The Rising is the twelfth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen,released on July 30,2002,on Columbia Records. The album is based in large part on Springsteen's reflections in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks the year before. The album was a critical and commercial success,representing Springsteen's first album to top the US Billboard 200 since Tunnel of Love in 1987.
Hailed as a triumphant return to form for Springsteen,the album won two Grammy Awards and marked the start of a successful collaboration with producer Brendan O'Brien. The Rising came seven years after The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995),the longest interlude between studio albums for the artist,and was his first in almost two decades with the E Street Band,with whom he had recently completed a highly successful reunion tour.[1]
Background and recording
Springsteen felt compelled to record The Rising when,in the aftermath of the attacks on September 11,2001,a stranger in an adjacent vehicle rolled down his window and said:"We need you now".[2][3] A few of the songs were written before the attacks. The title track tells the story of a firefighter going up the World Trade Center as survivors flee,and evokes the image of peoples' spirits rising up like angels with a "dream of life".
"My City of Ruins" was originally performed in,and written about,Asbury Park. The song took on a new meaning soon after the September 11 attacks,[4] when "its lyrics of hope and rebirth [became] a rallying cry". Springsteen performed the song live at the America:A Tribute to Heroes national telethon 10 days after the attacks. With only a guitar and a harmonica,Springsteen introduced the number as "'a prayer for our fallen brothers and sisters'".[5] "My City of Ruins" is organized around the melody line of Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready".[6]
"Waitin' on a Sunny Day" was originally written in the 1990s and played during a soundcheck on the Reunion Tour. Springsteen has commented that "Nothing Man" was originally completed in 1994,but re-recorded for this album.
"Worlds Apart",the most experimental song on the album,features a heavy Middle Eastern influence along with Qawwali singers in the introduction.[7]
"The Fuse",another experimental track,features a subtle hip hop beat and vocal looping. A re-recorded version of the song,with an orchestral backing,features in the Spike Lee-directed film 25th Hour.
"Mary's Place" is directly inspired by Sam Cooke's "Meet Me at Mary's Place".[8][9]
Release
Following the biggest pre-release promotion of Springsteen's career [10] and a tour,The Rising became Springsteen's sixth No. 1 album on the US Billboard 200,and topped the charts in six other countries,including the UK.
The Rising received widespread acclaim from critics. Metacritic gave it an aggregate score of 82 / 100,based on 21 reviews.[11] In Rolling Stone,Kurt Loder lauded it as a triumphant and cohesive album that possesses a "bold thematic concentration and penetrating emotional focus".[19] Thom Jurek of AllMusic called it "one of the very best examples... of how popular art can evoke a time period and all of its confusing and often contradictory notions,feelings and impulses."[12]David Browne,writing in Entertainment Weekly,felt that Springsteen's message had a renewed relevance,while his occasionally overburdened lyrics were saved by lively and vivid music.[14] Keith Phipps of The A.V. Club wrote that the musically confident album showcased Springsteen's strength as an empathic songwriter.[22]Uncut magazine called The Rising "a brave and beautiful album of humanity,hurt and hope from the songwriter best qualified to speak to and for his country ... A towering achievement."[21]
In a mixed review for The Guardian,Alexis Petridis found the music to be awkwardly old-fashioned,with the best songs featuring strong melodies,as he judged the lyrics to be simplistic and unambiguous.[15] Keith Harris of The Village Voice criticised it as being vague and unworldly,and lacking in real-life characters "responding in their idiosyncratic ways".[23]Robert Christgau cited "Paradise","Nothing Man","The Rising",and "My City of Ruins" as "choice cuts",[24] but concluded that the album "isn't worth your time or money".[25] He felt that a marked patriotism "dragged down" the album with "overburdened emotions and conceptual commonplaces".[26]
Although The Rising was a response to 9/11,many see it as a more universal anthem of resilience and hope. On the tenth anniversary of 9/11,Dan DeLuca of the Philadelphia Inquirer said:"The songs make contextual sense in the aftermath of 9/11,but the specific details that give them power are allusive. 'Lonesome Day,' 'You're Missing,' and 'My City of Ruins' are about the hollowing devastation of that day,but the language is universal,so the sentiments are by no means frozen in time."[32] The song "My City of Ruins" has been used in response to tragedies other than 9/11,such as the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and the 2011 Christchurch earthquake. In 2006,while on tour supporting his We Shall Overcome:The Seeger Sessions album,Springsteen performed the song at the New Orleans Jazz &Heritage Festival. The song received an emotional response from the crowd given its refrain of "Come on rise up!"[33] "The Rising",given its message of hope in the face of adversity,was featured prominently at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.[34]
Track listing
This album was released as a vinyl double LP. Tracks 1–4 = Side 1;5–8 = Side 2;9–11 = Side 3;12–15 = Side 4.[35]
↑ Christgau, Robert (2000). "Key to Icons". Robert Christgau. Archived from the original on November 30, 2012. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
↑ Christgau, Robert (September 24, 2002). "Attack of the Chickenshits". The Village Voice. New York. Archived from the original on March 25, 2014. Retrieved May 17, 2014.
↑ Robert Dimery; Michael Lydon (March 23, 2010). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition. Universe. ISBN978-0-7893-2074-2.
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