Because Yail is assuming that, if it was good enough for Johnny Cash, it's good enough for Bruce...

...which is completely untrue. Cash was always a covers man or, at least, he rarely wrote what he sang in the early days. Bruce has always been his own man...

Still, it's a sweet idea in general, but I don't know about any of the above suggestions...

Wow. Sorry, but that deserves a beating. And I like the Coog.

I like Mellencamp too, but he's higher on the americana roots rock cheese scale, and if you deny that simple fact, then you're just lying to yourself.

And you could try a beating but you'd regret it. You forget, i taught elementary school.

In short, i'm trying to see your point of view, but i can't get my head that far up my own ass.

Easy fella, cuz when you steppin to Dre, nigga, you steppin ta Death Row.

(No offense, but you know, Busty's our boy)

I know he is.

I'll still whup his ass. I fail to see why an opinion merits a "beating".

I'm'a guess it was a figger of speech, Phil.

i figured as much too, which is why i quipped about teaching elementary school.

Phil, apparently you do need to get your head out of your ass because you are having a real hard time making a cognizant argument today my friend:
I got no problem (and could give two shits) whether you like The Rising or not but you keyed in on the PRODUCTION of the album---which is why I asked you specifically: Compare it, production-wise to other Bruce albums and you give me Human Touch? (which is actually a wonderfully produced album) You're a fucking studio musician man--DO YOU KNOW WHAT PRODUCTION IS OR ARE YOU JUST THROWING OUT SHIT BECAUSE YOU DON'T LIKE THE ALBUM??!!!!

How many Springsteen albums do you own that you can actually compare the production of The Rising too? Because I will be happy to go track-by-track if necessary.

I like the Coog as well but your dismissal of The Rising as comparable is honestly laughable. You need to stop drinking during the day. As to the lifespan of the songs on The Rising----Have you seen Springsteen live supporting the album. Have you ever seen Springsteen live? There are at least 3 or 4 songs from that album that will be staples of Springsteen shows as long as he tours----as much as any one of his albums.

Get back to me on this shit man, because maybe I am not hearing you right.

And BTW, if you step to Busty, you step to me homey.

As a somewhat Boss-challenged music fan, I feel compelled to weigh in. I wasn't blown away by the album until I saw it live. It sounded good, it got better with listenings, but honestly seeing them do it live was the clencher, at least for me. And Bloor is correct on the production... you don't get Brendan O'Brien-famous at the rate he did without really knowing what you're doing, at least not usually. Say you don't like the songs, or the cover art, or say Bruce hit on your mom in the 80's, but don't say the production was "bad"... have you heard it in headphones?

I said The Rising's production was slightly better than Human Touch. And by production values i mean more than arrangement, or tones, but how they stomp they life out of both through the engineering, mixing, and mastering.

What do you want, so i don't like the sound of either album? They're fucking glossy. They're his two glossiest, compressed to hell albums. Period.

And i said some of the writing is good on The Rising. And some of it is trite, heart on the sleeve bullshit. In fact, I think i referred to some of the writing as "damn good".

I think it's a good album. I don't think it's great because of some of the weaker songs, and the fact that the album singles will one day be played on lite fm sandwiched between boys of summer, the last d.j., and key west intermezzo, because they all have a similar overcompressed glossy ass sound.

Busty is a big boy, he stepped to me on his own. I mean, if he needs a little protection, i can understand that.

Anyhow, all i'm saying is, and here's the important part...

IN MY OPINION, i was expecting more out of The Rising because I think Springsteen is a fucking genius. I thought Human Touch and Lucky Town were weak, but again, the key point is weak for Springsteen. I thought The Ghost of Tom Joad was a brilliant swing in the right direction. I thought The Rising went in a different direction, and i was a little disappointed. I still think it's a good album, but not as good as alot of people make it out to be.

Part of that could be the timing of the album's release.

I'm disturbed by the fact that you often think i have my head up my ass, when i think i'm making cogent arguments that aren't loaded with insults.

Yeah I've heard it in headphones. The only grit on the album is springsteen's voice. Again, i'm comparing it to previous Springsteen albums that I adore.

Agreed, that is a tall order. Hard to beat the sound of some of those. I recall wondering at the slickness of it, but then it didn't rub me wrong, neither. Ah, but then opinions are like assholes...

everyone's got one and they all stink. Hell, Chris Brickley told me a story about how Steve Albini ripped Chris a new asshole in front of a bunch of industry types about how Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was a prime example of what an album SHOULDN'T sound like. And Albini was a huge hero to Chris.

Just opinions...

I understand what you're sayin' epa. I just get a little freaked out when Bruce and the Coog are in the same sentence, and there's a comparison being drawn. But I gotcha.

But step to me again with the head up the ass thing and we've got problems. I'll come...through...the...computer somehow and...pop...a...Ah fuck it.

haha....

all right, fuck it, we're having a beer.

But busty, it's not a far stretch musically from The Boss to Johnny. It's not like we're comparing Cat Stevens and System of a Down.

Admittedly, The Boss is WAY higher quality. Coog's no slouch though, in that genre.

Way too much macho posturing going on in this thread. Though it is a Springsteen thread, so I guess it's appropriate. But still... turn the cheese factor down a notch all of ya.

HAHA!!

Sue: Dude I had to protect our rep man!

T-man: Oh like House of Pain was gonna do anything. You don't need the gat Sue!

For Rad and Loog.

Coupla things:

I never said the production was bad, I said it was geared towards the Adult Contemporary market, meaning that the radio-friendly tracks are not edgy, rough or stark sounding at all. I actually think some of the non-singles are among the best songs he's ever done. Certainly I don't think The Rising is a bad album. Some of the songs tear your soul up, even on repeated listens.

Also, the covers idea was meant to be a joke. Of course, he shouldn't do a Mission Of Burma cover. Well, maybe he could pull it off...

He could do a great "Handshake Drugs" or maybe "I Bought A Gun In Irvington." That'd be cool.

Yea I know man. It's just hard to think about his good stuff when I keep hearing this awful new song of his all the time with Babyface singing in the background. What happened to the Authority Song, Lonely Old Night, etc.?

He does the occasional duet... Wild Nights with Me'Shell Ndegeocello, Peaceful World with India Arie.

It's a formula that's done well for him. Then you take Clapton's success with HIS Babyface duet, If I Could Change The World... and how is a poor boy from Seymour, IN supposed to resist?

I hear ya.

But perhaps you are famaliar with the term "playing radio"? C'mon Phil, lighten up; you know as well as I do that people enjoy these arguments much more when we make them personal. Think of the reader, dammit!

I don't think, by the way, that I ever insulted you in any way that was not obviously tongue in cheek. Ur my boy blue.

I completely disagree with your assesment of the production of the album; that's fine; I agree with you that some of the songwriting is hmmm maybe not as good as some other stuff, but shit dude, Springsteen ALWAYS has cheeky, cheesy shit on every one of his records. Honestly, "Mary's Place" is the only weak song on the album imho.

We agree to disagree.

Frosty, I would like an example of which A/C track on that album you think will be a mainstay on radio in ten years? From a PD's opinion. Personally I think it is a good thing that "I'm On Fire" is still played on radio because it still holds power and blows away anything of its contemporary.

Radcliffe? You could probably use a testicle transplant. Buck up brother.

"Lonesome Day," even though it wasn't a big hit, is that one that will probably keep life on soft rock radio. "The Rising" somewhat, too.

I've told you before, Bloor, keep your latently mincing digits away from my nutsack.