 No Retreat, No Surrender: The Ultimate Springsteen Countdown (Songs 85-81)By
JBev
This actually could have been the title song to a proposed 1979 release by Bruce, but he shelved it and incorporated the material into The River. As it is, “The Ties That Bind” makes an energetic and airtight opener to the album, a winning homage to some of Springsteen’s 60’s favorites.  No Retreat, No Surrender: The Ultimate Springsteen Countdown (Songs 90-86)By
JBev
The E Street Band reunited for The Rising in 2002, but I would argue that the classic E Street Band sound didn’t return until 5 years later with this track off Magic. The groove is lifted straight from “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out,” with Clarence’s burly sax still blowing Bruce down the street just as it did 30 years earlier.  Confessions of an I, DollBy
Rick Sawyer
When it comes to rock and roll, history can be told by the losers. Consider the late New York Dolls bassist, Arthur “Killer” Kane. One of the band’s co-founders, Kane never achieved the fame that would come to singer David Johansen or guitarist Johnny Thunders after the band split up. Johansen and Thunders entered the great pop unconscious; Kane wound up the answer to a trivia question.  No Retreat, No Surrender: The Ultimate Springsteen Countdown (Songs 95-91)By
JBev
Considering its harrowing topic, you might expect “Into The Fire” to get bogged down in sorrow. But Springsteen manages to wring some uplift out of the situation by concentrating on the enormous sacrifice made by responders to 9/11 who gave their lives to save others, and how that sacrifice still inspires those they left behind even while their absence causes an almost unbearable grief.  The Pete Townshend of Getting Flogged and Other Major MasochistsBy
Mark Peters
Anybody who is a God of classic rock, the lyricist for The Who, and the perfecter (if not the inventor) of the windmill, is bound to become a reference point for people and stuff that are similarly awesome. So let’s hear it for Pete T.—the patron guitarist of the half-deaf and mega-schnozzed to boot.  No Retreat, No Surrender: The Ultimate Springsteen Countdown (Songs 100-96)By
JBev
We’re halfway home, sports fans, and the second 100 of Brucefulness kicks off with yet another song inspired by the Boss’ often testy relationship with his father, Douglas.  The Eagle Has Landed: Songs About Space & the MoonBy
Douglas Newman
In honor of the 40th anniversary of the first manned mission to land on the moon, here’s a Baker’s Dozen devoted to space.  No Retreat, No Surrender: The Ultimate Springsteen Countdown (Songs 105-101)By
JBev
Springsteen-mania was so strong in the mid-80’s that even his B-sides started to get a lot of attention. Thus it was that this track, left off Born In the USA in favor of “I’m Goin’ Down,” still found its way to radio and lots of listeners. It’s a bit of a novelty, but it’s so much fun that it’s hard to resist. |
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