Haven't posted in a while but I've been listening backgroundly to Bruce Springsteen's latest, Working on a Dream. It's not bad from when I seriously tune in, and I'm pleased that it has some intimate acoustic numbers in there. A bonus track of "The Wrestler" is also a big plus as it may well be one of my favorite Boss tunes ever.These modern albums tend to sound a little overproduced. And I realize that he's all about grandiose and overproduced, but this is in a different way that jibes but clashes with his ways.
Anyway, it's not bad but you can probably get by and never hear it. Except "The Wrestler," listen to that one.
But what really interests me is that lyrically his style can vary pretty dramatically. For starters, looking at the beginning of his career he was very wordy and a blatant Bob Dylan fan who could actually keep up. As time went on he managed to convey his thoughts with fewer words, and that's cool. But his word choices seemed to change as time went on as well. Maybe it's age but all of a sudden songs start with phrases as simple as "sundown sundown" to an almost-stuttered beat. "Thunder Road" would begin with the screen door slamming. The specifics, the characters and the story were the focus. It seems nowadays that he's more into the tones of things. I don't know, though. I'm not as versed on the Boss as I am on other bands. It does seem, however, that while he's not as vibrant and amazing as he was in the former days, he's still a relatively worthwhile listen.
That said, I will go ahead and tangent off and mention that Bob Dylan's last album, Modern Times, is worthwhile in a similar way. Again, he's not the spitfire lyricist he was back in the day, but at the same time I give a shit more what he has to say now. Back then he was deliberately absurd and esoteric and just meshed words together haphazardly but creatively enough to qualify as a skill. I mean let's face it, not everyone can make songs like the bulk of Blonde on Blonde. It pains me to admit that because I find the man overrated. However, when he's the old withered man he is today with a trail of destroyed relationships and lots of hardships and a lot of it due to his own pompousness, I'm interested in what he has to say. And surprise surprise, I like that latest album quite a bit! It's a humbler man and one that, while still a bit arrogant, aware of himself too. Plus, his style of music seems to be gradually shifting to a bluesy jazz that is both fitting to his voice and just overall more interesting than his straightforward rocking that never appealed to me all that much.
Tangent 2: To somewhat assuage die-hards that don't read this, all I've got for you is that I was born in 1983. A lot of developments in rock had been laid forth by then. At the same time, though, I am wont to put on some Chuck Berry once in a while and enjoy him thoroughly. At this very moment I have an itch to go and discover Roy Orbison for myself. I really just don't care for most of Bob's music from back then.
End Tangent 2.
Anyway, this one will be brief. These classic rockers clearly will not be blowing down any foundations of the genre as we know it anymore, but what they do offer is something more personally valuable and worthwhile in its own right. And that's my answer to why these old timers should keep on doing what they do instead of kicking back and relaxing as they make oodles of money.
