Bruce Springsteen – The Ghost Of Tom Joad (1995)

I seem to have missed Springsteen. I haven't heard much by him, probably just the hits, but hadn't disliked anything by him. When he first came to the fore in the mid-1970s, I wasn't in the market for another American rock star, being submerged in English prog.

Later, in the 1980s, when he became The Boss, I was so far up my post-punk miserablist arse that I wasn't interested.

In fact, this was an album bought for a quid as an "I supposed I ought to listen to this..." purchase, and I don't think I'd listened to it until doing this. My first surprise was the date - I'd have placed it ten years earlier. But it wasn't my only surprise.

On paper, this is exactly the sort of album I shouldn't enjoy. Americana, country tinged, rock star with a huge reputation. But I'm enjoying this album to the point of wanting to completely wallow in the world described. Springsteen's low key, mostly acoustic and solo songs detail the harshness and iniquities of life in working class, multicultural USA, in an album described by Bill Wyman of Chicago Reader as "stolidly depoppified to ensure that no one will derive actual pleasure from it."

That's harsh, it's a really fine collection of songs, even if there's much more shade than light. At times, it sounds like Dylan, if he could sing, and if his social conscience was based in the working class struggle rather than the 1950s beat poets, but unlike Dylan, it doesn't preach overtly, merely tells the tale of the characters struggling to get by in Springsteen's world.

It's hard to single out specific songs, because the whole is such a mood piece, so I won't. But if you've admired Springsteen's songwriting, without being convinced by the worship of some fans, or ever wished Dylan could hold a tune, this might be something you'd enjoy.

Link to album tracks

4* - not a cheerful song in sight, yet enjoyably moving