One of the truly great pieces of Art in American recording history, NEBRASKA explores the dark stories of the characters who chose to take to the road in THE RIVER.

They hit middle America and go crazy. Simple as that.

These are stories of killers and cops, truck drivers and, frankly, people who have been driven to such a degree that they can no longer find their way through the comprimises and grey areas that they find themselves swimming in.

I've always been fascinated by Springsteen's phrasing on NEBRASKA. "Me and her went for a ride, sir." There's always that "sir," or "mister," and the wording is sparse. To me, these songs sound like death row confessions.

To me, "Atlantic City" ranks as one of Springsteen's finest moment, a tough-as-nails story of a man comprimising his own morals/ethics in order to get himself and his wife out of a dying town--and considering the unimaginable in order to finance their escape. But he still needs to console himself, rationalize his decision, before he can live with it:

"I've been looking for a job but it's hard to find. Down here it's just winners and losers, and don't get caught on the wrong side of that line. Well, I'm tired of coming out on this losing end. So honey last night I met this guy and I'm gonna do a little favor for him...but I guess everything dies baby, that's a fact, but maybe everything that dies one day comes back..."

NEBRASKA is not a fun-time party album. It's dangerous to listen to it in your car at 3 a.m.. But it is a piece of perfection, a story of the cultural decay Springsteen and his characters found in the USA in 1982, stories of desperate people in bad situations. It is a record that will be just as vital and important in 100 years as it was upon it's release.

NEBRASKA is true Art of the highest order.

After The River became Bruce's first number one album, "Hungry Heart" became his first top ten song and a hugely successful world tour, one would expect his next album to be in a similar vein to keep up the momentum. Instead of a River clone, Bruce did a complete 180 and released the dark, brooding Nebraska. Bruce at the time was listening to Woody Guthrie and other depression era folk & blues artists and this album reflects those sounds. The album consists basically of just an acoustic guitar and harmonica and explores subjects such as murder, crime, loss and loneliness. The songs are all sung in the first person and that gives them an intimacy that is rarely felt from an album. Bruce would explore dark subjects on later albums ("Born In The USA" was original recorded for this album), but he never recorded them in such a bare and stark nature. On this album, Bruce asks alot of questions and dares you to search for answers. The search is well worth the time and effort.

My confession: I listened to this album for the first time around 1990 based on a friend's recommendation, and I was instantly converted. I had previously taken part in the backlash against Bruce Springsteen, the backlash that followed the stunning commercial success of "Born in the USA." "Nebraska" set me straight and gave me insight into what a masterful storyteller Springsteen is.

This album is Bruce all alone, without the E Street band. The songs are quiet and honest with a rough quality, and each one tells a story about people who somehow got left out of the American dream. "Used Cars" is the most touching to me, telling a child's perspective on his father's purchase of a used car, which is a powerful symbol of the family's lack of status or hope. "My Father's House" is equally powerful.

"Nebraska" is the clear predecessor to "Tunnel of Love." "Born in the USA" really seems like an aberration in Springsteen's musical development when you consider that it was released in the time between these two albums. Don't get me wrong. "Born in the USA" is a great album. But "Nebraska" is softer and far more haunting.

"Everything dies baby, that's a fact. But maybe everything that dies some day comes back."

Our journey is one of hard traveling--year in, year out. Bruce Springsteen's album Nebraska is filled with haunting and sometimes beautiful snap-shots of people who've come to the end of their rope. It is possibly his greatest recording (its either this one or its echo of a decade later: The Ghost of Tom Joad).

Each song on Nebraska paints a portrait or a chracter sketch of an individual facing some kind of crux in their life. Each song is a unique story told in varying narrative voices. Each speaks to the triumphs and the humiliations that make us human.

The strength of Nebraska is that the narrators of the songs are allowed to tell their own tales, there is no imputed right or wrong from the song-writer. Much like short-stories that grab you with the humanity and reality of the main character, these songs bring you into their world rather than merely telling you about them. In the drudgery, hard labor, and ever-present shadow of despair we meet people very much like us.

If I sound foolish in what I am about to say, I beg your foriveness and ask you to listen to a fool just a little while longer: despite the storm clouds that gather in these songs, I see them as great testimonies to the power of hope. Much like the Badlands mentioned in the title track (which I had the privilege of visiting this summer), the darkness of life, the bleakness that sometimes echos deep within us, suggest to me a the possibility--hell--the PROBABILITY of better days and better things. Hope takes some faith and both (hope and faith), without being rooted in love, are worthless.

But hope, like faith and love, are the only things that will never fail--even in the deepest darkness of the shadow of despair.

I give Nebraska my full recommendation.

I'm writing this review in the hopes that it will actually get posted. My last few reviews have mysteriously disappeared. So, here goes...

This is my favorite Springsteen release of all time. Certainly it can be contrasted to "The Ghost of Tom Joad." However, there is a certain auroa about this album that goes miles beyond any later attempts to recapture it. As we all can admit, there are just certain things about a time in one's life, about a "time" in history...that given moment when things are going as never before.....later attempts to recapture that experience fall slightly short. That's the case with "Tom Joad"---it can't, by definition, rise (or sink?) to this level.

This is man at his rawest. The most down and out. Perfect, as I always say, for driving endless miles through the night...either the mojave desert or the great plains, take your pick. Can a song about Charlie Starkwheather (driving with a sawed off .410) be played at any time other than 1am-4am? Maybe.

This album is it. Perfect lonely down and out music. The type that makes you want to open up a liter of ol' grandad and throw the cap away.

Worth noting, this album is INCREDIBLY well followed by either: (a) any Tom Waits' asylum release (preferably "Nighthawks at the Diner" ; (b) "The Boatman's call" or "Murder Ballads" by Nick Cave; and (c) "Live at Folsom Prison" by Johnny Cash.

Then, either turn the lights out and drink. Go to a smoky, lonely bar. (Try "Red's, on St. Charles--near Lafayette--in New Orleans) Or, get in your car...with a few semiautomatic weapons for safety---and drive, drive, drive.