Bruce Springsteen – ‘The Rising’ Album Review and Reflection

Bruce Springsteen – The Rising
Album Review and Reflection
Four-Stars
By Anthony Kuzminski

“How do I begin again?’
-“My City of Ruin”

One of the longest pieces I have ever written was my initial review of The Rising back in 2002. That in-depth, slightly heightened 4,000 word review can be read at this link. I feel it’s important to share that original review, because it caught my feelings at their apex. The album was a long time coming for me and my original five-star review reflects my delicate emotional state. This is the one album I will do more of a reflection than review. There was a seven-year gap between The Ghost of Tom Joad and The Rising which was released in July 2002, the longest period between records in Springsteen’s career. Ironically over the next seven-years Springsteen would release five new studio albums (the most he had in any decade). It should be noted that during those “in between” years in the 1990’s Springsteen stayed busy. He went out on two year-plus tours (one solo and one with a reunited E Street Band), released a long sought after collection of outtakes (Tracks) and did a HBO special and accompanying live album (Live In New York City). However, it was his first complete record with the E Street Band (since 1984’s Born in the U.S.A.) that gained the most attention. Post U.S.A. Springsteen’s released work had largely focused on relationships and the struggles of southwestern immigrants, but on The Rising, Springsteen would wrestle with his most daunting subject yet; September 11th.

The Rising was birthed out of the pain and confusion of 9/11, for that reason alone it’s a remarkable document of a specific time where our fears got the best of us. When anxiety runs ones life, we need to be reminded that love and fear go hand in hand, and that the former can overcome the latter. At our darkest moments, we need to be reminded of the brightness life can provide. For every Good Friday, there is an Easter Sunday. The same dynamic and religious themes that have been cornerstones in Springsteen’s best work come full bloom on The Rising, an album whose themes can be divided specifically and over thee course of three distinctive segments; Good Friday (tracks one to five), Holy Saturday (tracks six to ten) and Easter Sunday (tracks eleven to fifteen). Throughout each five song side, the characters ask specific questions. The first part of the album deals with the initial shock and horror and the characters are reeling in their emotions trying to make sense of what happened. The second part finds the voices at a crossroads wondering “where do we go from here”. The final side is the resurrection. They come to terms with the deathly blow and their faith guides them through the mess onto tomorrow.

Tackling a subject so fresh in people’s minds was a tremendous task and at the time, I found it to be a sincere triumph that was as dour as a funeral but simultaneously as renewing as baptism. Springsteen found his voice after a decade of wandering aimlessly. As admirable as Joad was, it’s lack of production and melody made it his least resonating work with a larger audience. While it was never intended to reach a mass audience, it could have with a little more imagination. On The Rising Springsteen enlisted a new producer, Brendan O’Brien and reenlisted the E Street Band for duty. With his comrades behind him, he delivered an innovative, invigorating and enticing album. After listening to this album time and time again over the last seven-years, do I still think it’s the five-star masterpiece I crowned it? No. However, despite my reservations, I still find it to be an uplifting spiritual album of immense magnitude. Despite its flaws, which time has brought to light, I still find it to be a daunting and tough tale to tackle, but he did so with vigor that makes it largely endearing to this day. Is the album a tad long? Without question, but I still find the three-act play nature of the album to be amongst Springsteen’s most grandiose and thematic.

I think the album would have aged better with three songs removed which would ultimately reveal a more clear and concise theme. Which three should have gone? A near impossible task, but the first I would excise would have been “Let’s Be Friends (Skin to Skin)”, which was the one song I thought felt out of place on the record. Originally recorded in the late 90’s, this song didn’t fit the overall arc of the album. The sonic departure of the tune is interesting but ultimately is largely forgettable when weighed against the other songs on the record. “World’s Apart” is another song that finds Springsteen and the E Street Band stretching outside of their comfort zone. Again, while admirable, it doesn’t resonate in the long term. “The Fuse” grew on me and it was showcased brilliantly in Spike Lee’s 25th Hour, but I’m not sure if it was needed on the record. One other striking aspect is that despite the fact this is an E Street Band record, one doesn’t get the sense it is a true return to form. The Rising probably has more in common with Tunnel of Love than The River when it comes to aural audaciousness. The E Street Band does not appear to add anything to the recordings so much as deliver the music that was in Springsteen’s head. Instead of having months long recording sessions, The Rising was recorded very quickly over a few months early in 2002 and is more a product of Springsteen’s psyche than a collaboration. This may explain why the album had such a hard time finding its footing live.

The Rising has the distinction of being the first album Bruce Springsteen ever released that never excelled in concert. Why? I’m not sure if I can provide a valid explanation, but many of the songs paled in comparison to their studio counterparts. I saw a dozen shows between August 2002 and October 2003 and while certain tunes soared (“Lonesome Day”, “The Rising”, “My City of Ruin”) many were dead on arrival as they could never match the mastery of the album cut (“Into the Fire”, “Counting On A Miracle”, “World’s Apart”, “”Empty Sky”, “The Fuse”). Then there were the songs that were performed all too infrequently (“Further On Up The Road”, “Let’s Be Friends”, “Nothing Man”, “Paradise”). Some nights the songs found their groove amidst Springsteen’s catalog, but on other nights, the songs dragged the entire show down. I’m not sure if the E Street Band ever felt comfortable executing these songs in concert. Brendan O’Brien’s production, as good as it is, proved to be limiting for the band and ultimately, I think the fact that these songs failed to fly in concert, revealed some of the cracks in the surface I initially overlooked in my exhilaration. Ultimately, I think U2’s accidental 9/11 album, All That You Can’t Leave Behind has proven to be a more compelling record associated with that horrible day over time. I’ve come to realize that sometimes it is better to write music and have it dissected by the public at large without having a press release tell us what we should think and feel. Over a third of the songs on The Rising were written before 9/11, including “My City of Ruins”, a song written about Asbury Park, NJ and after 9/11, it took on a whole other meaning. This one song, not written directly about the tragedy, has proven to be more of a healing prayer than most of the post 9/11 songs on The Rising. U2’s music was written two years prior to the tragedy, released a year before it but when it happened, that album became a security blanket for most of America. Over time, I’ve found that sometimes it’s better to write a song that is based around a feeling rather than writing one that is about specific ideas.

Regardless of my small quibbles about this album, Springsteen preaches with electric guitar in hand, his voice soaring through the air and the E Street Band by his side preaching about loss, faith, hope, love, triumph and redemption amidst trying times. No other musician has been able to profoundly tell stories about ordinary people the way Springsteen can and make everyday people’s lives seem extraordinary. The Rising is a collection of fifteen prayers and is a triumph in expressing and empathizing emotions.

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.

"Lonesome Day"