March is an unusually busy month for me.
On top of the usual chaos school brings, my two younger brothers’ birthdays take place on the 17th and 18th, and much like me, they both enjoy music from decades before they were born. So, I decided to kill two birds with one
stone, writing reviews about their favorite artists as both an early birthday present for them, and an easy way to do a month of album reviews for me, and I have to say, they picked some pretty amazing albums.
For the first review, middle brother Billy decided I should take a look at Bruce Springsteen’s “Born In The U.S.A,” an artist and album that fits my New Jersey- born brother’s theatrical personality well. Theatrics are, really, the heart of Bruce Springsteen’s songs. Heart-wrenching lyrics with vivid descriptions of blue-collar struggles combine with a gratuitous amount of organ music and powerful guitar that can strike a chord with anyone who listens to the dozen songs on the album. And you can’t forget the saxophone solos, which tie off the album with one of Springsteen’s most
iconic instruments.
And while the album’s title song and “Dancing In The Dark” are all-star classic songs, my favorite song on the album has to be “Glory Days,” a song that’s simultaneously hopeless and heartwarming. Hopeless, because of the moral of being left with nothing but “boring stories of glory days,” and heartwarming, as each of the song’s characters smile as they remember their time in the spotlight. It’s truly what remembering your glory days is all about: sad that it’s over,
yet happy that it happened.
To my brother, if he reads this, first, get out of my room, but seriously, thanks for giving me a great album to share with those who read these reviews. The time in the spotlight is short-lived, however, as we’re taking a hard left in style for this next album, cause it’s “Time To Get Ill.”
