When there's too much of a good thing... (...out of a very bad thing)

I liked Bruce's The Rising when it came out in 2002. It was also the first new Springsteen album I bought, after having built my collection of his catalogue. But that's not necessarily why I liked it. I thought the songs that were inspired by the terror attacks of September 2001 were strong, and even the ones that only vaguely alluded to it (or maybe didn't) like "Nothing Man" were strong. There was just one problem with the album, a rather big one, or maybe I should say a rather long one: The album is just too damn long! At almost 73 minutes it is by far the longest album the Boss ever cut, essentially the length of a vinyl double album. It was difficult to get through the album in one sitting, especially because I feel (and this is a very personal impression) that the album sags a bit in the middle, right after "Empty Sky". 

I am not a huge fan of Bruce's dabbling in world music, but it seemed unwise that the two tracks that do are sequenced one right after the other. "The Fuse" is an underrated tune that was at the time used well in Spike Lee's The 25th Hour, itself an underrated, almost forgotten movie. But here, in the middle of this very long album, I'd still skip it from time to time. One track I'd never skip is "Mary's Place", a fantastic throwback number that sounds like the E-Streeters had transported themselves back in time to the late Seventies. It's a calculated move for sure, a 'let's do one like in the old days', but it works like gangbusters. Still, right next to the sad, emotional 9/11 stuff, something wasn't quite right with it. 

Drunken, rambling hobo filmed for Youtube? Oh, no, it's just Bruce in a music video. Difficult to tell the difference sometimes...

In a way, it's understandable that Bruce mashed all this stuff together. He had all these songs written under the impression of the terror attacks, but he also wanted some upbeat stuff on the album, and these world music experiments, have something for the re-united E-Streeters to do etc. etc. So, for the Boss it made sense to to this album in a 'a bit of everything for everyone' style. But really, The Rising is truly two albums in one, and so my inofficial mission is to split them into two albums, which maybe would have been the best way to release this music. 

Let's start with the new The Rising (yes, I kept the title, don't mess with a good thing). This is Bruce's 9/11 album, so I gathered all the songs more or less openly about it from the original album. I mean, yes, "My City Of Ruins" was originally written about Springsteen's old hometown Freehold, but no one would associate that song after its The Rising appearance with that. So those were seven tracks, one short of an album. But there was of course High Hopes, Springsteen's odds-and-sods collection in 2014 which had one unreleased song from The Rising sessions, the ghostly "Down In The Hole" (with all his children in a choir appearance!). So that's eight tracks, for an album length of a little more than 39 minutes. Perfect length for a vinyl album. 

I programmed both 'sides' of the album in a mirror way: moody opener, up tempo anthem, slow song, uptempo-ish closing number. This assures, I think, enough variety in what is obviously thematically samey material. So, what can I tell ya? If you are one of the 'Bruce is a hack, egads' type, there is probably nothing I can say to get you to check out The Rising, either version, but if you aren't, it's probably been a good long while since you listened to this particular Springsteen album. So, maybe my version here gives you a good excuse to listen again...

So, be back tomorrow then for part two of this project, Further On.