The Rising

I'm big on Bruce Springsteen up through "Tunnel of Love" but after that there really isn't much that I've been able to get into, including this album. To me this is a good example of where this list of 1001 albums starts to show some cracks: why put the 12th album by a well established artist on the list rather than make way for a younger artist who was truly in their prime during this time period? Don't like many of the production choices. And to top it off, it's too long.

“The Rising” by Bruce Springsteen (2002) Nothing subtle about the marketing eroticism of the album title and cover. At the age of 53, he might have more truthfully pitched “The Falling”, or “The Unending Search for Relevance”. This album is almost entirely a collection of songs of love’s longing, with plenty of images of bells, blood, empty spaces, and anticipated journeys. A quintessentially American album. Released six months after 9/11, there are several references to what was on every American’s mind. In the aftermath of catastrophe, Springsteen endeavors to focus our passions on edifying affections, and he’s mostly successful. Musically, the album is well composed, arranged, and produced, even if the vocal and instrumental performances are less than stellar. I think I’ll always be put off by New Jersey native Springsteen’s poorly affected Southern accent and weak, overused falsetto. Melodies are all very typically Springsteen. On “Lonesome Day”, the post-9/11 sentiment of “A little revenge and this too will pass” was ok for the moment, but then the sad history of war in Afghanistan, the Iraq War, and the excesses of the USA Patriot Act emerged, and, well, we all needed some loving. Still do. Also, “Into the Fire” is inspiring, even if it borders on exploitation. Meaningful, nevertheless. So this album has some enduring satisfaction. Overall, a good album from an America worth loving, then and now. 3/5

The Bruce Springsteen 9/11 album. Goes pretty much how you’d expect. It was a commercial revitalization for The Boss, but to me it sounds pompous, a checklist of every bad 00s (rock) production technique, and without a hook in sight.

I got 3.5 songs in. I just couldn’t. I like his earlier stuff, but this didn’t do anything for me

9/11 had a profound effect on the music industry, and I don't think any of it was good. This is a prime example. Its awash with patriotism and self-pride. The music is simple and uninspired while being littered with a bunch of over complicated melismatic strings. It feels lazy overall. It's the shadow of albums like Born to Run and Wild, Innocent, E-Street band. I love Bruce, but this is not the version of him I love. If anything I feel like this still belongs on the list to show the significance of 9/11 in music

Springsteen has some good albums. This is not one of them.

Long, boring, and corny. America did not need this album post-9/11, I don't care what anyone says.

This is the Springsteen version of the shitty country that came out after 9/11. Obvious hard rhymes, predictable tropes in lyrics and instrumentation, corny turns of phrase. Further On even has him faking a country twang. _(´ཀ`」 ∠)_. A name for this genre could be "Boomer Chants" or "Boomer Feel Good".

definitely not my thing

First couple of tracks I was into. Then it became massively middle of the road dad rock.

My favorite album so far. The fact that this was in response to 9/11 is impressive. The songs were honest in dealing with the complicated emotions from that event. Not like some other music, say from Toby Keith which was just "America F' YA!"

Wonderful. This was Bruce's album after a long hiatus from music and even longer one from the E Street Band. It appears quite light hearted but there are some quite meaningful and clever songs in there such as the Rising, You're Missing and Mary's Place. I feel that these great songs are lost a bit in the more 'party songs' such as Waiting on a Sunny Day, especially for first time listeners. Nevertheless, I love this album but I did hope that the first Bruce album on this list would have been one of the earlier more accessible ones.

This album could have easily been an angry attack, but instead Springsteen sings about complex, nuanced emotions. I also love how a couple of songs have are inspired by Middle Eastern Music. Springsteens singing is also a lot clearer and less mumbled on this album. Great variety, mature lyrics, and powerful music. Overall, my favorite Springsteen album so far.

Not his best work

L'album débute à ma grande surprise par une confession de Bruce: il deteste la parodie de lui même qu'il est devenue, et c'est la la principale information à retenir de cet album. En effet, depuis maintenant des années, Bruce nous explique être enfermé dans une spirale infernale, le forçant par exemple à déblaterer des atrocités mysogines et à diffuser des pets de façon importune. C'est sur une note d'espoir que cet album débute, puisque Bruce explique vouloir changer, pas seulement mentalement mais également physiquement, puisqu'il a pris la décision de raser sa coupe mullet depuis l'épisode de la guitare (voir review sur Nebraska). Malheureusement, le côté obscur de bruce va rapidement reprendre le dessus. Tout d'abord par le biais de courtes interjections au milieu de ses textes: "La bite !", "grognasse !", "pastis !". Ces cris parasites vont venir destabiliser l'auditeur. Puis plus on approche de la fin de l'album, plus le Dark Bruce devient dominant, jusqu'au climax, l'outro de l'album. Ici, Bruce, arborrant un marcel laissant apercevoir une touffe de poil sur son torse, va tout simplement lacher une enorme caisse dans son micro, avant de partir dans un fou rire gras. Bruce est malheureusement malgré toute sa bonne volonté probablement irrecuperable.

Brucey usually goes down like plain oatmeal. This, however, went down like plain, dry, oatmeal.

Seriously dull

Springsteen's success is based on schlocking his ass off and miraculously not failing--half the time. This is not the good half. The music is so excessively bombastic it's bland and the lyrics so general they mean nothing. The man has four or five albums that should be on this list. Picking a bad one deserves extra punishment.

In my opinion his best album of the 21st Century. I acknowledge that not every single song is great but there are some classics starting with The Rising. Should have won the Grammy for Album of the Year but Norah Jones robbed him!

I've never really heard anything aside from Springsteen's hits, so this is my first full album of his. And honestly... I enjoyed a lot of it! In full honesty, I am grading this album on a bit of a curve, because it's a "9/11 album", and unlike all of the other jingoistic, bloodthirsty, and sometimes flat-out racist art that came out after 9/11, this album takes a wholly different approach. There's not a hint of revenge or anger on this album - its key themes are loss, grief, resilience, and strength through community. The title track and closer are flat-out gorgeous, especially when taken in that context. There are some very weak tracks in the middle section of the album, but I think as a whole work... this album needed to be made, and it does what it was made to do. 4 stars.

Powerful album; especially the context of 9/11. The length of the album/songs keeps it from being 5 stars, but it's a great album.

This was after The Boss lost me. It's almost like he was profiting off of 9/11. He got something of a pass because he's the Jersey Golden Boy who was painted as the poet laureate of the working class folk. He has three timeless 5 star albums on this list, and another one that's close. The world over praised this one as something of a return to form because it was released (and for the most part, written) in the aftermath of 9/11. Don't get me wrong. I ride hard for Springsteen, even to the point of defending some of his work released AFTER this album. And this one is just nowhere near the upper echelon of his catalog.

Listens: 4 Enjoyed: Meh It just feels disgustingly American, from the hope to the mourning. It feel like Springsteen just did a massive line of eagle blood. The fact it's inspired by 9/11 just makes it even worse, sorta just inappropriate. There are a few decent standalone songs that may be added to my playlist but the project as a whole gives a very weird vibe Would be a very low 3

Quelle magnifique ode à l'optimisme que cet album... Bruce Springsteen se présente sous un jour nouveau et nous dit vouloir changer. C'est sa résolution pour le troisième millénaire. Et en effet, quel bonheur d'assister à cette métamorphose pleine d'espoir et de bonne volonté. Finis les coupes mulet, les ailerons à l'arrière des voitures, les blagues misogynes ou encore les comparaisons douteuses entre ses selles et des taupes : Bruce est déterminé à faire table rase du passé et veut que la terre entière soit mise au courant. C'est du moins sur cette note positive que s'achève la face A du CD. La face B, quant à elle, nous fait rapidement craindre une rechute. On entend d'abord un "vroum vroum" discret en arrière-plan qu'on soupçonne provenir d'un de ces fameux "concours d'accélération" auxquels Springsteen s'adonnait autrefois. On distingue ensuite un "clap clap" que l'on rapproche immédiatement d'un mariage indésirable entre claquettes et chaussettes. On est enfin stupéfait de tomber sur un morceau caché en toute fin d'album, soixante-neuf secondes de silence après la fin de la dernière chanson. "Vous y avez cru mes couillasses ?" s'écrie le chanteur dans un français parfait avant d'embrayer sur un condensé de flatulences et de propos inappropriés. Retour à la case départ pour Bruce.

Meh.

Bruce Springsteen and the world's highest-paid bar band respond to 9/11 with an album of blandly inspirational songs of patriotism, loss and resilience. Bruce pulls all his classic songwriting and production tricks, which we have heard a bazillion times before. I am sure this was meaningful to many US fans in the confusion and hurt post 9/11, but I feel like history has pulled back the curtain to reveal to hollow platitudes of this record. Bruce wants America to rise up from its hurt resiliently, but we seem to have anger and violence instead. We have is a forever war overseas and increasing division and domestic bloodshed. To summarize, Bruce produced a musically rote album full of empty and ineffectual platitudes. Wildly inessential.

Vi Springsteen... Se me hizo raro por qué un disco del 2002... Lo escuche de fondo... Rock totalmente indistinto, tipo estadio como lo que ha hecho toda su vida... Esto no suena absolutamente a nada interesante... ¿Qué hace esto en la lista? Lo escuche de nuevo poniendo atención. Todo hizo clic. El disco está en la lista solo por que es en memoria del 11 de septiembre y, al parecer, se ha vuelto hasta emblemático en EE.UU. en eventos y cosas relacionadas. En mi opinión, ni como disco de Springsteen ni como memorial funciona. Las letras más clichés y melodramáticas, con la sutileza de un marro se sienten prefabricadas para cantarse en un estadio y sacar una lagrimita mientras todos sacan su encendedor (Woke up this morning to an empty sky... empty sky... (◔_◔) ). Hacer un album de canciones tipo himno estadio sobre temas así son ejercicios vacíos. Una situación así nos recuerda el miedo , el entumecimiento, la confusión, corazones rotos. Ese es el territorio que The Rising, o cualquier álbum que busque hacer justicia a ese día tal como se vivió, en contraposición a cómo fue televisado, debería aspirar. En su lugar esto se siente impersonal y vacío.

Es un álbum disfrutable. Lento y plano para mi gusto. Los cambios entre canción y canción son muy similares, volviéndolo repetitivo. Pude llegar a la última canción, pero rogaba porque terminara.

Exactly what we needed when this was released. Peace and comfort and courage.

I’ve loved Bruce Springsteen since I was a kid, but aside from “Streets of Philadelphia,” I haven’t listened to anything of his that came out after Born In The USA. When it comes to artists that I loved as a kid, I’m always hesitant about their later work, and I typically shy away from it. I think there’s a part of me that’s afraid that their new work might replace my love for the music that’s been a part of my life for so long, and I don’t want to risk losing those memories that I associate with that music. My childhood was pretty rough, but music always made me happy, and I think that clinging to Born In The USA is how I cling to those few moments of innocence that my childhood had. But enough trauma dumping. I know this album is supposed to be really good, so I’m excited to listen to it today! This was a great album, and it definitely exceeded my expectations. There’s just something about listening to Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band that I really love. I love Springsteen’s vocals, and The E Street Band just brings his lyrics to life in a beautiful and incredibly enjoyable way. This album was true to the sound that I expected, but the songwriting was wonderfully representative of a post 9/11 America. We were all full of fear and devastation after 9/11, and this album captures that feeling really well. Additionally, there’s a lot of reflection and optimism present in these lyrics, which is a thousand times better than the jingoistic garbage that was pumped out of Nashville at the same time. Springsteen’s music has always had a ‘heartland’ feel to it, and The Rising was no different. The arrangements were outstanding, and there was a great blend of instruments used, which the E Street Band played to perfection. As far as the individual songs go, I really loved the first five songs. “Lonesome Day” really grabbed my attention from the start, and it made me really excited for the rest of the album. The guitars, keyboards, mellotron, and synthesizers were all fantastic. “Nothing Man” was really beautiful too, and I loved the horn and string arrangements (I think they were done with synthesizers, or maybe they weren’t horns and strings at all, who knows, but I loved what I heard). This was just a very enjoyable and beautiful album to listen to, and listening to this has made me want to check out more of Springsteen’s later albums.

So, the biggest on land attack has happened on the U.S. mainland. (Let’s just put aside that it was less than a daily occurrence in the Middle East or Africa. Still pretty horrific.) How does the biggest rock star out of New Jersey deal with it? With this. It’s actually really good and Springsteen’s eye for imagery and his lyrical strengths shine through on this album. The image of the boots by the door is powerful and shows Springsteen affinity for working people. As he’s aged he’s moved to the personal and more abstract - it’s hard for someone worth 300 million to relate to working people but Springsteen knows the limits. He hasn’t forgotten his roots and his heart is with those who lost everything. One of the three or four essential Springsteen albums.

I like so much about this album. Lyrically it's fantastic, I love a lot of the music, I love the production from BO'B. The negative is, it's too long. I'd cut 20 mins, but at the same time, I would find it hard because I legitimately love so many of the songs. You have the obvious; lonesome day, waiting on a sunny day, city of ruins, the rising. But then you have these underrated tracks like Into the Fire, You're missing, Nothing Man, Mary's Place, paradise. I am so on the fence on pulling the trigger on a 5... we will see

Not one of his best, but it’s Bruce!

I have a report to make. I woke up a little sick this morning, but I still decided to play today's album. The album finished a few seconds ago and now I feel much better. I don't know if this has anything to do with the songs, but one thing is a fact: Bruce Springsteen's songs have a very special way of touching the heart. I had little contact with Bruce's work (everything I heard from him was thanks to this site) and even then they were albums from the 70s. Listening now to an album from 2002, I can see that his voice and melodies have aged like wine. My type of music: 5 stars (out of curiosity, today I discovered the term Heartland Rock. Apparently the type of music I like most, it had that name all the time hahaha)

il voto meno imparziale di sempre, ma Bruce per me è tra i mostri sacri più inarrivabili, e sentire the rising live è stata un'esperienza che non mi dimenticherò mai. fantastico.

I really like this one more than I expected it to. The songs are perhaps a bit poppy but really seem to capture the post 9/11 American zeitgeist. Much better than I expected from an artist over 3 decades into his career, Bruce's voice still sounds amazing too. There are some beautiful songs in there like Paradise and Into the fire, mixed with a bunch of more upbeat songs.

This album captures the full range of experiences for Americans post-9/11. It's not the Toby Keith stong-man trope, nor a sad sack collection of grief songs. The album follows real emotions of real people grappling with an event that would shape life going forward. A man form New Jersey called survivors and those who lost family members, made connections, and got his iconic band back together to work through it. As someone who remembers that time and place, this was an interesting reflective experience. Bruce did it right. Saved Songs: - lonesome day - nothing man - empty sky - worlds apart - Mary's place - you're missing

Discazo de punta a punta. Me encanta como canta cada una de las canciones, rock, cambios de ritmo, baladas, de todo. Redondito

Ist halt ein Klassiker.

Wo Springsteen draufsteht ist Springsteen drin. Klasse Album wie so viele davor und danach. Volle Punktzahl!

Great

Awesome collection of easy to listen to songs

Surprisingly enjoyed

Vinilo del jefe.

There is no need for an excuse to listen to this album. Such a good album. The first Bruce album after a long break and first back on E street I believe. You can really tell how important the E street band is to Bruce on this record. Its a fun album with some really good songs. I rediscovered Paradise, what a lovely song that is. Favourite song: Waiting on a sunny day, Marys place and The Rising. Least favourite: The fuse Album artwork: Not as good as born to run and born in the USA, but its allright

An absolutely perfect album. Every single song made me feel something

This will be my first encounter with the Boss during this project. I love his classic albums but haven’t ever really listened to anything beyond Born in the USA, along with one or two songs he released after. Curious if this will be the understated Boss on Nebraska and Streets of Philadelphia, feels like that should be appropriate for an aging rocker. I think my experience of this album can best be summed up by my experience with the song World’s Apart. It starts with an electronic drum and an Indian/Middle Eastern vibe that had me thinking oh God is Bruce about to do some trance music is he trend chasing is this going to have a weird message that’s aged poorly. And then the song kicks off and it’s incredible, I loved it, the production is excellent, the instrumentation is great, and the whole time I’m mad because of how much I like this album. So unbelievably I’m giving this 5/5. Do I think it deserves to be on this list? Maybe not, but I do really like this.

The Boss

Forget how good

Mega

Great album. Particularly like Mary’s Place.

Phenomenal album.

This was a great album at an important time in this world

I listened to about 30 seconds. Not sure if that’s long enough to qualify for a vote but I’m submitting it anyways

Wow, Bruce gets another album listed, pretty impressive.

far more range than i anticipated. And totally bad ass.

This album captures perfect the themes and feelings we all had post the events of 9/11 - the tracks that mean most to me are Mary's Place and My City In Ruins and of course the title track The Rising

I am not really a huge Springsteen fan after the Tunnel of Love albums since it got into stuff that I don't really listen to as much. Nonetheless, I love this album and listening to it realised how many of the songs I remember. A fantastic return to form for the Boss and two decades later, still sounds good.

10/10 Bruce Springsteen, whatever that means

This is one that I have a favorable impression of due to the time it came out. It was 2002 and it was Bruce's response to the September 11th, terrorist attacks. It was also the first Bruce Springsteen album I ever really got into. Moving to NYC in 2002, the album felt poignant to the angst and uncertainty that people felt during that first year after the attacks. I remember visiting NYC for the first time in May 2002 staying in a hotel downtown on Wall Street and waking up with a bloody nose because of the grit and pollution still in the air. Then I remember moving there in November 2002 and it wasn't that people had moved on, but it had become a joyous time in NYC because people seemed to just embrace that it could all go away. So when I listen to this album, I think of all of this. On a scale of 0-100. This is around an 89 for me. But do to everything I reviewed, I'll probably give it 5 stars for the combo music and emotional context.

solid, melancholy and driven.

Vinilo del jefe.

great album, just great songs

Not an album I was familiar with. So Boss!

One of my favourite Springsteen records

This is an album Bruce Springsteen had to make. It's probably one of the first albums made in the wake of 9-11 that grappled with the events of that day. It's also Bruce's first real full-length album of new material since 1995's The Ghost of Tom Joad. As Jersey's favorite son and an artist whose collective work is bound inextricably to New York, there was a weight on him to put his thoughts on record, a feat he accomplishes admirably. He could be talking about any tragedy, which is probably what makes this album work. 9-11 was brutal, and something I certainly don’t like to think about at all. But The Rising takes all the confusion and grief of living through a traumatic event and allows us to process and work through it with these songs. It's not linear either as you can see. There are bright moments and grim moments and moments of questioning and anger, and they all live together in you at the same time. That's a very real way of thinking about loss. I still have a bit of a fraught relationship with The Rising. I listen to Springsteen a lot, every day in fact. Several of the songs on this album are among my favorites and there are other songs I actively avoid. This isn't an album I listen to straight through often at all. So I was struck today what a good album this is as a whole. Bruce's more recent works sometimes can be a little hit and miss, but this one is really tight musically. The band is in top form and each song flows beautifully into the next. The themes of love and faith weave elegantly through the songs and he lands in a place of hope. We really needed this in 2002, but the songs still resonate deeply, 20 years on. I wasn't initially inclined to give this a 5, but this is really a testament of what you do with music, and it's one of Springsteen’s finest. Fave Songs (All songs, from most to least favorite): The Rising, Further On (Up the Road), Into the Fire, Nothing Man, Waitin' on a Sunny Day, My City of Ruins, You're Missing, Countin' on a Miracle, Mary's Place, Lonesome Day, The Fuse, Empty Sky, Worlds Apart, Paradise, Let's Be Friends (Skin to Skin)

The master of making a simple song so good. Teeters on the edge of cheese a few times, but forgivable knowing the time frame. I wouldn’t say powerful, or cathartic, but maybe soothing. Or empathetic, speaking for a nation in pain.

+ into the fire +empty sky

Quan feia més falta. El disc post 11S definitiu. Diria que no només a USA, sinó a tot el món occidental. Cal haver viscut aquell temps per valorar-ho de forma completa. Ho fa amb l'E Street Band, per primer cop plegats des del 1984 a 'Born in the USA', un altre disc que va marcar la seva década. I ho fa amb un to conciliador, d'esperança i solidaritat, tan allunyat dels crits clamant revenja de l'época. I ho fa amb un grapat de cançons de primer nivell, que plegades formen un dels discos essencials dels 00's

One of my favorite Bruce albums. Powerful without feeling too on the nose.

Just jovial

Discazo

Even though not every song here was written in the aftermath of 9/11, this is Springsteen's 9/11 album. It was also his first great album in about 15 years (since 1987's "Tunnel of Love") and as of now his last truly great album of original material. I've liked his stuff since then (and I liked the a lot of the stuff between "Tunnel" and this album) but "The Rising" is a whole other level.

Predivno, ovaj album + šetnja na suncu liječi sve!!

I can excuse a little of Springsteen's cheese because of this one's timing and sentiment.

Rating: 9/10 Best songs: Lonesome day, Into the fire, Worlds apart, Mary’s place, The rising, Paradise

Great album

Good listen

One of my all time fave albums ❤️

Gotta say, there's not a great excuse for have a 72 minute Springsteen Album. But this album is an okay one, though there are several songs that are longer than they need to be, and have a bit of a dull premise that gets drawn out. Also not a huge fan of the use of backup singers, and I feel like his earlier albums have more emotion in the singing. Worlds Apart was interesting, but didn't quite work, which was disappointing. All that said, I listened to a lot of these songs growing up which has made me rather fond of them, and Mary's Place and The Rising were great, I especially liked how the latter tied back in with Empty Sky a bit. Overall scrapes a five, from me, though I doubt I'll give it another close listen.

Liked it

A reunion of the E-Street band with the Boss way overdue. And on an album made in the aftermath of tragedy. Music and lyrics much needed at the time.

This album reminds me of my Dad. It feels like Bruce is putting a reassuring arm around you and telling you everything is going to be alright. It's a bit flawed and not very nuanced but has some great highs (Empty Sky, Further on up the Road, Paradise).

The Boss sounds so similar across all of these tracks. It's an easily enjoyable and lovely listen but it also didn't drive me crazy. 4.5

Really the best album post Tunnel of Love he ever released.

my first interaction with this album was being asked to analyse Paradise at the age of about ten in school. looking back the themes of suicide, loss, and terrorism may have been a little intense for a class of 9-10 year olds. love bruce though xxx

Quite a good album. Very soothing. A bit generic, but overall pleasant.

pretty nice tune

CD

Huge Springsteen fan, for me his work in the 70s and 80s are the best. This album is good and probably the best since that era but not as good as his first 7-8 records. Having said that there are some excellent tracks on this record, could probably be a bit shorter overall.

Some of these tracks are next world amazing. A few drag it down it back to earth.

Solid album.

Overall really enjoyed this. I think I like it more than Born in the USA (a previous listen on this list). It’s possible that exposure is giving me a deeper appreciation for the artist. Worlds apart is a song I really liked.

Perhaps not the best of the best of Bruce Springsteen, but still a very worthy album. One cannot doubt his sincerity and depiction of Americana in this post-9/11 album.

"I sink beneath the river cool and clear Drifting down, I disappear I see you on the other side I search for the peace in your eyes But they're as empty as paradise"

Very hard to judge this independent from my history with it (formative album, one of my first concerts). Felt a tad bloated this run through so I’ll leave it at four.

79/100. The first three-quarters of this album are a standout, offering a surprisingly chill and enjoyable vibe that exceeds expectations. However, the final quarter sees a noticeable drop in quality.

This may be heretical, but I think this may be Bruce’s best album.

I can sing along almost every song. Some strong numbers like the titletrack or "Waiting On A Sunny Day". A few weaker numbers cost him the ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ stars for me🤷‍♂️.

King