In 1982, Bruce Springsteen finished a massive world tour in support of his most recent double album, "The River". This project was out-and-out rock'n'roll, filled with hard-driving anthems and Springsteen's signature storytelling. Riding such a huge wave of commercial success didn't prevent him from choosing his next project almost immediately: the soft, deeply personal acoustic album "Nebraska". Armed with nothing more than a guitar, harmonica, and 4-track recorder, "Nebraska" is a stark masterpiece of songwriting. Its haunting imagery seemed to subtly thumb its unplugged nose at the success that "The River" had created, which marked the establishment of his enormous rock-god status. Three years later, "Born in the U.S.A" would take care of that process ten fold.
Ten years after "Born in the U.S.A" and thirteen years after "Nebraska", Springsteen has gone back to what many fans feel is the Boss at his best. "The Ghost of Tom Joad" is in many ways an extension of "Nebraska" and not a sequel. He has stripped himself down, once again, to a man alone with just his guitar and his stories. Told in whispered tones, "The Ghost of Tom Joad" forces the listener to get up close and personal to really enjoy the music. The cast of characters are portrayed in the bleakest of situations, something that Springsteen of old had no trouble visualizing. Whether it's the dejected coal miner in "Youngstown", or the drug running brothers in "Sinaloa Cowboys", Springsteen's people share a loss of hope. In the title song (taken from the lead character in John Steinbeck's prolific dust bowl saga "The Grapes of Wrath"), Springsteen shines, as he creates pictures of a parched wasteland. Mirroring the famous words of Steinbeck, Springsteen's hero shouts, "Where there's a fight 'gainst the blood and hatred in the air/Look for me Mom I'll be there." With Springsteen, you must look at the words and the music as both separate entities and as companions. There is no doubt that he has created some gripping tales of hard times and lost hope. It's the music that falls short on this album, not having enough of a backbone to hold the lyric's weight. This is by no means a rock album, but more a collection of folk songs with a sense of nobility that only Springsteen can muster up. One of Bruce's greatest strengths as a singer is that he can elicit equally powerful emotional reactions with either a ballad or an anthem. His always underrated guitarwork is so thin and muffled that the words are pretty much all you've got. "Youngstown" and "The Line" are possible exceptions as songs with somewhat identifiable guitar lines. As a confirmed Springsteen fan for most of my music listening life, the idea of a dark all-acoustic album of new songs by Bruce seemed like a dream come true. And there are lyrical reasons why it's just that. But musically, the album offers little to stand behind. There was a time when Bruce could do no wrong, but we're dealing with a Bruce Springsteen in 1995. This is no scrawny outsider cruising the Jersey shore with greasers and hustlers, looking for any way to get out and chase already-lost dreams. This is a very rich resident of the Hollywood Hills with millions of records sold and a shiny new Academy Award on the his bookshelf. Millionaire status did not stop him from creating some of the most raw and real songs heard in a long time, but the images seem just like Tom Joad; old-fashioned and out-dated. Is Springsteen really in touch with the people he writes about anymore? One has to wonder if "Nebraska" was a truly pure and natural recording process while "The Ghost of Tom Joad" is an attempt to recreate what once was. I think of Springsteen as nothing less than a modern day rock poet. Still, I question the relevance of his well-crafted songs and long for some meatier music accompaniment, which leaves me a bit frustrated with "The Ghost of Tom Joad" and ultimately disappointed.
