Bruce Springsteen
E Street Shuffle
Kitty s Back
Incident on 57th Street
Reviewed on 2/22/2007.
Good, early Bruce tunes.
Laszlo Matyas (5 out of 5 stars) A seven-track album about life in working class New Jersey. Usually not the sort of thing I go for, but Bruce and the boys manage to pull it off really well. Springsteen sings like he s in his own world, stretching and twisting and teasing at syllables until each one sounds like a little sculpture. The lyrics seek to make epic poetry out of greaser life, and for the most part they all at least sound good, even when they veer into hipster posturing. Meanwhile, the E Street Band turns a blender onto classicist rock n roll, producing what sounds like a prog-jazz take on jukebox fodder. The results are shockingly unpretentious, and more often than not they manage to evoke pure blissful sweaty rock n roll chaos. The overall package is grimy and pretty at once, a gutter-rat romance that s about as convincing, as visceral