High Hopes

So Bruce Springsteen, for whom the two of us have what you might call a mild affection (and by "mild" we of course mean "pathological"), has released a new album, High Hopes, his 18th studio album. Several things are unique here. For one, it's his first album ever (save for the estimable collection from 2006, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions) to contain non-original material. Quite a bit of it, actually; 25% of the songs on High Hopes are, in fact, covers of other artists. So that's a major change. Second, nothing on here can legitimately be described as "new" material. By Bruce's own admission, in advance publicity as well as in the album's very liner notes, he deems this is a collection of the best of his unreleased material over the past decade or so. And while he did famously release the sprawling 4-CD tapestry that is Tracks in 1998, that was prior to the E Street Band's 1999 reunion and was never meant to be viewed as a new studio release. High Hopes is.

We'll get to some other differences between this release and the ones that came before it as we move along. What's interesting for us is this is the first time Bruce Springsteen has released an album while we have maintained this blog of ours here at Reason to Believe. So naturally we thought awhile on the best way to approach High Hopes. And rather than do a traditional album review, we opted for what you will be seeing for the next 12 days: A song-by-song discussion, one song per day, by the two of us. We thought this is the best way to take a deeper, more meaningful look into this new record than you'll find most anyplace else. Because after all, our loyal follower(s) at Reason to Believe deserve nothing less!

As you will see below, once we start listening we have posted a YouTube link to the song. So if you want, hit play and listen while reading our real-time dialogue about the song—it'll like being right in the room with us! ...wait...why are you running away?

So here we go. Day 1, Song 1 from High Hopes. It's the title track: "High Hopes"

***

Dan Tapper

Yo

Scott Peterson

Oh hai Dan

Dan Tapper

Hi doggy! Shall we listen?

Scott Peterson

I suppose.

WAIT. 

Should we talk about it first?

Dan Tapper

So. Bruce has a new album.

Scott Peterson

Bruce...Hornsby?

Dan Tapper

Weitz. Mick Belker from "Hill Street Blues."

Scott Peterson

He the one who ate a nose?

Dan Tapper

ONE! ONE TIME!

Scott Peterson

Do they call you Dan the bridge-builder?

Dan Tapper

They...do not.

Scott Peterson

Okay. So. Bruce has a new album out. Had you heard anything about it ahead of time?

Dan Tapper

He does! High Hopes!

I heard it was unreleased stuff and covers. Stuff from the post-Reunion years. I was wary.

Scott Peterson

You were weary. Not enough coffee.

You were wooly. From all the stress.

Dan Tapper

And apparently Tom Morello is all Bruce can think about these days.

Scott Peterson

Yeah, that's some bromance them boys got goin' on, huh?

Never mind Nils, think Patti's jealous?

Dan Tapper

As my wife says, "Tom Morello is HAND.............................................some."

He looks a little like me. if I were biracial and smokin' hot. And smart.

Scott Peterson

So...spittin' image, then.

Dan Tapper

Brothah from anothah mothah.

Well. Distant cousin, maybe.

Scott Peterson

Yeah, I was less than overjoyed when I heard the conceit of the album, but by now, I've decided to trust young Mister Springsteen.

Dan Tapper

That's the thing. He's the only major artist I can think of who hasn't put covers on his studio albums. Then again those who have? Um...Dylan...Beatles...REM...Replacements...

Scott Peterson

Ayuh. Those hacks. I liked that he was unique in that regard. I was sad to see it go. But what the hell, right?

Dan Tapper

I hear you. Especially considering our boy has put out 5-6 masterpieces already. Numbers only  the Beatles and Dylan can really top.

Scott Peterson

Those hacks. And, you know, I'm glad not to have to wait three or four or five years for a new studio album no more.

I'd prefer to have more less-than-phenomenal LPs than to have fewer albums but each a masterpiece, I think. If that makes sense. I suppose it depends upon the ratio, of course.

Dan Tapper

Right! I want to hear Bruce do new music! Because you know what? Homeboy can make some good music. Still. He's been more prolific these last 10 years than ever before.

Scott Peterson

Yeah, one of your friends said how he was looking forward to High Hopes but what he was REALLY stoked about was the Born in the USA live concert DVD.

Dan Tapper

Right. I've heard way fewer bootlegs than you have, but I've heard my share. I want to hear new stuff if he's got it.

Scott Peterson

Which, I mean...I'm looking forward to that too...but not nearly as much as new music

Well, maybe not more prolific. But certainly releasing a hell of a lot more.

Dan Tapper

Even if it's a ramshackle collection of unreleased stuff. This is his 7th album since 2002. For him that's warp speed.

Scott Peterson

Which brings us to...?

Dan Tapper

High Hopes!

Scott Peterson

I gots 'em!

Shall we commence playing?

Dan Tapper

Me too! Let's fire it up. Leading off with a cover. Strange.

Scott Peterson

Hm. I always thought the way Max lead off the original was awesome. This is even cooler. I think? The syncopation's off the charts. 

Dan Tapper

Sounds a little like "Part Man Part Monkey." Morello is already on it. That dischordant bleeting in the background is him, yes?

Scott Peterson

I worry when things are too cool that they'll date too much.

Yeah, the radio signals are Morello, I believe.

Dan Tapper

Max is bringing it, no doubt.

Scott Peterson

And the wacka wacka guitar that sounds like a DJ scratching. Horns!

Dan Tapper

This doesn't rhyme. You notice that? Un-Bruce like.

Scott Peterson

I know! I noticed that too! None of the three covers do, I don't think. Very unusual for him.

Dan Tapper

Yeah, this does seem to have a little bit more funk than he tends to go for.

Love the gospel-ee chorus backing.

Scott Peterson

Ayuh. In addition to the DJ scratching effect, Tom's got some 70s style wah-wah, which is kinda funny.

Dan Tapper

Morello's solo. Man. The guy is not exactly melodic, but damn if he doesn't doesn't know how to create some inventive sounds, huh?

Scott Peterson

it's ironical that he's the one doing the wah-wah solo, when he was barely born for its heyday, and not Bruce, who was already making records at the time.

Dan Tapper

Max is just thundering along. Almost Mad Dog kinda energy.

Scott Peterson

Morello's guitar reminds me of the way Blue Öyster Cult's rhythm guitarist was sometimes credited: stun guitar

Dan Tapper

Nice breakdown at 3:36. Sounds like an end, but Bruce is still churning.

Scott Peterson

I wonder if that's Morello doing the wickety-wickety during the second bridge. It's a bit in the background, but I wonder if it's not Bruce

Dan Tapper

This is about the 5th time I have heard this. I like it way more now than 5 times ago.

I think it's both of them, trading.

Scott Peterson

I'm not insane about this song. I never have been. I like it okay but don't love it. But it's one of the rare songs--rare for me--that I like better once I know the words.

Dan Tapper

Oooh! False ending!

Scott Peterson

YES! I love that it is!

Dan Tapper

That is rare for you.

Scott Peterson

I love that it sounds like it's coming to a flat stop, something he almost never does on record...but it's a false ending! But then they come back...and really do finish off big! Head fake followed by pump fake!

Dan Tapper

I always fall for the pump fake. One thing about that song? The E Street Band is alive and kicking. This is more than they were utilized on Wrecking Ball.

Scott Peterson

You fall for every fake. You fell for my fake breasts just last week. It's the current live band on the title track, yes?

Dan Tapper

Full band, plus your boy Ron Aniello on the drum loop.

Scott Peterson

Okay. So. Ron. Think he and Brendan O'Brien kinda hate each other? I'll bet they do. I would.

Dan Tapper

One thing critics are saying it he tends to overproduce. I mean, it's no Nebraska of course, but I don't hear the production getting in the way. Not on this track anyway. 

Why do you think that about Ron Aniello and Brendan O'Brien? Because they both have the ear of Mr. Bruce Springsteen?

Scott Peterson

Yes. Because BOB was Bruce Springsteen's new producer, a big deal, and only one he used, his thick as thieves right hand man for like 10 years...and for a few years now it's been Aniello. Only on this one they went back to BOB for a few things

Dan Tapper

Again, odd way to start off any collection. Thematically it's on part with the rootsy rally call of Wrecking Ball. But it also let's you know you could be in for anything.

Scott Peterson

Interesting. Sometimes he hides his themes in plain sight. Let's proceed and see if high hopes are thematic.

The bit about wanting to look into the faces of his unknown wife and kids and believe they have a chance would seem to.

***

COMING TOMORROW—TRACK 2 FROM HIGH HOPES: "Harry's Place"

Gov. Christie Traffic Jam

Well, that's a surprisingly concise recap of the events as we currently understand them and, perhaps not entirely surprisingly or perhaps shockingly so, makes a point that most of the mainstream media—who are almost bordering on considering doing their job for once—has glossed over, which is how this screwed one and all, regardless of class divisions.

Oddly, Bruce is the one who seems to be getting lost in the chord changes occasionally. And now we know why he didn't include the breakdown when he did this acoustically back on the Tunnel of Love Express tour.

Did Christie die a little when he saw this? One certainly hopes so. But one can't help but wonder if his reaction, as others have posited, wasn't more like, "omigodomigodomigod! Bruce is singing about me!!! Squeeeeeeee!!!"

No Fun

On the anniversary of the final show of the most underrated band ever, here's the last song they ever performed. (Until finally brought back years later by the siren call of filthy lucre.)

"You'll get one number and one number only 'cause I'm a lazy bastard. This is no fun. No fun. This is no fun—at all. No fun. Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?"

No fun? Maybe not. Was there an awful lot of cheating? Absolutely. Was transcendent art created in the meantime. Beyond question.

Curbside

As is well known to any fan of rock and roll, it's such a fine line between stupid and clever. But the line between exquisite melancholy and maudlin treacle is much thinner and much more treacherous for a songwriter. Damien Jurado takes a subject and approaches it in a manner that could easily signal a quick descent into the latter. Instead, he carves out space in the former with a sparse, incisive deftness that's heartbreaking. 

I would come out just see you
Dancing freely by the sunset
Like the sun you'd shine brightly 

We'd spend hours by the curbside
Telling stories under streetlights
How your words would amaze me 

Now those days are gone
Slowly they'd slipped away 

I still go out by the old house
Where I met you our first summer
Where are you now, you're with another 

I am sitting by the curbside
Where we'd hang out under streetlights
How those times still are with me 

Now those days are gone
Slowly they slip away

Moses, Come Back!

So I've got this fairly old iPod that I just can't seem to get rid of. We silly, mortal humans, huh? So attached to our gadgets and devices.

I got it as a gift from my lovely wife in 2006 (which is perhaps a big reason I don’t want to part with it) and it just feels…wrong to part with it. It’s the iPod video, the first model that had the vid player, I think, and it holds 30 gigabytes of music and stuff. I’ve got thousands of songs on there and even though it won’t even hold a charge anymore, it still works groovy when I plug it into the car and run it through the Bluetooth. So I’m keeping it. At least until it dies.

Not long after I got this lil gem I started making playlists, just for the hey of it. This was before Scott and I pretty much simultaneously rediscovered the magic of the album as a whole body of work (thanks in large part to this book) and, well, I like assembling lists. Y’know, about trivial stuff like music and movies and sports. Never about pertinent life issues. I mean, that would be crazy, right?

So some of these lists are titled for a special occasion (“Thanksgiving Mix 2008,” “Vacation Mix 2009” and such) and some are categorized by the date I made them. The first one I made is thusly called, very simply, "2-26-06." And today I thought, “Gee whiz, I’d like to listen to this.”

(Yes. When I think to myself I actually sound a little like Lumpy Rutherford.)

The list is somewhat scattershot without much of a focus to it, but it’s got a buncha songs I really like and at the time hadn’t heard for quite awhile. Like Richard Thompson’s “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” and Bob Mould’s “The Last Night” and Freedy Johnston’s “Bad Reputation” and XTC’s “The Mayor of Simpleton.” To name just a few.

So I’m listening today to this 17-song list made nearly eight years ago and I get excited, realizing the next song is a great one I haven’t heard for long time. Patty Griffin’s “Moses.” So now I am driving in the car and giddy at the song about to come on.

Only it doesn’t. “The Mayor of Simpleton” does instead (another great song, of course, but I wanted to hear Patti!). So I check to make sure it’s not on shuffle. It’s not. I check to make sure I didn’t accidently advance the next song along. I didn’t. Then I hit the “Songs” button on the dashboard to see the entire 17-song list.

And it shows me a 16-song list. One of the songs—Patti Griffin’s “Moses”—is gone. It was there, saved to a list for nearly eight years, and now it’s gone.

What the WHAT???

This can happen? Really? I’ve had this playlist for nearly 8 years on the same iPod. I’ve never known iPods to self-edit or change, have you? How in the name of all that is holy can a list saved to an iPod with 17 songs suddenly become a list with 16 songs? How? HOW?????

Anyway I’d like to know.

But in the meantime here’s the song I wanted to hear today. Because it’s such a wonderful song.

It’s a fascinating little track, so raw and exposed it sounds like a demo. And yet at the same time is very clearly a finished piece, something whole and complete.

Here’s what kills me—this is how Patti started her whole wonderful career. This is the very first song on her very first album in 1996, Living With Ghosts. It’s a pretty audacious way to begin a career, with a deeply pained plea for empathy and nothing more than a cold, bony guitar line to support you.

Yet listen to the rough beauty at work here. Listen to the way she bounces between thoughts that are straight out allegory (“I need Moses, to cross this sea of loneliness, part this red river of pain”) and then become highly, almost obliquely personal (“I’m just this tragic figure in the corner over here, with an empty apartment and a best friend who is a queer”). Patti is so alone on this track, with a cold echo that makes it sound like she could be the last person on earth. Even as she bends in the slightest touch of morbid humor among the desolation.

Every time I see him he smiles

And tells me how well he’s walking these miles

But he never ever asks a single thing about me

If I die, he’d hear about it eventually

Patti sings “Moses” with a full-on confessional urgency, messing with the meter of each line as if the words are coming to her as she sings them. And she’s even able to show off her estimable range as she hits a pretty crazy height with “I need Moses!” on the second chorus. What a way to introduce yourself to the public.

So. I would never erase you, Patti. Chalk it up to a technological glitch. Or an iPod slowly dying. Or, I suppose, one of the first subtle hints that our devices are in fact readying themselves to conquer we silly, mortal humans.

Why Worry

I'd never seen this before, but the way they play with the melody and the timing and yet never lose each other for a moment is staggering. And as Peter Lubin wrote in a fantastic Popdose piece, an amazing thing about the Everly Brothers is that, unlike other close harmony singers, they never watch each other's mouths: they stare into each other's eyes or look out at the audience.

Also, that's, uh...that's a pretty decent lil band there.

Cantaloupe Island

There's so much to love in this clip. The amused, disbelieving looks Omar Hakim and Stanley Clarke give Herbie Hancock as he teases and teases the intro to the tune. The grins Hakim and Hancock exchange towards the end of Hancock's solo. How locked in Clarke and Hakim are during their duet, and Hakim's razor-sharp right foot which seems to be synced to the atomic clock in Boulder. The way Clarke stomps on the riser almost as though he were headbanging, before he waves off Hakim at the end, signifying surrender—and any musician that can get Clarke to even pretend to be impressed by technique is a serious monster. Shorter patting Clarke's shoulder in sympathy immediately thereafter.

Most of all, of course, it's the joy and intensity with which all these musicians approach this tune they've played so many times, especially Hancock and Shorter. Shorter attacks his solo like he's been waiting years for the opportunity. And the way Hancock transitions from a ferocious, almost Jerry Lee Lewis-like pounding of the keys to a gentle introspection in the space of about a quarter second is magical.

Giants still walk the earth.

Walk Away Renee

Baroque pop goes country? Damn skippy.

RIP Phil Everly

It's one of the most famous sibling feuds in all of rock and roll. But when I think of the Everly Brothers, I think of the way they can barely take their eyes off each other once during this entire song, and the tender way Phil smiles at his brother the second time Don sings "without your sweet love," in what sure looks like complete admiration and utter adoration.