green1's Full Review: The Rising [Special Packaging] [Limited] by Bruce ...
I find it amusing that Bruce Springsteen, a guy who never held a real job in his life, is generally seen as the quintessential spokesman for America’s blue-collar class. Moreover, his songs about The Working Man tend to be the weakest and most maudlin works in his repertoire. It’s in his songs about youthful angst (which he unfortunately stopped writing around 1984) and his stories about love lost where his vivid, resonant talent kicks into high gear.
Loss is the most frequent recurring theme in Springsteen’s music. It seems fitting that he should release not just a single song that reflects on the massive, soul-blackening crime against humanity that was September 11th, but an entire concept album on the subject. For the most part, the record is a solid success, with few weak spots and only one song that could be described as a clunker.
“The Rising”, Springsteen’s first studio album recorded with his E Street Band since 1984’s “Born In The USA”, deftly alternates between roadhouse rock anthems and forlorn ballads. Tracks such as “Lonesome Day”, “Countin’ On A Miracle” and “Mary’s Place” are sturdy, traditionally rock ‘n rolling tunes, but retain an appropriate touch of melancholy.
Springsteen covers the catastrophe from a cross-section of perspectives on the album. He avoids references to retaliation except for a brief line on “Empty Sky”, about a man who’s lost a loved one in the attack (“I want an eye for an eye”). This is not surprising; it’s reasonable not to expect a child of the 60’s counterculture to dwell on military retribution, especially when we have Don Rumsfeld and the 10th Mountain Division to do that for us.
On “Worlds Apart”, concerning the lack of understanding between people and cultures, back-up vocals are supplied by a group of moderate Muslim singers. The album’s one throwaway is “Hand In Hand”, a generic hippie hymn about everybody getting together and living in harmony and all that sort of utopian baloney.
On the striking “Paradise”, Springsteen gives an account of a homicide bombing from the point-of-view of the bomber. On the song’s second verse, he views the Pentagon attack through the eyes of a man whose wife was killed. The song is haunting and probably contains the best-written lyrics on the album, but there’s a somewhat disturbing implication of moral equivalency between the two characters. That’s almost certainly not what Springsteen intended, but some listeners might infer that.
“You’re Missing” is the album’s most beautiful expression of loss, mostly due to its utter simplicity of language:
“Children are asking if it’s allright
Will you be in our arms tonight?”
The album’s title track is the strongest selection on the disc, the very kind of patriotic anthem that some mistook “Born In The USA” for. Beautifully written, it describes the account of a New York firefighter who dies at the World Trade Center, then makes the transition from this life to the next:
“There’s spirits above and behind me
Faces gone black, eyes burning bright
May their precious blood bind me
Lord, as I stand in your fiery light”
The disc closes with “My City Of Ruins”, a tune with spiritual overtones that nicely caps the album’s main themes.
Since September 11, much of the entertainment industry has maintained a discreet distance from the terror attack and its aftermath. Springsteen’s CD is a welcome exception, encompassing much of an American generation’s own journal of tragedy, recovery and resilience.
The Rising special limited edition deluxe package includes the CD in a hardcover book with a 40 page, full color booklet filled with extra photos, han...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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