4/5
Deliver Me From Nebraska
Tracks will take you through Bruce Springsteen's definitive, and now, in most CD cases, deluxe discography of his great American songbook. Although this runaway American dream takes you by road, not rail, for the working man who loves cars as much as he does the love of a good woman herself. This summertime, Bruce gave us the long awaited sequel to his 1998 'Tracks' box-set with 'Tracks II: The Lost Albums'. One that specially delivered actual ones, 'Somewhere North Of Nashville', like my new favourite set, the 'Streets Of Philadelphia' sessions. That was the theme song, from the Oscar winning Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington movie 'Philadelphia', that got me into Springsteen in the first place. With 'Jerry Maguire's' 'Secret Garden' actually being my favourite Spring song. And these unreleased 90s gems, from the "lost period" of The Boss, were the sessions that finally made my father a Bruce fan...and I couldn't be prouder. But there's more. 'Tracks III' is already being put together as we cutting room floor speak, and before all that, it's time to celebrate another classic album anniversary...albeit a few weeks late. Can you blame him? The Boss is a little busy.
Delivered on the same day the long-awaited and highly-anticipated Bruce biography, 'Deliver Me From Nowhere', starring Emmy winning actor Jeremy Allen White, of 'The Bear' fame, hits theatres, 'Nebraska '82' gets even more cinematic. The original 'Nebraska', featuring the title-track and strong singles, 'Atlantic City' and 'Open All Night', not to mention cult classics such as, 'Johnny 99', 'Highway Patrolman' and 'My Father's House', was two sides of one of Springsteen's greatest LP's. And after many reissues and bootlegs, this epic expanded edition gives you even more 'Reason To Believe' ("Still, at the end of every hard-earned day/People find some reason to believe"). It's a 'Used Car' full of stories, like the four that pull us to the end of this album on this closing curtain. Now, we're in the new age, where vinyls and crates are replaced with Spotify's and streams, you can see this same car, from the classic cover, with snow on the windshield, in black and white, pull across this long highway of broken American dreams and runaways. Just don't let the 'State Trooper' pull you over. Because he's got another story to tell, too.
This road, from 'The River' singer, was a darker turn in devils and dust. Off E Street, and one man alone, without his band of brothers, much like when he went through a 'Tunnel Of Love', depression and divorce. The sixth studio album from Bruce and Columbia Records was recorded unaccompanied on a four-track in his Colts Neck, New Jersey home's bedroom. Isolated and inspired to reach higher. This sparse and stripped-down set was favoured over the big band approach, but now you can hear what that all sounded like as 'Nebraska '82' goes electric like Dylan. Hearing 'Atlantic City' like this, is like hearing 'Atlantic City' live from New York on many an E Street Band album, in concert. Just like the live acoustic versions of his signature song 'Born In The U.S.A.', that really reveals what that song is truly about. That classic take gets its official album release here too. And aside from the original Green Day, end of September release date, what better day to release this reissue, than on the day 'Deliver Me Nowhere' is released? Springsteen's life and career is too huge for one movie (we could still see Juilliard classmates Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain reunite for a third time ('A Most Violent Year', 'Scenes From A Marriage'), to play Bruce and Patti), and Jeremy's portrayal focuses on these 'Nebraska' sessions.
Following last year's PBS special, 'Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska: A Celebration In Words And Music', these unreleased B-Sides and rarities take you back even further over the horizon. Purists have tracked the likes of a 'Pink Cadillac' and 'Downbound Train' before, as these outstanding outtakes are finally whistle official. Yet there's more darkness on the edge of town with the 'Losin' Kind' and 'Child Bride'. And we all know about 'The Big Payback' from a man who sang about troopers letting their brothers run free and judges sentencing men to more than 99 years to make it even. 'Working On The Highway', Springsteen is 'On The Prowl' ("Night after, night after lonely night my head don't touch the bed/I'm on a two-lane blacktop cruisin' in my rocket sled even more"), but it's the 'Gun In Every Home' that rings out even more to the problems in the boot-cut America, Bruce Springsteen sings for, from the blue jeans to the tied boots like these. "Some nights I put my baby to bed and I shut out all the lights/I sit downstairs in the living room and I listen to the sounds of the night/I stare out my window onto a street so empty and alone/Filled with two cars in each garage and a gun in every home/And I don't know what to do, no, I don't know what to do." By far one of his critical and best records, released only now. Yet what else could you expect, other than a sprung surprise, from a man who is 'Open All Night' in black and white? Just like the 'Live At The Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank, NJ' recordings from today that show us the path is still paved the same. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Playlist Picks: NEBRASKA: 'Atlantic City', 'Mansion On The Hill', 'My Father's House'.
NEBRASKA '82: 'Gun In Every Home', 'Atlantic City (Electric Nebraska)', 'Open All Night (Live At The Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank, NJ)'.
Spin This: Bruce Springsteen - 'Devils & Dust'
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