The Rising

07/26/2002 3:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Rob O'Connor

Eighteen years ago, Bruce Springsteen recorded Born In The USA, his last entire studio album with the E Street Band. For two solid years, Springsteen was the most popular rock musician in the world. He became an icon. But just as his darkest songs suggest there's a man among us who isn't up to living in his own skin, Springsteen's spent the past two decades playing hide-and-seek, recording albums that turn quietly away (Tunnel Of Love, Ghost Of Tom Joad) and others that sound confused (Human Touch, Lucky Town). Anyone hoping that this reunion with his old band would mean Springsteen's found his focus and was ready to rededicate himself to the freewheelin' spunk of his "classic" period will surely be disappointed with The Rising. Brendan O'Brien's production is shiny, and this could just as well be the studio pros who accompanied Bruce on Human Touch than the veteran E-Streeters. There are still moments of pure pathos only Bruce could deliver--"Empty Sky" rings with his sense of melancholia--but from the title track to "Lonesome Day," the album sounds like a man being convinced into rocking for the good of mankind. An admirable gesture, but not for 73 minutes, please.