Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska (1982)

This is one of those albums you are told you "have to" have.   One of those albums that if you don't "get it" then you're not listening right.   You might say it's like "War and Peace," everyone praises it few actually read it, and even fewer actually get it, and most people start it and never finish it.   Well, if you look at it that way, you won't get far.   Look at it like a novella, not a novel, it's not Tolstoy, it's Kerouac.   Literary comparisons are well suited to this album as it should be read like a classic novel, in a comfortable place, with some time to spend.

To begin with it shouldn't be called Nebraska, rather is should be called New Jersey.   Despite the title song being called Nebraska, the album takes place largely in New Jersey.   The stories of broken dreams, and good guy gone wrong were echoed in his next release, "Born in the USA," but with bombastic flare and the human drum machine beats of Max Weinberg, who plays with the soul of a machine and the perfection of a human.   So firstly, forget about Nebraska, re-name the album for the second track "Atlantic City," and you'll get and like the album more from the get-go.

Let's take a moment and address the legend of Nebraska.   It was originally recorded by Springsteen at home as demos for a new album with the E-Street Band, on the recently invented "porta-studio" a way to record multi-track music at home on an everyday cassette with a slightly high quality sound making the result mid-fi.   It features Springsteen mostly on guitar and vocals with persuasion and other embellishments.  The limitations of the tape are said the be part of the album's greatness, the abundance of his and white noise helping to set the mood, this coupled with listening to this on a record reminds the listener of hearing early blues and folk music (Robert Johnson or Woody Guthrie)  and puts the whole thing in a nice little frame.

As I mentioned before the track, "Atlantic City" better sets the stage for the album with it's tale of love in a dead end life.    At times the fact that some of the songs seems to go on in epic saga style betrays the idea that these were just demos, and that this collection of songs were finished products onto themselves.    Also although the were recorded at home, there is a recording engineer listed on the credits, so rather than being someone messing around at home trying to write some songs, the songs are serious in delivery as well as their serious, at times somber, subject matter.    Even the album's closing track, the optimistically titled "Reason to Believe," describes the existence of optimism in spite of the overwhelming evidence presented on the album of it's futility.   Did I mention the subject matter is dark?   Ok, you've been warned.

Not ideal for your iTunes shuffle, the album should be taken in half or complete doses.    Turn the lights down and drop the needle into the groove and let the album tell you where to go.