A mythical Electric Nebraska may not technically exist, but this five-disc set is a fascinating exploration of Bruce’s haunting 1982 album
There are good albums and great albums, and then there are sacred albums: worlds you enter as if in a dream and emerge with a transformed spirit and neurochemistry. The classic Nebraska (1982) by Bruce Springsteen is one of them. Conceived at the height of the Reagan years, when the singer was in a dark place and rethinking his purpose, it was a radical pause and reboot, a lo-fi series of home recordings that sounded like nothing in his catalog, and a calm before the storm of Born in the United States. “I was looking for a sensation,” he wrote Nebraska in his memoirs, “a tone that sounded like the world I had known and still carried within me.” The result was a haunting and haunting work of art that many people deeply appreciate.
But people always want more, and since A) Nebraska is primarily an album of improved demos, B) they came from the same songwriting sessions that they later produced Born in the United Statesand C) superfans and members of E Street Gang have fueled rumors of an LP for years ElectricNebraska shelved, it’s surprising that it took so long for this mythical lost album to come to light. Clearly, we have Jeremy Allen White and Free me from nothing.
Anyway, here it is. Does it support the myth? Yes and no. Yes, in the sense that recordings were actually made in 1982 of some songs by Nebraska in more comprehensive agreements with the members of E Street Gang From bruce. And no, because, strictly speaking, it doesn’t exist ElectricNebraska itself, despite the ambiguities of Springsteen on the subject (as reported in this magazine) and on the fact that a record in this five-disc set is called ElectricNebraska.
However: as art history, theological inquiry, and secular deep dive down the rabbit hole brucebase, Nebraska ’82 it’s rich material and for the most passionate fans Springsteenessential listening. The first two albums are full of revelations. One disc contains the remnants of the original four-channel tape demonstrations made by Springsteen at your home at Colts neck, New Jerseywith extras from a subsequent acoustic studio session a The power plant who tried, and failed, to surpass those recordings.
The cornerstone is the demonstration of “Born in the USA”appeared on the epic leftovers compilation Traces (1998). He opens this box and here it resonates differently, showing how much it was part of the vision of Nebraska and where was the narrative composition of Springsteen. It also shows how wrong this would have been for the final track listing Nebraska – its anthemic refrain, longing for freedom, would have seemed out of place. The next iteration of the song, a raw rock guitar on the record ElectricNebraskashows its evolution. Both versions showcase the song’s sharp social criticism and confrontational pride more effectively than the wildly successful final version. But musically none of them are that engaging.
Likewise, at least in retrospect, you can taste the festive jam in a delicately insinuating sip “Pink Cadillac”the future success of Natalie Cole and the B-side of Born in the United States It’s sensual and vaguely disturbing, a strangely intimate voicemail. Other times, the addition of neighborhood church piano and bass drowns out the title track’s exquisite thrill Nebraskawhile a tight groove and overheated vocals detract from the articulate desperation of “Atlantic City” (Levon Elmo AND The Band years later he would get a more convincing band arrangement, just like Springsteen & Co.). Two wild punk-rockabilly versions of the fervent “Train Downhill” From Born in the United States talk about the admiration of Springsteen of The Clash.
But a couple of unreleased songs among the leftovers are the highlights of the set. “Child Bride” it’s a haunting sketch of what he would become “Working on the Highway” From Born in the United Statesthat turned the narrative’s moral tangle, supposedly involving an underage girl, into a kind of seamless sea song that, like the album’s title track, stifles its own narrative. (An early version of “Motorway” here obscures the narrator’s transgression.) As America tries to regain its pride by erasing its unfavorable stories, the struggle of Springsteen balancing the light and dark in these quintessentially American recordings is tremendously moving. “Gun in every house” It’s another balancing act, a notable surplus that ended up being shelved. “I moved to the suburbs, yeah, just me and my family/ On the block I live on, you got everything a man could want/ Two cars in every garage and a gun in every house,” Springsteen sing without emotion. (“When I wrote it, I thought I was being a little hysterical,” he admits in the liner notes. “Now, of course, it seems completely natural.”).
The third and fourth discs, audio and video respectively, document a (mostly) solo acoustic performance of the entire album by Nebraskarecorded last summer without an audience at Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank, New Jersey. The film, by Thom Zimnyit’s pretty much what you’d expect: black and white, dim lighting, the artist walking in slow motion towards the empty theater stage (trigger warning: may trigger flashbacks of the Covid lockdown), then sitting down to play the songs straight on. There is no attempt to hide the staging, even if the accompanying musicians are mostly invisible. You get to see a fleeting glimpse of it Larry Campbell behind the scenes during “Atlantic City”playing the mandolin in the shadows; In “Used cars”, Charlie Giordano adds the glockenspiel fireflies in silhouette.
In the liner notes, Springsteen he says he came to this last performance rather cold, and was struck again by the songs, by how “their weight imposed itself on me”. It’s a powerful performance, although more than 40 years later, as a boy in his seventies, he delivers them as a narrator outside the story – a bit like Springsteen presenting Springsteen on Broadway. On the original LP of Nebraskaremastered for the set’s final disc, the performances felt more like a methodical interpretation by a possessed man, physically inhabited by the stories he told.
Springsteen I already said it Nebraska is his most important work, and it’s interesting to note that examining the original LP and the other archival recordings included here, he seems impressed by what his younger self was channeling at the time. He uses the word “shocked” more than once in the liner notes. He says, “I don’t know where I was coming from for those arrangements” and “I don’t know what was influencing me at the time.” He concludes: “Most of this is quite mysterious to me.”
Indeed, mystery is at the heart of the magic of Nebraska – the mystery of what drives humans towards darkness and self-destruction, the mystery of a rich country that disrespects its people, the mystery of an artist who reinvents himself with a blistering compositional hand, whispering in his own ear to make the mystery manifest. He did, and when you hear the Nebraska Ultimately, the box set’s early releases and re-recordings, even the good ones here, are blown like leaves by a punishing autumn wind. The falsetto screams at the end “Atlantic City” they become ghostly again, not vocal effects distributed differently throughout the sessions. Many of the songs of Nebraska they would become American classics, and that says a lot “Atlantic City” From Levon Elmo is one of his greatest performances, the same goes for the version of Emmylou Harris From “My Father’s House”. The fact that their versions remained close to those on the album also says a lot Nebraska finished. Why bruce hit them directly.
Source: Terra
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
