Bruce Springsteen- Lucky Town, 1992
Label: Columbia
Producers: Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau, Chuck Plotkin, Roy Bittan
Though there’s valid argument that Human Touch‘s critical maligning upon its release was primarily a consequence of the uniquely high artistic barometer set by Bruce Springsteen’s preceding catalog up to that point, three decades has not changed the fact that its sister-album, Lucky Town is still the better and more durable record of the two the Boss dropped on March 27, 1992. The most interesting component of that comparison is the fact that Lucky Town was labored over far less than Touch, which was the long-gestating follow-up record to 1987’s Tunnel of Love, and crafted during a pain-staking period of personal changes in Springsteen’s personal life. This record’s material on the other hand came together in spontaneous and organic fashion as he was putting his finishing touches on Touch, before he quickly realized he had an additional album with its own, complete identity on his hands. As a result, Lucky Town boasts a grittier, scrappier, roots-rock immediacy and sound, and in turn made its selections more memorably accessible and entertaining than those of its counterpart. It’s one of those popular music lessons demonstrating that often-times the very best music comes when void of over-analysis and calculated production, even if you’re an artist like Springsteen, who had already crafted some of music history’s most complex and sophisticated rock albums of all time.
That infectious rock energy and signature Bruce anthemia roars strong and glowingly through the album’s excellent opening trifecta. Opening cut and lead single, “Better Days” is easily one of his most underrated hits, sizzling with all of the electric spark of his E-Street records, while coupled with a bright and even humorous optimism for the future, thanks to his recent marriage to Patti Scialfa. The swampy, driving title track is equally contagious, but tinted with a sly, dark indulgence of blue-collar persistence and twisted irony. This segues into the joyful, sing-along charm of “Local Hero”, an evocative examination of both the naivety of small-town life and fame itself, inspired by how his celebrity impacted his relationship with his own hometown. Though these tracks never got the attention or acclaim of the iconic hits of Born in the USA or even Tunnel of Love, but they sustain their spark and appeal all these decades later, and would still nestle naturally into a set-list of Springsteen’s biggest anthems.
Despite the pugnacious start of the album, and its breakneck-speed origins, there is still plenty of deeper-rooted reflection and soul to be found as Lucky Town progresses, proving that Springsteen didn’t always need a half-decade gap between records to conjure up more topical and pensive work. With “If I Should Fall Behind”, he unveiled one of the greatest love songs of his entire catalog, and in modern rock as a whole. Inspired by and dedicated to new wife, Scialfa, the gorgeously intimate ballad read like musical wedding vows and found Bruce delivering one of his most poignant deliveries. It wasn’t a hit in the traditional sense, but has grown into an adored standard of his, and has been covered marvelously by the likes of Linda Ronstadt and Faith Hill, and both of those versions are highly recommended to seek out. Meanwhile, the eery, bluesy mystery of “The Big Muddy’ recalled the cryptic storytelling nature of the cult-favorite, musical cinemas that first set him apart in the rock world on his early records in the 70s. “Living Proof” takes inspiration from the birth of his first son, and celebrates the awe and wonder experienced as a new parent, and how it re-directed his entire life’s path.
As the album turns its final corner, the biting “Soul of the Departed” reveals itself as a spiritual descendant of “Born in the USA”, with its assessment of the damages caused by human violence, both on the battlefield and in our own neighborhoods. The song’s final verse, which finds Springsteen fearing the frightening world that his son has been born into, is among his most harrowing moments on record, which is obviously saying a considerable lot. But, as ever before, Springsteen has a poetic brilliance in tempering the depressing devastation of one moment with the sweet, understated beauty of the next. In this case, that soulful chaser is album closer, “My Beautiful Reward”, an intimate and humble ode to the intangible gifts and blessings that matter most in one’s life experience and pursuit of happiness. It closes the album with a soothing sense of inner-peace and notable contentment that had rarely shown itself in his massive discography up to this point.
Even retrospectively, nobody is going to confuse or reassess Lucky Town as one of Bruce Springsteen’s most pivotal records. Nonetheless, it is still a sturdy album, and one that offers plenty of gems that earns itself its own status as a underrated jewel in that transitional Boss-period of the early 90s. It further affirms that the period between his superstar run and the artistic renaissance he would launch in the back-half of the decade are not the “lost years” that so many have professed it to be.
Track Listing:
- “Better Days” (Bruce Springsteen) *Single Release- 1992
- “Lucky Town” (Springsteen) *Single Release- 1993
- “Local Hero” (Springsteen) *Single Release- 1992
- “If I Should Fall Behind” (Springsteen) *Single Release- 1992
- “Leap of Faith” (Springsteen)
- “The Big Muddy” (Springsteen)
- “Living Proof” (Springsteen)
- “Book of Dreams” (Springsteen)
- “Souls of the Departed” (Springsteen)
- “My Beautiful Reward” (Springsteen)
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