 Bruce Springsteen In the past few years I've flip-flopped my attitude toward best-ofs, which I formerly saw as shallow and easy ways to dip one's toes into a given artist's work … surely the only way to go about it is to buy the entire catalog, get to know it fully and deeply, get some bootlegs, read up on the artist, develop some connoisseur opinions, and only then pass ultimate judgment. These days, older, fatter, and more apt to spend my money on, like, nice furniture than anyone's full musical output, I've come to embrace the sad truth that although, yes, best-ofs are shallow and easy, they are so much less work. Do I have time to really get into new artists anymore? Well, probably, but after so many years of doing just that, I really don't need to bother. Most artists only have one or two discs of worthwhile shit anyway. But Springsteen … how is it possible to even compile him? Do you not need to know the nuances of each record – the initial finding-of-his-voice, the dramatic breakout of Born to Run, the bombastic bloat of The River, the bold retreat of Nebraska, the unintended mainstream adoption of Born in the USA, the perfectly enigmatic sidestep of Tunnel of Love, the slow, hard-to-peg plateau and trailoff of his 90s records, the alternate history of his b-sides and outtakes? Well, don't you? Turns out, you don't. The Essential Bruce Springsteen boils it all down nicely. Sure, you'll miss some great songs along the way, but you will indeed get the point. It's a smart set that will not find the audience it would really serve best: the uninitiated. Those who will buy this 3-disc set (actually a humble 2-disc with a bonus CD of rarities) are already converts, I'm sure. They'll lament the omission of their pet favorites, relish the remastered sound of undeniable classics, revisit a few moments that deserved more attention, and wow at the bonus disc which gives this set its main market value. But it's like reading the Cliffs Notes for a book you've already read ten times. Essential is actually much more appropriately a Gideon Bible for those who would dismiss Springsteen out of hand simply for being so popular, or so "classic rock," or whatever. I can think of ten hipster friends I'd like to give it to, who would never give it the time of day. Now, while I am shamelessly a Springsteen fan, his music is, for me, much more a nostalgia thing than a present-time experience. I do not even own any of his studio albums on CD. When I listen to Springsteen, it is knowing, it is informed, it is schooled, it is set in its ways. I do not discover and rediscover Springsteen. I know Springsteen. So what I love about The Essential is that it actually caused me to step back and see the forest for the trees. I enjoy Springsteen for his bombast … I laugh at Springsteen. And Springsteen was never trying to be funny. So listening to the rather startling trajectory here, I was humbled … yeah, his rock-operatic tendencies and bar-band cheesiness have some comedic value. But this man created his own musical world. A world where cars are chariots, girls are a man's only hope of redemption, blue collar jobs are epic everyman sagas, and the night is the time of every soul's true revelation. OK, I still think it's all funny. But I defy anyone listening to the first disc of this collection with an open mind to deny how great the man is. From the audacious but derivative "Blinded By the Light" and "For You," Springsteen hones his sound until on his third album he bolts out the gate with "Thunder Road" and "Born to Run," and never looks back. There's some humor to the fact that Disc 1 has about nine straight epics that in anyone else's catalog would be one-off, album-closing Grand Statements. Bruce can't take a shit without making it into a Grand Statement. Let him have that. It's what he does. Though again, I couldn't help but smirk as nearly every song began with someone starting or quitting a blue-collar job and ended up with him/her escaping into the night. Disc 2 offers the big hits but not the good songs from USA and the subsequent albums … few minds will be changed listening to "Living Proof" or "Lucky Town" that Springsteen's well hadn't run dry. "Streets of Philadelphia" was a new direction, at least, but he hasn't written a truly great song since, like, 1987. I don't buy into the notion of Ghost of Tom Joad being anything but an act of absolute obviousness, and Springsteen as New York's artistic saviour post-9/11 … well, who cares. Still, it's all engaging listening, and it fills out the big picture. Every artist has to gradually fade away, and Springsteen has done it as gracefully as anyone. The bonus disc is a treat for already-fans, and an important point made to neophytes – that Bruce's unreleased stuff is equally crucial as his released stuff in understanding what the hell he's been up to. Fortunately, most of this stuff is late-70s/early-80s, that is, good unreleased Springsteen. Highlights are the rockin'-as-only-Bruce-can-rock "From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)," the Nebraska outtake "The Big Payback", his live version of Jimmy Cliff's "Trapped" (originally on the We Are the World album), and the gentle "County Fair" (which finally makes sense of how Nebraska led to USA, its sonic opposite). As an album, this is a good collection of songs. As a textbook, much more informative than you'd expect. I can't say it's made me "believe" in Springsteen as I did when I first heard him, but it did knock the chip off my shoulder with regards to making fun of the guy at every possible opportunity. Although I still want to edit a couple dozen of his songs together to form a very long epic song about a guy who changes blue-collar jobs multiple times in several states, while falling in and out of love with a number of regular gals. That would be fuckin' funny.
Review by Dr. Baptist |