The Rising Turns 20

I think I'm the only Springsteen fan anywhere, ever, who doesn't highly rate Paradise. Now, to be clear, I don't dislike it. But it's one of the songs I'd remove from The Rising if someone told me to organise a more compact track list of, say, 12 songs for the album. Mainly because it seems sonically out of place... but it would be a walk up start for Devils And Dust.

Having said that, I do also admit my ability to really appreciate Paradise seems to be limited by me hearing The Sounds Of Silence in my head for the first two thirds of the song, and then hearing Brothers In Arms for the remainder when Bruce's guitar kicks in.

Never heard of this writer Scott, but seeing as what he said about Paradise, I shall give it a read.

I like the album as is very much. But I've found that if you cut out the middle four songs—"Worlds Apart" through to and including "The Fuse"—you cut out 20 minutes and strengthen the album, thematically, considerably.

I admire what he was going for with "Worlds Apart" and "The Fuse." And "Further On (Up the Road)" is sometimes my favorite song on the entire album. (Although I do consider "Let's Be Friends" a serious misfire.)

But to my ears the end result is not just bloat (although it is that) but pulls away from the album's central theme.

Good read, thanks. I'd never really considered how the album possibly informed and influenced the subtle change in Bruce's writing that would take place over the next decade after it's release.

As for the album itself, still a personal favourite. The one comment many fans make it is too long...it would've been better minus 3 or 4 songs. But from that premise, no one can agree on which songs should get dropped! So, I'm happy with it how it is. Clearly, Bruce at the time still wasn't 100% sure on how much or how often E Street would record together going forward, so he took full advantage of the extra room on CD and put out more material.

Well worth reading. Thanks.