Bruce Springsteen - Tunnel Of Love (1987)

"LOST SUMMER OF MARK" WEEK (AUGUST 14-20, 2022)

Note: this release was originally purchased as a CD which was either sold, stolen, traded or lost, then replaced by another CD.

His best song may be Born To Run, but Tunnel of Love is my favorite Springsteen tune and has been since I first heard it on the radio or saw the video on MTV. Even though this was one of the first dozen CDs I ever purchased, I haven't heard the whole album all the way through since the late '80s, so let's give it a spin and see how much I've forgotten over the past decades.

Press of the time:

• Robert Christgau (A): "By depicting the fear of commitment as sheer terror, he does the impossible: renews L-O-V-E as pop subject."
• Smash Hits (7 out of 10): "most of the time he sounds almost tender"
• Billboard: "this is masterful work"
• CashBox: "Springsteen has confounded expectations yet again"
• Rolling Stone: "its simpler sound is perfectly suited to the more intimate stories Springsteen is telling"
• Stereo Review: "I suggest you hear this one immediately"

In The Village Voice's annual 'Pazz & Jop' critic's list, this album placed at #2 for 1987. In 1989, the album was ranked #25 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Best Albums of the Eighties."

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #1
• CashBox: #1
• Rolling Stone: #1
• Billboard Pop CD: #1
• CashBox Top CD: #1

Tracks:

1. Ah, now I remember - things get off to a brief but rousing start with the ol' Bo Diddley beat on Ain't Got You that relies almost solely on Bruce's powerful vocal performance.
2. I'd like to hear Tougher Than The Rest with softer mix because it's a nice tune. Maybe I'm just spoiled to the acoustic EBTG cover. I dig the twangy guitar solo here.
3. I have no memory of All That Heaven Will Allow, but that Latin-lite groove is certainly infectious.
4. Spare Parts sounds a lot like Ain't Got You but over a straight-ahead beat and thicker instrumentation. Good rocker, especially when it kicks in after the first chorus.
5. Bruce switches into Bob Dylan mode in Cautious Man. Not my thing.
6. I like the pop sensibilities of Walk Like A Man with Max Weinberg providing the relentless rim clicks that represent the footsteps underneath the simple but effective synth pads.
7. Title track. That's the stuff.
8. Yikes! The lyrics of Two Faces hit a little too close to home for this guy back in '88. Confession is good for the soul, I guess. I like the music, though, which is so similar to the following track as to essentially be an intro to it.
9. I know Brilliant Disguise was the big hit lead single, but to me it's just alright, particularly the lackluster chorus. Maybe Bruce was enjoying a little residual chart success leftover from the previous album?
10. Probably my second favorite cut on the album. I like the simplicity of One Step Up and often sing "one step up and two steps back" to myself whenever the need arises in my everyday life. Fortunately, those words don't apply to my marriage as they did to Bruce's at the time he wrote them.
11. When You're Alone is pretty bland filler, especially considering what comes before it. A lot of repeated lyrics here which is sometimes done for emphasis and is other times simply lazy songwriting.
12. The album ends quietly - as it should - with Valentine's Day, a lilting, melancholy waltz about longing and love, basically summing up the themes of the album.

Song	Hot 100	Rock
Brilliant Disguise	5	1
Tunnel of Love	9	1
One Step Up	13	2
Spare Parts	-	28
All That Heaven Will Allow	-	5

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I bought a copy of this CD in early 1988 and had visions of impressing the young ladies by picking them up in my '85 Olds with my new Sony portable CD player cranking out some Springsteen tunes. At the time, I was particularly enamored with a member of my college's basketball team and had our first date all planned out in my mind. I talked to this woman on the phone, but things never really progressed beyond that. I have no idea if she was interested in dating me, but things quickly fell apart when I discovered she was a single parent of a toddler and I - aged 21 years, terribly naïve and immature - was terrified by that fact. Looking back, it all turned out for the best for all involved. I don't recall if that portable CD player ever impressed anybody, probably because the thing skipped whenever you hit even the shallowest pothole, despite the included "car mounting plate."

And don't even get me started on my "bolo tie phase" of 1987-88.

Previously revisited for the blog:
The Essential Bruce Springsteen (2003)
Greatest Hits (1995)