Nearly a year after Sept. 11, the United States still faces a host of unanswered questions, now buried under a mess of corporate scandal, West Nile virus, wildfires and rising unemployment. Not even a good old-fashioned miner rescue could shake the gloom of the summer of 2002.
Enter Bruce Springsteen, who, as America's long-beloved neighborhood rock star, seems to be the perfect messenger of hope. Springsteen has always been a spokesman for the people in a reassuredly apolitical way, writing paeans to perseverance without pointing fingers at the Reaganomics that put his characters in such a fix. Springsteen was a student of effects, not causes.
So it should come as no surprise that Springsteen's triumphant new album, "The Rising," is less a story of Sept. 11 than Sept. 12, despite all the hype. With the tandem forces of grace and guts on his side, Springsteen has crafted an album as hypnotizing and devastating as staring into the amputated Manhattan skyline itself.
But Springsteen is no one's deliverer. Don't expect any of the sentimental howlers that some country singers (and, unfortunately, Paul McCartney) rushed to cut in tribute of the day. "The Rising" answers no questions and delivers no calls for vengeance or even justice. The best songs just report the facts of loss and note the persistence of life. The formula is simple, wise and heartbreaking.
Nowhere on "The Rising" are any words that refer specifically to the events of Sept. 11. Instead, Springsteen focuses on that uneasy state of limbo after a tragedy -- be it a breakup or a terrorist attack -- when a person can't understand why the rest of the world is still spinning. Springsteen's "Nothing Man," a shellshocked hero created by the attack, wanders like a spectre of himself among his old friends. "Everybody acts like nothing's changed
the sky is still the same unbelievable blue," Springsteen sings, barely above a mumble.
Springsteen understands the physics of loss, too; how grief manifests itself in the minutiae of everyday life. "You're Missing" describes a house after its inhabitant is lost: "Picture's on the nightstand / TV's on in the den / Your house is waiting / For you to walk in / But you're missing." When the lyrics turn abstract at the end of "You're Missing," as they do rarely on "The Rising," they hint at grander implications than their pedestrian predecessors. "God's drifting in heaven / Devil's in the mailbox," Springsteen sings in a quiet moment. The deism of "The Rising" is undercut by the constant presence of darkness, someplace as close to home as your mailbox.
Springsteen has always been a famously specific lyricist, so "The Rising" is no great leap for him in that department. You could argue, however, that it's the first time Springsteen has tried his hand at scoring a non-fiction novel, like Truman Capote writing "In Cold Blood" after a lifetime of "Breakfast at Tiffany's." Like Capote, Springsteen alters his style on "The Rising." Musically, it's unlike anything he has done before. The reunited E Street Band is scaled back to make room for effectiveness over flamboyance. The most prominent member is Springsteen's wife Patti Scialfa, whose backup vocals infuse the album with a warm femininity. But the other voice of the album belongs to a violin. From the opening strains of "Lonesome Day," a small string section lends a country air.
But what makes "The Rising" such a classic album is pure Springsteen. It's pointless to quote the lyrics to "Paradise" without Springsteen's broke-down delivery. It's an act of self-discovery to register your own shock at hearing his voice join a Pakistani chant on "Worlds Apart."
There's even more to "The Rising's" appeal. It's in the way that Springsteen unleashes himself on the last song, "My City of Ruins." It's in the way his voice presses against the walls of a room like air in a balloon when he shouts, "Come on, rise up!" It's in the way your heart feels compelled to obey, in spite of all the destruction and helplessness Springsteen has spent the last hour describing.
Of course, not all the songs succeed so unequivocally. "Mary's Place" is pretty lame, like "Dancing in the Dark" kind of lame. "Further On (Up the Road)" is oddly bland, despite the way it recalls earlier E Street Band exploits. The more lightweight songs, in general, feel intrusive on the first few listens. Still, Springsteen is right to include them, to prevent "The Rising" from being a 72 minute funeral.
In the end, it's the ingenious way that Springsteen marries music and lyric on "The Rising" that makes it a classic. "Empty Sky" tramps doggedly like the endless marching of a mind around a thought, while first single "The Rising" epitomizes its name. The chorus of "The Fuse" is wrapped close in tight backing vocals like lovers in a blanket, while "Let's Be Friends (Skin to Skin)" explodes with a joyous vivacity.
"I hope that you're coming to stay," Springsteen sings on "Waitin' On A Sunny Day." Let's hope the success of "The Rising" will convince Springsteen to come to stay again.
Read More
The best albums of 2014
By Noah Zeidman | December 4, 2014Across genres, it has been a pretty great year in music.
Top 10 movies of 2014
December 4, 2014This has been an excellent year for film, offering everything from gripping blockbusters to innovative personal films.
Iggy Azalea is “Reclassified”
December 4, 2014It has become common practice among music artists to repackage their albums in an effort to simultaneously boost single sales and dish out new content by slightly renaming the album or slapping “Deluxe” onto the title.
