The Animal Show » Bruce Springsteen

The Tallest Man on Earth

dfjacobs — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 15:00:36 +0000

It’s quite regrettable that anyone who croaks their weighty lyrics to the tune of an acoustic guitar immediately draws comparisons to the godfather of folk/blues/rock, Robert Zimmerman. This practice is both restrictive and close-minded, often leading to the collapse of an artist under the immense pressure. Swedish born crooner The Tallest Man on Earth, also known as Kristian Matsson (suck it Sultan Kosen), has been plagued by such comparisons his entire career. Matsson, who actually stands at a paltry 5’9’’, will forever be associated with the legend (Dylan not Kosen). After The Wild Hunt, however, Matsson proves his brute strength and exceeds even the perilously high expectations. The album is composed of brilliantly emotive lyrics, austere accompaniment, and perhaps the most raw and unadulterated performance since acoustic Springsteen.

From the initial seconds of the opening and title track, “The Wild Hunt,” the listener is taken on a journey by a guitar, interspersed piano and the tremendous croon of the Swedish “giant.” The album manages to avoid monotony through the alternating intensity of guitar and piano, but most of all due to the tremendous range of Matsson’s wail. The fantastic opener directly precedes the even superior “Burden of Tomorrow,” which with just two complementing guitar parts maintains an evocative and profound sound. On the upbeat (among its peers) “King of Spain,” The Tallest Man on Earth nourishes his Dylan comparisons by mentioning “boots of Spanish leather,” a not-so-subtle homage to the Times They Are A-Changin’ great. Rounding out the marvelous sophomore release is the outcast anthem “Kids on the Run.” Matsson ditches the guitar for one last time, and with the accompaniment of his piano croons out some strikingly Springsteen-esque lyrics. The Tallest Man on Earth concludes the album with his strongest track yet, but the album’s meager 34+ minute run time leaves the listener begging for more (much like this review).

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The Wild Hunt – The Tallest Man on Earth (YSI)

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Burden of Tomorrow – The Tallest Man on Earth (YSI)

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King of Spain – The Tallest Man on Earth (YSI)

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Kids on the Run – The Tallest Man on Earth (YSI)

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Swedish Fish

dfjacobs — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:20:15 +0000

The Sweet Nectar of Corn Syrup

As I sit patiently at the computer, waiting for the clock to strike midnight so that I can finally get my hands on Battle Studies (see bonus track, Bruce favorite “I’m On Fire”), I listen to the harmonious sounds of Scandinavia. If I told my parents I was listening to the sweet sounds of Sweden, they’d immediately assume I was being serenaded by 70’s pop sensation ABBA or possibly the Cardigans. And while ABBA is great (Yeah I said it, what? Listen to “Does Your Mother Know” and tell me they’re not classy), Sweden has a new generation of musical luminaries, who happen to be far more respectable to the average hipster than their predecessors.

The young Swedish indie elite include the likes of Lykke Li, Jens Lekman and Miike Snow (and many more, most notably Air France and Robyn). Ms. Li who is featured on many classics such as N.A.S.A’s “Gifted,” Drake’s “Little Bit” and, of course, her critically drooled over LP, Youth Novel. While I almost passed along Youth Novel’s hit single “I’m Good, I’m Gone,” which really is quite grand, I’ll leave you with a more recent release, the Rodeo remix of Kings of Leon’s “Knocked Up,” which is taken to the next level by the Swedish gem.

Jens Lekman, perhaps my favorite of the Swedish Phish (Woah, pun fiesta), quickly wins over any hipster who snags a copy of Night Falls Over Kortedala. His unmistakable voice coupled with a big band creates infectious and brilliant tracks. On “A Postcard to Nina,” he sings about meeting a pen pal for the first time in Germany. I won’t ruin the song, but suffice to say, the lyrics tell a hilarious, Larry David-esque story. His encounter with the girl’s father is so awkward, culminating in the moment when, “I put my hands on a metal object/ He jokes and tells me it’s a lie detector.” It’s a creatively crafted song with fantastic horns and a dreamlike introduction. And, for those of you itching for more of “Lekman the Lethario,” check out “The Opposite of Hallelujah” and “Your Arms Around Me,” both off of Night Falls Over Kortedala.

Finally, Miike Snow has been receiving quite a bit of press, in addition to a plethora of samples (see “Cult Logic Forever” by the Hood Internet). The producers turned artists of Miike Snow have not been receiving the same love from the critics as their country woman Ms. Li, but in their defense, who even reads Pitchfork anymore? Snow dominated the hypemachine for a long while, proving that the blogosphere’s wannabe elite do not always speak for listeners everywhere (full disclosure: I am an avid reader of Pitchfork and quite often a big fan). As all of you readers remember, Edward has already given you their outstanding “The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance” remix, as well as their hit “Animal.” So, I’m going to combine the two, and give you the Crookers remix to “Animal” (Both a remix and an “Animal”). A decent song in its own right, Crookers steps it up to turn this track into a keeper, just like they did with Kudi’s “Day n Nite”.

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Knocked Up (Lykke Li vs. Rodeo Remix) – Kings of Leon (YSI)

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A Postcard to Nina – Jens Lekman (YSI)

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Animals (Crookers Remix) – Miike Snow (YSI)

These Streets.

Dave — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:15:26 +0000

Nighttime on the streets of Philadelphia.

So, I’ve had some tough times these past few weeks that have prevented me from really posting. Really not tough times–more mitigating circumstances. The hard drive in my computer started to shit the bed, so I was two weeks without great access to my music, which really put a damper on things. Local area baseball also recently came of note, then, much to the dismay of me and everybody around me, just as quickly went out of note. Now, my hard drive is starting to shit the bed again, which means lots of messy cleanup, and probably another two weeks without great access to my music. Goodbye, for another two weeks. Perhaps this is why my mood is slightly down.

It could also be because I’m listening to “The Streets of Philadelphia” on repeat. I was up in New York last weekend to watch my teams (Phillies, Eagles) beat their teams (Yankees, Giants). Somewhere in the process of watching that become only partially true, someone clued me in to the brilliance of Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind” (which of course the Show covered blog years ago). It’s like a modern, rap update of “New York, New York!” It is what foxy bingo online and other computer games are to old-school things like Scrabble and a deck of cards. Revolutionary. Exciting.Returning to Philadelphia, I set out on a quest to try to find a song that matched its spirit in anyway.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, nothing. We’ve got something that blares at almost every event here in Philadelphia in Elton John’s “Philadelphia Freedom,” but honestly, that song was irritating twenty years ago, and much more so today. Also dated: “Motown Philly” by Boyz II Men. Sorry, it’s true. What else do we have? A semi-good re-dub of “Empire State of Mind” called “Ill State of Mind?” It’s not bad, but it’s lyrics are not nearly as timeless. In fact, they’re irrelevant now, having called for the Phillies to repeat their bid for the World Series. Also, the video is balls to watch. Willy Nelson’s “Philadelphia Lawyer?” Not exactly flattering. G. Love & The Special Sauce (remember them?) came out with a song called “I-76″ that’s actually really a pretty solid song, but it focuses on basketball, which has been dead to the average Philadelphian for the last decade. So that leaves “Streets of Philadelphia,” whose sound is always relevant, and whose lyrics are always depressing–but not more so than the fact that this song best represents Philadelphia at this juncture in time. And that leaves me. Where I am. Eventually I’ll snap out of it. Or move…

For Philadelphia, there’s hope for the next year, and another parade. But, more pressingly in my mind, there’s another year to come out with something as kick-assingly Philadelphia as “Empire State of Mind” is kick-assingly New York. But in the spirit of area-based pessimism, I won’t get my hopes up.

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Bruce Springsteen – Streets of Philadelphia (YSI)

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Casiotone for the Painfully Alone – Streets of Philadelphia (YSI)

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G. Love & The Special Sauce – I-76 (YSI)

Covers? We're covered: "Train Song"

How Cool is Your History Teacher?

dfjacobs — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:27:35 +0000

What do you get when you cross the passion exhibited by Robin Williams in “Dead Poet’s Society,” with encyclopedic knowledge of U.S. History, with a pop culture scholar? You get Jim Cullen. For all of you scratching your heads out there, he is not related to tween deity Edward Cullen, he was my 10th grade U.S. History teacher. A former professor at both Brown and Harvard, he is now spending his time rewriting history curricula and just being generally visionary. Oh yeah; I forgot the best part, he wrote a book about Bruce Springsteen.

So when I thought about writing a review of the final Bruce Springsteen concert at Giants Stadium, and heard he was there, I realized only a moron would not turn a Bruce Springsteen chronicler and general pop culture prophet to write about it. After just a few minutes of groveling, I convinced him to do it, and below is what I received, hours later (all that brilliance, and he still turns things around faster than that lame English teacher you had back in high school).

I could talk about the rousing version of “The Rising.” I could express my joy at seeing him pick up the sign that said, “Bald Guys Can Dance,” and then choosing a fellow of my general demographic description as a partner during the beloved climax of “Dancing in the Dark” (take that, Courtney Cox!). I could express my happiness at the turn-on-dime transition from the old jazzy chestnut “Kitty’s Back” to the new Celtic-flavored “This American Land.”

But for me the best moment of the final show at Giants Stadium last night happened beforehand, when my wife and I were stuck in the bottleneck near the parking lot entrance. I imagined all the cars, like metal filings, drawn to this point from a concentric circle miles and miles around. All these people choosing to come here for no other reason than they simply wanted to. All this pollution and commerce and anticipation and love converging on a single point. But that all this — this show, this night, and all the other shows on other nights — began with a solitary figure, alone, sitting at a piano, perhaps, but certainly at some point working with nothing more than a pen and a spiral notebook. And that he made something, from the workings of neurons in his head, that resulted in all this. The spectacular power of a human imagination. Astonishing.

So the next time you’re sitting in History class, just think about how cool your teacher could be. By the by, for all of you wondering how much extra credit this is worth, I do not currently have him as a teacher, I am actually just that big a fan. Below are some of my favorite less-glorified Springsteen tunes (live versions).

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Land of Hopes and Dreams – Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (YSI)

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Spirit in the Night – Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (YSI)

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Jersey Girl – Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (YSI)

Some Pretty Boss Covers

Dave — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 03:05:58 +0000

: Why the hell not?

Here at the Animal Show, we don’t seem to have any rules. I can’t out-and-out say that we don’t have any rules, mostly because we’ve never discussed rules at any point, making any speak about rules pure hearsay anyways. But if we did have rules, one of those rules would probably be to shove Bruce Springsteen into unsuspecting faces as much as possible. The other rule would be to constantly offer songs we like as covered by others so that we may once again shove them into unsuspecting faces as much as possible. And so in compliance with these speculated rules, here are two cool Springsteen covers: The Hold Steady covering “Atlantic City” and The Counting Crows covering “Thunder Road.”

It’s interesting the different approaches these bands take. While The Hold Steady stick with a pretty Boss formula in their cover (with ample change made to accommodate for the fact that they are not Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band as much as they’d like to be), The Counting Crows make “Thunder Road” sound hauntingly like “Rain King.” Which one do I prefer? I think they’re both alright/mediocre (compared to the Boss), but The Hold Steady handily beats the Crows on this round.

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The Hold Steady – Atlantic City (Download)

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The Counting Crows – Thunder Road (Download)

Old it like it's new: Tunnel of Love

Dave — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 20:22:48 +0000

Bolo, Bruce? Really?

Here at the Animal Show, we love The Boss. We love him–even the large dose of crotch he provided to what may have been the largest Superbowl viewership ever. Even through some of the more excruciatingly terribly lyric-ed moments of “Working on a Dream,” we love him–enough to shell out the big bucks to see the thing performed on tour, enough to purchase all the albums he’s ever pressed, enough to even entertain saying, “Yeah, I guess there’s something good about New Jersey.”

But for some reason, we here at the Animal Show cannot find it in our hearts to accept one album, and one album only: Tunnel of Love. A lot of it, undoubtedly, has to do with the fact that we judge everything by its cover, and time has bludgeoned this cover into aged submission. Unless you’re into heart-shaped bolo ties and reminders of 1980’s American automobile manufacturing. The other part of it probably has to do with the images that a title like Tunnel of Love evokes, from amusement park rides, to other kinds of…rides… However, despite our trepidation, Tunnel of Love seems to be a pretty well regarded album overall, claiming a spot on Rolling Stone’s Top 500 albums of all time list, and apparently ranking 25th on their list of the best albums of the ’80s. I have decided that it’s time to get over our undoubtedly ageist prejudice, and give the thing a good listen.

And it’s good. Really good, actually. The opening track “Ain’t Got You” seems crafted in the Nebraska/Ghost of Tom Joad school of songwriting, with a gritty honesty that grabs the listener, and proclaims that this is not a follow up album to Born in the USA in any regard. “I got houses ‘cross the country honey end to end/And everybody buddy wants to be my friends/Well I got riches baby any man ever knew/But the only thing I ain’t got honey I ain’t got you.” In fact, this opening track, and much of the album, seems to echo the disenchantment-with-fame-and-fortune that one Kanye West is trying out these days. Except The Boss, the everyman–he is more genuine in his delivery than Mr. West can hope to be behind his clouds of production.

And the album is very narrative in nature. Nothing suckers me in more than a narrative album, and in particular, a narrative album on love (it’s how Damien Rice once seduced a younger me with O). It takes you from the bombastic, self-assured chase (”Tougher Than the Rest”) very quickly to the loud troubles (”Spare Parts”), the rough memories (”Tunnel of Love”), the doubt (”Brilliant Disguise”), the decline (”When You’re Alone”), and finally, the meloncholy hope tinged with minor-key fate (”Valentine’s Day”). The instrumentals are, if a bit synth laden, confident, effective, and affective.

In short, give this album a try. These days, The Boss is happy and larger than life. He has a wife that he can take on the road, a life that most of the nation envies, and a President that he finds easier to take pride in. He doesn’t need crushingly beautiful lyrics about running away or running out of love. Those days–they were darker times, and times that remind us now that even The Boss feels and emotes like the rest of us. And makes terrible, terrible, mistakes. Like that damn album cover.

Bruce Springsteen – Ain’t Got You

Bruce Springsteen – Spare Parts

Bruce Springsteen – Brilliant Disguise

Bruce Springsteen – Valentine’s Day

THE ANIMAL SHOW STILL LOVES BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

Edward — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 04:14:31 +0000

THAT IS ALL.

Sneak Peek: Bruce Springsteen's Working on a Dream

Edward — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:23:01 +0000

Vintage Bruce tour shirts make life worth living. Mischa Barton, less so.

I feel like I’ve been a little misleading to you, my faithful readers, with my posts so far. For example, I don’t really like Britney Spears that much. And “Together” is the only Janet Jackson song I own.

So let me tell you what I do like: Bruce Springsteen. I love him. Truly, madly, deeply. He represents everything that’s good about America, and is the only thing good about New Jersey. Having Bruce blast at you from the alarm clock makes mornings worth getting up for.

Despite the fact that I’m on vacation and don’t need no stinkin’ alarm clock, I woke up this morning thinking about the Boss. Maybe it’s because of the ad I saw last night for his Super Bowl performance, or because I wake up every morning thinking about Bruce, but either way I got the itch. So I went out and found everything I could about his upcoming album Working on a Dream.

The most exciting thing I found was amazon.co.uk’s 30-second samples for each of the songs. (Personally, I think 30-second samples are worthless…. but they’re new BRUCE! WOOO!)

SAMPLES HERE (Hay THX DSOS)

Then, I thought maybe I’d share “The Wrestler.” It’s a bonus track on the new album, and was featured in the recently-released film The Wrestler. It’s depressing, but it’s a helluva song.

The Wrestler – Bruce Springsteen

This video’s been up for a while, but it’s done a great job of getting me really excited for the new album:

My Lucky Day (Live in the Studio)

And the title track from the new record, which was free on iTunes for a while, is available for purchase here. (19 blogpoints to whoever can tell me what “Pepsi points” are.)

EDIT: “LIFE ITSELF,” ANOTHER NEW TRACK, HAS JUST HAD A VIDEO RELEASED:

Working on a Dream comes out January 27, 2009. Until then, enjoy this.

The Best of the Rest: Christmas on E Street

Edward — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 03:34:43 +0000

10 points to the person who can best describe what those children behind Bruce are doing.

As I was planning this, I asked myself, “isn’t this completely gratuitous?” Then I realized that yes, it is, but so is blogging. And I’m not about to stop now — that would be a complete waste of everything I’ve worked so hard on today.

In a Christmas song, I look for 3 things:

singability
youthful spirit
overwhelming loneliness

As you can imagine, it’s difficult to find all three. So I picked one song that I think highlights each of the three best.

Singability: All I Want For Christmas Is You – Mariah Carey: Version upon version of this has been performed, by any number of dubious artists, but I think the greatest testament to its immensely catchy singability is the fact that, no matter where you hear this, you or someone near you will start singing along. Take, for example, today, when I was mailing some packages at the post office and this was playing on the radio piped through that hall of misery. I started singing along (in what I thought was a relatively discreet manner), and the portly woman behind the desk gave me a big ol’ “mmhmmm” and told me to “belt it, boy!” Post offices are scary places this time of year.
Youthful spirit: Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town – Bruce Springsteen: I live for Bruce. True story. And this live recording shows the raw power of the Boss. Recorded in 1978, this shows him and the E Street band at their best — I like to think that they never rehearsed this before performing it, and through sheer musical ability and amazing unity managed to scrap together what I consider the definitive version of the song. Listen for Bruce’s chuckles during the lyrics, and you’ll see what I mean.
Overwhelming loneliness: I’ll Be Home For Christmas – Nickel Creek: You’re probably thinking, “why the hell is overwhelming loneliness a criteria for an essential Christmas song?” Let me tell you why: because I write this thing, and I said so. I was trying to fit this square peg in a round hole, when I realized that I’m the boss around these parts, and I make the rules. I like this song, which means you have to, too. That’s how this works. Really, though, I think this is beautiful, and I’m just acting tough so you won’t see how sensitive I am. Sorry, I know it’s not fair.