Album Reflection and Review
Four-1/2 Stars
By Anthony Kuzminski
And turn his heart to stone
Tonight this fool's halfway to heaven and just a mile outta hell
And I feel like I'm comin' home”
-“Better Days”
Guilty by association. These three words explain the predicament of Lucky Town better than any other in the English language. I had initially planned on reviewing both Lucky Town and Human Touch in one review (like everyone else did in 1992) due to a tight schedule that would allow for Springsteen’s new album to be reviewed on the day of its release. However, what most people, aside from die-hard Springsteen fans, do not realize is that despite the fact that Lucky Town and Human Touch were both released on the same day in March 1992, they are vastly dissimilar albums. One is poppy and misguided and Lucky Town is a wondrous ride through the tunnels of love with a confident, secure and happy narrator. So if this album is as good as I say it is, then why then is it reduced to being in every used record/cd store on the planet, in the bargain bin no less?
The songs that incorporated Human Touch took approximately eighteen months to write and record from the fall of 1989 through March of 1991. An album release very easily could have been planned for that summer or even that fall, but Springsteen sat on the album. There are a variety of issues for why this occurred. Over thirty-songs were recorded and they maybe had a hard time deciding what to include (many of these excellent outtakes would appear on the 1998 box set Tracks). However, I believe that Springsteen felt that Human Touch was missing something. Legend has it that one day after visiting a record store, he was driving around California and he heard “Series of Dreams” from Bob Dylan’s first Bootleg Series installment and a fire was lit. He went into his home studio to record “one extra” song which turned out to be “Living Proof”, one of the most personal and earth-shattering songs of his career. After playing it for his manager Jon Landau, Landau gave Springsteen the best possible advice, “keep writing”. What followed was Lucky Town, ten songs that were written and recorded in less than a month. The wall that was in front of Springsteen for nearly two years finally evaporated and he purged his soul with the most intimate, reflective and happy music is his career. Springsteen performed the album almost entirely by himself, except for drums, some backing vocals and some assistance from Roy Bittan. There is one small issue with all of this, most people do not acknowledge this album or are even quite aware of the album’s profound depth. After Springsteen completed the album, he had a small issue; what album to release? Right around this time, Guns N’ Roses had released a double-album via two separate discs to immense success and the decision was made to release both Human Touch and Lucky Town. I rank this decision among the worse Springsteen and his management team ever made. At the time it made perfect sense, but the gleam of Human Touch proved to be so blinding that most fans and casual music observers dismissed both albums almost immediately. What should have happened was to release Lucky Town and focus all promotion on it. Throughout the 1992/93 tour, the songs from Lucky Town received far more airplay than Human Touch. Even if the glorified home demo sound (the album’s main flaw and what keeps it from Five-stars) of Lucky Town didn’t inspire people, they would have admired it the same way they did Tunnel of Love and Nebraska. Once the tour was completed, they could have then issued Human Touch as a stop gap release. It would have put the songs in perspective and would have been listened to with lowered expectations and most likely it wouldn’t be as derided as it is today. Alas, none of that ever happened and as a result, the ten luminous songs on Lucky Town have been largely forgotten. I’m here to (hopefully) change that.
The affecting “Better Days”, a declaration of optimism, kicks things off in a celebratory manner. On Human Touch Springsteen struggled to find his voice…literally, a monotone delivery drove those songs, whereas on Lucky Town he appears cathartic, confident and most importantly, content. “Lucky Town” finds the narrator with a new sense of renewal. On previous works, the narrator would have been surrounded by contempt and would have been so beaten down by life that they wouldn’t know where to begin rebuilding. “Lucky Town” finds that character a bit down on their luck, but with eternal sanguinity (“Tonight I got dirt on my hands but I'm building me a new home”). “Local Hero” is a wondrous tongue-in-cheek dig at himself (like he had on “Ain’t Got You”). The difference this time is that he had found that happiness he yearned for and the lyrics were a little less heavy, “First they made me the king then they made me pope, then they brought the rope”. The rousing “Leap of Faith” is love renewed and rewarded with a fierce shot of force and the album’s catchiest chorus.
The album does delve into deeper themes on two tracks; “The Big Muddy” and “Souls of the Departed”. “Muddy” is a moral tune treading treacherous ground shadowing characters rich in detail. Sticky situations and moral conundrums abound and are expressed effortlessly (“Sooner or later it all comes down to money"). “Souls of the Departed” is a semi-sequel to “Born in the U.S.A.”, but with a son of his own, the emotional stakes are higher this time around. After witnessing the first Gulf War and the casualties of LA’s gang wars, Springsteen rips his doom laden guitar with the sounds of acid rain. On an album of deeply personal odes of love and assurance, these two songs allow Springsteen to flex his political and sociological muscles in a striking way proving that his flair for songwriting had not vanished.The remaining four songs are fearless proclamations of love. These declarations are in stark contrast to the characters of his earlier works who struggled with their emotions and how to express them. “Book of Dreams” is an austere plaintive articulation manifestation of the beauty of one’s wedding day with a lyric of profound insight, “The scars we carry remain but the pain slips away it seems”. Springsteen is an artist who struggled with redemption. His characters believed and yearned for it, but rarely found it. The difference this time around is that his characters aren’t just veiled reflections of his life, but are clearly first person narratives. “If I Should Fall Behind” may be Springsteen’s most poignant and personal love songs. Resurrected on the 1999-2000 E Street reunion tour as the evening’s penultimate song, it took on new meaning as the brotherhood retook their place in Springsteen’s career. On Lucky Town the album is a testament to his new life. He’s aware that no path is without bumps in the road (“But each lover's steps fall so differently, but I'll wait for you”). It’s easy to write a love song with unabashed optimism, but it’s difficult to write one that is simultaneously shows shades of devotion and vulnerability.
The song that began the Lucky Town journey is “Living Proof”, the mightiest and emotionally potent song of his career. Written about the birth of his son, the song brings triumph to marital and emotional bliss. Prior to this birth, Springsteen never would have been able to execute such an emotionally forceful testimonial of faith and devotion. “Living Proof” is the remedy to every one of his characters struggles. Life is not a destination, but a journey despite the hurdles in front of us. For Springsteen, he found immense joy and satisfaction in his family. It provided him with not just a sense of security, but a renewed sense of faith as well. Springsteen’s performance of this song on Saturday Night Live was so revitalizing and replete with life; it largely overshadowed the two banal performances that preceded it. Life has a way of deflating our ability to thrive but we sometimes need a reminder that we can overcome the dreariness of life.To show me my prison was just an open cage
There were no keys no guards
Just one frightened man and some old shadows for bars
We build walls around us in order to not feel anything. It’s sad to see what we do to lose ourselves. “Living Proof” is a reminder to rise above it all. The characters who embodied Darkness, The River and Nebraska never could have experienced such light, but Springsteen turned a corner and delivered one of the greatest moments he ever laid on tape.
The narrator of the album closer “My Beautiful Reward” isn’t contented with life and hasn’t found what he is looking for, but he’s encouraged and sustained by his voyage. It’s the fact that he hasn’t resigned himself from life and is still searching that ends the album on such a promising note. It’s an album not about the past or nostalgic themes but one clearly set in the present. Instead of pining for lost loves, tarnished expectations and diminished dreams, on Lucky Town the characters rise from the dead and find that everyone has the chance for redemption and resurrection. It doesn’t have to be tied to financial gain, success in your career but from absolute and complete love. When you surrender your heart to another, you take a great risk…but what many tend to forget is that it also stands to provide you with a reward so beautiful, that it’s indefinable. I spent years wallowing in my own depression and with a little bit of luck and love, I chose to take those keys inside my own prison cell and unlock the door. I looked into my own life and found my own “living proof”. Sadly, Lucky Town could never rise above the stink Human Touch made. To me, it stands as one of his five best works. In it, he found the light to guide him and provide him with the love and guidance he so desired his entire life. If there was one album in all of Springsteen’s cannon I would suggest people go back and rediscover, it would be Lucky Town, as it houses treasures galore. We often do not acknowledge certain loves in our life until it’s too late or they are gone. The characters of Lucky Town grab life by the jugular and even though their lives aren’t perfect and they live in an arduous world, they choose to acknowledge and make the best of it all. Lucky Town is a rare album of unbridled optimism and grace. The characters are infused with earnest resilience. This isn’t the stuff that music critics throw praise upon, they find a greater ease with brooding characters who resist with life. They don’t find unadorned proclamations as sexy as defeat and despair. However, Springsteen offers a peek into the psyche of someone who weathered the storm and who is thankful to have come out alive on the other end. Lucky Town charts the course of characters that have taken knocks and have been shown the darkness that life offers, but at the end of the day, they rose above it all and found a reason to believe and for that, there is no greater reward.
Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network and his daily writings can be read at The Screen Door and can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com.
"Better Days"
"Lucky Town"
"Local Hero"
"If I Should Fall Behind" (live 2000 w/ E Street Band)
"Leap of Faith" {Video Link}
"The Big Muddy"
"Living Proof" {Plugged Performance Link}
"Book of Dreams"
"Souls of the Departed" (live in 2008)
"My Beautiful Reward"
