Sorry for the delay, dear readers. It was one of those weeks where all that stuff adult life requires gets in the way of the hobbies.
Back to the music, where it feels like not long ago that I was summarizing my complete collection of Bruce Springsteen records. Now I have two more, including this next review. What can I say? The guy keeps putting out good music.
Disc 1424 is…. Western Stars
Artist: Bruce Springsteen
Year of Release: 2019
What’s up with the Cover? A horse caught mid-gallop. I expect this picture was taken at some sprawling dude ranch owned by the Boss.
How I Came To Know It: I am a fan so I always check out Springsteen’s latest work. I don’t always like it, but I often do, and that was the case with “Western Stars.”
How It Stacks Up: I now have 12 Bruce Springsteen albums, but I’m not quite ready to rank where his 2020 release comes in (needs more listens). Instead, I’m going to rank “Western Stars” as though I only have 11. And of those 11 it comes in...10th. Good enough to beat out “Devils & Dust” but not anything else.
Ratings: 3 stars
People who don’t like that Springsteen’s later albums have a kind of affected “ordinary man” vibe haven’t been listening very carefully to his earlier albums. All his albums sound like that. For the most part, they’re all pretty damned good at it. On “Western Stars” Springsteen feels a bit more affected than usual, but his natural talent for songwriting and storytelling still yields a few gems and makes the listen worthwhile.
I think this record is intended as a loose concept album. Or maybe more specifically, a drawn-out character study where the character is – I think – some California dwelling former stuntman living out on a farm. Think Brad Pitt in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” except where the stuntman is even more chill, has a pet horse instead of a pet dog, and does a lot of introspection as he drives (or rides) around the desert.
The music and arrangements are deliberate, with Springsteen aiming for an anthemic, orchestral sound that evokes big wide-open plains and deserts. If you’re looking for the stark desolate sounds of “Nebraska” you won’t find it here. Springsteen’s later-life high plains drifter sees a desert teeming with life and memory, and decidedly less murder. I admit I wanted the record to have slightly more murder. Not all murder, or anything, but maybe one or two good ballads to keep things interesting.
But I digress…
All that anthemic flair can really interfere with the storytelling. “Sleepy Joe’s Café” has a rockabilly core, but it is totally drowned in production. Think “Mary’s Place” from “The Rising” but instead of the desperate joy of a community recovering from 9/11, just a bunch of old dudes getting quietly drunk.
The worst is probably “The Wayfarer” which feels like a somber jingle for “Wayfair” the online furniture store, if the ad was aimed at online indie kids living in rural Nevada. “Chasin’ Wild Horses” is a beautiful melody that would be one of the album’s better songs, but the soaring strings at the end sounded a bit too much like the theme from Jurassic Park.
The album also has plenty of wins, however. Springsteen’s Wistful Stuntman songs can be solid, and you get a real sense of the character on both “Western Stars” and “Drive Fast (The Stuntman)”. “Western Stars” is particularly good, with Springsteen singing in that timeless quaver of his, drawing you in to a man finding acceptance in the autumn of his years, even as he reflects back to glory days in lines like:
“Once I was shot by John Wayne, yeah, it was near the end
That one scene’s bought me a thousand drinks, set me up and I’ll tell it
for you, friend.”
“There Goes My Miracle” is a bit schmaltzy with those ever-present strings, but it also shows how well Springsteen’s vocals have held up over the years. He can still bring it, and if that hook in the chorus doesn’t make you want to sing along then you may be a little dead inside.
The album ends with one of the album’s best. “Moonlight Motel” is a love letter to a relationship ended, seen through the dilapidated desert hotel now abandoned and overgrown. After all the bombast of strings and excess production, Springsteen wisely lets his best quality – songwriting and singing – shine through here at the end. The result is a bittersweet tale where you can taste both the desert air and the regret still hanging in it years later.
Compared to many other Springsteen albums covering similar ground, “Western Stars” is hampered by its production values, as well as the Boss’ efforts to shoehorn a story where a series of vignettes would have better served his purpose. However, there is still plenty of good stuff here, and well worth a listen.
Best tracks: Tucson Train, Western Stars, There Goes My Miracle, Moonlight Hotel
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