Word: joads
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...long ago, in a different America, before the flood, and both came over with us into a new millennium, though they were enveloped in fog as we crossed the line. They make me think of Woodie Guthrie's '30s ballad based on "The Grapes of Wrath": "We buried Grandpa Joad on the Oklahoma Road,/ and Grandma on the California side...
...music. On "Goin' Cali," Springsteen showsthat even at his most tuneless, his leastpropulsive, his voice conveys remarkablycompelling, barely restrained emotion. And"Brothers under the Bridge," hearkening back tothe similar but incomparably awful 1983 tune ofthe same name, does demonstrate a certain amountof maturation: It is as powerful as "Youngstown,"Joad's cornerstone and Springsteen's bestnew song of the past decade. Even here, though, itfeels as if Springsteen has lead the listener to afalse conclusion: that the 1995 version of"Brothers" is a better song than the similar 1983version indicates only how bad this particular1983 outtake was. It does...
...song that will attract the most attention in the compilation is the acoustic version of "Born in the U.S.A.," recorded originally for Nebraska, but not included on the final tracklist for that album. Perhaps Springsteen means through its inclusion to indicate that he has always been writing Joad-like protest music, even in composing his most famous arena rocker: but the acoustic version of "Born in the U.S.A." is fierce, bitter and passionate: There is anger in Springsteen's voice and in his inflections anger absent from Joad, where is it replaced by a still, quiet sadness...
...Part Man, Part Monkey"--are intended to be humorous and satirical, but Sprinsteen has always done best when conveying gentle humor and playfulness not through clever lyrics but through whimsical music, as in Born in the U.S.A.'s "Glory Days." Those who appreciate the hardscrabble optimist Springsteen of Joad will love "The Wish" and "The Honeymooners," but some will perhaps not in the plainly autobiographical lyrics of "The Wish" Springsteen's desire to ingratiate himself through bare confessional...
...music. And so the intermixing ofother forms of media--since the late '70s,Springsteen says, his inspiration has come notfrom music but from "films, novels andbook"--necessary in the absence of compellingmusic, a cross-polination which often reaches thepoint of extreme pretentiousness or even ofridiculousness: The Ghost of Tom Joad is analbum with source credits that include scholarshipon migrant workers, Steinbeck's Grapes ofWrath and John Ford's Grapes movie.Springsteen has arrived at some type of mediaalchemy, his songs associated with movies--all ofhis recent hits, "Philadelphia," "Dead ManWalking" and "Secret Garden," have come offsoundtracks--and even, on the fourth...