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Rating: I meanwhile offer my apologies to Daniele, who had already written a review of this album, but perhaps in too concise a manner... (also because, I too believe that this is the most beautiful album in history, at least for me...) That being said, I would start talking about the most raw, dark (in terms of atmosphere) and rock album that the Boss has ever made. It should be emphasized that the album was born after conflicts with the producer and the disappointments Bruce had because of the affair. In this album, the hopes of "Born To Run" and the cheerfulness of "The River" are missing; it is a pessimistic and violent work, but the Boss sings as if the words were piercing his heart, the E Street Band plays as one, and the songs are perfect.
It starts with the drum roll of "Badlands," a song that moves with every listen, an anthem to the road and the people who populate it. Musically excellent, driving, with Max Weinberg's drums regulating our heartbeats, until it explodes into the consecutive guitar solos by Bruce and the sax by Clarence... a perfect start to a perfect album! With "Adam Raised a Cain," we are facing one of the most incredible vocal performances in rock history, the Boss is captivating in some parts, and roars his anger in others, the sound is robust and violent, Bruce seems to shout the words that burn inside him. The solo is a masterpiece, sharp and rough, perfect to replace the Boss's anguished cries. The Boss's interpretive abilities reach their highest levels, the piece penetrates us like a bullet. It's time for one of the most underrated pieces (even by Springsteen's fans), "Something in the Night," a wonderful nocturnal song to dry the acid of "Adam raised a Cain." The Boss's lament rises high, toward the night sky, he's telling us a story, that's clear... Everything flows slowly, accompanied by slow and robust drums, and then it explodes, the cry becomes a prayer until it is sucked into a final lament, voice and drums, one of the most moving points of the entire album. Follow the sweaty cries of ours sent towards "something in the night"... Not even time to recover, when Max tells us it's time to run, the drums are relentless and Bruce speaks, a love story, Candy's room goes by like a train, scraping everything, the solo is an escape from the world we don't like, everything suddenly goes dark while our heart races. And here is the heart of the album, the beginning was violent, fast, scratching. Now, it's time to wipe away the sweat from work and dream... on a road, in a Cadillac, a 6-minute journey that brings tears to your eyes, such is its intensity... The sound is light and soft, Roy's piano accompanies Bruce's dreamy voice. "Racing in the Street" is a song to savor in each of its vibrations because in its linearity, there are many nuances, and a simple tic-tic of the drums or the subdued chorus can make our hearts leap. The piano and organ close everything, slowly, letting the words slip away, the black of "Adam," the spits of "Badlands," the scratches of "Candy"... and we travel along with the keys, on the roads of our history...
The second part of the album arrives, once again energetic and powerful, all the instruments give their best, "The Promised Land" is the piece with the most hope in the album. The central part, where the piano, organ, bass, and Bruce's sighs interplay before the triple guitar-sax-harmonica solo, is one of the most successful musical moments in the entire Springsteen repertoire. "Factory" is one of those pieces that the more you listen to it, the more it seems perfect, you turn it over and over, and while you think, it’s already over. Sweet in sound, harsh in meaning, with that small organ solo that is a welcome gift to the ear. "The working life..." "Adam raised a Cain" reflects its anger even more spiritually in the eighth piece... the organ and Bruce's lament create the right tension to make "Streets of Fire" explode. The Boss's voice reaches new peaks, the "fire," seems to burn in the Boss's guts, which he spits in the words and the strings of the guitar, with an unforgettable solo. This little-mentioned, rarely played song sums up the album's poetics, low and suffocated, roaring and desperate, the cry of a man... "Prove it all night," is there to tell us that nothing is lost, you always have to give it a try... The Boss is about to say goodbye, preparing us with a musically robust, driving piece, with the guitar and sax that almost make us dance, dream, travel... "Darkness On The Edge of Town," what to say... I've never loved it so much, I think it's less beautiful than the rest, but maybe it's just because when I hear it, I know that the journey to the town's edge is ending... I must nonetheless admit that it's a worthy closure, perfect to close the curtain on all the emotions, thoughts and reflections that the album has filled our hearts and minds with.
Guys, this album is the Boss in his ideal state, those who don't know the Springsteen of the '70s, and think they can sum it all up in "Born in the USA," have missed one of the most intense and high points in rock history.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Badlands (04:04)
Lights out tonight
trouble in the heartland
Got a head-on collision
smashin' in my guts, man
I'm caught in a cross fire
that I don't understand
But there's one thing I know for sure girl
I don't give a damn
For the same old played out scenes
I don't give a damn
For just the in betweens
Honey, I want the heart, I want the soul
I want control right now
you better listen to me baby
talk about a dream
Try to make it real
you wake up in the night
With a fear so real
Spend your life waiting
for a moment that just don't come
Well, don't waste your time waiting
(Chorus)
Badlands, you gotta live it everyday
Let the broken hearts stand
As the price you've gotta pay
We'll keep pushin' till it's understood
and these badlands start treating us good
Workin' in the fields
till you get your back burned
Workin' `neath the wheel
till you get your facts learned
Baby I got my facts
learned real good right now
You better get it straight darling
Poor man wanna be rich,
rich man wanna be king
And a king ain't satisfied
till he rules everything
I wanna go out tonight,
I wanna find out what I got
I believe in the love that you gave me
I believe in the faith that could save me
I believe in the hope
and I pray that some day
It may raise me above these
(Chorus)
mmmmmmmm, mmmmm, mmmmmm
For the ones who had a notion,
a notion deep inside
That it ain't no sin
to be glad you're alive
I wanna find one face
that ain't looking through me
I wanna find one place,
I wanna spit in the face of these badlands
02 Adam Raised a Cain (04:35)
In the summer that I was baptized
my father held me to his side
As they put me to the water
he said how on that day I cried
We were prisoners of love, a love in chains
He was standin' in the door I was standin' in the rain
With the same hot blood burning in our veins
Adam raised a Cain
All of the old faces
ask you why you're back
They fit you with position
and the keys to your daddy's Cadillac
In the darkness of your room
your mother calls you by your true name
You remember the faces, the places, the names
You know it's never over it's relentless as the rain
Adam raised a Cain
In the Bible Cain slew Abel
and East of Eden he was cast
You're born into this life paying
for the sins of somebody else's past
Daddy worked his whole life for nothing but the pain
Now he walks these empty rooms looking for something to blame
You inherit the sins, you inherit the flames
Adam raised a Cain
Lost but not forgotten, from the dark heart of a dream
Adam raised a Cain
04 Candy's Room (02:48)
In Candy's room there are pictures of her heroes on the wall
But to get to Candy's room you gotta walk the darkness of Candy's hall
Strangers from the city call my baby's number and they bring her toys
When I come knocking she smiles pretty she knows I wanna be Candy's boy
There's a sadness hidden in that pretty face
A sadness all her own from which no man can keep Candy safe
We kiss my heart's pumpin' to my brain
The blood rushes in my veins fire rushes towards the sky
We go driving driving deep into the night
I go driving deep into the light in Candy's eyes
She says baby if you wanna be wild you got a lot to learn, close your eyes
Let them melt let them fire let them burn
`Cause in the darkness there'll be hidden worlds that shine
When I hold Candy close she makes these hidden worlds mine
She has fancy clothes and diamond rings
She has men who'll give her anything she wants but they don't see
That what she wants is me, oh and I want her so
I'll never let her go no no no
She knows that I'd give all that I got to live
All that I want all that I live to make Candy mine
Tonight
07 Factory (02:20)
Early in the morning factory whistle blows,
Man rises from bed and puts on his clothes,
Man takes his lunch, walks out in the morning light,
It's the working, the working, just the working life.
Through the mansions of fear, through the mansions of pain,
I see my daddy walking through them factory gates in the rain,
Factory takes his hearing, factory gives him life,
The working, the working, just the working life.
End of the day, factory whistle cries,
Men walk through these gates with death in their eyes.
And you just better believe, boy,
somebody's gonna get hurt tonight,
It's the working, the working, just the working life.
10 Darkness on the Edge of Town (04:30)
They're still racing out at the Trestles
But that blood it never burned in her veins
Now I hear she's got a house up in Fairview
And a style she's trying to maintain
Well if she wants to see me
You can tell her that I'm easily found
Tell her there's a spot out 'neath Abram's Bridge
And tell her there's a darkness on the edge of town
Everybody's got a secret, Sonny
Something that they just can't face
Some folks spend their whole lives trying to keep it
They carry it with them every step that they take
'Till some day they just cut it loose
Cut it loose or let it drag 'em down
Where no one asks any questions
Or looks too long in your face
In the darkness on the edge of town
Some folks are born into a good life
Other folks get it anyway anyhow
I lost my money and I lost my wife
Them things don't seem to matter much to me now
Tonight I'll be on that hill 'cause I can't stop
I'll be on that hill with everything I got
Lives on the line where dreams are found and lost
I'll be there on time and I'll pay the cost
For wanting things that can only be found
In the darkness on the edge of town
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Other reviews
By thunder87
"In my opinion, this is the best rock album ever produced. A timeless masterpiece underrated as a whole."
"The strangled and agonizing cry of 'Adam Raised a Cain,' 'Something in The Night,' and 'Streets of Fire' do the rest."
By Blackdog
The journey to adulthood corresponds to an inevitable and painful loss of innocence spawned by merciless 'Badlands'.
The angry guitar riff make clear a certain autobiographical discomfort and the disillusionment present in the entire album.
By AJM
The Boss has long been scraping the bottom of the barrel. His good fortune is that the bottom never arrives.
The Promise embodies the entire sense of the album and throws that bridge completely: 'I followed that dream just like those guys do up on the screen...and when the promise was broken I cashed in a few of my dreams.'
By Ancora D'Oro
The album in question is a real mess.
Big raw rock, this big raw rock that scatters examples in every corner, is mindlessly insignificant stuff.
