Music Review: Bruce Springsteen’s “Working On A Dream”

Posted on by
Reply

Working On A Dream has all the best qualities of his previous three albums

RATING:  4 / 5 stars

By Chris Moore:

I have to get this out there before I begin:  I have a bias against producer Brendan O’Brien.  I have cringed at the sight of his production credits ever since he took the lead on Rebel, Sweetheart, the Wallflowers’ flat-sounding follow-up to their amazing Red Letter Days album.

That being said, the time for me to forget that association is well past due.

Working On A Dream sounds like you would expect it to sound after Bruce Springsteen’s previous three albums.  And yet I don’t mean that in a derogatory sense.  Rather, it plays like an amalgamation of all the best qualities of his recent work without any of the pitfalls.

Purpose flowed for Springsteen following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and the result was a concept album.  On The Rising, there is a sense of “purpose,” to quote a term he used in his recent Rolling Stone interview.  Then there came Devils and Dust, Springsteen’s stripped-down solo effort.  It lacked the production luster of The Rising — rubbed the edges purposely raw, to be more precise — but it was evidence of an artist going back to his roots.  This became even more apparent when he released an album of folk covers called The Seeger Sessions a year later.  I recall having mixed feelings when I reviewed Devils and Dust in 2005, feeling particularly strongly that the album had been overrated.  I still maintain that.

And yet, I’m happy he recorded that album, because I hear echoes of it here.  There are moments on Working On A Dream where you can hear him let go, usually vocally or while playing harmonica.  For those brief moments, the song doesn’t need to be perfect — it needs to feel emotional and real.

So, this new record has the sense of purpose that emanates from The Rising, and there is a maturity only possible after Devils and Dust.  The third predecessor, released in 2007, is Magic.  This is my favorite Springsteen album by far, largely because I enjoy every track time and time again.  There is a pop/rock sensibility on this album that I loved instantly, and I have returned to Magic far more often than any other album he has released recently.

Well, I think Working On A Dream has captured that sensibility as well.  Only time will tell, but there is a variety and vitality to the tracks that I am far from exhausting after five listens in the first twelve hours of owning this album.  Rolling Stone has gone so far as to give it the five-star nod.  I’m not convinced.  A solid four stars?  Absolutely!

The album opens with a somewhat unusual choice, an eight minute track titled “Outlaw Pete.”  Immediately, I can’t help but hear the country/folk tradition that Springsteen has paid homage to recently — with a distinctly E-Street Band rock’n roll edge and beat to it, of course.  I was skeptical at first, but this tale of a toddler who “at six months old [had] done three months in jail” keeps your interest until the final refrain of “Can you hear me?  Can you hear me?”

Fittingly, the album closes with “The Last Carnival,” another character tale, this one about a character named Billy.  Maybe it’s just the Dylan fan in me, but I hear a country/western nod in that name, one which was an integral aspect of Dylan’s soundtrack to Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (the same soundtrack that spawned “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door,” a simpler but similarly  morbid and bittersweet song).

“My Lucky Day” is fast and fun.  The third and title track lumbers along as it opens, Garry Tallent unwinding a great bass line, and works up to a classic Springsteen vocal on the chorus.

There really is no way to take a song titled “Queen of the Supermarket” seriously until you have heard it.  Springsteen transforms the supermarket into a breeding ground for fantasy and poetic descriptions of life, love, and – of course – dreams.  I found myself wondering where the logical conclusion to the song would fall.  I didn’t want them to get together; that would be too contrived.  But I also didn’t want him to leave unsatisfied.  The final lines of the final verse? “As I lift my groceries into my cart, I turn back for a moment and catch a smile that blows this whole fucking place apart.”  It certainly surprised me to hear a swear in a Springsteen song, but it is indeed the perfect ending.

Well, that and the outro that comes complete with synthesized sounds reminiscent of a scanner in a grocery store checkout lane.

The album doesn’t really start until the fifth track.  “What Love Can Do” has it all – cool acoustic guitar strumming, moments of scorching electric guitar, great bass line, catchy beat, and a nice vocal arrangement.  Having mentioned vocal arrangements, it’s difficult not to acknowledge the Beach Boys-esque opening of the next song, “This Life.”  If Magic‘s “Girls in Their Summer Clothes” garnered allusions to Brian Wilson’s work, then this track certainly deserves a comparison.

The album changes direction a bit as “Good Eye” delivers rough vocals and a Devils and Dust-esque harmonica riff.  “Tomorrow Never Knows” (no, not the Beatles song; far from it, in fact!) is the most stripped-down effort on the album and perhaps the most pleasant and soothing.  Springsteen capitalizes on that feeling by following up with his dreamy sounding, poetic “Life Itself.”  Fittingly, the Working On A Dream booklet is — either purposely or not — set up to feature the lyrics to these two songs side by side, the text over a background picture of Springsteen lying in a field, classic Telecaster in hand, fast asleep.

“Kingdom of Days” is one of my favorites on the album, if only for the fact that it is one of the least formulaic, forced love songs that I have heard in some time.  It is cheesy without being too saccharine.

The opening progression of “Surprise, Surprise” reminds me of Brian Wilson’s “Love and Mercy.”  It progresses from there into a song that is equally as catchy and as hopeful as that classic Wilson tune.

You are in for a not-so-unexpected surprise after the final notes of “The Last Carnival,” as “The Wrestler” fades in and begins.  This is the title track to the Mickey Rourke film that has earned Bruce Springsteen some attention recently.  This is, of course, in addition to the attention he will be receiving for his half time show performance at Super Bowl XLIII.  And he just released a greatest hits album exclusively at Wal-Mart a couple months ago…  Sound like perfect timing?  This writer thinks so.

And I also think it is a good time to be Bruce Springsteen fan.  He has released three great albums in this decade alone.

And now, less than two years after Magic, he has released a fourth.

“Second That Emotion” (Smokey Robinson & the Miracles Cover)

Posted on by
Reply

By Jim Fusco:

I know you’ve been waiting for this all week…it’s Jim Fusco Tuesday here on the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog!  Yes, that’s right, your favorite place to get acoustic covers and rock music videos from three of the best indie songwriters you’ll find.

I’m having SO much fun playing with my new Mac Pro right now.  It just amazes me to be typing this on one 22″ Acer monitor and to have the other monitor rendering a video at a clip about 25 times faster than my old machine.  It makes me feel more productive without actually doing anything!

The computer’s setup is finally complete.  I’ve had it since last Friday and Becky helped me put together (and find) the great L-shaped desk, while Dana helped me to set everything up and give some sage advice.

Meanwhile, Chris was heeding my pleas to do some work on the music video blog here, as he’s decided (quite ambitiously) to post the chords to every single song he plays this year.  Here’s hoping that he’ll play a song I’ve actually heard of…

Now, if you haven’t heard of tonight’s song, you must’ve been living under a rock for the past forty years.  One of Motown’s greatest songwriters, Smokey Robinson, wrote this tune that he did with his group, the Miracles.  Smokey was, and still is, a writer for many other acts.  One song you just might have heard of was an incredibly huge hit for the Temptations, entitled “My Girl”.  Smokey truly is the man.

I also love tonight’s cover song, “Second That Emotion”, because Smokey sings in his classic falsetto throughout the song.  Now, this actually poses a bit of problem, believe it or not.  You see, everyone’s voice kind of hits falsetto at a different note.  Brian Wilson always went into falsetto at exactly the right times and I don’t believe I’ve really ever heard Carl Wilson use his falsetto voice.  That said, my falsetto range tends to be a bit on the high side.  Meaning that whenever I sing songs that are mostly in falsetto, I find it more comfortable to sing most of it in my regular voice.  That makes it hard to switch halfway through.  But, I practiced and practiced until it worked really well.  Here’s to you, Smokey!

Tonight, I’m happy I can bring you another great Motown hit from the sixties.  It’s so funny to see the breakdown of decades here on the video blog.  Chris and Jeff have the 90s and 200s locked solid.  Then there’s me bringing up the rear, taking the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s by a large margin.  And every I say or write “large margin”, I’m forced to think of “Large Marge” from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.  My cousin, brother, and I watched that movie all the time when we were little.  Then, I watched it again recently and realized that it’s a freakin’ hilarious flick.  If you haven’t seen it for a while (or were scared of it when you were little, like I was), you really should give it another chance.

Okay, I’ve ranted long enough for one night.  Tune in tomorrow night for a GIGANTIC premeire here on the best music video blog ever created!

Why’s it such a milestone?  Well, I’m going to bring you the title track to my upcoming new album, “Halfway There” on Original Wednesday!  I know you’ll love the song, especially after the great reaction I got from “Only A Dream” last week.  Thanks to ilsy74 on YouTube for sending out the video and promoting our original work.  I’m very excited to get the reaction to my new material and I’ll be back soon enough to bring it to you!  Until then, have a great night and enjoy tonight’s Motown acoustic cover song music video!

“With our powers combined…”: WordPress and the iPhone!

Posted on by
Reply

By Chris Moore:

So, here I am at work taking a break to eat lunch and thinking about which song I will choose and record for my upcoming installment of Chris Moore Monday.

Instead of simply thinking about it, I figured I would try out this new app for the iPhone…

…which is pretty amazing!

The fact that I can sit here at work and type some thoughts into my phone that will instantly appear on the Laptop Sessions site is fabulous. That’s right – it’s a fabulous fact. It’s a shame that I don’t really have anything of substance to write about. Let’s leave it at this: I’m looking forward to recording my weekly video and writing a post, and it just kills me to think I’ll have to wait many more hours before I can focus on that particular task.

Well, that’s it for now. Come back tonight for a brand-new video and a much more interesting, lengthier post!

“Only A Dream” – an MoU Original Acoustic Rock Song

Posted on by
1

By Jim Fusco:

For my first trick…

Welcome to my first Original Wednesday original acoustic song music video for the year 2009!  It’s Jim Fusco here with a great song that we chose to kick-off our (and by “our”, I mean the band Masters of the Universe, or MoU) second album, “Homestead’s Revenge”.  The song is “Only A Dream” and it’s a chorus I wrote the tune to, but never did anything else with.

I remember the day very vividly.  It was one of our band songwriting sessions and I remember finally fleshing-out the chorus with the help of Chris, Mike,  Becky, and Cliff.  Then, I ran over to the piano and started to work out chord progressions for the verses.  I came up with the very interesting Em7 to Bm chord progression and I really love the tune that goes along with it.  I remember sitting there working and hearing Becky and Chris deciding on words to go into the chorus of the song.

I took my ideas over to the rest of the band and we worked out the words.  We came up with this image of a man in a jail cell.  The conversation went something like this: “How about a man locked in a jail cell that’s dreaming about getting out?”  “Oh yeah- like he’s locked in there!” “Okay, let’s see- ‘Locked in solitary confinement…'”  “No, that doesn’t work with the tune…” “Locked in solidarity…” “That doesn’t make sense, though.” “Oh, but it does!  The guy is locked up AND he’s all alone!” “Perfect!”

And that’s how the writing session went- we scrutinized everything but were able to paint a very realistic image of the idea we were getting across.  Why don’t you just listen and find out what that message is?

I also remember Mike returning from the back room, playing his middle-8.  I love that part of the song and it leads right back into the chorus very well.  He did that on “These Streets” from the same album.  The lyrics are great on the middle-8 to “These Streets”- we were thinking about that kind of great fast-paced life you think you have in high school  and threw in, “Live like it’s 1999,” because I was a freshman/sophomore in 1999.

Also, I was very excited when we all did the vocals.  On the original (which you can hear by going to MoU’s Official Website), you’ll hear double-tracked vocals from each of the five members of the band on the choruses and backgrounds, PLUS the lead vocals.

Some fun facts: Chris, Cliff, Mike, and I recorded our vocals together and we dubbed Becky’s much softer voice later on two other tracks so I could handle it better in the mix.  It isn’t easy blending a female voice into four other male voices.  But, my voice must not be too far off from a female’s voice, which made it easier to mix.  Why do I say that?  Well, on the middle-8, you’ll hear the backing vocals come in.  I love that part.  Well, on that section, Becky doesn’t sing- it’s just Mike’s lead, then Mike, Chris, Cliff, and I on backing vocals.  I sang the high part (doing my best Becky impression) because we seamlessly wove the backing vocals around Mike’s lead, allowing us to use only four other backing vocal harmony parts.  I remember doing those backing vocals that night with the boys and we were all so incredibly excited.  After we finished each good take, we’d get so stoked about it.  The greatest backing vocals I think I’ve ever heard are during the second half of the second verse.  The way that some of the vocals move around and some stay the same…it’s really a stroke of genius on my part! 🙂  Want to hear just the vocals-only section?  Click HERE and you’ll go to the Albums page on the MoU website.  The clip of only the vocals from that section will play in the background.  Click around to the other pages on the site and you’ll hear more rare vocals-only clips from the album!

Well, I hope you enjoy this great original song.  It was truly a collaborative effort- a great, catchy song- that was the perfect album-starter.  Until next Tuesday, I hope you have a great week.  Make sure to come back tomorrow for your Jeff Copperthite Thumpin’ Thursday acoustic cover song music video!