Skrevet av Jack Feeney (5/10)

Unfortunately Bruce's newly found modesty and restraint only lasted for one album before he tottered back into the studio, now past forty, to record another fist-pumping set of "rock'n'roll classics" (used in the loose sense) to get those kids jumping again. For some reason, as with Darkness on the Edge of Town, the release of this album was delayed by a year or so and in the mean-time Bruce decided he had so many more great, timeless classics that he should record a whole new album. Therefore, one lucky day in 1992 both this album and Lucky Town were released simultaneously onto the unsuspecting public (only a year after Guns n'Roses had attempted the same trick in the form of the Use Your Illusion duo). The latter was fairly obviously recorded later in time than this one, though, so it seems the most sensible way to split them up is to review this one first. I might have referred to this being "rock'n'roll for the kids" but, really, Bruce was too old for that kind of thing now. The kids in 1992 (one would hope) were listening to generation-defining classics like Nevermind and Rage Against the Machine (although preferably not Pearl Jam's Ten). What time did they have for a washed-up vet like Springsteen? I realise we should cut him just an incy bit of slack given this was probably actually recorded in the late eighties (or at least before grunge properly broke) but can we really take a nineties album seriously that still has such a blatant use of the migraine-inducing snare-drum/synthesiser combo? It sounded pretty shit in the mid-eighties, how the hell Bruce thought it was still all the rage in the nineties is beyond me. Like I said, this boy's getting old. Other than the out-of-date production tricks the other obvious sign that his days in the sun were temporarily over comes with such an overwhelmingly unimpressive set of tunes. As I've said, most artists seem to fall upon hard times in their forties (and inexplicably get back on form in their fifties) and if the fourteen tracks on this overly long album show us one thing it is that Springsteen was finally reaching bankruptcy in terms of inspiration. One of the fast-paced rock'n'rollers is acceptable ("Roll of the Dice" but the likes of "Gloria's Eyes", "The Long Goodbye", "All or Nothin' at All" and the despicable "Real Man" (even Bon Jovi had realised that sort of moronic stadium rock was a thing of the past) are spectacularly generic and uncomfortably limp. Like all middle-age rockers desperately trying to recapture their youth (although, ironically, Bruce was much more subtle in his peak years) listening to them is pretty much the equivalent of watching your parents dance at weddings. Due to his age, Bruce does fare a little better with the more mid-tempo rockers with the opening title track representing the closest this album comes to a classic (and it is certainly a greatest hit of his nineties period) and the underrated, moody "Cross My Heart" at least showing a little restraint and maturity. That said, the anti-lesbian rant "Man's Job", "Soul Driver" (pan-pipes?!?) and "Real World" sit in the track-listing like dumplings, adding to the stodge-factor but with no discernible benefit. At least the semi-famous single "57 Channels (and Nothin' On)" attempts some kind of diversity with its reliance solely on a plodding bass line but the lyrics are utterly unfunny and are another attempt by Bruce to bond with his working-class fans despite his immense personal fortune (he's still Brucey from the block). Unsurprisingly, the restrained ballads are not too unpleasant and "With Every Wish" is passable and "I Wish I Were Blind" downright decent. Indeed, Bruce obviously had an inkling that he was best trying to act his age with respectable ballads and the like as the subsequently recorded album mainly surpasses this one (not that that is anything to be particularly proud of) through its increased modesty and glimpses of a mature dignity. For this album, Bruce was still unsuccessfully battling his middle-age and resulting artistic stagnation and, as a result, released an album that is both over-ambitious and laughably uninspired. Still, it is not as if his original fans were disappointed with this kind of thing, given they'd grown old with him. By way of example, my old man (apparently a fair old fan of the "Boss" regards this as his favourite album of Springsteen's entire career. For someone like me, though, it is nothing but a big fat - but not unexpected - disappointment. Old music by an old man for old people.