A few thoughts on binge watching, daytime TV, and The Boss. Also a buncha fresh tracks.
At some point this week, I will join 99.999999% of the rest of humanity and be able to say that I’ve finished watching Game of Thrones all the way through. There are really only a few other long-running dramatic series I can make that same claim with, namely Dallas (yes, really) and Cold Case.
For the former, it was more a case of “why not?” than anything else and was a real field trip through primetime soap operas, cultural mores, and, um, fashion. For the latter, it was simply a case of proximity. When you are done with work by lunchtime, there’s not a whole lot on, and unless you’re into infomercials or courtroom TV series (how are there so many of these?!), the pickings are slim.
I loved Cold Case as it was—I’m a sucker for a mystery and a nice, compact ending before the credits roll—but it was the music that really set it apart from anything else released.
For those who might not know (or work a regular shift), the series followed a group of homicide detectives in Philly who would tackle a new cold case in each episode. Pretty boilerplate stuff, I know. But what really set it apart was that the producers would use music from whatever year the murder originally took place. Sometimes they would even use a single artist, which they did with Bruce Springsteen1 in Season 3, leaning heavily on Born in the USA (among others).
It makes sense; the record gets a lot of love and is often at or near the top of people’s favorites lists. Others default to Born to Run, while “serious music people” often gravitate toward Nebraska. No one ever picks Only the Strong Survive, and not nearly enough pick Tunnel of Love.
Tunnel of Love turns 39 this week, and it is my favorite. There are plenty more in his catalog I like, including the ones listed above, but none feel quite as honest as this one. When it came time to take on the Top 100 records of all time, there really wasn’t going to be another choice for me.
Writing about it at the time, I noted:
After Born in the U.S.A., Bruce Springsteen could’ve kept making soundtracks to Midwest beer-league softball games. Instead, he bet the other way and released one of his most introspective, sober records.
1987 saw him at a crossroads; he was a star with the world at his feet. He was also in the middle of a marriage that was rapidly disintegrating. It’s hard to write stadium rock when your world is falling down around you. At its heart, Springsteen’s music is aspirational, if occasionally simplistic: love, victory, the open road. After all, like the song says, it ought to be easy, ought to be simple enough; man meets woman, and they fall in love, right?
All well and good, except love isn’t always that straightforward, and sometimes the ending isn’t the happy one you hoped would be written. Listening to the record, it’s clear that this was what he was grappling with.
Tunnel of Love wrestles with all the things unsaid. It’s fraught. “Tougher Than the Rest” paints love as a contact sport. “Valentine’s Day” is when the lights go down, the applause stops, and you’re left alone with your thoughts.
And someday, I’ll hear it for the one-too-many-eth time, and it’ll break me.
The E Street Band is here, but more in theory than anything. They appear sporadically, with Springsteen choosing to write and play most of the parts himself. We don’t hear a single note of Clarence Clemons’ sax here—his only credit is for backing vocals on “When You’re Alone.” Sometimes, you just gotta work through things yourself, and I’m betting that’s why he made the personnel decisions he did here.
Tunnel of Love is not Springsteen’s best-selling record. It’s not his most commercial or radio-friendly one. But it is him at his most honest. It’s the Boss at his best.
He’s made records that are more timeless. Ones that sold more copies. Ones that TV producers decided to base a whole episode around! Sure, the sound is more of its time than almost any other he’s made—except maybe Only the Strong Survive—but with lyrics as potent as any writers’ room could gin up, you’d be hard-pressed to say he made one more honest than this one.
Onto the music:
Tunnel of Love is here, of course, as are R.E.M.’s “Ignoreland” and the Afghan Whigs’ “Gentlemen.” Both are also celebrating birthdays this week, and while it took a while for Automatic for the People to grow on me, Gentlemen worked its way into my ears right from the start.
Ditto Spoon, another band where everyone seems to have a different favorite—except Transference, and maybe some people even dig that?—and Ride. Oasis too. Nothing wrong with “Wonderwall,” but this one’s my favorite. Most people look to Wire’s first three as their best, but I love the middle era of the band. Ideal Copy, A Bell Is a Cup… Until It Is Struck, and IBTABA are peak Wire for me, and “Ahead” is at the top of a long list of favorites.
Speaking of Philly, Kurt Vile’s here as well. Not sure if this one was ever big, but it’s one I come back to often.
I don’t spend all my time in a time machine, and there are plenty of brand-new tracks here as well. Lily Konigsberg is back. Her album Lily We Need to Talk, Now was one of my favorites of ’21, and I’m excited to hear more from her coming up. We’ve got another one from Isa Heller as well. Look for more on that record at some point soon. We’ve also got killer sounds from Local Drags, the BV’s, and, last but not least, we travel down to Louisiana for one from Other Desert Cities, our friend Patrick Fellows’ latest project.
KA—
The Playlists: | Apple | Qobuz | YouTube Music | Tidal (NEW) |
Now it’s your turn.
What’s been exciting you lately? Any releases or shows you’re looking forward to? Whatcha got? Share your thoughts in the comments!
