 No Retreat, No Surrender: The Ultimate Springsteen Countdown (Songs 60-56)By
JBev
For all of Bruce Springsteen’s love for obscure pop chestnuts that had little on their mind other than to get people’s heads bobbing and backsides swaying, he often couldn’t see the value in similar songs that he wrote himself. Hence, he very nearly gave this top 10 smash away to Donna Summer, only to hold onto it at the last minute at the persistent urging of Jon Landau.  No Retreat, No Surrender: The Ultimate Springsteen Countdown (Songs 65-61)By
JBev
Anyone who thinks that Springsteen’s songwriting skills have softened somehow as the years have passed should check out this stunner from Devils & Dust, which was released in 2005. It’s as unflinching a character sketch as Bruce has ever provided, a look at a hard man that still manages to elicit, if not sympathy for him, than at least some understanding.  The Cher of Elements and Other Chemical CatastrophesBy
Mark Peters
Having a gay following is only one part of the package of meanings wrapped around Cher’s name: career longevity, inexplicable success, frequent retirements, having one name, and being briefly wedded to Gregg Allman are all part of the package, which I now present to you.  No Retreat, No Surrender: The Ultimate Springsteen Countdown (Songs 70-66)By
JBev
First things, first. Bruce is not to be blamed for the super-annoying version of this song featuring movie quotes from Jerry Maguire. I guess he could have stopped it, and that version did bring the song back into the spotlight, actually gaining it an unlikely Top 20 spot. But I prefer my Springsteen without Tom Cruise and Renee Zellweger campaigning for the title of the World’s Most Whiny On-Screen Couple.  Young Fresh Fellows I Think This IsBy
Dryw Keltz
For many years now Scott McCaughey has been making a living as one of the auxiliary members of R.E.M., and as the leader of his one-time side project The Minus Five. But before either of these endeavors came into the picture, McCaughey was the ringleader of one of Seattle’s best kept secrets, the Young Fresh Fellows. The band has just released I Think This Is, its first record in eight years.  No Retreat, No Surrender: The Ultimate Springsteen Countdown (Songs 75-71)By
JBev
While punk rock was bubbling up like some sort of primordial beast on both sides of the pond, Bruce Springsteen fired right back in 1978 on this track from Darkness On The Edge Of Town with some of the fiercest music he’d ever recorded. He plays the guitar as if he’s trying to choke the life from his strings, and he sings with the primal howl once used by John Lennon for his landmark Plastic Ono Band album.  No Retreat, No Surrender: The Ultimate Springsteen Countdown (Songs 80-76)By
JBev
“It ought to be easy, ought to be simple enough/Man meets woman and they fall in love.” Ah, if only that were true, Boss man. Then again, if it were, we’d be robbed of so much great music, such as this stirring title cut to Bruce’s stellar 1987 meditation on the perils of romance.  Funk x 4: Revivalist Bands Worth a ListenBy
Rick Sawyer
The funk revival has been going on for longer than a decade, rehashing that brief period, say 1966 to 1975, when funk was deep and the drum breaks were sick. |
Buffers, Bridges & Bubbles
Love is Strange
The Birds, the Bees & Me
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