Nebraska

Not a bad album, decent country vibes. Again it’s not an album I’d seek out actively though.

Mumble master but nice!

I’m sure the lyrics are meaningful but the music is so boring

I have always had a hard time understanding the allure of "The Boss". His slower stuff on this album was okay and I am sure it hits home for people at the time in the early 80s, but I cannot connect so well. Before I listened I would have given this an automatic 1, but today it was moved to a 2.5 and I rounded up.

This album sounds like how it feels to drive through most of Nebraska.

Loved! So chill and beautiful

First listen. I appreciate the imagery and the lyricism. I do not care for the music.

Ok

Loved it. Stripped down and heartfelt.

Definitely a departure from the other Springsteen stuff we've had and better for it I'd say. The stripped back sound suits the themes a lot better and it feels a lot more genuine than something like born to run (which is still very good in a different way). Probably my favourite Bruce album we've had come to think of it, saved the best for last (I assume!).

Atlantic City is the standout track on the album, and one of Bruce's best. Love the lo-fi sound, really jangly guitars, and he's in full troubadour mode. Maybe my only complaint is that it all sounds a bit samey after a while, but I applaud his bravery - he could have just repeated The River. Which would have sold well. I guess he sort of did next, with Born in the USA. Wait - is The River really not on this list? What a scandal!

Not familiar with this one at all. Had to go back and give it a proper listen as I think it requires it. Think I've said this before, but he's so good at creating that small town America vibe. Really like it. This is much more acoustic and contains a lot more harmonica than I think of from the boss. Really enjoyed it though. Think the standouts are "Nebraska", "Atlantic city", and "Highway patrolman" 4

My fave Springsteen. Plus one for State Trooper

solid, kind of out of my favored genre though

The four-track recording, the reverb, the hiss, even the moments when Bruce’s harmonica pushes the needle into the red and clips the audio—all of it is part of the charm of Nebraska. The lo-fi production doesn’t create distance; it does the opposite. This is an incredibly intimate and introspective album, one that makes you feel like you’re sitting in the room with Springsteen as he recorded these songs, practically enveloped by the melancholy that hangs over every one of them. While I would easily choose Born to Run or Born in the U.S.A. over Nebraska when I’m in the mood for Springsteen, Nebraska is an acquired taste. You can’t exactly throw it on for a road trip and expect everyone to have a good time. But that’s also what makes it so remarkable. At the height of his career, when everyone was telling Bruce Springsteen to go bigger, louder, and higher, he chose to go the other direction. He stripped everything down and made something quiet, bleak, deeply personal, and completely his own. And somehow, it works. This is his masterpiece.

I've never really heard the allure of Springsteen from his other albums. That stuff is just top tier 70's rock to me. THIS on the other hand gives me that insight. I can finally see what people are on about with him. This is stripped down and honest music that a backing band would just fuck up. You can feel the emotion and heart in these songs. While it's not something I would likely put into my standard rotation, I finally understand why the admiration and devotion is warranted.

I messed up the format in my previous review, and my autism wants me to give up because one entry is wrongly done, but I am just going to ignore it. Bruce Springsteen. Nebraska. Good album! The one right before his breakout with Born in the USA. I don't like it as much as Born to Run though. Favorite Song: Nebraska Score: 87/100

Wow this was a really cool album and where I finally get Springsteen appreciation. Amazing what he was able to do himself, such a distinct sound too I'm glad he went with his bedroom tapes. It's a dark blue album, but very good, the standout for me Atlantic City, something about that line "what if everything that dies one day comes back?" Delivered without any real hope to it, that will stick with me

I had no idea Bruce ever had an era like this. Definitely feel like I'm understanding him as an artist a lot more with this endeavor and am gaining a lot more respect for his work.

Fantastic dark depressing album. Atlantic City might be my favorite Springsteen song. I hate most of the music artist biography movies lately but the Springsteen one focusing on this album was a good choice. Seeing his struggles with depression and its manifestation in this album was insightful and heartbreaking. Will hopefully not revisit this album much.

Seemed like such a strange choice for Bruce to follow up the River. An enduring classic

Kinda down in the dumps, not something I expected from Bruce with minimal ball knowledge on the guy

Not my thing

first time listening to springsteen. absolutely loved the rawness and very matter-of-fact tone he brought to the stories. will be revisiting on future moments when i'm feeling introspective or want to get lost in an atmosphere

Another sleepy album especially much sleepier than Springsteen's other albums. Interesting change of pace and some nice harmonica but nothing too interesting

There are obviously some good songs here but it very much feels like an album of demos, some of which could really have used a full band, like Open All Night

favs: mansion on the hill state trooper open all night rating 1.5/5

sad but heartfelt like driving in mountan town

might need to rate that live bob dylan album lower - generally "just a guy and a guitar and his harmonica" is not my album of choice but i much preferred this to that dylan album.

Very folky album. Mostly acoustic instrumentals with simple melodies. For some songs it adds to the atmosphere of the track and for other songs I start to lose interest in the plainness of the composition. Overall, this album has a real down home, countryside kind of feel to it. Springsteen accurately portrays small town America living and sentimentality. Fav Tracks: Atlantic City, Mansion on the Hill, Highway Patrolman, My Father’s House Least fav tracks: State Trooper, Open All Night

definitely adding to my library and would be listening often. (unforts its a nice album to sleep to)

Not being a big Springsteen fan, I was coming to this one fresh and it is not what I was expecting. More country or folk throughout. The album sets the mood quickly and then leans into it throughout creating an even, albeit bleak mood throughout. I like the stripped-down sound and narrative lyrics here, but I think that Dylan does Dylan better.

Man, I'm not even a Springsteen fan, even dislike him at times, and I'm still disappointed by this album. It was kinda sold to me as darker, more stripped down, and all around folkier, which I think I could have enjoyed. And at times, yeah it is kinda like that (Especially with Atlantic City which is probably the only actually good song from Springsteen that I've ever heard - Playlisted that). But overall, it does fall into the Springsteen-isms I dislike (He fucking sucks at singing. Why is he allowed to get away with that? I always hear Dylan is a terrible singer, but Springsteen 75% of the time sounds like he's trying to swallow his own tongue). And even stripped back, some of the songs do still have that bombast from him that I dislike, but at least it doesn't have the sax and piano. Overall, one great song, a bunch of fine songs, and a couple stinkers. Good for a middling score. Good news, I only have one more Springsteen album left to listen to on the list. Bad news is it's his 2000's album. Almost there though. All this is telling me though is I need to stick to Bob Seger. The better heartland rock artist.

Music for angry New Jersey dads to listen to when they need to calm down. Never been a fan of Bruce, this just affirmed that.

This is a slow album and I find it hard to love. This was the predecessor to the epic and hugely popular "Born In The USA". What a way to come back to life. I suppose the songs are nice and the words are poetry, but honestly it's boring and sleepy. It's not as boring as "Ghost Of Tom Joad" but it's definitely not lively. I love "Atlantic City", but it wasn't much of a hit at the time (try the "electric" version on disc 2 of the expanded edition). "Johnny 99" is ok. "Open All Night" has some life, but no real hook. The rest is filler in my book, I don't get it and I'm definitely a Bruce fan. There was so much more upbeat content in all the albums prior to this. I just don't get the warm n' fuzzies from this one like the critics do. 3 stars.

I've said a couple times that an album might not be for me and "Nebraska" is no different, I honestly believe I'm at the state of mind yet to truly "get" the deeper meanings of this album

Not really my kinda music. Bob Dylan at least makes it like interesting; this to me just sounds like a guy talking at me over some guitar.

Très chill mais pas sur d’y retourner souvent. J’ai bien aimé le fait que ce soit un truc assez introspectif et mélancolique.

I own this and I know it’s very acclaimed but I don’t love it. A whole album of acoustic is just not that enjoyable to me though I like some of the songs individually.

Gear: ZMF Auteur Classic LTD Shedua Artwork: 🚘🛣️☁️ Production ('82 Epanded Edition): 🎧🛠️🤔 Music: 🤏🎼🎸 Rating: 🗺️🗺️/5

This is music for poor whites who vote Trump and blame immigrants for taking all the jobs they don't want or aren't qualified to hold.

Detta album växte på mig mycket när jag fick reda på storyn av albumet. Det är väldigt rått och vedmodigt.

Great story behind the recording of this album. I recognised State Trooper from somewhere

Very nice. Not what I was expecting

Я уважаю лоу-файное звучание и такую почти интимную подачу, но это невероятно скучный альбом. Лучшая песня: State Trooper

I didn’t get The Boss until I heard this album. So stripped back these songs speak on another level from what you normally believe Bruce to be. Channeling his inner Dylan, he’s singing like a bird and telling stories of the Everyman. I prefer Side A but it’s all pretty brillant, especially Atlantic City. Which is arguably his greatest song. I have grown to slightly prefer Born In The USA but for The Boss it doesn’t get much better than this.

#4: Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska. I'm not expecting to enjoy this album. Singer-Songwriter is another genre I've just failed to "get" so far. Then again I enjoyed 2112 more than I thought I would so why not give this a shot? Track 1: Nebraska. An oddly calming song about a fucking serial killer. The lyrics are creepy but the guitars are welcoming. If I wanted to listen to the auditory experiences of a real life serial killer, I would just listen to G.R by Deathpile. 4/10 Track 2: Atlantic City. I think this whole album is just gonna be a huge case of "it just ain't for me". Maybe in 20 years I'll realise the majesty of this album and this song in particular but until then, this ain't it chief. 2/10 Track 3: Mansion on the Hill.Nope. Nothin' yet. 3/10. Track 4: Johnny 99. Finally some energy! This is a diamond in the rough of this album so far. Don't have much else to say. 9/10. Track 5: Highway Patrolman. This song has no buiness being the longest song on the album. It could've ended after the second verse. This song feels like a lullaby. 3/10. Track 6: State Trooper. Bruce Springsteen Jumpscare. 4/10. Track 7: Used Cars. Imma be real... 2/10 Track 8: Open All Night. ...I zoned out over these last 2 songs. 2/10. Track 9: My Father's House. ...oh my god....I get it. Kinda. I actually kinda cried at this song. I'm imagine myself in this situation but with my gran instead. She's still alive thankfully but I'm just wondering what I'm gonna do at that portion of my life...fuck, man. 9/10. Track 10: Reason to Believe. Another track I just have nothing to say about. It's a neat closer...i guess. 3/10. Overall yup. This just wasn't for me. Apart from two tracks, only one of which I plan on revisiting often. The other one was just a sort of tearjerker but that's not enough to save this album. Favourite Track: Johnny 99 Least Favourite Track: Atlantic City Overall: 2/10 (⭐)

Wow, I do not like Bruce Springsteen most of the time, but this is way better than I thought it was gonna be. Second half of this album is so good.

This helps explain the texture of Bruce. Very few have the ability and layers to write legendary hits, juxtaposed with albums that communicate the haunting, real experiences, in authentic Americana fashion.

It was fine. Didn’t turn my head too much, but was listenable

This album is fine, my mostly Bruce is fine streak continues

Not my favorite Bruce but I respect it more than a 2

This album kinda reminds me of Bob Dylan if he could sing a bit better The title track of this album is a really great song sung from the perspective of spree killer Charles Starkweather which is a really intriguing concept and aditionally I find the instrumental to be quite nice. Atlantic City is even better than the opener, I find the sad narrative of a struggling couple going to Atlantic City for a better life and the husband joining the mafia as a last-ditch effort to be a really great concept, additionally the instrumental is great, definitely my standout in the album. Mansion on the Hill is a less interesting track than the previous two but it's still really nice and I find the concept of class division to be interesting. Johnny 99 is another standout to me, a heavily rockabilly inspired track about a man who can't find a job so he shoots a cashier for money and about the legal consequences of that crime. Highway Patrolman is also really great, it has a really mellow instrumental and the theme of a policeman being torn on whether or not he should remain a good police officer or to defend his law-breaking brother is really well written. State Trooper is less interesting than all of the previous tracks, its instrumental is way more simple than the rest of the tracks and I don't find the lyrics to be nearly as intriguing as it's simply about a man pleading with a police officer to not pull him over because he lacks registration. Used Cars isn't a standout track for me but it still sticks out to me because of the autobiographical lyrics, it tackles the subject of the humiliation of class struggle using Springsteen's own experiences where his family could only drive beat-up cars and the chorus "I ain't ever gonna ride in no used car again" serves as a desire to break free from the poverty his family was in. Open All Night is another rockabilly inspired song and the happiest track in the album (though it still follows the working-class narrative this whole album follows), it talks about an exhausted man finally getting off work and being joyful that he will see his girlfriend again, it's a really nice track but not a standout for me. My Father's House is another autobiographical song, it tackles the complex relationship of Springsteen with his father, describing a dream where the narrator is a kid and he is running from the devil before making it to his father's house, the narrator feels inspired and decides to visit his childhood house, but is told that "no one by that name lives here anymore" symbolizing the complete loss of contact with his father, it's a really devastating track and another standout for me. The album closer, Reason to Believe is a really thoughtful reflection about how humans hold on to hope and faith regardless of the hardship and loss they might face. It uses four separate stories as a way to narrate the stories and while I can't be assed to gloss over them I do find all four of them as really intriguing analyses of why the human being remains hopeful. Really great album

I love when the boss strips down.

Disappointing

Not only is this Springsteen's magnum opus and greatest masterpiece (of which he has many), but I'd argue this is one of about 15 albums that could be the greatest album ever recorded. Bruce never made anything quite as intimate, cold, dark and isolated as Nebraska again, and he never will, because its entire atmosphere is practically the result of happenstance. Demo recordings turned into a full length record by one of the biggest artists in the world should've ended his career and it only strengthened it. "My Father's House" is the greatest song he ever wrote and it's not even fucking close. Fight me. Also extra shoutout to the outtakes like "Losin' Kind" and "Child Bride" which honestly should've made the main record. I get why he didn't include them but holy shit man.

It was fine

Overall decent singer/songwriter album, but I think I prefer "heavier" Bruce.

There's an old trope of bands/artists getting obsessed with the sound of their demo tapes and never being able to recapture the sound of those rough sketches -- often fired off into a single microphone or cut on a basic multitrack recorder, live off the floor. The La's' Lee Mavers famously could never get his demo sound back for their eponymous album and spent three years with three producers trying -- and all the music world got out of it is 'There She Goes'. And then there's Bruce Springsteen. These *are* the demo tapes. In fact, when they tried to record them, most of them sucked. The ones that didn't ended up on Born In The U.S.A. -- enough that Springsteen nearly put out a double album. One the one hand, had Springsteen released Born In The U.S.A. and Nebraska as the electric and acoustic discs of a double album, it would've made my (short) list of double albums that were worth it. But on the other, more importantly, these albums are now separate and live entirely on their own and are much better for it. Nebraska is sad in a very particular way that only Americana gets -- 'Used Cars' is all about the impoverished necessity of buying used cars even though you work as hard as you can. Like much of Springsteen's work, he writes with an admiration for the blue collar people from which he came while also embodying a bitterness toward the unfilled promises that go along with that hard work. In Springsteen's world, many people deserve much more than they get. He seethes and laments and wails and growls. It's played simply, just Bruce and Gibson J-200 for most of the album, with occasional overdubs of something else. Springsteen has never been a complicated songwriter and Nebraska strips it down to just his voice and his playing. It doesn't need anything else. The songs are perfect. 5/5

I was listening to this on youtube music, and an ad began playing of a turkish band singing their song, and I thought: "I wonder what Springsteen means by singing in turkish" (just for the record, I don't speak turkish)

Not bad, but not something I would rave about. This genre is not really my thing.

Pretty good for a country album

i think this one might be better than the other one. Lowkenuinely

What is he, Bob Dylan? Acoustically, bubba don't work like that.

I didn't get a chance to listen closely this weekend, so these are very scattergun, preliminary thoughts. I imagine the lyrics bear closer listening to than I was able to give them. However, my first thought is that, where Springsteen's earlier albums attempt the Van Morrison trick of mythologising the writer's little part of the world, here he is trying to assert himself as an artist and observer of something outside himself and his community. Not that Nebraska seems much different to New Jersey. That might be a misreading of the chronological facts, but it certainly feels like he trying to do something. Still, it is hard to tell if that something is an attempt to be Truman Capote, Phil Ochs, or M.R. James. Certainly, the proto-slow core is haunted throughout by Springsteen's yelps and hollers and several peculiar sudden stops. Plenty of times across the record, I was reminded of Suicide - State Trooper is a relative of Frankie Teardrop. And, while I feel that Springsteen's songwriting is often done a disservice by falling back on standard rock n roll shuffles, you could occasionally hear one of those patterns as an acoustic Cramps demo. However, on Open All Hours, with its overt lyrical references to the spooky and the lunar, Springsteen seems to precognate The Walk of Life and the spell is broken. 3 Another aberration from the compilers of the 1001 albums you must listen to before you die. Nebraska isn’t supposed to be listened to. When men of a certain age and level of insecurity get together to drink and the conversation turns to the Boss‘ best albums there is an accepted formula to be followed. It begins with acknowledgement that Born in the USA is overrated and ends with someone saying ‚Nebraska maybe‘ to which all will solemnly nod assent and purse their lips. Oh yeah, great album. No one actually listens to Nebraska of course - few may have ever listened, consciously, to Nebraska beyond Atlantic City. What would have to be going wrong in life for a fellow to want to sit down and digest Nebraska for 40 minutes? It’s not even good for a wallow - it’s just grey and dreary and dispiriting like a wet Wednesday at the timber yard. I haven’t seen the recent Springsteen biopic ‚Deliver Me From Nowhere‘. Apparently it takes the making of Nebraska as its core subject and what a silly idea that is. Nebraska was already a successful project of self-mythologising by Springsteen. By dispensing with the band and by leaving his own face off the cover it is impossible to resist reading it as a sort of authentic field recording - the scoop on the Real American Midwest. Although the songs offer nothing that wasn’t already done as well as it could be done on Darkness on the Edge of Town and The River, the whole project has a symbolic power that those others don’t. But that power partly depends on never, or at least almost never, actually listening to the album. God forbid the film should go so far as to familiarise people with tracks like Highway Patrolman or Used Cars - musical non-events, deferring to lyrics that aren’t sturdy enough as poetry to bear the weight put on them. I am not saying Nebraska is a bad album - everything about it is really good, except most of the songs. When a songwriter does this whole lonesome, back to the well pilgrimage in the sackcloth and ashes of acoustic guitar, harmonica and a four track, all I really ask is that they fool me. Springsteen did. Johnny Cash/Rick Rubin didn’t. And no doubt, in fairness - Nebraska and Atlantic City are excellent original songs. I am not listening to the rest again though, it wouldn’t be right. 2.5/5

super solid album listened to this when i was spreading a pile of mulch around the yard. felt hella manly. that never happens. 4 stars

Maybe there’s more significance here than I’m aware of, but to me it just seemed like a pretty natural lead up to Born in the USA being The Boss’ next album. Classic American sound, just didn’t seem extra special.

I thought I really liked Springsteen. I think I just like his greatest hits though. This album has his classic sound, but no standout songs. I wanted a jam but all I rally got was boring flat Nebraska.

Knee jerk reaction was "fuck Bruce Springsteen"... Let's see how this goes. After a couple of listens, I've eaten my words. I've had a few terrible experiences with the artist, but here I can appreciate what he's doing. The Dylan inspiration is clear, but it goes beyond influence and into something more personal. The air of the record, this muddied view if your average american as something far from idealized, is in turn a refreshing take. The album art is almost fitting, I think the red makes me think of it more slasher-y, Texas chainsaw, ghostface, even Jason vibes, you know? But the title track dealing with a serial killing spree in a very classic monotone folk style just sets the tone. Blood red maybe, but I find the album to feel more on the frost blue side. Dry, no sugar coating. We're talking about not having means, about wanting that big house, of what it feels like to pump gasoline, it feels like honest American culture, cracks and all, and it's a beautiful thing to see so raw and naked. I'd buy the record, but when I'm in the mood for beautiful acoustic guitars and well told stories, the mood usually calls for Spanish? Can I tone it down with this guy here at some point? I guess we'll see. 3.4/5

I liked this one! It was a slow pace, but it felt quite powerful!

Album #294 Bruce Springsteen: Nebraska The loud-mouthed, high-octane man from New Jersey, known for grandiose instrumentation and rapturous lyrics gutturally delivered from the depth of his soul, decides to make an album completely stripped down to just an acoustic guitar and his somberly delivered vocals. An incredibly risky decision. I mean, it wouldn’t be the first time that a hard-rocker fell in love with the ballad and realized that all they really had was their energy and showmanship; without that facade, an artist is only left with their poetry, and it better be damn good if you don’t want to bore the listener. Well, is Springsteen’s writing strong enough to create an engaging forty-minute confessional? You’re god damn right it is. If there was any doubt left about whether or not Springsteen’s credentials as the voice of the common man were legitimate, they completely disappeared when Nebraska was released. To create an album this intimate and personal, whilst also being an incredibly relatable and honest look into lower-class rural life, you would have really had to either live it, or understand it. Nebraska is a truly one-of-a-kind album; it seems almost impossible to recreate, though many privileged alt-country wannabes tried; they all lacked the same thing, which is an actual understanding of what this life entails. There are very few other albums that, when I listen to them, I feel as though I can completely envision exactly what the artist is saying and why, but Nebraska is one of those; it just clicks, and that is why I will always rank Springsteen amongst the finest to ever do it; he knows what this life is really like, and he knows how to portray it artistically like no other. Best Songs: Atlantic City, Nebraska, Johnny 99 Worst Song: None Score out of 10: 10

There are a lot of melancholy folk rock albums out there, and this is certainly one of them. The stripped-down sound of this album (voice + guitar + occasional harmonica) is good, but Springsteen's songwriting doesn't blow me away here. I think it's a fine inclusion on the list, but it's not one that will stick with me. Favorite track: "Atlantic City"

Springsteen confronts a nation's demons and his own, armed with only a guitar and a harmonica. He goes to look for America and finds serial killers, dead dogs on the side of the road, petty criminals, empty houses and disappointment. Hardly a likeable, fun album, but certainly an immensely powerful, chilling reverie. Incredibly impressive, even if it's hard to enjoy.

Some good, dark songwriting. A bit too even in tone? Or is that part of the point?

I don't think I needed to hear more of Bruce Springsteen, but at least it's not sonic youth... After something is clean and tight as Steely Dan, this was a bit jarring to listen to. The master is muddy. It sounds like every track has reverb, and it all sounds too far away. You can hear the bass frequencies clipping every time he makes a bilabial sound. Maybe they intentionally going for a live kind of sound, but it doesn't really work for me. I don't mind the compositions and the storytelling, but I need something more interesting going on in the instrumental.

As I think I've mentioned before, this is my favorite Bruce album. But I'm not a huge Bruce fan (I probably like him more as a person than as a musician), so I think this is a solid (leaning to high?) 4 stars for me, but not a 5. If I paid more attention to lyrics, who knows? (My bad!) But I've always been drawn to the stripped down, wide-open, spread out sound of this album, which (I imagine) represents (or corresponds with, or is meant to suggest and evoke) the wide-open, sparsely (human)-populated areas in the middle of the North American continent, and how that shapes the scattered humans living there, etc. An imaginative leap by New Jersey Bruce, recognizing that our country is vast, and diverse.

I don't think I'd ever WANT to listen to just Springsteen and his guitar and harmonica, so it's a hard one to rate. I appreciate the simplicity and storytelling, but it seems like the stories behind the songs were the primary focus before the music itself

2/5

Hit and miss and the “hits” were mediocre at best, really not an album for me. The slow songs were unbearable, the higher energy ones were ok.

the vibes are solid, but the lack of diction makes it extremely hard to follow the lyrics on even a very stripped back set of arrangements, and it all sonically blends together to a significant degree

It did pick up in the second half but it's pretty boring music. Don't love his voice either, especially in these stripped back songs.

Not particularly impressive, but not outright bad. Just folk music. His voice is mid and the subjects are very depressing but it didn't hit me in a meaningful, poetic depressing way. Maybe I'm not from Nebraska and that's why. As someone who has never really listened to Springsteen, this has not turned me on to him

My first Springsteen album. Surprised how much I liked it!

The stories of the hard done by with a harmonica at times that could rival Billy Joel. I was surprised that I enjoyed this quite a bit.

beautifully sparse and bleak

Another one of my favorite LPs of all time! The Boss had just come off huge hit with a double LP with "The River", and a crazy successful tour and decided to change direction, somewhat, and do a solo LP and by solo I mean nothing but him, a guitar, and a harmonica. The songs are bleak and foreboding and somehow incredibly uplifting.

I like Springsteen. But he seems either bombastic, pop, or stripped down country fried. Can't say I would ever listen to this one again.

I understand why he kept it this way, but ultimately it doesn’t go higher than 3

alright, not bad

There is a reason why he called the Boss. Great and fantastic album. So: 4/5

Painfully dull

This album reminds me of driving back on dirt country roads after a weekend getaway or a long hike. The good times are still in full view, but you slowly realize as you keep going down the road that they've become nothing more than memories as of that very moment. This album is one of wide open, desolate landscapes and forlorn, windswept plains. These songs were apparently demos recorded on 4-track tape to be arranged for the E Street Band, but I can't imagine hearing any of these intensely intimate pieces with full instrumentation. These are lonesome songs designed for an acoustic guitar and harmonica, and the lo-fi recording that captures everything down to the uneven echoes lend a truly living, breathing feel to this whole album. There is, of course, a distinct air of sadness about virtually every track, but this is far from something truly morose like Songs from Suicide Bridge. There's even an almost rock song in "Johnny 99," so there is still some drive and energy in Nebraska. Now that I think of it, the slow sparse songwriting can almost be thought of as a precursor to slowcore, which started being called that about a decade later. Nebraska is considered a big departure from the previously spirited heartland rock Springsteen made his name with, and it's certainly a big left turn from the feel-good, heroic persona The Boss had cultivated previously. I chalk up the change to him living in an isolated town out in the boonies while he wrote the album. I also like to think this was heavily influenced by what Springsteen must have seen developing in real time; the hollowing out of Middle America and the birth of the Rust Belt. De-industrialization and austerity policy had just started gripping the Western world around this time, and the world's cynicism became apparent: the New Deal was over, the old money pigs had won. It doesn't help that the album is full of tales of injustices for common people, lost opportunity, and crooked people in power. Not that Springsteen had never written this type of material, but Nebraska is set apart by just how downright BLEAK this album is. It's a singular release that could not have come out of any other context than the empty, isolated landscapes of its namesake state. Key Tracks: Nebraska, Mansion on the Hill, Johnny 99, State Trooper

Springsteen's "I woke up and I was still drunk" album. Spins: 1 Playlist Additions - Nebraska - Atlantic City - Johnny 99 - State Trooper

Can’t believe they made a film of this

Pretty good

Listenable but not my favorite Bruce album by a longshot

I prefer Bruce with the E Street Band but this is still a good listen.

When I was young I thought this album sucked. Still not the biggest fan. Atlantic City is one of my favorite Bruce songs.

i guess you need to be us citizen for this

Stripped down & sucks