Comments on: No Retreat, No Surrender: The Ultimate Springsteen Countdown (Songs 190-186)

By: Jay

Jay — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:33:03 +0000

You do realize that one of the main reasons Max Weinberg doesn’t listen to the album Darkness on the Edge of Town anymore is because he blew the drum part at the conclusion of the song…oh wait that was the sole reason you recommended this song. Why am I reading this list again?

By: Jbev

Jbev — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 19:23:08 +0000

I guess some of my problems in this batch is that I feel these tracks don’t match the ambition behind them. “Human Touch” just grinds along without achieving liftoff, and the message is a little trite. “Something In The Night” is all attitude, but comes off as too bombastic. And “Roll Of The Dice” sounds like a too-obvious attempt to be Bruce again.
I do like Paddy’s line about worrying that they might not sign him after hearing “Mary”. I wish I’d thought of it myself.
Jbev

By: Paddy

Paddy — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 07:57:27 +0000

“Mary Queen of Arkansas” belongs around here, but you’re a little too kind. Whenever I listen to this song as track one, disc one of tracks and John Hammond’s voice spits, “Bruce Springsteen. Columbia Paup Awwditions Job Number 706582.” and an acoustic version of this pours out of Bruce, I worry they aren’t going to sign him.

Nos. 189-187 are absolutely painful inclusions this low on the list and reflect subjective bias more than anything else. You wear your absolute disdain for “Human Touch” as an album on your sleeve, but did you have to take down the title track. This actually is one of the better songs he’s released in the past 25 years. I’m more partial to the radio shortened version that appeared on the much maligned “Greatest Hits” so I can understand the complaints about length. However, it features the finest lyrics of that entire album and some all-time classic Bruce moments: who can forget the “Ha—yaah” wail after the final chorus or lines like “you can’t shut out the risk and the pain without losing the love that remains.” Shame on you for holding it in such low esteem.

Then, you had to attack my personal fave on the Human Touch album and possibly my favorite song the guy released in the 90’s. This song and to a lesser extent, Human Touch, reveals a man coming out of one of the weakest periods of his life. While you chalk this up to Bruce trying to recapture the E Street magic of the late 70’s, this is much more than that. This is Bruce Springsteen realizing that it’s Ok to be Bruce Springsteen again. The way his throat bleeds to deliver the payoff line, “I’m a thief in the house of love and I can’t be trusted” is one of the most heartfelt performances by a man who squeezes more of his being into his voice than any other performer in music history. I wish they would drop this one at concert because I’d love to hear what it sounds like with the E Street Band behind it.

“Something in the Night”. I can understand “Factory” or maybe even “Streets of Fire” appearing this low on the list, but “Something in the Night”? As you could tell from my love of Bruce’s vocal emoting, I’m very impressed by the first thirty seconds of this song. Great lyrics. A terrific bridge with some of Bruce’s finest vocal work ever. It deserved better treatment. Thematically, it fits perfectly with the rest of “Darkness” and is unstoppably good.

More to come…

By: Jersey Girl 228

Jersey Girl 228 — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 03:20:47 +0000

I have always felt that Human Touch was one of the most underrated and underappreciated songs Bruce has done, even more so because it ended up as the title song on his much maligned 1992 comeback album. Agreed that there are some clunkers on this effort, but this song, albeit a bit longer than average (but way shorter than Outlaw Pete, AKA Out to Pee at concerts) has a memorable melody and haunting lyrics. We ARE all riders on this train. True then, true now.

By: Chad B.

Chad B. — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 22:57:33 +0000

“Something in the Night” at 187 is an absolute joke! I know this is a subjective thing but this list is really bad so far.

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 18:52:07 +0000

On “Something in the Night” – “One of the few missteps on the nearly impeccable Darkness On The Edge Of Town.” Really? You have 30% of this album’s songs listed in the bottom 40% of your list. How do you put “Secret Garden” a full 114 spots ahead of “Streets of Fire”?

I recommend a recount on this list, taking into consideration the songs an average Boss fan would love to hear live. It’s an important component.