'The Rising'

I shall elaborate soon when I have a period of uninterrupted interweb access. For now - recommended to fans and non-fans and the simply curious alike. Perhaps his best yet.

He's talking about Springsteen, kids. The review in last weekend's FT made the LP sound very interesting: lots of post 9/11 angst.

*Er, that's the Financial Times, not Freaky Trigger btw.

It reminds me, slightly, of THE HARD SHOULDER

I think I will get to like it better - a lot, even - over time

Tip-off is the big picture of the Telecaster. This album is musically an extended riposte to the Rolling Stones. ("Four hours is too much for anybody, especially Springsteen" - M Jagger - I smell revenge!) 'Exile' using 80s radio as the sources, not bluesy rootsy sources. And why not? The 'BITUSA' electro-AOR-buttrock sound is closer to the being people's actual 'roots' music than actual roots- industry roots music. What working people actually listen to Woody Guthrie? The soundtrack of working America has been electronic music with 'roots' trappings for decades now, from Pat Benatar to Shania Twain. (I'm reminded of an old RS review of Bon Jovi's 'New Jersey' - "This has as much to do with the Stone Pony as 'Chicago 21' has to do with the Lakeside". Which is quite a lot actually because what are you going to hear in most bars and restaurants in Chicago, Peter Cetera or Howlin' Wolf? I'm talking bars and clubs that the 12-CD majority attend, now.) This is what the 'River' could've been and almost was. No "Sherry Darling" or "I'm a Rocker" closet-cleaning exercises here. Everything counts.
Of course 80s corn is only one of the elements here. (Sort of the same way Stereolab use 60s EZ listening. Except Stereolab can't claim Test Card Music means a great deal to alot of people, unlike, say, "White Wedding" or "Boys of Summer". No, here's somebody with their ear to the ground. Recent pretenders are dispatched with almost disturbingly contemptuous ease - Some of these songs are like if somebody took Waits-type songs, except if they were ABOUT stuff, not makin' breakfast out of a bike tire and smokin' a homemade cigar wrapped in a 1944 Timbuktu Times or whatever he's on about. "The Fuse" is the most weirdly addictive track on here, sort of a cross between INXS' "Need You Tonight" and MBV's "When You Sleep" with a drop-out bit that parodies "Young Americans". If it's a blatant pop move that works where something like "57 Channels" didn't, all that means is that the pop of this era is better than that of the early 90s. Encouraging, huh?
Perhaps the weirdest thing on here is Clarence Clemons is rendered bearable. The sax sometimes sound like a guitar or a synth and the guitar sounds like Fripp cf 'Scary Monsters' when it's not doing a Paul Leary psych-fuzz thing. Sometimes I'd be wondering what the Eno-esque noise is and then suddenly I realize it's the Big Man! Humble pie all around. Which leads us to "Worlds Apart" - which I think works for nearly the same reason - after the initial chant an anonymous voice enters - you don't know it's Bruce until he throws in a broad self- parody phrase (think "We Are the World") and it's jarring. That is singing, kids! (Oh yeah, the singing on this album is phenomenal. He knows those microtones inside out, now. Sometimes earlier things like "Drive All Night" were marred slightly by the obvious distance from the material and subsequent audible discomfort [still great tune tho], but that never happens here.) Now it's Madonna's turn to leave the Boss Brother house - this is how you do world-fusion POP (i.e. not taking the easy get-out of recording it in a barn with tin cans on a string and plead the authenticity defence) So how does this fit the 'Stones' thesis? Hey, remember "We Love You"? "2000 Light Years From Home"? "Dandelion"? Courtney Love gets it via Stevie Nicks in "Let's Be Friends", but the the best act of brinkmanship here is "Mary's Place." This starts inauspiciously, more easy barrel- shooting (Dylan via Knopfler via some motorik roots fusion of the type Queens of the Stone Age were apparently doing according to some review which didn't really correspond with QOTSA CD I actually HEARD but they were good live, used a steel guitar), and all of a sudden you realise you're hearing the new "Rosalita". Creeps up on you like sake, you know, you have all those tiny bottles and say "Heh, I can put away loads of these" until you get up, and you're wasted! (I love the b vox meta on this one). So what if he's a collector and 'Rising' does for the last twenty years of currents in popular music of a certain audience what 'Darkness' did for the twenty years prior to IT's release? If you're a collector who's still engaged in the current (and why is being a music collector any dumber than any other endeavour?) then all it means is that you love music. And if you don't you shouldn't be making records. What I'm saying is that chart pop fans will find something interesting in this. Lo-fi and post-rock fans will find something interesting in this. People who like 'songs' will f.s.i. and people who like 'sounds' will also. I believe this motherfucker knows what he's doing and that's the highest praise I can give anybody. Only Elvis to go, now...

Oh yeah, the lyrics. They're good, as usual. What did you expect, Noel Gallagher?

Hey Q - I see you've come up with the goods - looking forward to reading you properly later.

I think I'll grow to love the LP, but so far it seems to have low points. (But how about... the first 5 seconds?? Awesome!) Also, are you sure about the lyrics? They seem to me to be a weakness. But it's early days - I'm keeping the faith.

Re lyrics - as you may have noticed, whenever I stray into areas political and/or subjective on this forum (and the fact that I had very strong subjective responses to a lot of these is an indicator of rare enjoyment on my part - EXTREMELY rare in fact, I'm usually blissfully Raggett-esque in the lyric department, mainly because compared to Springsteen and a few others most lyrics don't repay the attention of bothering with), some individuals seem to get a bit perturbed. I would rather people hear this before associating it with some imaginary provocation on my part, this is how much I like this record. (Although here's an example - "Into the Fire" could possibly be as 'problematic' as "Brown Sugar" or "Bodies" IMHO. Which shouldn't be a problem for listeners who can engage with lyrics without getting all uptight about it)

(See the 'Dead Letter Office' US/UK thread for a hint of where I'm coming from on this)

>>> 'Exile' using 80s radio as the sources, not bluesy rootsy sources

- this is a great reading - could really open up the LP for me.

(Dunno why I mentioned the Henley song, I was just trying to think of an '80s pop hit'. That track is overrated, sorry. How about Boy Meets Girl's "Waiting for a Star to Fall" instead? There's some fucking chord modulations for you. Or Go West's "We Close Our Eyes". 'Rising'/Last Days of the Vinyl Single = 'Darkness'/'Nuggets'?)

You're saying THE RISING rips off WE CLOSE OUR EYES?? This is going to be my favourite record EVER!!!

Well, maybe not that one as such, but I definitely detect an '80s-pop- comes-in-from-the-cold thing going on here.

OK now I'm having a nightmare vision of Tom Jones covering "Fuse" and getting a huge smash hit with it. But then, it needn't be bad - he did alright with Prince's "Kiss" after all

I'm usually blissfully Raggett-esque in the lyric department

I think it's a fine mental location to be in, myself. ;-)

"Th'Boss" (just Whose boss, i've often wondered [tony danza, white courtesy telephone, please]) is a Northeast thing, right? i mean, let's say that a terrorist-piloted Lumber Truck took out the Peachtree Plaza Hotel, Bruce wouldn't be, um, Commenting Significantly, right? i mean, it'd be left up to, i dunno, Steve Forbert or something. what else was in the news 9/11/01? Paula Poundstone was in court. perhaps Mr Forbert can dedicate a record to his fellow Southerner / sorta like Dylan did with Desire / and wasn't Desire what the case wall all about / as.in "i desire to have a drink / and Another / and now i want to drive around the block with my thumb up my adopted daughter's butt." it's Cool / i mean the girl was 14, right?

Toby Keith beats sleestak to the punch.

Since q has (I think) started another thread about the lyrics, I'll confine my thoughts to other things about the record. I will agree with dave that it is an LP for ppl who like songs and sounds. It's also the best-produced record I've heard in ages. Favourite songs (on first listen): 'The Fuse', 'Nothing Man', 'Paradise' and 'Waiting on a Sunny Day'. The songs that jarred and made me skip to the next track in a hurry (on first listen): 'Into The Fire' and 'Mary's Place'.

Anybody who's a fan of any of Mike Patton's projects (as I am) should check out "Let's Be Friends", as should Patton himself. Serious.

And if S Club covered it, they'd be back on top in 1.

That's great! I was thinking of S Club 7 too when I heard the track! (Everyone knows I thot "Don't Stop Movin'" was the best single of whatever year it was)

Even The Economist has something interesting to say about this album...

heh heh TS: "You're Missing" vs. "Missing Person's Report" (on the Mr. Lif EP). It's GRATE that the The Rising and Emergency Rations came out in Europe on the same day.

i'm not entirely sure what dave q is on about, but i like about half of this album a great deal.

have ned's tastes/prejudices changed at all in three years? he seems to enjoy reifying his own tastes. it's depressing.

so where is dave q's thread on the lyrics of this record?

"mary's place" is pretty weak.

have ned's tastes/prejudices changed at all in three years? he seems to enjoy reifying his own tastes. it's depressing.

amateurist, be nice :(

sorry i was in a crummy mood. but ned can be so glib about his dislikes, and it does seem like his tastes, expansive though they may be, have calcified a bit. i find the two phenomena frustrating in combination.

this is a pretty fine record. the songs have a bit of gumption and vitriol to them. i'm sure if you put more stock and had more personal investment in the man's musings than i do, you could probably get a fair bit out of it.

'lets be friends' is awful though

amateurist otm btw