This is an excellent piece of music--please don't get me wrong.  I will be sure to sing its praises insofar as I am able.  First off, though, I must preface this review with a warning.  If you are new to Bruce Springsteen and you think you like his music, you need to stick with the more mainstream material for a while.  You're not going to warm up to this one quickly.  You may not ever make it.
The reason why you're going to have that difficulty is because there is nothing in this album that relates at all to what makes other music from Bruce Springsteen good.  The E Street Band was excused, so that means no saxophone, no piano, and no gargantuan wall of sound.  Indeed--I think you'll find that you can't even listen to this CD in your car because it occasionally fades so low as to be overwhelmed by the sounds of traffic.  There is no way to even distinguish this as a Springsteen album, were it not for his grating, raspy, loveably awful voice on the tracks.
Honestly, it's hard to say what makes this album good.  I've always considered people who believe that any piece of music which sounds like an old drunk playing a kazoo into a tin can were stupid.  I still do.  You should not come to this show for its production values, because it sounds like something your neighbor would record in his garage.  Fortunately, that works here, since Springsteen is the only performer and the sound itself is a lot more akin to that you would expect from a performance by a single person.
I will confess that I hated this CD the first two times I played it.  It moves slowly, there's little in the way of catchy tunes, and it's so quiet that you really can't do anything other than sit like a lump and listen to it.  Over time, however, it has grown on me, mostly because of the brilliant execution of theme (harder to define in this one than his previous albums, but justice and the law play big roles) and the relatively uncluttered nature of the album.  This is essentially what you get when you put Bruce Springsteen into a pressure cooker and sweat him down to a guitar and a harmonica, and there's a lot to like there (unlike Tom Joad, which pales in comparison to this effort).  While I do think the disc gets slow at points, I still can't think of any fundamental flaw with it, and so it gets my somewhat unconditional recommendation.  Just don't expect it to sound like Born in the U.S.A.
This is an excellent piece of music--please don't get me wrong. I will be sure to sing its praises insofar as I am able. First off, though, I must preface this review with a warning. If you are new to Bruce Springsteen and you think you like his music, you need to stick with the more mainstream material for a while. You're not going to warm up to this one quickly. You may not ever make it. The reason why you're going to have that difficulty is because there is nothing in this album that relates at all to what makes other music from Bruce Springsteen good. The E Street Band was excused, so that means no saxophone, no piano, and no gargantuan wall of sound. Indeed--I think you'll find that you can't even listen to this CD in your car because it occasionally fades so low as to be overwhelmed by the sounds of traffic. There is no way to even distinguish this as a Springsteen album, were it not for his grating, raspy, loveably awful voice on the tracks. Honestly, it's hard to say what makes this album good. I've always considered people who believe that any piece of music which sounds like an old drunk playing a kazoo into a tin can were stupid. I still do. You should not come to this show for its production values, because it sounds like something your neighbor would record in his garage. Fortunately, that works here, since Springsteen is the only performer and the sound itself is a lot more akin to that you would expect from a performance by a single person. I will confess that I hated this CD the first two times I played it. It moves slowly, there's little in the way of catchy tunes, and it's so quiet that you really can't do anything other than sit like a lump and listen to it. Over time, however, it has grown on me, mostly because of the brilliant execution of theme (harder to define in this one than his previous albums, but justice and the law play big roles) and the relatively uncluttered nature of the album. This is essentially what you get when you put Bruce Springsteen into a pressure cooker and sweat him down to a guitar and a harmonica, and there's a lot to like there (unlike Tom Joad, which pales in comparison to this effort). While I do think the disc gets slow at points, I still can't think of any fundamental flaw with it, and so it gets my somewhat unconditional recommendation. Just don't expect it to sound like Born in the U. S.A.