Bruce Should Be Working Harder On A Dream

Bruce continues his streak of terrible album covers representing terrible albums

I didn’t write the paragraph below, but I certainly could of (at least I could have evoked the spirit, not so sure I could match the elegance). Andy Whitman from Paste stole these words right out of my mouth in his recent article:

“I've been forcing myself to listen to Bruce Springsteen's latest album, Working on a Dream. I keep hoping that my initial dismay will pass. So far, it's not working. Those of you who know me know that I love Bruce Springsteen. I would hop in the car with him and drive off down Thunder Road, pushing Mary out of the front seat if I had to. I would walk through Jungleland with him, braving the gang warfare. I would go through hell and back for Bruce Springsteen. But I will not listen to this new album another time. It's too painful.”

I agree, it's way too painful. Not just because the album is terrible (and trust me it is), but because its sad when you see one of your all-time favorite artists go down a path that just makes you shake your head. As you may know, I was baffled by the critical acclaim Springsteen received for his last album “Magic”. That was a not a good record. This one is worse. Things have gotten so bad between me and Bruce that I haven’t gone to see him the last two times he’s been in town despite the fact I have friends here who went. This time I decided it was going to be a fun night out and I would just go to the bar and the bathroom when he played the new songs. You know, just like people do when Keith Richards gets his 10 minutes to sing at a Rolling Stones show. (As my Dad says “you can hear the toilets flushing” as soon as Keith gets up to the mic.) Anyway, that all changed when I heard the new album. I was going to skip Springsteen again…. But then he rocked the Super Bowl and I was back in. I was out, then in, then out, then back in.

Unfortunately, we got shut out of tickets to the show thanks to Ticketmaster scamming everyone by redirecting most of the tickets to a legal scalping site… which oh by the way they OWN. Fortunately, Bruce is on the side of the people as always and fighting Ticketbastard Eddie Vedder style. From Bruce via his website:

The abuse of our fans and our trust by Ticketmaster has made us as furious as it has made many of you. We will continue to do our utmost now and in the future to make sure that these practices are permanently curtailed on our tours.

Awesome – you tell ‘em Bruce!

So there you have it, everything I love and hate about Bruce Springsteen.