release date: Jul. 30, 2002
format: cd (2005 reissue)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,42]
producer: Brendan O'Brien
label: Sony Music Direct - nationality: USA
Track highlights: 1. "Lonesome Day" - 2. "Into the Fire" - 5. "Countin' on a Miracle" - 8. "Let's Be Friends (Skin to Skin)" - 12. "You're Missing" - 13. "The Rising"
12th studio album by Bruce Springsteen, originally released on Columbia Records, has by now slowed down the production time in between albums, although he released the studio ep Blood Brothers in 1996. As a new tentative he has put his faith entirely in the hands of producer Brendan O'Brien. The album is the first full studio album in 7 years and his first with The E Street Band in 18 years. Stylistically, the album falls somewhere between his more traditional uptempo albums when playing with The E Street Band and his two acoustic solo albums, i.e. an album with focus on his narrating compositions with the addition of a little spark. O'Brien is renowned for his work with Pearl Jam and I can't help thinking that Bruce may just have noted how he'd like a bit of that new alt. rock / Pearl Jam sound here and there [listen to "Countin' on a Miracle" and "The Rising" ].
It's unmistakably Springsteen - a bit going through the motions at times, but it feels like an attempt to restart his artistic journey. Some songs sound like Springsteen reproducing the spirit of Springsteen with the addition of something new: a bit of alt. rock and new dynamics, but overall there are many new facets to the image of the man. It's predominantly singer / songwriter material, but it doesn't pretend to be neither the new follow-up in his "Nebraska"-series, nor an album that follows the blue-prints of "Glory Days" of 'rock & roll' Springsteen. "The River" contains the same wide dynamic including acoustically driven stories and sparkling rock, only that was exactly the "Glory Days"-kind of near big band arrangements with sax, drums, horns and background choruses, whereas this brings it to newer grounds of rock. Since the early 1980's, we have experienced grunge rock and alt. rock and all that U2, Pearl Jam and Neil Young influence have distilled into something else, which is this.
Basically, I find it bettering his most recent releases, also The Ghost of Tom Joad. It's a fine collection of songs, and it simply qualifies as his most honest-to-the-bone and genuinely sounding Springsteen album since Tunnel of Love.
I don't hear particular great hits on an album, which is more of a whole, where the individually sounding tracks combined make up a solid good album.
The album achieved fine reviews and high sales, securing number #1 positions on the album charts lists in both the US and the UK. The Rising is Springsteen's fifth (and so far final) album to be enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
[ allmusic.com, Blender, Q Magazine 4 / 5, Rolling Stone, Uncut Magazine 5 / 5 stars ]
