Massive Music List

For more than 35 years, Bruce Springsteen has set a standard of consistent excellence that few other rock and roll artists could ever hope to match. He has written so many great songs, as both a solo artist and with the E Street Band, that it would seem almost impossible to try and rank those classics one against another. And yet one fan was daring enough, or maybe foolhardy enough, to try. Following up our Beatles and Stones countdowns, JamsBio presents “No Retreat, No Surrender,” a worst-to-first countdown of every album cut in Springsteen history, plus a few choice outtakes, live classics, and soundtrack songs – that’s 200 tunes ranked and defended. Check out JamsBio.com each day as the countdown is gradually revealed, and prepare to hit the message boards to defend your favorites.

The complete list to date.

The Last Five:

170. “Countin’ on a Miracle” (from The Rising)

169. “Balboa Park” (from The Ghost of Tom Joad)

168. “Empty Sky” (from The Rising)

167. “The Angel” (from Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.)

166. “Two Faces” (from Tunnel of Love)

165. “Book of Dreams”

From Lucky Town

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This song off Lucky Town has the same warm keyboards found on “My Hometown,” although this time it was Bruce himself doing the honors on the instrument. Recounting the wonder and mystery of his wedding night, the song is sweet and vaguely sad, which is odd considering the context.

Maybe that’s because Bruce had already been around the marriage block once before, and the first one didn’t turn out so well. Certainly this song has many warm images inspired by his marriage to Patti, but it’s the darker side that gives the song an unexpected heft.

That dark side doesn’t come into play until the final verse. Up until then we witness a bemused Bruce standing outside the reception in quasi-disbelief at his good fortune, followed by the consummation scene, a scene of coital bliss far different than the one we heard about in “Reno.”

It’s that fourth and final verse that gives pause. Backing up in time to describe the actual moment that this union becomes official in the eyes of God, the terms used by Bruce are quite ominous: “ritual,” “strangers,” “mystery,” “danger.” The last image is the couple dancing toward the “darkening trees.” It’s clear that Springsteen was indeed sublimely happy at the time he wrote “Book Of Dreams.” But it’s also clear that the “scars” he talks about in the song weren’t quite healed.

164. “Pony Boy”

From Human Touch

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If you’re a rock star, it is a rite of passage that you must write a lullaby for your child and stick it somewhere on an album. Since Bruce skipped many of the other rock-star rites of passage, like the drug arrests and ill-advised concept albums, no one could begrudge him the opportunity to celebrate his first-born with the last song on Human Touch.

Bruce really doesn’t deserve all the credit for the song, as it is a traditional that eventually morphed into a Western tune at the turn of the twentieth century. But he changed enough of the lyrics for it to be considered more than a mere cover.

It is admirable that Bruce doesn’t try to give advice to his son like so many of his peers had done in their own odes to their kids. He just keeps it simple, asking his son to join him on his ride through life. When wife Patti joins in at the end, it’s a truly sweet moment and the high point of this gentle charmer.

163. “Waitin’ On A Sunny Day”

From The Rising

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One of the few light spots on The Rising, which was appropriately serious for the most part, “Waitin On A Sunny Day” finds the E Street Band as close as they were on that album to their classic sound. Think “Hungry Heart” with some violin thrown in there, and you’ve got a pretty good idea of this track.

Though this song doesn’t quite ascend to the luscious heights of that classic Top 10 smash, it’s still pretty tasty ear candy. Max Weinberg sets the pace with his muscular beat, Danny Federici adds color with well-timed chords, and Clarence Clemons is all over his solo at the end. I don’t know that Soozie Tyrell’s violin is quite the right fit here, but at least it recedes a bit after figuring prominently at the song’s outset.

You’ve also got some “sha-la-la” backing vocals and chiming bells to add to the mix. Had this been released in 1984 or so, it certainly would have found a place on the charts. On The Rising, it provides a needed respite in the midst of some truly harrowing stuff.

162. “Cross My Heart”

From Human Touch

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The romantic gray areas prevalent on Tunnel Of Love find their way onto this track off Human Touch. “Once you cross your heart/You ain’t ever supposed to lie,” sings Bruce toward the end of the song, uncoiling the line in a high register after staying muted to that point. It’s never that simple, the Boss seems to say, but it damn sure ought to be.

These sentiments are aided by one of the better productions on an album that’s hampered by some poor ones. Each instrument is given room to carve out its space and make an impact, as opposed to becoming just another indecipherable part of the mix. Once that’s established, it leaves room for Springsteen to let loose some feral solos.

The lyrical sentiments are ones that Bruce had already adequately expressed in the late 80’s, so there’s a bit of a retread feeling to the track. Given that, the power of the music gets it across and makes it a keeper on an album unusual in the Springsteen canon for being somewhat devoid of them.

161. “Worlds Apart”

From The Rising

LISTEN HERE

Unlike Paul Simon or Peter Gabriel, peers of Springsteen who successfully melded world music with traditional Western rock to create vibrant new sounds, Bruce’s rock has always been distinctly American. There was no better time though to venture to new musical lands than when it came time to lay down this track off The Rising, hence Bruce’s employment of Pakistani Asif Ali Khan and his group of vocalists and experts in the music known as qawwali.

“Worlds Apart” begins with just the sounds of a tabla and the otherworldly vocals of Khan and his group, and it’s jarring to hear Springsteen’s familiar drawl invade upon this world. But the first verse proves to be a mesmerizing juxtaposition. Bruce’s melody is well-suited to the exotic background, creating a hypnotic and seductive effect.

I actually prefer this part to when the rock guitars come crashing in, breaking the spell. The song loses some of its uniqueness from that point forward. The instrumental fade-out is a bit better, with Bruce’s guitar squeals approximating the emotional exhortations of the vocalists.

It all comes in service of a song that’s about the difficulties of making connections between cultures. On a basic level, the song refers to two lovers from far different backgrounds, trying to outrun the tradition that separates them (“May the living let us in/Before the dead tears us apart.”)

On a larger level, Springsteen was peering beyond a black-and-white response to the kind of enmity that led to 9/11. The song’s daring, both in terms of its sentiment and its music, helps to outweigh its faults. It’s just too bad that the understanding found in “Worlds Apart” still at times feels worlds away.

The complete list to date.

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