In Northampton, Massachusetts last week, I caught a high-pitched voice and some weird instrumentation at the extreme left-end of the dial. The song was like nothing you'd hear on mainstream radio, and caused me to lament how much great music I probably miss because the narrowing choices highlighted by MTV, corporate radio, and an increasingly consolidated recording industry. I listened and thought: Who is this guy? As the song concluded, I thought that it would be cool if Bruce Springsteen covered this performer, the way he did Tom Waits, and brought him some mainsteam attention. The radio host then intoned, "And that was Bruce Springsteen, with 'All I'm Thinkin' About,' off of his new album, Devils and Dust." I had absolutely no idea, even to the point of daydreaming that this guy's music was so awesome that somebody mainstream but cool like Bruce Springsteen should cover him to give him more exposure.
This freaked me out. My collection boasts nine Springsteen CDs and I've seen him live five times, yet I couldn't spot his voice disguised behind the falsetto tone he adopted. My second, more depressing thought, was that the wonderful eclectic music Springsteen played would not be on the radio, even the high-80s/low-90s on the FM band, had it not had the name Bruce Springsteen attached to it. That's a shame.
Anyhow, there's a pop Bruce Springsteen that you'll find on albums like Born To Run, Born in the USA, and The Rising. There's another Bruce Springsteen on Nebraska (His best?), The Ghost of Tom Joad, and his latest, Devils and Dust. I urge you to check out this more inaccessible Springsteen by purchasing his new release, Devils and Dust. I'm buying it through FlynnFiles. Who else is with me?
Im debating on whether or not I should buy it. He toured for John Kerry for crying out loud, and he slammed Reagan in the 80s. I mean I agree with you Dan, Ive seen him twice in concert and Ive got all his albums, but I think "stars" need to keep their noses out of politics. Like Laura Ingrahams book says, "Shut up and Sing".
Radio sucks SO VERY much. I'm considering moving to Annapolis JUST to get WRNR, one of the only decent stations in the DC area. You would be likely to hear this kind of thing there. Towson University Radio (89.7 in Balt/DC area) is at about the same level, and maybe a little better.
James,
Yours is a loosing sentiment. Unfortunately, just about every good musician and actor is a leftist lunatic.
Along the same lines, I switched banks a few years back because the one I was with supported Planned Parenthood only to learn that the one I had just moved to supported NOW.
Were we to boycott every source of support for the left, we'd soon be churning butter in rural Pennsylvania.
Better to churn butter in Pennsylvania, than to be thrown, with a hefty bank account, into Gehenna (which I think is somewhere in Jersey).
Or more appropriately, "Somewhere in the swamps of Jersey..."
I would endorse the purchase of Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska and would wholly recommend that people pick up "Badlands: A Tribute To Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska."
It's a tribute of assorted alterna-country, folk, and other artists covering the song list on the album Nebraska. Chrissy Hynde, Son Volt, Dar Williams, Aimee Mann, and Michael Penn are among them, and the CD also includes a bonus Bruce cover by Johnny Cash.
It's no "Innocence & Despair," The Langley Schools Music Project, but "Badlands: A Tribute To Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska" is worth it.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004Z0M0/103-2430819-5013417?v=glance
On the airwaves, WERS 88.9 FM, Boston is a good independent, non-commercial radio stations out there. Live stream is available. Their best stuff is weekday mornings between 6 and 9 am.
Tufts U also has a good station on the lect end of the dial.
