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Versione 1
Rating: The story of this album is simple and quite unique in Springsteen's discography, and not only: the album was written, recorded, and released in less than six months, in a creative impulse probably unexpected even by the author himself. We are between July and December of 1991, Springsteen has been through three difficult years personally (the failure of a marriage and the start of a new relationship full of uncertainties and dangers) and artistically: he has just finished an album, Human Touch, that doesn't fully convince him, especially concerning the production, in which he wanted to downplay the end of the nearly 30-year relationship with the ESB but could not; Human Touch is not devoid of beautiful songs, but they are played and produced in a bland way with arrangements that don't steer in the direction of a rock with strong soul hues that was surely on the author's mind.
In this album, the intentions remain the same, but the execution changes: without a band, one can only do one thing, write and record "at home" alone, as he had already tried in previous works, Nebraska and Tunnel of Love, but, in this case, in an even more extreme way. The sound of the album is obviously very acoustic but follows the rock-soul inspiration that has resided in the author's mind for some time, clearly since the Tunnel of Love tour.
I would say the main theme of the work is the "second chance" to be seen not only related to the personal vicissitudes mentioned above but also to the artistic life: here I am, I can still do it, even without a band, the author seems to declare.
Better Days and Leap of Faith are, in my opinion, the core of the album and sharply express the thematic and musical intentions of the work: two acoustic rock ballads, yet quite powerful, benefiting from the trio of female voices, Scialfa-Lowell-Tyrell, which consistently returns throughout the album to fruitfully render Springsteen's gospel inspiration. Leap of Faith is described as "a fleeting humorous tableau, not devoid of sexual references, on love and resilience": the peculiarity is that biblical metaphors are used, Moses, the Holy Land, the Red Sea, almost at the edge of blasphemy, which is nonetheless softened by the humorous tone of the track.
The same humorous vein returns in Local Hero: here, Springsteen makes fun of himself: he was driving on the highway, stops, and in a small autogrill shop spots a figurine representing him, asks the clerk (who doesn't recognize him) who it was, and is told "it's a local hero". Musically, the piece does not stray from what is said about Better Days and Leap of Faith, with a country-folk flavor rendered by the addition (finally) of the inseparable harmonica.
The extraordinary Lucky Town does not deviate from this musical formula, which, compared to others, features a beautiful "vibrato" solo from Springsteen's unmistakable Telecaster: "I've had some victories that were only failures in disguise," Bruce says, referring to the huge success, hyped by the media, of the Born in the USA period, which evidently is not a full expression of his artistic, spontaneous, and essential soul, just as he, without effort, brings out in this album.
The Big Muddy and Souls of the Departed significantly change the tone of the album: they are two electric, livid blues with electric guitar, harmonica, and slide (all obviously played solo by the author) dominating the scene; particularly, The Big Muddy is an innovative and atypical track, an experiment that combines the very roots character of the blues with some very radio-friendly and contemporary musical loops. The themes abandon the personal sphere and become political: the Gulf War echoes in Souls of the Departed and the wickedness of the human soul that yields to war, as he says in The Big Muddy, "a poisonous serpent bites you, you become poisonous too," quoting (declared in the credits) the novel "Paris Trout's Black Heart" by Pete Dexter, a beautiful text that I recommend rediscovering.
If I Should Fall Behind is the masterpiece of the album, a track I consider among the best in all of Springsteen's vast discography where he sings with a very melancholic lyricism on a melodious keyboard backdrop (played by himself) accompanied by beautiful acoustic guitar phrases reminiscent of Springsteen's origins as a skilled guitarist, electric and, perhaps even more so, acoustic. The text is an ode to the beloved woman, to the life to be lived together overcoming every difficulty: precisely because of the universality of Springsteen's poetry, the "love" theme can become the "friendship" theme, as he often does in the superb live renditions of the track post-reunion with the ESB, sung in turn by all the group members and dedicated on those occasions to the friendship with the band members, part of a true extended musical family. An example of a live performance of the track can be found in Live in New York City, which I recommend giving some listens to, you will be struck by the beauty and theatricality of the piece.
Another masterpiece is My Beautiful Reward, a country piece, all drums (light), acoustic guitar, organ, and harmonica (closing the track): the theme of escape returns, the same as Born to Run, from a dissatisfying life in search of one's "extraordinary reward": here, the protagonist doesn't race on a Cadillac on the highway, but, transformed into a bird, flies over gloomy fields in search of light, of a better life.
The beauty, in my opinion, of this album lies in the immediacy of the songs, in the impression of the author's artistic trance, pulling from his subconscious pieces that he had probably despaired himself of being able to recover from his artistic spirit.
I recommend listening to it, or perhaps rediscovering it for those who hadn't fully appreciated it.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
03 Local Hero (04:04)
I was driving through my hometown
I was just kinda killin' time
When i seen a face staring out of a black velvet painting
From the window of the five and dime
I couldn't quite recall the name
But the pose looked familiar to me
So I asked the salesgirl "Who was that man
Between the doberman and Bruce Lee?"
She said "Just a local hero"
"Local hero" she said with a smile
"Yeah a local hero he used to live here for awhile"
I met a stranger dressed in black
At the train station
He said "Son your soul can be saved"
There's beautiful women nights of low livin'
And some dangerous money to be made
There's a big town 'cross the whiskey line
And if we turn the right cards up
They make us boss the devil pays off
And them folks that are real hard up
They get their local hero
Somebody woth the right style
They get their local hero
Somebody with just the right smile
Well I learned my job I learned it well
Fit myself with religion and a story to tell
First they made me the king then they made me pope
Then they brought the rope
I woke to a gypsy girl sayin' "Drink this"
Well my hands had lost all sensation
These days I'm feeling all right
'Cept I can't tell my courage from my desperation
From the tainted chalice
Well I drunk some heady wine
Tonight I'm layin' here
But theres somethin' in my ear
Sayin' theres a little town just beneath the floodline
Needs a local hero
Somebody with the right style
Lookin' for a local hero
Someone with the right smile
Local hero local hero she said with a smile
Local hero he used to live here for awhile
04 If I Should Fall Behind (02:57)
We said we'd walk together baby come what may
That come the twilight should we lose our way
If as we're walking a hand should slip free
I'll wait for you
And should I walk behind
Wait for me
We swore we'd travel darlin' side by side
We'd help each other stay in stride
But each lover's steps fall so differently
But I'll wait for you
And if I should behind
Wait for me
Now everyone dreams of a love lasting and true
But you and I know what this world can do
So let's make our steps clear that the other may see
And I'll wait for you
if I should fall behind
Wait for me
Now theres a beautiful river in the valley ahead
There 'neath the oaks bough soon we will be wed
Should we lose each other in the shadow of the evening trees
I'll wait for you
And should I fall behind
Wait for me
Darlin' I'll wait for you
Should I fall behind
Wait for me
05 Leap of Faith (03:27)
All over the world the rain was pourin'
I was scratchin' where it itched
Oh heartbreak and despair got nothing but boring
So I grabbed you baby like a wild pitch
It takes a leap of faith to get things going
It takes a leap of faith you gotta show some guts
It takes a leap of faith to get things going
In your heart you must trust
Now your legs were heaven your breasts were the altar
Your body was the holy land
You shouted "jump" but my heart faltered
You laughed and said "Baby don't you understand?"
It takes a leap of faith to get things going
It takes a leap of faith you gotta show some guts
It takes a leap of faith to get things going
In your heart you must trust
Now you were the Red Sea I was Moses
I kissed you and slipped into a bed of roses
The waters parted and love rushed inside
I was Jesus' son sanctified
Tonight the moon's looking young but I'm feelin' younger
'Neath a veil of dreams sweet blessings rain
Honey I can feel the first breeze of summer
And in your love I'm born again
It takes a leap of faith to get things going
It takes a leap of faith you gotta show some guts
It takes a leap of faith to get things going
07 Living Proof (04:49)
Well now on a summer night in a dusky room
Come a little piece of the Lord's undying light
Crying like he swallowed the fiery moon
In his mother's arms it was all the beauty I could take
Like the missing words to some prayer that I could never make
In a world so hard and dirty so fouled and confused
Searching for a little bit of God's mercy
I found living proof
I put my heart and soul I put 'em high upon a shelf
Right next to the faith the faith that I'd lost in myself
I went down into the desert city
Just tryin' so hard to shed my skin
I crawled deep into some kind of darkness
Lookin' to burn out every trace of who I'd been
You do some sad sad things baby
When it's your you 're tryin' to lose
You do some sad and hurtful things
I've seen living proof
You shot through my anger and rage
To show me my prison was just an open cage
There were no keys no guards
Just one frightened man and some old shadows for bars
Well now all that's sure on the boulevard
Is that life is just a house of cards
As fragile as each and every breath
Of this boy sleepin' in our bed
Tonight let's lie beneath the eaves
Just a close band of happy thieves
And when that train comes we'll get on board
And steal what we can from the treasures of the Lord
It's been along long drought baby
Tonight the rain's pourin' down on our roof
Looking for a little bit of God's mercy
I found living proof
10 My Beautiful Reward (03:55)
Well I sought gold and diamond rings
My own drug to ease the pain that living brings
Walked from the mountain to the valley floor
Searching for my beautiful reward
Searching for my beautiful reward
From a house on a hill a sacred light shines
I walk through these rooms but none of them are mine
Down empty hallways I went from door to door
Searching for my beautiful reward
Searching for my beautiful reward
Well your hair shone in the sun
I was so high I was the lucky one
Then I came crashing down like a drunk on a barroom floor
Searching for my beautiful reward
Searching for my beautiful reward
Tonight I can feel the cold wind at my back
I'm flyin' high over gray fields my feathers long and black
Down along the river's silent edge I soar
Searching for my beautiful reward
Searching for my beautiful reward
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Other reviews
By Night87
Lucky Town is Springsteen’s first true album of human maturity.
The choice to give more space to the electric guitar is also excellent.
By fyguns
Lucky Town immediately reveals itself as genuine, straightforward, without contamination.
After listening it leaves a taste of positivity and redemption.
By TommasoFalc
"Lucky Town" is a heartfelt, unified album with a single central theme: family happiness.
In Leap of Faith Springsteen says: Oh heartbreak and despair got nothing but boring.
