Track Listing
1. Nebraska
2. Atlantic City
3. Mansion On The Hill
4. Johnny 99
5. Highway Patrolman
6. State Trooper
7. Used Cars
8. Open All Night
9. My Father's House
10. Reason To Believe
Review
What a great album. Springsteen recorded some demos of songs for his next album, then he went into the studiio and recorded them with the E Street Band, and then they figured: "this sounds better in the demos, let's put them out", and so they did. And what a great decision that was.
Springsteen often relies on the epic power of his great backing band to make his songs work, but here none of that happens, he makes the simplest of albums, with just 4 track mixing, as that was what he had at home, mostly using acoustic guitar and harmonica, in a very Neil Young/ Bob Dylan way, and he is so successful with it that you can easily compare him to those two giants. And then you even have a track, State Trooper, heavily influenced by Suicide... not the most obvious of Springsteen influences.
Nebraska hasn't got one bad, mediocre or good track, they are all excellent. It is also, probably the most pessimistic Springsteen album, and the simplicity of the arrangements suits that perfectly, making for one of his most personal and touching albums. You can tell that this is a guy singing his songs at home, it isn't a studio production and that makes it a very intimate experience, showing Springsteen's talents as a lyricist and musician to their fullest. Highly Recommended.
Track Highlights
1. Atlantic City
2. Highway Patrolman
3. State Trooper
4. Used Cars
Final Grade
10/10
Trivia
From Wikipedia:
In 1989, Nebraska was ranked #43 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 greatest albums of the 1980s. In 2003, the album was ranked number 224 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Pitchfork Media listed it the 60th greatest album of the 1980s.
This is not the album version, but it is also a good one, the album version is also on youtube, but embedding is disabled:
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