Bruce Springsteen: Devils & Dust - 2005

"Every decade or so, Bruce Springsteen releases a sombre album of narrative songs, character sketches, and folk tunes - records that play not like rock & roll, but rather as a collection of short stories" - Stephen Thomas Erlewine - AllMusic

 

This was an intriguing album from Bruce Springsteen. After two successful and high quality “acoustic”/non band effectively solo albums in 1982’s Nebraska and 1995’s The Ghost Of Tom Joad, Springsteen was back with another one in 2006. 

This one had considerably more instrumentation on it, but it is still essentially a Bruce Springsteen solo album. It is notable for the fact that in his vocals on some of the tracks, Springsteen sings in a decidedly odd falsetto voice, something he had never done before, save a few whoops at the end of I’m On Fire. In my view it did not work at all - if anything, it sounds faintly ludicrous, especially considering just how strong his voice usually is. 

I shall deal with the high voice songs first, to get them out of the way! All I’m Thinkin’ About is an upbeat, jaunty enough bluesy rocker, but I’m sorry, it just sounds totally ridiculous. Maria’s Bed is a sensual song in praise of a giving lover, but you wonder what pleasure Maria got from such a bleating man. Again, it simply does not convince me, vocally. 

Then there are the ones where the voice is not quite so bad, but are throwaway, wasted opportunities. Long Time Comin’ is ok, I suppose, but it feels half-cooked somehow. I’ll let it off though. It’s not bad. 

All The Way Home was covered superbly by Southside Johnny on his 1992 Better Days album as a soulful, romantic heartbreaker. Here, Springsteen turns it into a sort of country rockabilly number. Again. It doesn’t work for me. The song loses all its soul. Leah, unfortunately, falls into this category too. 

Ok. Let’s get a bit more positive. Devils And Dust is an atmospheric, slow and moving song with references to the Gulf War. It sounds as hot and dusty as its title suggests. Black Cowboys is a wonderful “character” song - melodic and packed full of images. You can get right inside the characters on this song.

Similarly, the lovely country-ish Tex-Mex feel of Silver Palomino and the soulful, evocative Jesus Was An Only Son, which uses the biblical imagery Springsteen is so fond of, to great effect. 

Matamoros Banks is a sad tale of migrants crossing from Mexico into the USA which harks back to the subject of much of The Ghost Of Tom Joad album. In 2019, a tragic picture of a father and ten year-old daughter lying dead, drowned on those very banks, was viewed by many. The Hitter is a slow, sensitive tale of a battered old prize fighter. These, for me, are the best songs on the album. 

Then there is Reno. Ok, it is full of atmosphere and cinematic images but on the other hand it is a tawdry song about a bloke going with a prostitute. For a strange reason, I find it a bit disconcerting to hear Springsteen singing about such demi-monde subjects as how much she will charge him to well, you can imagine. It doesn’t quite fit with him really. Like hearing your father or a respected teacher talking about such things! 

This is, for me, an album that is good in parts, but it is not one I return to very often. Maybe I should a bit more, but, oh, that voice.