The Ghost Of Tom Joad
by Bruce Springsteen

From HoldenM 05/29/2023 16:46 | #297283

Sure, you could say it's Nebraska 2, and my only response is that isn't necessarily a bad thing--it certainly isn't here. The Ghost of Tom Joad is perhaps my favorite Springsteen album that specifically gets at unravelling the sins of America as a country. There's a lot of love and hope for its people, but anger at the ways in which we collectively fail one another. Overall, it's greater than the sum of its parts.

The Ghost of Tom Joad finds Springsteen back in cinematic mode, weaving songs of characters in desperate situations. The reference to Forrest Gump is amusing, but altogether it's a solid winner. Recommended.

A Side: Youngstown
B Side: Sinaloa Cowboys

From jeremy9 12/02/2019 09:11 | #245296

Very subdued and muted album

beautiful and captivating from start to finish

After the artistic disappointment of the human touch /lucky town albums, Springsteen then had massive success with, streets of Philadelphia, and then briefly re-united the E street band for the recording of new tracks to be included on his greatest hits album. The ghost of Tom Joad appeared, almost unnoticed, in 1995. The album harks back to the acoustic sounds of, Nebraska, but unlike the rough demo's released on that record, this was much slicker, with added violin and discreet synths. The title track is one of springsteen's great songs, concerning homelessness, with the character of Tom Joad inspired by the classic movie, the grapes of wrath. All the same kind of down on their luck characters from, Nebraska, are here. Ex-con's failing to go straight, illegal immigrants, and, drug dealers. There's other great tracks in, Youngstown, and across the border, which are excellent, but some songs such as, the new timer, and, Galveston bay, although lyrically interesting, are musically boring, and a few other songs could also fit that description. It's a hard slog to get through the album in one sitting, and it probably would have been better to have shortened the record by dropping a few of the more tedious tracks. Still, in short bursts, there's some of springsteen's best writing here. Next for Bruce would be the, tracks, box set, then the E street band reunion tour. Then in 2001, Springsteen and the band would finally record a new album together,the rising, a record which would be inspired by one of the greatest tragedies in American history.