Word: springsteens
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...dust hasn't settled yet, and now likely never will. After almost three years of legal entanglements, a creative time-out and a lingering celebrity hangover, Bruce Springsteen has come storming back, raising a fine ruckus, not just reaffirming his promise as the pre-eminent rock figure of the late '70s, but redeeming, even enhancing...
...power of this song is offset by two awful turkeys, "Adam Raised a Cain" and "Streets of Fire." Almost identical, they throb like a migraine with leaden, new-wave-inspired beats while Springsteen growls incoherently and lays down overamplified guitar riffs. These songs seem to be his answer to the anger of punk rock, but they sound more like annoying filler material...
CANDY'S ROOM," which serves as a transition from the dulling attack of "Something in the Night" to the haunting "Racing in the Streets," stands out after a couple of listenings as one of the better musical cuts. A tinkling bell and Springsteen's razor-sharp guitar follow the beat of the vocals while drummer Weinberg turns in his best performance on a restless cymbal. Thesong is colored by skillfully manipulated dynamics as fast and slow, soft and loud roll back and forth with Springsteen's vocals. But unfortunately, this winner has an insipid and trite song like "Factory" sharing...
...trouble is, simply, that Springsteen has ignored his limitations on this album. He shines when he explores the problems that confront an outsider trying to wrest women from sheltered lives with the lures of speed, passion and freedom. Springsteen is in fact one of the most attractive and believable outsider person as in rock. But when he tries to assume the stance of someone caught inside, in the work-a-day world, it's hard either to accept or be interested in it. Springsteen is a wonderful painter of the social landscape, but as a social critic he is standing...
This album does have a tendency to grow on you, and if you like Springsteen you may like this. But you probably won't be crazy about it. Its shortcomings and its excesses are hindrances that cannot be overlooked. It could be that because of the three years off, Springsteen has lost an essential edge and been too compulsive about his album; we hope that is all it is. But when I look into the vacant eyes of the man on his album cover, and remember how many talents have burned out and gone maundering off into self-indulgence...