At the height of his glory, Bruce Springsteen abandons the epic rock that characterized him, dismisses the E-Street Band, and releases what was originally acoustic models recorded solo at home on a four-track magneto. Nebraska was born, an intimate and somber masterpiece on the far side of America in crisis.
Recorded in a period of unprecedented American economic and identity crisis (reminiscent of the current era of subprimes and post-September 11), Nebraska tells the story of those who are on the wrong side of the line: between good and evil (the Nebraska killer); crime and honesty (the unemployed Atlantic City worker who goes to work for the underworld); winners and losers (the Used Cars kid who swears that never like his father will he buy a used car); justice and mercy (the High Patrolman cop who gives up on prosecuting his delinquent brother); the dream of love and the reality of the loss of the father and of the bearings (My Father’s House); and finally, the boundary between the big city and the suburbs, symbolized by the New Jersey Turnpike, this toll that Tony Soprano passes at the start of each episode of the series of the same name.
The disc ends all the same with Reason To Believe, moral tale on the hope of those who cling to life without really knowing why.
Overall, despite this absolute lack of concessions to the public, Nebraska will still rank third on the American Billboard, proof of the power of attraction of this absolutely unique album.
Listen to the full album below: