Track Listing

1. Nebraska
2. Atlantic City
3. Mansion On The Hill
4. Johnny 99
5. Highway Patrolman
6. State Trooper
7. Used Cars
8. Open All Night
9. My Father's House
10. Reason To Believe

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3024 in Music
• Released on: 2003-05-05
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Nebraska is a cruel landscape of serial killers, shady deals, jobless workers pushed to the edge, brothers who finally just look the other way. Accompanying himself on acoustic guitar and little else, Bruce Springsteen mixes together his own Jersey mythology with bits of Woody Guthrie, the Delmore Brothers and country blues to produce among the most emotionally crippling roots rock ever caught on tape. "What does it mean", Springsteen moans plaintively, "(that) at the end of every hard-earned day people find some reason to believe?" He has no answer but if there's any hope at all here, it's that his characters are still asking the question. --David Cantwell

CD Description
As a followup to THE RIVER, a double-album blast of old-time rock and roll, this amazing solo-acoustic folk album came out of nowhere in the fall of 1982. More precisely, it came out of Bruce Springsteen's back pocket. He recorded what would become NEBRASKA at home on a 4-track recorder, intending it as a demo tape for a full-band album. The band versions were recorded, but Springsteen sensed something missing; eventually, he became convinced that his demo tape, which he hadcarried around in a back pocket of his jeans for several days, had a spiritual wallop that he and the band couldn't recreate. He had the cassette cleaned up and turned into his sixth album.
There's little doubt that he made the right choice. The songs on NEBRASKA form a bleak cycle about men on the run, from the law, from their fathers or from themselves, usually for reasons even they don't understand. And Springsteen's dry, howling voice, which sometimes dips to a desperate whisper and sometimes rises to a haunted scream, seems to carry all their fears and all their hidden knowledge. The title song, about Charlie Starkweather, the serial killer chronicled in the movie BADLANDS, is one of two on the album about men who see the electric chair as their natural, God-given fate, if not their salvation. A couple of others could be the very drivers of the cars Paul Simon once counted on the New Jersey turnpike, except that where Simon saw America, all these characters see are dirty refinery towers.
This was songwriting that channeled both Woody Guthrie and Hank Williams, and the stark sound of NEBRASKA was not merely a homage to them, but a perfect casing for these tales. Whether strumming through "Atlantic City", picking out arpeggios on "Nebraska" or banging out a shuffle on "Open All Night" (a rare upbeat moment), Springsteen's lone acoustic guitar was all the accompaniment they needed, echoing their loneliness and isolation.

Customer Reviews

Stark, desolate ... and beautiful.
This is one of the most stark and beautiful albums of all time. Springsteen was completely on his own when he recorded it and it shows. There isn't a song in the Springsteen canon as good as "Atlantic City". It's trendy to say that this is your favourite Springsteen album, that much is true. What is also true is that it IS the best Springsteen album. It reminded me of Dylan's The Times They Are A-Changin' only a little more personal and a little more political - if that's possible.

Stunning
Not the most up-to-date of reviews, of course... this particular album was released in 1982. So twenty years...

I bought this album a few days ago. Not the first time I'd heard the content on it of course, but perhaps the first time I've been old enough to appreciate it. It's an album of raw intensity and shorn pretensions set against a backdrop of sparse guitars and howling harmonicas. For one of the pre-eminent rockers of the late 70s and 80s, it is a dramatic departure. There is no pop, little rock and very little to dance to. It's very much a 'listen with all the lights out on a dark windy night' album.

The story behind the album goes that Springsteen set up a four-track recorder in his house to record the demos... away from the sterile environment of the recording studio. There, he wrote and performed the material that would form the album. Just Bruce, a guitar, and a harmonica.

Then he took the demo tapes to the studio and made an attempt to record them with the band. He hated the result... the simple understatement of the demos was removed by the over-production of remixing and re-editting. So he removed the original demo tape from his back pocket, tossed it onto the desk and said 'There's your album'.

The clarity of the album is stunning. There are no songs here... only stories, set to music. From the harrowing murder- sprees of Nebraska, to the slippery-slope of crime in Atlantic City... passing by the tragic highwayman who lets his brother escape from the murder he comitted. Along the way visiting tragedy and white-trash living, hope and desolation, sadness and despair... all to the accompaniment of a mounful harmonica and soft lyrical whisper from a man known for his energy and bombastic arrangements.

Much of the album evokes memories of the young Dylan... although that is more due to the style of the musical arrangement than anything more substantial. The bare lyrics do not have the multi-layered linguistic trickery of some of Dylan's work... chosing instead to concentrate on believable expression as if from the mouths of the characters in the songs.

Nebraska bombed when released... it was such a major departure from the pop hits of 'Born in the USA' or 'Dancing in the Dark'. Its honesty and soul make it an absolute jewel of an album however, and one that deserves a place in the album collection of anyone more interested in substance over style.

Back To Basics Bruce
At first hearing this album blew me away, and still does. Its amazing how much Bruce constructs with so little. This album is superb in its simple, one man and his guitar approach. Such a format helps to create the cold and barren environment needed on songs like State Trooper, where the lack of the E Street Band's honking saxaphone helps to emphaise the darker mood of the song. Bruce is at his best when he's telling the stories of real people and this album is no exception with songs like Johnny 99 or Highway Patrolman. Despite its darker subject matters Nebraska throws up some up-beat acoustic rockers like the brilliant Open All Night.This album also contains the great, Springsteen classic, Atlantic City which is a such a complete sounding song - despite its simple structure - that it stands out a mile from anything else on this album. A must for all Springsteen fans.