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Bruce Springsteen - Human Touch Audio CD

A fair review of the Bruce Springsteen "Human Touch" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Bruce Springsteen reviews here, or go back to the Bruce Springsteen tabs.

Bruce Springsteen Band: Bruce Springsteen
Title: Human Touch
Rating:
Release Date: 1992-03-31
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Human Touch 2: Soul Driver 3: 57 Channels (And Nothin' On) 4: Cross My Heart 5: Gloria's Eyes 6: With Every Wish 7: Roll of the Dice 8: Real World 9: All of Nothin' At All 10: Man's Job 11: I Wish I Were Blind 12: The Long Goodbye 13: Real Man 14: Pony Boy

Perhaps Bruce's most underrated record
In light of its predecessor, 1988's somber, personal, and emotional Tunnel of Love, "Human Touch" is generally happy and upbeat, consisting of clever, thoughtful rock songs, as well as some of his best guitar playing highlighted in the E Street Band's absence. Rock icon Bruce Springsteen recorded "Human Touch" in 1990 but shelved the project until he completed Lucky Town in 1992, deciding to release both albums together. Bruce and his crew of studio musicians execute a 59-minute record with few dull moments and many memorable ones. For the most part it doesn't have the power of his legendary classics, nor does it try to; they are light, enjoyable songs. Overall it's a great sounding record and might surprise some listeners because it is so overlooked.

It opens brilliantly, with the wondrous title track, a classic single with ingenious writing and playing, the phenomenal "Soul Driver," and the great statement that is "57 Channels (And Nothin' On). " "Gloria's Eyes," "Roll of the Dice," and "Real World" are steady-rocking and well-written winners, and "All or Nothin' At All," "The Long Goodbye," and the swinging "Real Man" also succeed radiantly at an upbeat tempo. The solemn ballads "With Every Wish," marked by muted trumpet instrumentation, and "I Wish I Were Blind" sound like leftovers from Tunnel of Love and are also vintage Bruce. Perhaps the best song, though, is "Man's Job," a simply excellent rock `n roll love song. The album also closes with a charming rendition of folk classic "Pony Boy. "

"Human Touch" may feel somewhat insubstantial in light of everything that preceded it, but it is an endlessly solid album of well-written, pleasant rock songs with some truly great moments and Bruce's inimitable soul. Springsteen fans should not hesitate to own this collection.


Liked it then, like it now
Having said that, this was a very good album. After a 3 year absence, almost anything by Bruce would have been welcome, even without E St Band. However, I always thought that Lucky Town was the better of the two - better songs, and more uplifting with it's message. If you don't own either or both, get them to help fill out your collection. My favorite thing is to hear Bruce and the E St Band perform some of these live in concert - wish they would do more of them.


SPRINGSTEEN PLAYING ROCK N ROLL
It contains several good songs including the title tune and is a nice companion to "Lucky Town", which was released at the same time. This CD has always been underrated because it is an album without the E Street Band but is actually a very good CD.

Though it lacks the E Street Band, it is still Bruce Springsteen playing rock n roll and that is hard to ignore. I continue to listen to the CD today.

It might not rank with BUSA or RIVER but it ranks above TOM JOAD and THE RISING and bridges a long gap before MAGIC was released last year. I exclude TRACKS and other releases of old material between 1995-2006 in that opinion.

Any fan of Springsteen's cannot go wrong purchasing this CD.


understated classic..
This one came out in liason with LUCKY TOWN. okay, so I'm a Springsteen die-hard and can't find fault with any of his recordings. HUMAN TOUCH is a great song that came out when Bruce was going throught some difficult personal stuff. So this collection is introspective but not as dark as some of his other work. All in all, good stuff. .


His worst album by far, but still decent... 2 1/2 Stars
If you are, for some reason, dying to by an album released by Bruce in 1992, I'd recommend you get Lucky Town, which is quite superior, though still not on the same level as the rest of his catalog. Springsteen is my favorite artist, but this album is easily his worst. There are still some keepers here though. The title track is vintage U. S. A/Tunnel of Love era Springsteen, which is one reason it was so out of place within the mainstream in 1992. However, it's a great song. The real mystery of this album is the studio version of Real World. When he first performed it in 1990 (two years before) at the Christic Benefit, he played it by himself, accompanied only by his piano. It was a showstopper, and instantly considered by most of his fans as good or better than anything on Born in the USA. It was put on the same level as the best tracks off of Tunnel of Love, and possibly even on the same level as his outputs between 1973 and 1982, when his run from The E Street Shuffle through Nebraska were considered timeless rock and roll classics, both by critics and his fans. The album version, however, is so overproduced that it almost ruins the song, where if you heard that version only you'd probably just skip it, without realising how good of a song it could be. The rest of the album has a couple of decent tracks, but all suffer drastically from the production. The biggest problem of this album, along with the production, however, is the amount of filler. None of Springsteens' previous album contained this much uninspired filler.


You can see a complete list of all Bruce Springsteen discography, or go back to the Bruce Springsteen tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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