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All rights reserved.Bruce Springsteen - The Ghost Of Tom Joad (CD 2000)
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| Track Listing 1. Ghost Of Tom Joad 2. Straight Time 3. Highway 29 4. Youngstown 5. Sinola Cowboys 6. Line 7. Balbo Park 8. Dry Lightning 9. New Timer 10. Across The Border 11. Galveston Bay 12. Best Was Never Enough
Album Notes Personnel: Bruce Springsteen (vocals, guitar, harmonica, keyboards); Marty Rifkin (pedal steel guitar); Soosie Tyrell (violin, background vocals); Danny Federici (accordion, keyboards); Chuck Plotkin (keyboards); Garry Tallent, Jim Hanson, Jennifer Condos (bass); Gary Mallaber (drums, percussion); Lisa Lowell, Patti Scialfa (background vocals).Producers: Bruce Springsteen, Chuck Plotkin.THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD won the 1997 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD isn't a rock and roll record. Named for the protagonist of John Steinbeck's Depression-era novel THE GRAPES OF WRATH (Springsteen cites John Ford's film version in the booklet) and performed largely on an acoustic guitar with the occasional support of an Appalachian mountain fiddle and pedal steel guitar, it's part folk album, part protest record, part short-story collection.It'll inevitably be compared to NEBRASKA, the similarly stark song-cycle Springsteen foisted on an unsuspecting world in 1982. Yet TOM JOAD is more of an arranged album, with careful guitar arpeggios supported by an eerie bed of sustained synthesizer chords (played by E Street Band veteran Danny Federici and Springsteen) and a few full-band folk arrangements. It's also more of an explicit statement. Whereas the characters in NEBRASKA were lost souls wreaking havoc on the highways and backroads of the badlands, those on TOM JOAD are a mix of working-class Americans and immigrants running across (or into) the country in search of a pot of gold that isn't there. The characters are modern, but the stories are as old as the Great Depression that Steinbeck chronicled--Springsteen's message being that after all these years we're still knee-deep in it.There are some familiar Springsteen vignettes--the conflicted friendship of two border guards in "The Line," the family line of steelworkers in "Youngstown"--but the characters themselves are new, and the clearness of their anger is almost radical. Pondering the corporate bosses who built a steel plant in Youngstown, used up the local resources, then walked away, the narrator's father says, "Them big boys did what Hitler couldn't do." Springsteen does offer the working class a chance at redemption. "Galveston Bay" brings together a Vietnamese fisherman, a disgruntled Vietnam vet and the Ku Klux Klan; by the time it's over, two Klansmen are dead and the American vet has learned, if not to overcome his prejudice, to at least live and work side by side with his Vietnamese compatriot. It may be a not-so-veiled lesson for the flag-waving patriots who misinterpreted Springsteen's anthem "Born In The U.S.A." Editorial Reviews Rolling Stone (05/13/1999) Q (02/01/1996) Village Voice (02/20/1996) Musician (02/01/1996) Melody Maker (11/18/1995) New Musical Express (11/18/1995) Musician (02/01/1996) Rolling Stone (05/13/1999) | |||||||||||
Reviews  Ghost of Tom....Heart of Bruce..?Review created: 15/09/08 by:  Not the most popular of Bruce's albums but one of my favorites.It breathes the stark intimacy of the characters portrayed in the songs,each song a story,each story a life.The songwriting is superb,just enough lyrics,nothing wasted,a gutsy look at peoples lives in 90's America.Prayers,hopes,fears.An example of Springsteen's ability to conjure up a picture and mood as if by magic.Fabulous..... Review ID: 10000000008730457 Was this review helpful? Report this review  Ghost of Tom joadReview created: 04/08/08 by: I love the feel of this album, the laid back and atmospheric sound of each song. Great album to chill out to, but also some good comments on the hardness of life. Review ID: 10000000008194297 Was this review helpful? Report this review Tom JoadReview created: 02/04/07 by: If you like the e-street Bruce then this one isn't for you... However, if your leaning is towards Nebaska then pick it up and you won't be let down. Any self respecting Americana fan should get into this.. Great feeling, simple arrangements - I like it.. Hope you will too.. Happy Listening NJN Review ID: 10000000003279554 Was this review helpful? Report this review bruce springsteen - ghost of tom joadReview created: 03/06/06 by: i bought this album as i consider myself one of bruce springsteens biggest fans and this an amazing album of his more recent music. Review ID: 10000000001053636 Was this review helpful? Report this review |
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