mail: daniel_fjall@hotmail.com
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greetings from asbury park, nj the wild, the innocent and the e-street shuffle born to run born to run - 30th anniversary edition darkness on the edge of town the river born in the u.s.a. live 1975 - 1985 tunnel of love human touch lucky town in concert - mtv xxplugged the ghost of tom joad live in new york city the rising devils and dust
Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ Springsteen didn’t debut with an unquestionable classic album, he made a solid effort with nothing spectacular but still left some hints about the genius which was struggeling to come out. For example "Growin’ Up" has great play with words (“they said come down, I threw up”) and the music is exciting, but the production could have been better. Not that you can blame the production quality on Bruce, though. He was still a newcomer that probably would be forgotten soon anyway. The thing to put your main focus on here are the lyrics. They’re great fun, deeply depressing, romantic and top notch. Some think that he is imitating Bob Dylan too much and falls short. Yeah, he probably do fall short, but most people would, no matter how great they might be. I agree that the influence from Dylan is too obvious in, say "Blinded By The Light", and one can guess that Springsteen really is a fan of "Mr Tambourine Man". Anyway, great vocals, good backing band and the lyrics are very good, but the album might lack melodies and production. Everything would be improved on the next album.
The Wild, The Innocent And The E-Street Shuffle Bruce Springsteen’s second album is probably his most sophisticated album, musically speaking. It is a band, slightly different to the roaring machine that would conquer the world and crush each and everyone that dared to stand in it’s way. This band is more tasteful, swinging with clear influences from jazz, funk, blues and soul rather than being a straight rock group. The Wild, The Innocent And The E-Street Shuffle is also arguably Springsteen’s best album vocally. He delivers each and every song with a beautiful diversity and range. Incredibly dynamic and emotional. He whispers and shouts, he snores and whines. Screaming, singing and showcasing an admirable and impressive way of pronouncing and emphisize the lyrics differently depending on their meaning and place within the song. All to create a great atmosphere and it is a fantastic experience. You all know how great it is when someone tells you a story with a little feeling. How the story can come to life in another way and really catch your attention. That’s what Bruce does here with his singing. The closing “New York Serenade” is great example of that and at the same time shows the band at its absolutely best. Long piano passages, nice acoustic guitar lines and shifting atmosphere. Imagine a soft and nice summer night. You’re walking down to the beach and passing by dancing Latino lovers with their shirts open, you watch the bright city lights from distance and wishing you were there. Still, you’re kind of happy walking the familiar streets, seeing your friends on the corner and dreaming about your lover. You have a cold beer. Not to get drunk and pass out, just because you like the taste and have something to cool your throat. The night is yours and no one will take it away from you. If you’re walking, you’re walking tall. Even though you prefer not walking at all. The summer’s here and when the night falls most of your problems are gone with the wind and you can start to live.
Born To Run Everybody knows this record, songs such as "Thunder Road" "Jungleland" "Backstreets" and "Born To Run" will send shivers up and down your spine just by glancing at the titles. This is classic rock about the victims and leftovers of a narrow-minded society, it is young people desperately trying to break free from the older generation and make something out of their situation. This is where happiness can be driving your car all night with the radio on, where happiness can be just sitting down strumming your guitar on the front porch. This is rock and rolls finest hour and sums up what the genre first was all about. But then again, is this album rock at all? Just like Pet Sounds, Thick As A Brick and Sgt Pepper, you can always wonder if this really is rock music. Is it even pop? Well, yes the title track sure is rock, and it is rock at its best. "She's The One" features the drummer Max Weinberg doing a nice, easy going Bo Diddley rhythm, slightly hidden beneath the rest of the band. But on the other hand we have piano based ballads such as "Backstreets" and "Jungleland", both songs are spiced up with decent sax solos from the big man, Clarence Clemons. For those of you who cringe at the sax stylings frequently featured on other Springsteen songs, I can assure you that on this album all sax parts are carefully arranged and played. Tasteful, even! Then we have an incredible slow, quiet song entitled - "Meeting Across The River", it has a kind of jazz feeling running through it, piano, sax and Bruce's vocals being the mainstay on this track. Is it about selling drugs? Is it about buying drugs? I really don't know. But it's about doing something that most people look down on, something very risky and dary. And according to the lyrics, at least worth '2000 grand'. The lightweight Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out has a great southern soul feeling to it. I for one wouldn't be much surprised if Wilson Pickett has recorded a cover version. This album is raw energy coupled with calm observations of life and living, it's pure fun at the same time as it is dead serious. Springsteen delivers his poetic lyrics with great emotion and power whilst Roy Bittan puts on a fantastic piano performance throughout the record. Perhaps it's been a bit overrated over the years, but then again, which classic album hasn't?
Born To Run - 30th Anniversary Edition This is insane. Outrageously, insanely fantastic. A remastered version of Born To Run is perhaps not what we’ve all been waiting for. But the DVD from Hammersmith Odeon is everything we waited for. Probably without even knowing it. The two hour concert from Springsteen’s first show outside of America offers the very foundation of rock and roll. People can complain all they want. Sure it’s been 30 years and the world has moved on. But Bruce and his E-Streeters swipes away every argument. This time around, “Thunder Road”, “Born To Run” and “Jungleland” are not nostalgic. They’re fresh and the band does its best to beat the living crap out of them. It’s a rocking, divine service. And the set-list is as interesting as it is good. There’s no “The River”. “Hungry Heart”, “Born In The USA” and “Dancing In The Dark” are nowhere to be found. They were yet to be written and it is funny to find that the audience reacts more enthusiastic about the material from Bruce’s debut album than they do about “Backstreets” or “10th Avenue Freeze-Out”. Today that would be unthinkable, but I honestly don’t miss the big hits one second. Actually, when the credits start rolling at the end I’m wondering if this is not Springsteen at his peak. Did he ever get better than this? Did anyone ever get better than this? As if that’s not enough, we also get a new documentary about the making of the album (and its reception), which mixes fresh interviews by all the important people and old, exclusive clips from the sessions and interesting alternate versions (a beautiful string intro for “Jungleland” being the most memorable). Plus three songs recorded live in 1973. It’s a generous release. My only complaint is that it would have been nice with a second CD featuring the alternate versions in pure audio format. But why worry about that when you can watch the Hammersmith Odeon concert again?
Darkness On The Edge of Town Perhaps the Springsteen’s hardest rocking record. It was released after a cupple of years fighting with his by now former manager. Most of the songs are dark and pessimistic. The working man’s situation is not that romantic as described on the previous album. This is the story of the people that didn’t get out of the small town, that still is working in the factory. Darkness On The Edge of Town has some really high moments and also some of the weakest moments in Bruce’s career. Sometimes it feels like he’s over doing it, especially with his vocals. There are plenty of songs to enjoy, though. Not as slick as Born To Run, but still many emotions.
The River In my review of Bob Dylan’s Blonde On Blonde I mentioned that very few double albums actually should be double. This is one of those cases. It would have been much better as a single cd instead of two. There are great songs here, but you might have some trouble finding them since they’re hidden among so much crap that sounds just the same. Lightweight rockers about cars and even James Bond! Christ! The album tends to drag even more towards the end when all those ballads comes in one after another. And guess what? They sound exactly the same too! Well, enough bashing. What about the good stuff? All time classics such as the title track and "Hungry Heart" sure makes this album worth getting if you see it cheap. And please don't overlook semi-classics as "Jackson Cage" and "Point Blank"!
Born In The U.S.A. OK, I said that The River should have been just one record instead of an album? Born In The U.S.A. corrects that mistake. There’s not really any difference between the two albums. "Darlington County" and "Working On The Highway" would easily have fit on The River, just as well as "Glory Days" and "My Hometown". Not only are they similar in style, but also superior to over half the songs on the 1980-album. That goes with almost all other songs here. They’re less stupid, more thoughtful and solid. This album turned Springsteen into a mega-star and at the same time divided his fans into two groups. On the other hand there were the people who thought he had sold out to the public and betrayed the working class tradition, on the other hand there were the people who thought he made some great, easy listening songs and keeping his integrety. I think I lean towards the latter ones. Even though you could say his sound was very commercial at this point, the lyrics still contains some feelings very easy for teenagers and middle-aged working men to relate to ("Dancing In The Dark"). Almost every song was released as a successful single and have been played endlessly on classic American rock radio. Everybody knows the title track, "Glory Days" and "Dancing In The Dark", unfortunately most people have forgotten great songs such as "Bobby Jean", "I’m Going Down" and "Cover Me". A classic that has been argued over since it was released. If you enjoy catchy pop and rock music without too much pretentiousness, this is a winner.
Live 1975 - 1985 This is a 3 CD compilation (5 vinyl records) that has some of the best live performances by Bruce and the band between 1975 and 1985. Just as the title implies! These live versions displays Springsteen and the E-Streeters as an extremely tight group that sparkles with energy. Almost electric on the stage. I find it quite interesting to see how the band changed over the years. The first disc that deals with the earlier recordings features a band that can rock, but also has a more vivid approach and maybe even jazz influences (hidden very well, I must say) and then you see the transformation to a band that rocks harder than anything. How it’s no longer a bunch of people playing, but more of a unit. A hard, heavy machine that just rumbles without any mercy. I love both styles dearly and perhaps the explanation lies in the song material. On the first disc most songs are performed in smaller venues and Bruce is more of a underground artist (if that’s possible for an artist that’s been on the cover on “The Times”) and a critic’s darling. On the third CD Bruce is a huge star after releasing Born In The USA that sold 15 million copies and playing big sport stadiums (Small note: when the 1985 tour reached Sweden and Gothenburg Bruce played for nearly five hours, which was standard of the tour, and so loud, with so many people dancing that they had to close the Stadium of Gothenburg for repairs. The place was ready to collapse because of the heavy pressure from the music that almost blew out the windows in houses nearby). In fact a good example is how this Springsteen-marathon starts very humble with a stripped down version of “Thunder Road” in an intimate concert hall and towards the end there are never less than 50.000 people in the crowds that are being presented the Born In The USA album nearly in its entirety. Also notable is how Springsteen uses his fame and position to take a social stand. He talks about political leaders that can’t be trusted and how respect, love and freedom are the things that are important and that war can never bring that. It isn’t always dead serious. Live 1975 – 1985 also presents Bruce at his most unpretentious when the music is simple and it’s all about fun. Especially the songs from The River shows it. Most of the time surpassing the studio versions thanks to the energy and joy that comes from playing live. Not only does this album have most of the well-known hits, but also some rare songs that might be hard to hear elsewhere: “Because The Night”, “Seeds” and the powerful cover of “War”. Of course the version of Tom Waits’ “Jersey Girl” that closes the compilation is fantastic when it’s performed in Springsteen’s hometown. Obvious and cliché perhaps, but I say that he bounds with the audience that walks the same street as Springsteen himself. A good compilation that offers a good overview of Bruce Springsteen’s career and how he developed during that period. The hits are here so even lesser fans will enjoy it and more rare songs that will keep the fanatics interested.
Tunnel of Love Due to the heavy use of synthesizers and the percussion, Tunnel of Love sounds dated, but the songwriting is fairly strong which makes it nice listening experience anyway. Bruce relied less on the E-Street Band, using the members to a minimum and it’s quite understandable. This is his most personal album to date, and if you’re wearing your heart on the sleeve you might want to do it on your own. Making sure that it is said your own way and not compromised. Springsteen probably did have to compromise, considering the already mentioned synths, all in order to keep it up to date. It works most of the time, though. The synths are rarely up front in your face, but just lying in the background setting the mood. The classic track “Brilliant Disguise” is an excellent example of that and this album most definitely made it possible for a song such as “Streets of Philadelphia” to exist at all. It is really only the title track that use the truly modern 80’s sound we all have grown to hate. However, the actual song is good and it works no matter whatever your opinion on the production might be. Now, at the time Springsteen’s marriage was dying and it is evident in almost every song here. Even the opening “Ain’t Got You” turns out to be highly personal and maybe even affecting. Despite the up beat Bo Diddley/Buddy Holly rhythms, you cannot avoid listening to the simple lyrics. Springsteen were selling out stadiums, was at the peak of his fame thanks to Born In The USA and had more money than he ever could have dreamed of. Still he was not happy. Listen for yourself and find out. This was Springsteen at his most mellow and fragile, and while not being a true classic it still has moments of brilliancy. The Boss was to find love again (this album’s backing vocalist Patti Scialfa), but it wasn’t all good news. Bruce would be trapped in a creativeless dark hole, fumbling in the dark and whilst Ghost of Tom Joad, released ten years later was a return to form, it would take him nearly eighteen years to fully regain his commercial popularity.
Human Touch In 1992 Springsteen released two albums on the same day. Not a double album, but two seperate albums, sounding the exact same. Unfortunately he didn’t realise that many of the songs were not up to his usual standard. The smart move would have been to combine the two albums. Instead of doing that we get two albums with lots of fillers, instead of one great fillerless album. The title track is great and easily holds a candle to his best work. "57 Channels" has some good sarcastic lyrics and "Gloria’s Eyes" is the only song that tries to rock and actually fills its purpose. Besides those tracks, the overall impression is that Human Touch is a lame record and probably the weakest record Springsteen released.
Lucky Town Released the same day as Human Touch and slightly better. The actual songwriting is better here and has less fillers, even though the songs are not as inspiring as on previous albums. This was recorded a year after Human Touch. He should have noticed the difference in quality of the songs. Imagine the best of Human Touch replacing the fillers on Lucky Town? Sounds like a good idea to you? Yes, it sure does.
In Concert – MTV XXPlugged It’s often argued upon how much worse Springsteen’s records was after he sacked the E-Street Band, but is it a valid point? Have a look at the liner notes from the earlier albums and even The Rising and you will notice that Bruce often played all guitars, often did most of the backing vocals, ocassionally played bass and some additional keyboards. On the twin albums released the same year as this one, and on Tunnel of Love he did indeed play even more instruments by himself than he’d done previously, but here and there members from his old, classic band would turn up and give him a helping hand. What made those albums less exciting was not the playing, but the ups and downs in the songwriting. Live, however, it’s a bit different. The E-street Band was rockers that burned with the same energy as Springsteen. They had something more than just their musical abilities. They wanted to get out of the hell hole. They wanted to show the world that they weren’t useless and exspendable nobodies. That’s the kind of force that will always make Keith Richards a better guitarist and musician than any given professional studio musician. So this live album suffers from being highly professional, but on the other hand it gains from being reduced from the weaker material from the previous two albums. You also need to remember that someone like Springsteen, a cult figure and now a huge star since the last eight years, won’t end up playing with a bunch of untalented, wanking losers. They are professional, yes, sometimes boardering to boring, but Bruce will always be The Boss, and his enthusiasm is carried through to the rest of the band (featuring his second wife, Patti Scialfa, as well as the E-Street pianist Roy Bittan). And the band is hot sometimes. The extended coda in “Human Touch”, the guitar duels in “Light of Day” and tasteful ballad “If I Should Fall Behind”, highlighted by Springsteen’s harmonica work. The true highlights, however, are the totally rearranged “Atlantic City”, with guitars, pianos, backing vocals, drums and the beautiful melody between the verses put up front and focused. This version would later be a standard and highlight of the reunited E-Street Band’s concerts. The stripped down, naked and fragile reading of “Thunder Road” which finds Springsteen at his most personal and affecting. A version that points the direction of the path Bruce would walk later with the all acoustic album Ghost of Tom Joad and the following solo tour. It it is things like these that makes In Concert interesting for the fans. It displays some of the ideas Springsteen had at this point, but wouldn’t go through with it all the way until years later. The gospel-preaching part in “Light of Day” would be extended during his late 1990’s tours and there it would be performed with pure perfection. Sometimes things might be a bit stiff, but the spotlight is always on Bruce and he is an entertainer, a rocker and filled with energy. It doesn’t matter that the band sometimes hold things back a little, because Springsteen has star quality, whatever that means. And this album opens with “Red Headed Woman”, a song that can’t be found anywhere else and has Bruce singing lines such as “you haven’t lived until you’ve gotten your tires rotated by a red headed woman” and “it takes a red headed woman to make dirty job done”. His wife has red hair. Makes one wonder...
The Ghost of Tom Joad The acoustic, stripped down The Ghost of Tom Joad seems to divide the listeners in two opposite camps. Either you will find it being an excellent piece of criticism against the American immigrant policy and a beautiful description of lousy social conditions of people forgotten by the society, or you most probably think of it as a dull, monotonous album without a catchy hook in sight. For a long time I belonged to the people who disregards this as boring and bland, only enjoying the title track and “Youngstown”. Two songs that without a doubt rests safely as two of Springsteen’s best songs, two classic in the same league as “The River”, “Atlantic City” and “My Hometown”. Now, the rest of the album is far from as melodic and easy listening and I probably never would have gotten into this album without some help. You see, to promote The Ghost of Tom Joad, Springsteen went on tour. All by himself just bringing his guitar and harmonica. He played most of these songs, but also added some rearranged versions of classic songs such as “Streets of Philadelphia”, “The Promised Land” and “Darkness On The Edge of Town”. I was curious how these new, acoustic versions sounded like and managed to find a bootleg from the tour. I listened to the older songs and skipped the new ones. Eventually, I grew too lazy to skip them and would let the record play all the way through. One after one, the Tom Joad songs grew on me. They grew on me so much that I decided to give the album another chance. And what do you know? After a couple of listens melodies starts to appear, emotional lyrics describing lost and desperate people, the monotonous arrangements would become a strength. I found myself forced to give in. These are songs dealing with difficult issues. What happens if someone working with the boarder patrol suddenly falls in love with one of the women trying to illegally sneak her way into the country? How does the people of a small town survive when everybody in some way has a financial relationship with a steel mill that suddenly is closed down? A steel industry that’s been a part of their lives for generations. Does society has any responsibility for exconvicts that are free, trying to start a new life again, starting over with nothing but two empty hands? Is it right to send back people who not only have risked their own life, but also their family's, loaned money, sold everything they own in order to come to another country, starting over from scratch trying to make a better life for themselves and future generations? Hard questions indeed, and would you rather want him to ask you them with “Glory Days” in the background? No, much better then with dark, pessimistic atmosphere set by Bruce’s vocals, acoustic guitar and the tasteful work by E-Street members Danny Federici on keyboards and Gary Tallent on bass. The Ghost of Tom Joad is, as you probably understand by now, far from an easygoing and catchy album with its goal set on the number 1 spot in the hit charts. It’s something better and more important than that. It is a serious document about people and the terrible standards and values most of us thought died in 1945, but still lives among us. Please take your time with this album. It’s worth it, and so are you.
Live In New York City Springsteen more or less fired his E-Street Band after the Born In The U.S.A.-album and this recording is from the two last shows of the reunion tour. Some of the stuff here isn’t very appealing, but there are interesting songselection that should justify a purchase. "Lost In The Flood" from his debut album is done with perfection, "Youngstown" from the acoustic Ghost of Tom Joad-album is totally rearranged with loud guitars and is a clear highlight. "Murder Incorporated" could previously only be found on a greatest hits album and here it’s done in a better version. "Atlantic City" is also rearranged in the same way as "Youngstown". You got mandolins, keyboards and electric guitars. This might be the definitive version, actually. The most controversial with this record is the song "American Skin (41 Shots)". I guess most Americans knows the story about the two police men who shot an unarmed Afro-american to death with 41 shoths in so-called selfdefense. Bruce wrote a song about it and apperantly the police in NYC threatend to go on strike if he performed it. I like the song a lot, and the simple lyrics actually scares me when I think about what they really means. Catchy chorus as well. Also, if you’re one of those people who didn’t like the loud "Born In The U-S.A.", the version here might be something for you. It’s rearranged as a slow, acoustic blues with focus on the lyrics. Good live album in general, with some surprising versions. Also, some of the songs are incredibly dull too.
The Rising The day of 11th September will be with us in our minds forever. No matter how we feel about the Taliban and American conflict we can agree on that innocent people had to give up their lives that day, and as any person with a normal functional brain will tell you, that is truly terrible. People died, but what happened to the ones left behind, the mourning wives and the grieving children? What about the survivors that stared into the eye of death, passed the test and were able to go home to their families? What about them? What about those with hunting memories that keeps them awake, cold sweating at night? These are the people Bruce sings about on The Rising. He tells the stories of people desperately denying the fact that their loved one will not return home today. He sings about people who cook their partner’s favourite meal, kids who take out their dad’s favourite records, ready to be played when he gets home. But no matter how long they wait, there won’t be any echoes from footsteps in the stairs, nobody will turn the key, nobody will walk through that door and say that everything is ok. Can you imagine this? Still, in all this darkness and despair Springsteen is also able to look at the future. He can see a life after this. Songs such as "Let’s Be Friends", "Mary’s Place" and "Waitin’ On A Sunny Day" brings hope for tomorrow. The one song that might have the biggest reference to the terror attacks is "My City In Ruins", but in fact it was written much earlier and is about Bruce’s hometown that slowly falls apart. Some of the songs are classic Springsteen sounding ("Lonesome Day", "Counting On A Miracle" and already mentioned "Mary’s Place"), some are amongst the heaviest the Boss ever put on record ("Further On"), but more important, they’re all good songs. The only flaws I can track down here are "The Fuse", "Let’s Be Friends" and the chorus in "Into The Fire", (“May your strength give us strength/May your faith give us faith/May your hope give us hope/May your love give us love”? Yuck!) which otherwise is just as good as the other stuff. That leaves us with 11 great songs. My personal favourite being the dark, acoustic Ghost of Tom Joad offspring "Paradise". Several artists have tried to deal with this subject. Some more successful than others. Most often it tends to be novelties and banal. Bruce's take on the 11th September is not. 15 songs, ticking in for a good 70 minutes means that this would have been a double album in the old vinyl days and would probably have got even more attention. Sure, the nod against the attacks is obvious, but many of these songs are still highly enjoyable as your average depressing album of lost love, meaning that people with no connections to the Twin Towers or the USA can relate to The Rising on a personal level. [note: I now really like "The Fuse", please ignore my complaints about it!]
Devils And Dust The Rising was praised by critics and loved by the record buyers. Even people not caring too much about Springsteen showed their appreciation. How does one follow up such a monster of an album? Bruce does what he did two decades ago. The mega-success Born In The USA never got a true sequel as Springsteen looked the other way and released the much more personal and low-keyed Tunnel of Love. In 2005, Springsteen once again drops the E-Street Band and gives his mellower side another shot. Some complains about the E-Streeters absence and some think this isn’t a sequel to The Rising as much as it is to The Ghost of Tom Joad. I think both sides are wrong. First of all, try to look at what Springsteen tries to do here. He’s not trying to do a party-record for stadiums across the globe to swing a long to. It’s an attempt of shedding some light on some injustices that occurs in our lives. About normal people stumbling into places they don’t belong. About people trying to create a world that's little better for themselves and their families. That is probably the only thing that reminds of The Ghost of Tom Joad. On the other hand, Springsteen has, with minor variations, built his entire career on that theme, no matter if it’s the Mexican immigrants or someone in Jersey being “Lost In The Flood”. When settling with this more laid-back and low-keyed approach, I can’t really see why the album would have been better if Max Weinberg played the tambourine instead of Springsteen himself or the album’s producer Brendan O’Brien (whom also produced The Rising). Neither can I imagine what Clarence Clemons 50’s styled-influenced saxophone could add. Niels Lofgren is a great guitarist and Little Steven ain’t too bad either, but please have a look at the credits on older E-Street-albums and you’ll notice that more than often Bruce played all the guitars himself. In a live-setting, the E-Street Band probably ranks among the very finest in this world, but on record they are not essential. Yes, Human Touch wasn’t exactly a bulls-eye, but that probably has more to do with the actual songwriting, rather than the performance. Rest assured, the songwriting on Devils And Dust is top-notch. “Reno” is the song recieving most attention from media as it deals with the visit to a prostitute and features the lyrics ‘200 straight in, two-fifty in the ass’. Some people actually seems offended, but that just means they missed the point. To me, it is a metaphor. The main character has lost someone (or something) and is desperately trying to replace it. However, since the prostitute never can offer real love or the feelings the person so desperately seeks, it all ends up as a fiasco. It leaves the guy even more sad and depressed when she asks ‘Was it the best you ever had?’ and the reply is just the thought: ‘It wasn’t the best I’ve ever had. It wasn’t even close’. With unusual chord changes, a simple slide-guitar and a fitting string arrangement it is a stunning and moving song. Devils And Dust has little in common with The Rising. It is not a copy of The Ghost of Tom Joad, as Devils is far more diverse in the arrangements and songwriting. It has also been compared to Nebraska, but that’s not a proper link either. Nebraska is more bleak and devastating with more similarities to, say, Nick Cave, than either Devils And Dust or The Ghost of Tom Joad. No matter if Springsteen sings novelty ditties as “All I’m Thinkin’ About” or the two soldiers in the title track, losing themselves in foreign lands, it always seems accurate, modern and present, despite seeking its musical inspiration from the past.
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