Bruce Springsteen Working on a Dream

Bruce Springsteen - Working on a Dream (buy it)


I haven't weighed in on my own blog about the new Springsteen. I've sat with it for a while and I've read more estimable reviewers than myself.
I've commented on the PopDose blog about it. I commented on The Screen Door blog. And I've called in to Sound Opinions.
I've also rated it on facebook and I'm here to tell you that I am not going to do a full review.
Because the album isn't worth my time.
It's almost execrable dog shit.
Instead of a full review I will give you my standard A, Blind and Down sides and I will point you in the direction of a much more forgiving review than I would like.
The Screen Door is an excellent blog and the author is a fan so he is more forgiving of the Boss than I think he should be.
That review is here.

In a fully self-aggrandizing way I direct you to that blog because the author also posted my comment as his "email of the day." Here is that comment:

As often happens when a Springsteen fan reviews one of his lesser albums, the author is way to forgiving. I am a longtime Bruce listener. I came to his work just as BitUSA was cresting and I went deep into the back catalog after that.The bounty that was the earlier albums gave way to disappointment throughout the rest of the next two decades.The Rising was a shining beacon that RoboBruce had found his way.Magic was meh but then there came Working on a Dream.Traditionally, Bruce is at his worst when he is left alone or sans the E-Street Band. It's when he depends on people that he has no real relationship with that his music truly suffers.On WoaD he is back with the E Street Band but there's a difference. This sounds like nobody was in the studio at the same time.It sounds pasted together.And it sounds like nobody turned to Bruce and said, "Dude. You wrote Rosalita. You wrote Born to fucking Run. You wrote Born in the USA. Point Blank. Independence Day. Badlands. Atlantic City, and so many other. Dude. Outlaw Pete is the worst piece of shit you have ever recorded and you did a rendition of Pony Boy." To open the album with this turd is to defecate all over the rest of the disc. It can never recover and it never does. But, sadly, most Bruce lovers will let him off the hook. I'm here to tell you that he shouldn't be.


This is a terrible record. Made worse by the fact that it is callous and predictable AND employs the E Street Band. Queen of the Supermarket is so deplorable that Bruce should offer free tickets to shows if anyone can sing the entire song without laughing or throwing up. I am embarrassed by this mess. You are a terrific writer and reviewer. You shouldn't let him off this hook. Beat him up a little. He deserves it for this one.

Grade D

A Side: My Lucky Day & The Wrestler & Working on a Dream. (By the numbers but they work
Blind Side: nothing, you've heard this before.
DownSide: Outlaw Pete, Queen of the Supermarket, Good Eye, What Love can Do........

Explaining my monkey

list, actually.
I love being a part of the Monkey Mixx, because I used to love LOVE making mix tapes. Then Discs. And now, I just love turning people on to music.
The theme was simple. Numbers. That's all. Songs had to have numbers incorporated somewhere.

Here are mine:

01 - My Hero, Zero - Lemonheads
I adore Schoolhouse Rock and way back when I was reviewing albums for Home Theater magazine I received the Schoolhouse Rocks Rocks CD. It was relatively hit or miss, but I liked this version of this song. My intent was to go in order of 0-5, but I lost interest in that. My Hero, Zero was one of the episodes that I never saw, so the song was newish to me.

02 - One More Minute - Weird Al
This is one of the greatest comedic songs written and almost no one knows it. It's not a parody of anything, it's just done in a 50s style and it's brilliant. You need to add this to your musical lexicon.

03 - Death on 2 Legs - Queen
Still trying to do it in order, let's face it, it's not a playlist by me unless there's some Queen somewhere.

04 - Three Small Words - Josie and the Pussycats
Suck it, I like this tune. It's my ringtone for my wife, who LOVES it. It's catchy and disposable. Like bubblegum ought to be.

05 - Sixty-eight Guns - The Alarm
It occured to me that I hadn't heard this one in a while, so I imagine many people might have forgotten the lads who wished they were u2. At the time my roommate and I agreed that this album was one of the greatest debuts of all time.

06 - Julia, we don't live in the 60's - The Indelicates
It's important that a list have at least one band no one knows. The blog, Song, By Toad, turned me on to the Indelicates. Their music sounds more like dangerous musical theater, almost grand guignol in it's attitude of contempt. I love them. I think you will, too. Except that this song sounds so much like The Jam's That's Entertainment I think they should pay royalties to Paul Weller. Or Peter Weller. Robocop needs love, too.

Go Here and download all of mine plus everyone else's list as well. And keep reading because my Monkey Mixx is due up soon and I really want you guys to participate.




(One more Minute link)

Another Monkey Mixx!

Go to iSplotchy's page to download my contributions to the latest Monkey Mix. I WILL get an explanation up on here. Truth be told, I forgot about it and Splotch just surprised us with posting it.
Stay tuned and get the tunage.

Knee Jerkin the Oscar Pix

Sorry, Geeks. I guess your triumph is limited to dollars as TDK was all but snubbed.
My knee Jerk picks are in bold. My strong seconds are italicized.
It's Oscar Season. Let's roll.

Supporting Actress (The Toss Up category)
Amy Adams in Doubt
Penelope Cruz in Vicky Christina Barcelona
Viola Davis in Doubt
Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler
Tarajip Henson in Benjamin Button

Supporting Actor (The Gimmes)
Josh Brolin in Milk
Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman in Doubt
Michael Shannon in Revolutionary Road
Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight

Best Actress (The battle of the perennials)
Anne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married
Melissa Leo in Frozen River
Meryl Streep in Doubt
Kate Winslet in The Reader
Angelina Jolie in The Changeling

Best Actor (The Nobles)
Richard Jenkins in The Visitor
Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon
Brad Pitt in Benjamin Button
Sean Penn in Milk
Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler

Director (The Revenge of the 90s)
David Fincher
Ron Howard
Gus Van Sant
Stephen Daldry
Danny Boyle

Original Screenplay (The Consolation Prize)
Frozen River
Happy-Go-Lucky
Milk
Wall-E (The fuck you, actually. The scripts is sparse I might have to flip)
In Bruges

Adapted Screenplay (The Progenitor)
Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
Slumdog Millionaire
The Reader

Foreign Film (The Oscar Pool Pick 'em)
The Baader Meinhoff Complex
The Class
Departure
Revanche
Waltz with Bashir

Animated (The most annoying category)
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
Wall-E

Best Picture (The Revenge of the Filmmaker)
Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

At this moment in time, I'm gonna say I'm right about this.

For the Frog

Sam Frog, this is for you.


Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

Listening Post: AC/DC Black Ice

Hey, guess what? It's time for another Listening Post. Well, not really. This is just an update. Go back into the archives and check out the AC/DC retro from last summer. Since then the boys from down under put out a new album, refused to sell tracks on iTunes, sold a monster amount and actually found me devil horning in concert at The Forum. So, how is the new one?


AC/DC - Black Ice - 2008 (buy it...at Wal-Mart)

It's good. Okay? Is it Back in Black? Guess what I'm gonna say?

You're wrong.




Gotcha. No. you're right. It's not better than BiB. But it is the best album of theirs since then. Go back and look at those reviews. After BiB it's a vast wasteland of shit. And then along comes BI and I gotta tell ya: Big Jack? With his big sack? yeah, he kicks ass. Anything Goes? It's like revisiting The Cars by way of metal.
The biggest problem with Black Ice? it's too long. Yep. That's right. it's too long by more half.
The greatest albums of the 70s were 35-40 minutes tops. AC/DC's were note perfect examples of this.
Then the CD came in and everything HAD to be 60+ minutes. Well, as a song writer, i will tell you that I don't have 60 minutes of top notch music in me. I can pull off 30. Like a stand up who has 20 great minutes but when pressed for a longer set, he falls apart, that's what the CD did to music.
And you don't have 70 minutes to devote to an album. You have 40. Twenty on the way to work and twenty on the way home.
That's perfect.
Chop off Rock and Roll Dream, a meandering, semi plodding, 80s-esque retread. Dump the insipid Smash and Grab.....you get the point.

Black Ice is a really good AC/DC album. Pound for Pound it's right up there with Highway to Hell, the weakest of the Bon Scott offerings (if that's the weakest, this band was doing something right.)

If you like the formula, you will dig the rekkid.

Grade B+
A-Side: Rock n Roll Train, Money Made, Big Jack, Anything Goes, Black Ice, War Machine
BlindSide: Too early for that, folks.
Downside: Smash and Grab, Spoiling for a Fight, Rock n Roll Dream, She likes Rock n Roll, oh, heck, they aren't downsides as much as they weight the album down. Drop two more and the album is spectacular.