Schmilsson

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MgLp46U4oo?feature=oembed&w=459&h=344]

Over his last few records, Bruce Springsteen has embraced the art of the “album cut” — a song that is good enough for a record, but not necessarily a stand-out on its own…

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9WQFP04DII?feature=oembed&w=480&h=270]

Wrecking Ball is an ambitious record. It’s nothing less than Springsteen’s vision of American protest music, circa 2012. It’s a sonic gumbo of rock, pop, folk, twang…

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsvREehX-_w?feature=oembed&w=459&h=344]

There were some nice surprises on The Promise, Springsteen’s 2010 boxed set that compiled remasters, live videos, a feature-length documentary, and two discs of…

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vQHqPyxFq4?feature=oembed&w=459&h=344]

Devils & Dust is an album preoccupied with home — how to get home, taking others home, being far from home in a foreign land on an uncertain battlefield.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyAF0UQ4cmk?feature=oembed&w=459&h=344]

This is the point where an enterprise like this gets difficult.

I don’t actively dislike any of these records. Most of them I love; some of them I…

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPYqUw5n_ws?feature=oembed&w=459&h=344]

In college, I came up with this sorta-BS distinction to explain some of my musical tastes: There was stuff I liked, and stuff I respected, and stuff that…

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOl4FcUTUDI?feature=oembed&w=459&h=344]

I’m down with the general hatred of David Brooks, being as he’s apparently some kind of Republican scumbag who finds it entertaining to extoll…

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhcOV4f3xho?feature=oembed&w=459&h=344]

“You’ll Be Coming Down” is a song about winning the world and losing your soul. It’s a portrait of a pop idol who wants everything, and maybe…

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFDDmWmNYdA?feature=oembed&w=480&h=270]

Having attempted to court controversy among my fledgling readership by admitting that I love, LOVE “Queen of the Supermarket,” I’ll now prod the drowsy beast of…

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77gKSp8WoRg?feature=oembed&w=459&h=344]

Elvis Costello may have summed it up best: “Home is anywhere you hang your head.”