteen in the early '90s but never released until now, recalls the "recommendation with reservations" of his earlier "Tougher Than The Rest": compare "if you're rough enough for love / baby I'm tougher than the rest" with "but if you don't feel like walking alone / I could walk you all the way home". Musically, though, there is a sharp contrast between the tracks: "Tougher than the Rest" was a synthesizer-driven ballad; "All The Way Home" is driven by powerful drums and steel guitars. It's another fine cut.

"Reno" is the album's first thoroughly story-driven song - reflected in the lyrics booklet in its presentation as a single paragraph rather than line-by-line. It's also, intriguingly, the first song to warrant Springsteen a "Parental Advisory" sticker on the front of an album: its explicit depiction of an encounter with a prostitute is surprisingly visceral for the Boss. It's a surprisingly moving tale though; the final lines defining the disappointment and nostalgia that are pervasive throughout the album: "She said, 'Here's to the best you've ever had'. We laughed and made a toast. It wasn't the best I ever had. Not even close."

The song that comes closest to Springsteen's traditional catchy rockers occupies the track 4 slot. "Long Time Comin'" tells of the archetypal working-man-come-good: set in the imagery-laden area where "the creek turns shallow and sandy", Springsteen sings of a young man who, despite past failures, is convinced as he lies beside his pregnant girlfriend that he "ain't gonna fuck it up this time". He attempts to justify his past failures - "my daddy, he was just a stranger" - but ultimately accepts that his succumbing to maturity has "been a long time comin', but now it's here". It's not as heavily backed as the likes of peak-period Bruce rockers like "Badlands" and "No Surrender" but it's just as catchy.

"Black Cowboys" returns us to the speak-sung narrative style of "Reno"; here, Bruce laments Rainey Williams, a character who realises that when his mother falls in love with a new man it is his job to no longer "keep her soul alive" - her boyfriend can now do that - but to go off and make a life of his own. It's near-heartbreaking, made all the more effective not due to melodramatic, emotive language but thanks to the stark sparseness of it all. As the song concludes, and Rainey has left his mother, "the red sun slipped and was gone, the moon rose and stripped the earth to its bone". Once again, Bruce proves he is masterful at conveying imagery in the smallest number of words. The backing is minimal, with backing vocals from Patti Scialfa and Soozie Tyrell occasionally serving to enhance the mood; the song needs nothing more.

"Maria's Bed" has proved controversial among Springsteen fans, as the Boss puts on something of a falsetto and sings passionately of returning to his lover "Maria's Bed" after "40 days and nights" working on the highways. The lyrics are laden with cliches - "sugar mountain", "fools gold" - but one feels that's rather the point, as Springsteen attempts to articulate the yearning of your average working man once again - as he has done so well on albums prior. Sweet backing "la la" vocals enhance the early verses, while keyboards, bass and even the hurdy-gurdy elevate the backing to a dense wall-of-sound by song's end. It's another winner.

Liner notes preceding the lyrics to the next track, "Silver Palomino", pretty much sums the song up: "a mother dies, leaving her young son to come to terms with the loss. In remembrance of Fiona Chappel, for her sons Tyler and Oliver". You can tell that this one is inflected with the personal emotions of Springsteen: his vocals are more impassioned - not powerful, but emotional - than anywhere else on the album; while the lyrics never fail to make me cry. I think the loss of one of your parents - either fear of it, or actually having to come to terms with it - is one of the most universally destroying emotions one can feel, and Springsteen does a fine job of articulating that emotion here, using a silver palomino horse as a metaphor for the mother-song bonding our characters here once felt. "The scent of your skin, mother, fills the air. 'Midst the harsh scrub pine that grows I watch the silver palomino." It's as genuinely moving as Springsteen has ever been. The backing music is once again very subdued, confined largely to acoustic guitar. But nothing else would be appropriate really, would it.

"Jesus Was An Only Son" takes the "religious song" concept to heretofore unknown regions: instead of questioning faith, or God, Springsteen simply tells the story of Jesus and Mary in terms of their universal mother-son relationship. (If you can hear hints of "Silver Palomino", you're quite right; parent-child relationships are dealt with here more throughly than any Springsteen album since "The River" has.) It's a sweet song, the lyrics are moving ("Jesus kissed his mother's hands, whispered 'Mother, still your tears, for remember the soul of the universe willed a world and it appeared'") and the backing music is low-key but melodic, with backing vocals once again contributing to mood and atmosphere.

"Leah" kicks up the tempo a little. There's no "Wall of Sound" but a catchy melody is pervasive. Lyrically, we're in familiar territory - a man yearns to be with the woman of his dreams, Leah - but it's another solid piece and Springsteen is, as ever, able to articulate the most powerful human emotions in understandable, relatable ways.

"The Hitter" is perhaps the album's lowest point. It's undoubtedly solid, lyrically, but rather like the weakest tracks of "The Ghost Of Tom Joad", the music is practically non-existent. A two-note acoustic guitar melody is all this track can offer, at a push. It reads wonderfully on paper - the tale of a small-town boxer making it big and then coming back down, now resorting to fighting in the "streets and alleys" is wonderful in its execution - but the music is just too plodding and tedious to make it a worthy listen.

Thankfully, relative catharsis returns with "All I'm Thinkin' About". Once again, the lyrics deal with young love and its inherently wild and unrestrained nature ("Ain't nothing in this world I can do about it / All I'm thinking about is you, baby") but it never feels like a retread - and more crucially, the music is catchy and memorable. Not anthemic, but quietly memorable.

"Matamoros Banks" is a fair conclusion to the album; it recalls "The Ghost Of Tom Joad" album in its preoccupation with the southern USA/Mexico border but it's more lyrically astute than much of that album, telling the story of a dying immigrant in reverse - from "the river keeping [him] down" to "walking over rivers of stone and ancient twine" to "dreaming of holding his love in his arms again". However, the music can tread dangerously close to "The Hitter" territory: I recognise the need for restraint with this subject matter but three-quarters of the songs here managed to tread the calm-loud line well; why couldn't it be done here? Nevertheless, it's enjoyable enough while it plays, and a nice thematic conclusion to the album.

Looking at the set as a whole, this is perhaps Bruce's most cinematic, widest-ranging, story-packed album yet. OK, so "Nebraska" and "Ghost" were marginally more story-focused - but neither has anywhere near the scope of this album. Here, the stories were confined to one theme; here, any and all aspects of working-class hardship get the Springsteen treatment. It's not the Boss' most consistent album, but it's a worthy buy, especially if you're a fan of acoustic Bruce but would like something a bit more upbeat without heading into the bombast of "Born to Run".

The CD comes with a lyric booklet that has minimal liner notes and the occasional translation of Spanish words and phrases that are sprinkled throughout the songs. The CD can be purchased alone or with a bonus DVD that includes a 5.1 Surround Sound cut of the album (that sounds fantastic) and live, "intimate", solo performances of five songs from the album ("Devils & Dust", "Long Time Comin'", "Reno", "All I'm Thinkin' About", "Matamoros Banks") filmed in Springsteen's own house. Springsteen introduces each with a 2-3 minute story behind its genesis, while the performances themselves are sharp and powerful; Boss aficionados will find plenty to love here.

Both the single CD and the CD-DVD "Dualdisc" set can be found for less than £5 on Amazon Marketplace.

The CD has a "Parental Advisory" sticker for sexually explicit lyrics in "Reno" and the word "fuck" in "Long Time Comin'".

Summary: Recommended