Deconstructing Work

One thing I've found in the last four days is the fact that I haven't listened to anything else. ANYTHING. If Bruce has accomplished anything with this release, it's a record that as soon as the final song has played can easily be listened to again. I can't even say that sometimes about Born To Run. Sometimes when a record has played itself out, I need to let it be and allow the stories and music resonate. Here, I need to listen and again.

Outlaw Pete - the first track, and a return to the mini-screenplay epic song Bruce became famous for in the 70s. A grizzled old criminal both hero and villain, Outlaw Pete will probably be a crowd pleaser with its tempo changes and cinematic sound a la Ennio Morricone and even Aaron Copeland. Some are criticizing the song for hacking Kiss' "I Was Made For Loving You" which is a tad lame. Layers of sound with much success though the vocals are so muddied in the mix that the story gets lost. Rolling Stone compared this story to Jungleland which is like comparing a Law & Order episode to Twelve Angry Men.

My Lucky Day - the albums's only real rocker. 100% Bruce Pop with the chord progressions, vocal harmonies and bari sax to give fans the modern Hungry Heart. In Bruce's modern discography, this is another in the line of Waiting on a Sunny Day and Livin' In the Future. I really like this and would like to see the concert start off with this song. A Brucier opener than, say, Radio Nowhere.

WOAD - title song, which scared me when the single was first released several months ago. I only heard the song over the Internet and also on a televised Obama rally. The live version was the man and his guitar, which is never a way to fairly assess a very big band song. Over the computer was terrible as well. I was extremely underwhelmed upon hearing it and actually thought that Bruce had given Barack a pretty lame anthem for the late campaign. I've since changed and find myself singing this refrain moreso than any other lyric on the entire record. There's a bridge with a chorus of whistling that over the Internet sounded like a cameo by the Seven Dwarves. The whistling is not inappropriate for the song and was balanced properly among the guitars and sax. This should be a fun one live.

Queen of the Supermarket. This album's Girls In Their Summer Clothes. The latter was Magic's standout for its stunning Spectoresque sounds. Now it sounds like an early release of this whole record, which I hope doesn't detract from Girls. Some are saying that this is the standout of WOAD. I'm not sure. I'm not sure I really get the song. Is Bruce being humorous? Ironic? Plus, he drops a completely unnecessary F-bomb in the final verse which makes this one a skipper when in the car with the youngins. We'll see.

What Love Can Do - here, the album's done flooring you with the grandiose new sounds and settles into a song cycle of four or five songs that set with you longer than their lengths. A nice driving acoustic guitar pushes this song. Another song with muddied vocals. This one sounds like a slower version of Radio Nowhere. Similar chord progressions which makes me wonder if he simply wrote two songs with a single template. In the vein of Further On Up the Road.

This Life - One of the most interesting tracks on the record. It's the best song that Brian Wilson left off Pet Sounds. Another Girls sound; lots of glockenspiel, saxes and vocal chorus. A real sleeper. While even the first time I heard it I called out every impending chord change, the song is still fun for the sake of imagining what Roy Orbison really would have done with this. Some Hungry Heart in there for good measure.

Good Eye - Bruce finally has an original that works the band's blues jones as well as his own hankering for the bullet mike. Reason to Believe on the Devils & Dust tour threw too many people off as the vocals were unintelligible, though the stomp really rocked. The band's rendition on the Magic tour sounded like a cross between La Grange and Spirit In the Sky. That song died a quick concert death, I think, simply for the fact that a roadhouse stomp can not be played by a ten-piece band. This song, with unimportant lyrics, is a great front porch blues and could just have easily worked with just Nils on a National guitar and Bruce banging his foot for tempo.

Tomorrow Never Knows - Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream ain't coming on this one, though I was hoping for some nod to the Fab Four. It's a country song and probably came from the Seeger Sessions or even D&D. Great steel playing by Nils. Probably the least important song on the record though harmless and fun.

Life Itself - I really like this song. This record's Gypsy Biker or Last To Die in the sense of concise delivery. Lots of guitar and minor chords. Lots of lyrics but hard to listen to with again, muddied vocals. Some cool backwards guitar soloing. I'm hoping this is one that carries off well live. The two Magic songs sound great on the record but I think they got lost in the arena setting. A couple of The Rising songs suffered the same fate even though the band kept them through the entire tour. The political or personal messages were lost and instead the band delivered great sounding music that didn't grab hold of the audience. This also, I just noticed, has lots of Roger McGuinn-like Rickenbacker guitar runs.

Kingdom of Days - Bruce's love letter to Patti. Adult love contains a lot of compromises, settling, routine and settling in. I think what marks adulthood is not caring for so many minute details that one, in his or her attempt to create the perfect self in the late teens or the early twenties. Real love sees beyond the extra pounds, wrinkles and faults and is thankful to God just for someone else to love and be with you for as many years as possible. This song has a soaring bridge with strings and a chord progression similar to so many of his songs that you can't name them though you've heard them countless times.

Surprise, Surprise - someone posted on Backstreets that is probably another song for another family member. While not the most important song in the canon, it's catchy and well constructed. The outro is nothing short of Phil Spector and the Ronettes.

The Last Carnival - a revisiting of Wild Billy's Circus Story from 1973's Wild, Innocent and the E Street Shuffle as a tribute to fallen member Danny Federici. The former song was full of accordian and a story of acrobats on the high rise laughing at death with the bravado of youth. This song honors Bruce's comrade as the acrobat acknowledging the absence of his partner. The record seems to capture Bruce's dealing with Danny's death in many ways. While Danny didn't play a pivotal role in much of the E Street Band's records, his presence was undeniable. And there are certain songs that without Danny's presence, holes would exist. Unfortunately, this this the second consecutive record with a musical elegy. Instead of a personal goodbye, this is a group farewell with a gospel ending with voices and accordian, this time played by Dan's adult son.

Bruce recently penned a song for the art-imitating-life film The Wrestler starring Mickey Rourke. Noting how mightily the mighty often fall, this song is Rourke who is the character who is the film who is Rourke. While not the social statement of Streets of Philadelphia, this song is along the lines of Dead Man Walking or others from the late 90s. Bruce nails the film and the essence of Rourke's life of the last fifteen years. Should Rourke retire, this song would have helped bring about his redemption of reputation.

A DVD accompanies this album and it is simply the videos of the 'making of' though very few outtakes exist. There's a really cool song entitled A Night With the Jersey Devil which originally was a Halloween gift on Bruce's website. Fun. My biggest complaint, though, in all of this, is the packaging. WOAD comes in this format in an oversized jacket which doesn't fit in a standard shelf or case. I might be nitpicking here but it is lame. The album cover's also pretty bad. This'll make a terrible concert t shirt as well. It looks reminscent to a Mariah Carey record that I can't name but see as the crappy cover it is. As I mentioned yesterday, WOAD's strengths are Bruce's risks of sounding BIG. He's honoring his influences and showing how much of the past's music still is really timeless. I agree with the criticism that this is one record where he doesn't really say anything. Then again, have we ever really cared what Robert Plant was singing about? Just give me the SOUND of Trampled Under Foot or Achilles Last Stand. Do we really care which entrance she uses to get into the house? No, but when Paul sings that she came in through the bathroom window, I really listen and care about why he found it so important to quit the police department. The Beatles had many songs where the message took back seat to the sound and the song was the better for it. Maybe we just sit back and listen to Bruce having fun. Funny, as Bruce is taking a lot of heat with wildly mixed reviews for WOAD being too big whereas a decade and a half ago he was lambasted on The Ghost of Tom Joad for sacrificing melody for story. I guess his best just really isn't good enough.

Tickets go on sale Monday morning. I'm still debating to sit in the nosebleeds and save money in order to keep my family in our house or put myself on the floor. April Fool's Day in San Jose is also the first show on the tour which means a ton of train wrecks could happen. Or the band could be hot to trot being fresh off this Sunday's Super Bowl Halftime performance and hopefully some good sales numbers. Either way, I'm there, baby.

This Life

Thankfully for daddy, no more questions regarding eternity or the lack thereof. Just questions about whether Animal or Fozzie is the more silly muppet. Thank God.

Working on a Dream has been spinning nonstop. Tomorrow, as I have a day off, I'll write when the little ones are down, I'll break down my thoughts more in-depth. I like the record and I think I like it quite a bit. There's much from WOAD to rave about and I will. It's an oddity, though, as many reviewers have already stated in that Bruce doesn't give us a "message" per se; no fist-pumping anthems nor truims on the mass scale. WOAD is a personal record, like Tunnel of Love, in which I believe Bruce the man is singing and not through characters so often. This is a BIG record in the sense of the orchestration; Bruce has never done a record like this. The songs and lyrics and overall 'oomph' take a backseat to the sound of the record. It's big like Roy Orbison and Phil Spector and, yes I'll say it, Abbey Road. On the flip side, part of me believes that WOAD and Magic are the same album. Or, actually two albums in two - half the songs from each album belong with the half from the other. Or, there's WOAD and then several political nadir-of-the-Bushies songs that needed a home. The greatest criticism is the production. Rather the PRODUCTION. The record's so over-produced it makes Jeff Lynne sound like a garage rocker. Please, Bruce, fire Brendan O'Brien. Now. And then have Little Steven do the next one.

More to come tomorrow.

"Daddy, When Will We Die?"

We were sitting by the fireplace, eating cookies dunked in milk, playing dominos and enjoying some one on one time as the twins were asleep when my oldest dropped that question into my lap. I choked. While I answered my son, I shuddered to face one of my greatest fears, that of my children grasping their own mentality.

[for a little levity to this entry, just as I entered the last sentence, my younger son vomited all over us in bed. A half hour, a load of laundry, a shower and new bed sheets later, I'm wrapping this up.]

April 1st, just announced today. Thinking of actually sitting in the nosebleeds for $38. Things really are that tight. On sale is next Tuesday, so I'd better decide fast.

Tommorow'll mark a week with our new prez. So far, so good. A colleague returned today from a week in D.C. and gave me a t-shirt and a Washington Post. Very cool.

Off to sleeping on the floor as I don't share a bed well with my little ones. They roll around too much for me.

Running On Empty

That's about how I've been feeling the last couple of weeks. The family has shared colds back and forth and I haven't quite been up to par. Not sleeping well. Realizing how difficult ot-nine will be financially and my selfishness about not being able to buy as much music or catch as many live shows. Still wanting to catch the Boss though I'm now pretty scared after reading Joel Selvin's review of the new record in today's SFChron. He destroyed it, though, I believe his description, for better or worse, may simply come to label the new album: unnecessary. Hope not.

It's been raining quite a bit in Brentwood. I've enjoyed the intermittent sunny sky in between billowing clouds and hours of rain. With that, out has come some wonderful rain-only music. Not that I only listen to this stuff when it rains but that when it rains, only certain albums can be played. Van Morrison - Moondance, St. Dominic's Preview, Street Choir, Veeden Fleece. Carol King - Tapestry. Lots of Jackson Browne. Great music from a great era. Have been finding lots of these artists' material on youtube, which is just a blessing from Heaven.

Obama's first week has been a calm in the midst of a storm. The economy's collapsing, the nation's status is a shambles and many of the nation's principles need to be re-established. I truly feel that in just four short days, our new president has set us on a course to improving all of these. I just feel hopeful. Maybe it's because Obama is the first president I've wanted to be in office in my adult life and I simply feel now what it's like to win. Maybe because he truly is the right person for this time. Maybe because we've fallen so low. Maybe it's because what Obama's doing is what should be done. Let's see about the rest of the month.
I can't leave without saying that Wes Anderson's Darjeeling Limited is one of the most poignant films I've seen in a long time. And for someone who's now watching three or so a week, I was really struck by this film. The relationship of three brothers with very different lives experiencing a spiritual journey not of their planning is truly real and well performed. Great soundtrack as well.

Here's to more rain tomorrow.

A Brand New Day

Closing Guantanamo Bay by executive order is a nice start to things! Now, let's see something on the domestic level regarding electronic wiretapping or even on Iraq. Also classy to see wage freezes for $100,000+ salaries among White House employees. I wore a tiny Obama pin on the reverse of my presidents tie today to commemorate the great inauguration and start. Euphoria across campus among both most students and faculty. Surprising, as the majority of people, adults and students, consider themselves as conservative or Republican.

January 27th is the next great day as it is the release of Bruce's latest record, "Working On A Dream". I'm anticipating this new batch of songs but honestly, with great nervousness, as the record's already been released to hardcore fans to mixed results. Rolling Stone gave it five out of five! Wired, I believe, gave it a solid 4/5. We'll see. If anything, it'll be a rush to throw on new Bruce and eagerly await the new tour this summer. Supposedly, "Outlaw Pete" is an eight-minute banger about Mr. Seeger himself. I haven't really liked the title cut and the second Single, Brand New Day but the third single, whose title eludes me at this moment, sounded really promising. Even if it's not Darkness On the Edge of Town, it's the E Street Band playing together.

I'm finishing two books at this moment, one inspiring the other. My mother-in-law gave me David McCullough's book on the building of the Brooklyn Bridge which is just a treasure of a read. I'm only twenty pages from its completion and have enjoyed the science behind the bridge's construction the most. With that is a re-read of Doctorow's "Ragtime", historical fiction from roughly the same era. I read this one two years ago and wanted to revisit the waning years of the Progressive Era. Always a treat. Not sure what's next on the docket, though Billy Bathgate and The Sun Also Rises call. I finally read "Cannery Row" over the last couple of months and God bless John Steinbeck; his vignettes of fictional people create such the mood and setting that I will find those people next month as I take some students to the Steinbeck Center as well as the famed beachfront.

Off to bed. It's late and my brood wakes early. The children sprout like weeds and continue to amaze me every single day. Such different personalities and such love from each of the three. Living proof, man, living proof.

YES WE CAN, YES WE DID AND YES WE WILL!!!

Today, Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as our nation's forty-fourth President of the United States. Nearly two million people packed themselves into the National Mall to hear him take the oath of office and give his inaugural address. For many, it was a day of celebration and happiness. For me, it was one of the proudest days of my life.
It's been a while since I've last posted. For reasons I'll get into later, I took a four-month hiatus. While much-needed, there has been much I've wanted to say and yet in the last four months, my interests lay elsewhere. I volunteered for Obama's campaign along with Congressman Jerry McNerney and my father's re-election bid. All three were wildly successful and now today is the start of a new era in leadership and American vision.
The view of the Mall was breathtaking this morning. I ran downstairs after waking up - no snoozing this morning - to turn on the television. Throngs of excited Americans of all ages, colors and backgrounds were packing themselves into the closest available spaces of lawn to be a part of history. I sure wish I could have been there but at fifteen degrees, I do appreciate the warmth of a toasty classroom. People danced, sang, waved banners and signs and hugged their children, hoping they too would remember this momentous occasion. I did all I could at times not to cry in front of my students, though there was a lot to cry about: the first presidential candidate I've wanted to win doing so; the excitement about the election and the Obama team running such a wonderful campaign; the anticipation for change and the cathartic release of pain from the last eight years of governmental failure. My loathing of George Bush contains volumes in this blog. Even since my last postings, Bush did all he could to remain detached and clueless, from the financial collapse of the economy, the Russia-Georgia War and the Israeli pummeling of Palestinian civilians in its Gaza border war of this month. Knowing Bush is gone does not free us from his disastrous "leadership" as it will take decades to repair so many things. And yet, and yet: today is the day of the greatest power shift in the last generation and people are demanding that Obama push for monumental change. A new, progressive New/Fair Deal is sorely needed and wanted by so many. Obama needs to use the power of the federal government to shake our institutions up and remind all Americans that power can only be used for the benefit of the many. That government is the power of the people and its efforts are to be for the people and that our leaders are to lead and govern all of us, not just those that support them. Today must truly be seen as a new birth of freedom, freedom for our governmental institutions to work again and for the relationship between a strong government and a free people to be re-established. I'm excted to see President Obama lead the nation in a hopeful and postive direction to reach his and our goals for change.