Sound Advice: CD Reviews - Bruce Springsteen (Darkness on the Edge of Town)

CD Review:
It took Bruce three years after Born to Run to put out this album. He was finishing his court battles with his former manager and then was finally allowed to continue his recording career. Considered, with Born to Run, as two of the great albums in rock history, Darkness on the Edge of Town is Bruce at his best. Whether that is anything great is another question entirely in this reviewers opinion.

After trying to get over the God-awful singing on "Adam Raised a Cain," the second track, this album ends up better than Born To Run. That song was painful to listen to. When I converted the CD into mp3 so I could listen to the album on my computer, I excluded that song. It made the rest of the album tolerable.

This album improves Bruce's performance over his previous release because he reins in the E Street Band. Where Born To Run had too much production, having all the instruments competing for the listener's ear, this album's sound actually lets each instrument prove it's worth.

When speaking of Bruce, what is mentioned most, other than his bad voice, is his down-home style of rock, singing about the working-class life. The album epitomizes this cultural lifestyle. "Badlands" speaks of being a crop picker and mechanic, "Something in the Night" and "Racing in the Street" speak of drinking, driving, and racing, three things that give the working man some freedom and excitement to forget his troubles by. "The Promised Land" mentions the faith a mechanic has for his future, which includes a better life and escape from the hole he is presently in.

Although I'm not much interested in "the working man" theme of the album, Bruce writes about it expertly, and it does inspire or depress you when you listen to it. But for me, it's the slower pace of the album, and because of it, Bruce singing in a more relaxed manner that makes the album a more pleasant listen. He still can't sing, shown blatantly when he spouts ear-abusing lyrics on "Adam Raised a Cain" and "Streets of Fire," but at least on this album he doesn't put you though his screaming for more than a few minutes at a time.

Darkness on the Edge of Town is a better album than Born to Run, and probably his best for the lyrical content and lower production aspects, but still not great in my books.

Scott D. Brown