Bill Chinook / Bruce Springsteen

i shoudn't wade into tis polemical fray, though i do find it surprising that people would disqualify springsteen's music on patriotic grounds--whether or not you agree with his politics, it's hard to fault the guy for expressing his opinion.  to me at least,  he's always registered as sincere and charitable, or at least as  sincere and charitable as a mega-rich rock star can be.  as for his music, he's a good-to-great writer--tuneful, insightful and funny--and i think "born to run" (esp. if you listen to his acoustic take on "tracks") is a great blues song. however, like bdp i personally find him hard to listen to--his voice grates and the band just don't swing.  i also agree that he's been badly served by his producers--his best records (btr, darkness, the river) all sound  dark, compressed and unnatural.

i think the river is his best set of songs, but the albums i'm inclined to actually sit down and listen to are the folky ones-- tom joad and nebraska, where he sounds unforced and uninclined to make everything sound like an epic.

i'll agree with marty that his music started sucking post-BITUSA when he started trying to write major statements--i feel the same way about jackson browne and the much less gifted john mellencamp. he did get off a good one now and again after BITUSA (as stated above, I did like his lowkey woody guthrie thing), and his records certainly sounded better, but the for me all his essential stuff was pre-1985 or so.

at least when mr. trump is annointed we'll be able to discourse freely without fear of such rigid censorship