The Ghost Of Tom Joad - Springsteen, Bruce (CD 1995)

It s important to say from the outset that this album isn t going to be to everyone s taste. With it s negligible instrumentation, stark acoustics and bleak vision of the desolate, desperate lives of the migrants, working underclasses and vagrants who inhabit boarder town America, it s certainly doesn t make for easy listening. Even ardent fans of the Boss may find this too severe a contrast from his upbeat, fast paced, home grown rock and roll which placed Springsteen and his E Street Band in the annuls of rock history. This aint Born in the USA, nor is it Born to Run, this is an entirely...

It occurs to me, as I sit down to write about my latest Bruce Springsteen experience, "The Ghost of Tom Joad," that Springsteen is not, as I was about to suggest getting worse and worse. Because this album precedes "The Rising" (reviewed at: http://www.epinions.com/content_342939635332 ) and "Devils

Indeed, this late Springsteen masterpiece (insipred by The Grapes Of Wrath and structually reminiscent of Nebraska ) is perhaps Springsteens least interesting record, musically speaking. It centers on the use of an acustic guitar, and all other instruments are only heard in the background, really. There is also a complete lack of anything resembling a chorus (if we exclude Youngston ). But I didn t mind for a second. You see, the music isn t really the point here. The brilliance of The Ghost Of Tom Joad resides in the stark, sometimes fatalistic, but always touching stories that...

The concept behind The Ghost of Tom Joad is relatively simple: drawing from folk and bluegrass influences, including Bob Dylan and others, Springsteen released a collection of ballads to the disaffected and ignored in society, including illegal immigrants ("The Line"), the homeless (the title track), and migrant laborers ("Sinola Cowboys"). The songs are musically uncomplicated, including some that feature just the man himself with a guitar and harmonica. Before I continue, I'd like to thank fellow Epinions.com member amerpie for rekindling my interest in Springsteen. His Greatest Hits didn't.