Product Description

After a five year recording hiatus following the emotionally eloquent TUNNEL OF LOVE (and a subsequent world tour), Springsteen returned in 1992 with the tandem release of HUMAN TOUCH and LUCKY TOWN. Though released separately, both albumssignalled the singer's more mature preoccupation with introspective, complicated themes of desire, despair and regret. The albums were also Springsteen's first without the full E Street Band. HUMAN TOUCH and LUCKY TOWN marry Springsteen's popular persona of fist-waving, stadium rocker with the morereflective, rootsier sound the singer favoured on NEBRASKA.
Of the two albums, HUMAN TOUCH is the more successful inthis endeavor; songs like "Roll of the Dice" and "Real Man"are vintage, hell-raising Springsteen whereas the haunting "With Every Wish" and the roiling undercurrent of "57 Channels (And Nothin' On)" travel more uncertain avenues. "Human Touch" is pretty melodic pop and "Cross My Heart" generates pure sexual heat, gyrating with a bluesy guitar groove. HUMANTOUCH and LUCKY TOWN may never be revered in same way as some of his other releases, but both albums are immensely satisfying as a double shot farewell to the raucous rebelliousness of Springsteen's youthful rock and roll years.

Track Listing

1. Human Touch
2. Soul Driver
3. Fifty Seven Channels (And Nothin' On)
4. Cross My Heart
5. Gloria's Eyes
6. With Every Wish
7. Real World
8. All Over Nothing At All
9. Man's Job
10. I Wish I Were Blind
11. Long Goodbye
12. Real Man
13. Pony Boy

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8690 in Music
• Released on: 2000-01-10
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

hard to explain
Having spent the last 30 years being a fan of Springsteen, in all of his various projects, I have returned to this album to see if my initial response was too harsh. Sadly, my first thoughts still hold true today.
Although there are a couple of good tracks (Human Touch, I Wish I Was Blind), there are too many songs that sound like filler, and the two worst tracks of his entire career (57 Channels, Real Man). In fact, Real Man would be the worst song of anyone's career.
Strangely released on the same day as the massively superior Lucky Town, this album has the dubious distinction of being the worst album the great man has ever put his name to.
This was the happiest he had ever been in his personal life; it seems strange that the greatest lyricist ever, couldn't find the words to express this. The musicianship is so plodding and uninspired, it is hard to understand why the E Street Band were twiddling their thumbs at home, whilst session rubbish like these guys were being used.
Maybe with the E Street Band, they could have saved some of the average songs, and made them better......and told him to bin the rest!!
The lowest point of an absolute legends career, which has thankfully been forgotten, as he is now re-united with The E Street Band.

Not good enough by Springsteen standards
If there was one Springsteen album that I could do without then Human Touch would be it. Don't get me wrong, it isn't a totally bad album, infact it's actually quite listenable for the most part. The title track is up there with some of his greatest ever songs, and there are a few other notable songs. However the album is let down by a few clunkers, for example Real Man - some of the lyrics are just embarrassing and it really does surprise me that Springsteen of all people wrote them.

So my advice to people would be to get the other albums before picking this one up - I have a feeling that if someone who wasn't familiar with Springsteen's work listened to this album first, they would be puzzled as to why he's such a major artist.

Springsteen's creative nadir
Released, bizarrely, on the same day as the underrated and vastly superior "Lucky Town", "Human Touch" is the one album in Springsteen's canon to which true criticism that his muse had briefly deserted him can be levied.

In the early 90s, Springsteen decided to recruit some new musicians in order to see whether he could experience a different vibe from his longtime players, the E St. Band. On "Lucky Town" the sound is pretty good and the difference not too apparent. On "Human Touch", however, the change is as wide and noticeable as the Grand Canyon. The sound is generally tinny, flat and uninspiring, despite the solitary presence of E St. survivor, pianist Roy Bittan. Lyrically, Springsteen never got lower than this. He can trot out songs in his sleep, so "writer's block" is never going to happen to him, but this is as near as Springsteen got to a creative desert.

Ok. Let's look at the positives. "With Every Wish" is a delightful semi-acoustic piece with fatalistic lyrics about a catfish and a gypsy's curse and the hopelessness of life in general (a familiar Springsteen topic); "Roll Of The Dice" is an upbeat style rocker that would not sound out of place on "The River", with Bittan's piano driving the track along; "Man's Job" is lyrically embarrassing, but one cannot help but be charmed by its poppy melody, while "I Wish I Were Blind" features one of Springsteen's best guitar pieces in his entire output. Basically, though, that's pretty much it. The dull, protracted title track is fairly uninspiring, while cuts such as "The Long Goodbye", "All Or Nothing At All", "Gloria's Eyes" and "Soul Driver" are not really worthy of this great songwriter whatsoever, and I'm sure he knows it too. Check how many times he's played them in concert since. Little or none. "57 Channels" has a quirky, novelty appeal but nothing can lift the general air of an album going precisely nowhere. When assessing "Human Touch" you have to bear in mind that Bruce Springsteen is the man who wrote "Jungleland", "Thunder Road", "Born To Run", "Incident on 57th Street" and the whole "Darkness On The Edge Of Town" album. It simply does not measure up.

This review will no doubt clock up the "unhelpful" votes from Springsteen diehards who will not accept a single criticism of their hero. As a Springsteen fan of over 30 years standing and veteran attender of 14 of the greatest live shows I've ever seen I feel I have a right to express a negative opinion every now and again. I would ask those fans one question. How often do you play "Human Touch" ? Exactly.