"Turn It Up! (or Turn It Off)" from 2009 #4

Bruce Drops a Bomb. Despite Rolling Stone shilling for the Boss and ranking his Working on a Dream one of the best CDs of the decade, he should be embarrassed to have written it, let alone release it for sale. Okay, “The Last Carnival” for departed Danny Federici passes muster, as does “The Wrestler,” (which really isn’t part of the CD but instead amounts to a bonus cut), but then what? Those are the last two songs on the CD so you have to wade through sludge like “Outlaw Pete,” “Queen of the Supermarket” (really? I mean, really?), and “Surprise, Surprise” to even get to those two. Come on! This is the man who wrote “Thunder Road,” “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” “The River!”

Working on a Dream ranks right there with Neil Young’s Are You Passionate and its ill-considered “Let’s Roll.” When artists set the bar as high as these two have they are bound to limbo way under it once in a while… but how low can they go? Hopefully this was an aberration and not a hint of what’s to come for Bruce and the E Streeters...

...and while we’re at it, what’s up with marketing his 2009 tours as with the “legendary” E Street Band? Isn’t “legendary” usually reserved for bands with one surviving member who is out front playing local summer fairs with a bunch of ringers? To be fair, Springsteen and the E Streeters redeemed themselves in the second half of 2009 when they began focusing part of each show on playing one album in its entirety. Seemed to re-energize them. Which reminds me of something else 2009 will be known for...but check back tomorrow to find out what that is...