[DaveyShoes]

I think its another fine album from Bruce. It'll take a while to sink in, but the songs are generally first class....I think Brendan O'Brien's production really brings out something exciting and fresh in the songs. That was certainly the case with 'The Rising' and the same effect is evident here.
After a few spins I think the title track and 'Reno' are particular standouts. The latter contains some of Bruce's filthies lyrics ever and tells the tale of a man having a rendezvous with a whore, but all the while thinking about his true love. Its a beautiful song!
The record is full of deep, original lyrics concerned with desparate lives in the American heartland. Check out 'Black Cowboys' and 'The Hitter' for proof of Bruce on top of his game. The narratives behind the songs are truly captivating, great story telling, full of soul and emotion. I love it!
I'll certainly be playing this one on a loop for the next few days... so come on fellow Springsteen fans, tell me what you think...

[Kathleen]

I'm glad someone liked it. Bruce takes a beating for his solo stuff without the E Street Band. So many people hate the Tom Joad album, but when he playes the same tracks with the band they love it. Ditto for Nebraska. I really like this album. It's not as hopeless and desperate as Tom Joad and sonically it sounds gorgeous. I have several version of The Hitter from the 96 tour (which is when he wrote it) and I really like this version. I think that people that listen to the solo stuff pay more attention to the lyrics and meaning than people do singing along to familiar stuff in a stadium. Bruce does have a lot to say - whether or not you agree with him is another story. One thing that comes across to me from this record - he is still on the side of people that need hope to survive.

Kathleen

[jess]

I don't like it, or maybe if i give it another chance but it seems so boring

[Mousebounce]

I don't like it. It just seems quite boring and dry to me. His voice doesn't even sound that great. I loved The Rising, as it contained a bit of everything, while this album is all one type of style, which I don't like at all. Even the critics, who have always been kind to Bruce, are trashing this as a self indulgent album that makes little sense. But I know Bruce has to release some of his so called "deep" thoughts every now and again, so I will tolerate it and look forward to the next album.

[DaveyShoes]

I don't find the album indulgent at all... When I think of so called indulgent albums that make no sense, Neil Young's electro period comes to mind and Lou Reed's more obscure stuff. To me this just sounds like a natural progression from Nebraska and Tom Joad - stripped down, melancholic and introspective indeed, but ultimately, great songwriting. I understand why the material with the E Street band is more popular, but I personally think that Bruce is at his best when its just him and an acoustic guitar. I'm very impressed with this album, but each to their own I guess!

[DaveyShoes]

I don't find the album indulgnet at all... When I think of so called indulgent albums that make no sense, Neil Young's electro period comes to mind and Lou Reed's more obscure stuff. To me this just sounds like a natural progression from Nebraska and Tom Joad - stripped down, melancholic and introspective indeed, but ultimately, great songwriting. I understand why the material with the E Street band is more popular, but I personally think that Bruce is at his best when its just him and an acoustic guitar. I'm very impressed with this album, but each to their own I guess!

[Rob]

I'm on my first listen now. So far I like the upbeat ones on the album, but the ballads are gonna take a lot fo listening I think. At least there seems to be more upbeat songs on the album than there was on The Ghost of Tom Joad like Kathleen said. I'm hoping this can turn out to be as good as The Rising, although on the first listen I'm not sure it will be.

[Mousebounce]

Here is the review that I read.

Bruce Springsteen crowds his new *album with shattered characters.

On his latest solo work, "Devils & Dust," out tomorrow, we meet a soldier who's conflicted about killing, a john who pays a listless visit to a prostitute, a migrant worker who speaks from beyond the grave, a boxer who feels that every punch corrupts his soul, and a clutch of drifters cramped by loneliness and loss.

They're spiritual cousins to the border guards, drug mules and motherless children who populated Springsteen's last solo record, 1995's "The Ghost of Tom Joad." Like that CD, "Devils" is dark, slow, serious and — oh, let's finally be honest here — a full-on chore to listen to.

Is there any Springsteen fan who looks forward to albums like these?

Most fans probably greet Bruce's somber, acoustic-based records like a plate of Brussels sprouts they have to choke down to get to dessert.

But it's not a philistine fear of dreariness that limits the appeal, and playability, of Springsteen's new CD. It's that in order for such intensely brooding music to move us, it has to be infused with enough personal consequence, and layers of beauty, to turn the pain poignant.

Unfortunately, "Devils & Dust," like "Tom Joad," mainly finds Springsteen in a murmuring rut. While other players appear on the CD, the focus remains on Springsteen's rickety guitar and broken vocals. Both seem so weighed down by their dire subject matter, they're often squashed.

On the DVD side of this DualDisc (the only format "Devils & Dust" comes in) Springsteen explains that to find the right voices for his characters, he had to suppress his own, then let theirs come forth.

But most of what we hear is suppression, not revelation. To express the characters' quandaries, Springsteen winds up singing into his chest in a voice that's too inexpressive — too literally crestfallen — to convey the range of feelings it means to nail.

The first time Springsteen explored this bleak terrain, on his solo debut, 1982's "Nebraska," he had a greater vocal range at his command and a more animated sense of melody.

Over the years, both have suffered wear and tear. The few hummable melodies on "Devils & Dust" arrive in the arrangements, not the basic tunes. Without their added filigree, the CD would hardly have any pleasures at all.

That's a shame, considering Springsteen's continued brilliance as a lyricist. He can always find a fresh route into a character and *offer a smart line.

In "Black Cowboys," Springsteen spins a tale about an African-American kid from Mott Haven whose mother worries about him when, in fact, she's the one in danger. The boy winds up leaving home to become a new kind of cowboy. In "The Hitter," Springsteen tells a boxer's tale in a way that lets the listener in on every physical and psychological nuance.

Springsteen takes a risk in "Reno" by using uncommonly raw language to tell the tale of a whore who deludes herself into thinking she's her john's salvation.

But you'll get more goose bumps from reading the lyric sheet than from listening to the music. Springsteen sounds like he's embarrassed by the subject matter of "Reno." In "The Hitter," his sense of defeat can feel like a whine.

Maybe Springsteen should try writing about himself again. He hasn't done so in 13 years — not since "Lucky Town" and "Human Touch." And his work has suffered for it. It's as if Springsteen bought the lie that anyone blessed with great wealth and love leads an uninteresting life.

Springsteen struck an ideal approach to a solo album on 1987's "Tunnel of Love," a personal work that brimmed with threat, passion and honesty. By contrast, "Devils & Dust" sounds like an intellectual conceit, a liberal's musing on unfortunate souls rather than a deep probing of the author's own.

[spunkywho]

I love it! Absolutely love it. Still on my first/second listening, but the title track is marvelous!!!

[DaveyShoes]

Thanks for posting the review. It has some interesting points, but I don't really agree with it - a full on chore to listen to??? No way!