Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising" - Five Stars

Rolling Stone ^ | July 29, 2002 | Kurt Loder

[Dems_R_Losers]

The heart sags at the prospect of pop stars weighing in on the subject of September 11th. Which of them could possibly transmute the fiery horror of that day with the force of their art, or offer up anything beyond a dismal trivialization?

The answer, it turns out, is Bruce Springsteen. With his new album, The Rising, Springsteen wades into the wreckage and pain of that horrendous event and emerges bearing fifteen songs that genuflect with enormous grace before the sorrows that drift in its wake. The small miracle of his accomplishment is that at no point does he give vent to the anger felt by so many Americans: the hunger for revenge. The music is often fierce in its execution, but in essence it is a requiem for those who perished in that sudden inferno, and those who died trying to save them. Springsteen grandly salutes their innocence and their courage, and holds out a hand to those who mourn them, who seek the comfort of an explanation for the inexplicable:

Picture's on the nightstand, TV's on in the den
Your house is waiting . . . for you to walk in
But you're missing, you're missing

It's wonderful to hear these finely calibrated lyrics borne aloft by the E Street Band, brought back at last for a record that rocks as broadly as Born in the U.S.A., the last studio album for which they all gathered, eighteen years ago. However heavy of heart the new songs may be, this three-guitar incarnation of the band (with Steve Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Springsteen -- never a slouch in the screaming-guitar department himself) propels them with resounding power. Like Born in the U.S.A. before it, The Rising sounds unlike any other record of its time; in an era of rock murk and heavy synthetics, it flaunts its hard, bright guitars and positively walloping beats.

Springsteen addresses the spiritual dislocations of the World Trade Center attack - and the unquestioning bravery of the rescuers who lost their lives in it - with "Into the Fire," a song that starts out with the simplicity of a white-gospel hymn ("I need your kiss/But love and duty called you someplace higher"), then blossoms into a luminous anthem:

May your strength give us strength
May your faith give us faith
May your hope give us hope
May your love bring us love

Elsewhere, Springsteen acknowledges the fury that welled up in many bereft New Yorkers after the destruction of Manhattan's two most towering landmarks: "I want a kiss from your lips/I want an eye for an eye/I woke up this morning to an empty sky." And in the lush, haunted ballad "Nothing Man," he seems to give voice to the emptiness and incomprehension felt by some of that day's surviving heroes:

I never thought I'd live to read about myself
In my hometown paper
How my brave young life was forever changed
In a misty cloud of pink vapor

Not every song on the album was written in the wake of September 11th: "Waitin' on a Sunny Day," for example, with its big, meaty riff and strutting lyrics. "Let's Be Friends (Skin to Skin)," with its entirely unexpected beach-beat bounce, wouldn't seem at first listen to fit in here. But every song on the album is unified, to an extent, by a mood of romantic longing and a yearning for human connection. In the end, they all flow together.

As with Born in the U.S.A., the title of this album may mislead some who hear it, particularly those intent on retaliation, which Springsteen himself shows little interest in contemplating. His concern is not with a national uprising but with a rising above: the transcending of ever-mounting losses and ancient hatreds.

His most inspired gesture comes in "Worlds Apart," a track that writhes with the sounds of qawwali, the intense, God-conjuring, life-affirming vocal music of the mystical Sufi sect of Islam - a branch of the faith much detested (and often suppressed) by death-trumpeting fundamentalist imams. Hearing ecstatic qawwali ululations underpinning a song in which Springsteen sings "May the living let us in/Before the dead tear us apart" is a truly soul-stirring experience.

Bruce Springsteen has gathered many a superlative over the years. His most resonant works stand as milestones in the lives of millions of fans. Even for him, though, The Rising, with its bold thematic concentration and penetrating emotional focus, is a singular triumph. I can't think of another album in which such an abundance of great songs might be said to seem the least of its achievements.

KURT LODER
(RS 903 - August 22, 2002)

[Dems_R_Losers]

Ladies and gentlemen, I have spent the better part of this weekend listening to this CD and I am amazed. Whether or not you like rock music, whether or not you like Springsteen, try to listen to this CD - and listen to it a few times before making up your mind. If you are a Springsteen fan, you will love it. It is at once heartbreaking and uplifting. I'm sure we will be hearing a lot of it in the next several weeks, for good reason. This is just great, great, great music.

[Chi-townChief]

Of course, this is from the same guys who said that the Rolling Stones' "Goat's Head Soup" was their finest album.

[speedy]

Springsteen is obviously immensely talented, but too often he has lent his skills to leftist political causes, keeping up his Asbury Park blue collar pose while living most of the time in Bel Air. I haven't heard the new one yet, and I hope I come away from it feeling the way you do.

[willieroe]

Please...reading a Rolling Stone critique of a Springsteen album is as helpful as reading a James Carville critique of Bill Clinton.

[newwahoo]

Yeah? Where was that jerk when Paul McCartney and others were basically comforting the nation? Ever since he came out and said that people got "Born in the USA" all wrong it was obvious that he was a jerk.

Any of the profits going to help the victims or support the war effort? I thought not.

[Rocko]

Earlier comments here.

[dennisw]

The Tom Hanks of hard rock and roll. What a bore. Gimme the Who or Stones or Dylan.

[GOP_Lady]

In the 70's, I was a huge Springsteen fan -- bought all of his albums. After a while, though, I couldn't take listening to his music anymore -- depressing -- nothing uplifting -- factory shut down, etc., etc. I do, however, think that I will buy his new CD.

[GOP_Lady]

How about Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music???

[jumpstartme]

Goats head Soup went Platinum in Indonesia! /cannabalism

[GOP_Lady]

Which reminds me...How could Jerry Hall leave Bryan Ferry for Mick Jagger???

[StockAyatollah]

Yeah that phony blue collar, working man BS always made me sick. Please! Springsteen is about as blue collar as Ted Kennedy.

[Rocko]

$. You gotta ask?

[Colonel_Flagg]

Well, time to get flamed ..

Springsteen couldn't sing twenty years ago and he hasn't improved since then. I watched the networks wet themselves with live coverage on Friday and while I appreciate the 9-11 sentiment I guess I don't see this as the big deal his fans do.

But, since I'm going to be hearing every cut on this CD on the radio for the next year, I'd better get used to it.

[jumpstartme]

Madman drummers bummers and Indians in the summer with a teenage diplomat
In the dumps with the mumps as the adolescent pumps his way into his hat
With a boulder on my shoulder, feelin’ kinda older I tripped the merry-go-round
With this very unpleasing sneezing and wheezing the calliope crashed to the ground
Some all-hot half-shot was headin’ for the hot spot snappin’ his fingers clappin’ his hands,
And some fleshpot mascot was tied into a lover’s knot with a whatnot in her hand
And now young Scott with a slingshot finally found a tender spot and throws his lover in the sand
And some bloodshot forget-me-not whispers daddy’s within earshot save the buckshot turn up the band

[Northpaw]

Springsteen gets his lyrics from cereal boxes and his chord progressions from summer camp songs. How any Freepers would buy any music from this talentless leftist is beyond me. Oh, yeah, and golly, another post-9/11 musical tribute to America.....what an original idea. This asswipe is about as American as Jane Fonda.

[GOP_Lady]

Guitarmania Rocks Cleveland. Link to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Guitarmania Event! http://www.cleveland.com/guitarmania/

[Chi-townChief]

Hall's explanation was that Jagger wouldn't faint when he saw a cockroach, unlike Ferry.

[Chi-townChief]

"In the 70's, I was a huge Springsteen fan -- bought all of his albums. After a while, though, I couldn't take listening to his music anymore -- depressing -- nothing uplifting -- factory shut down, etc., etc. I do, however, think that I will buy his new CD."

I'm right there with you except for the buying the new CD part - they'd have to pay me to take it. In the '70s, he was great but, as they say: that was then, this is now.

[HHFi]

You sound like me. I loved "Thunder Road" and the "Darkness on the Edge Of Town" album, but after "The River," when he started turning out one tuneless mumbler after another about how the factory shut down, Mister, an' the workin' man is livin' under the train trestles in Amurika and carryin' his few belongings in a little bandana tied to a stick (I could have sworn it was the booming 1980s, not the Depression era 1930s, but what did I know?), I frankly lost interest.

As far as 9/11 songs go, aside from the country tunes about kicking Osama's ass, I've only heard one great song about the event, and it hasn't even been released yet. It's by Amy Rigby and is called "Don't Ever Change." I saw her perform it live in Dallas three weeks after 9/11, and it hushed the room and brought tears to everyone's eyes. It has yet to be released, but since I work in radio, I got her to send me an advance CD of the demo. It's not maudlin and it never even mentions the attack itself; it just addresses the way it affected average Americans. The verses are about the things she sees all around her, from beer-bellied guys fishing in a small town to her own daughter ignoring her while bopping to her Walkman, and she remembers how she used to be cynical and get annoyed and pick out all their flaws, but all she can think now is "I love you, you're perfect, don't ever change." I haven't heard any other song so perfectly capture the feeling of shock and loss that came from that day. I just got the CD a week ago, played it for my wife, and it still made her cry even 11 months later.