The_Magic Rat Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 It really is an excellent album, probably the one I am drawn back to most consistently. I appreciate it might not be his 'best' but I have perhapsĀ listend to some of the classics to death. Lucky town feels effortlessly great and welcoming. Lyrically it is stunning (the laconic narrative of Lucky Town and the beauty of Living proof and book of dreams). If he had combined this with some of the best tunes from HT he would have created one of his best albums ever. 5 2 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stillilllife Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 1. Better days 2. Human touch 3. Leap of faith 4. Roll of the dice 5. If I should fall behind 6. Lucky town 7. Man's job 8. Living proof 9. I wish I were blind 10. My beautiful reward ...Would've definitely been one of his best albums indeed! 4 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bobfan1976 Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 17 minutes ago, The_Magic Rat said: It really is an excellent album, probably the one I am drawn back to most consistently. I appreciate it might not be his 'best' but I have perhapsĀ listend to some of the classics to death. Lucky town feels effortlessly great and welcoming. Lyrically it is stunning (the laconic narrative of Lucky Town and the beauty of Living proof and book of dreams). If he had combined this with some of the best tunes from HT he would have created one of his best albums ever. Always loved Lucky Town, although I do think itās in need of a remaster.Ā Itās Human Touch that, odd song aside, doesnāt work for me. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Captain Chaos Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 22 minutes ago, The_Magic Rat said: It really is an excellent album, probably the one I am drawn back to most consistently. I appreciate it might not be his 'best' but I have perhapsĀ listend to some of the classics to death. Lucky town feels effortlessly great and welcoming. Lyrically it is stunning (the laconic narrative of Lucky Town and the beauty of Living proof and book of dreams). If he had combined this with some of the best tunes from HT he would have created one of his best albums ever. It really is. Great songs and I love the roughness of it. It contains one of his greatest ever songs in If I Should Fall BehindĀ and a load of hidden gems like Book of Dreams, My Beautiful Reward and Souls ofĀ the Departed.Ā Brilliant album.Ā 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bobfan1976 Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 "Better Days"Ā "Lucky Town"Ā "Local Hero"Ā "If I Should Fall Behind"Ā "Leap of Faith"Ā "The Big Muddy"Ā "Living Proof"Ā "Book of Dreams"Ā "Souls of the Departed" "My Beautiful Reward"Ā Ā Thereās actually nothing Iād take of there, although Book of Dreams is slight, but Iād add: Human Touch With Every Wish I Wish I Were Blind The Little Steven remixed 57 Channels from Tracks Sad Eyes Loose Change Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Captain Chaos Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 Let me see where Iād fit in in... 1. Darkness 2. TOL 3. BTR 4. Western Stars 5. GOTJ 6. WIESS 7. Nebraska 8. Lucky Town 9. Magic 10. Greetings 11.Ā The River 12.Ā BITUSA 12. The Rising 14.Ā Wrecking Ball 15. WOAD 16.Ā Sessions 17.Ā Human Touch 18.Ā DevilsĀ 19.Ā High Hopes Ā Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sleepyjoe Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 Couldn't agree more! For me, it goes: 1. The River 2. Darkness 3. Wrecking Ball 4. TOL 5. Lucky Town Quote Link to post Share on other sites
burgessliam22 Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 Absolutely love the song Lucky Town, never found a live performance that outclasses studio version for me 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MacBruce Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 It's a good album, but nothing more than that in my opinion. Better than Human Touch, but that wouldn't take much. Some of the songs are great, Better Days, Book of Dreams, If I should fall behind, My Beautiful Reward....a few are OK and there are a few so-so. There was just something about that whole early 90's era I just could come to terms with. His voice seemed strained and the songs seemed forced on many occasions. It was like he was trying too hard with his new band and all these LA sessionĀ musicians to still be relevant. The decade was probably my least favourite of his career, but it was saved by the work of artĀ that was The Ghost of Tom Joad in 1995 and Tracks in 1998. It ended well with the ESB reuniting. Ā 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JustDan Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 'Human Touch' (the song) is one of my favorites. & for some reason, the chickies seem to really dig the video. 1 1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Frank Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 I think Lucky Town might have been a pretty good album, had Bruce taken the time to finish the songs properly.Ā As I've written several times over the years, some songs on this album sound demo-like (and in this respect, the album credits tell all). Just listen to the title-track:Ā aĀ great song, but where is the solo? XXplugged is hardly held as a reference in termsĀ great music, but just listenĀ how the Lucky Town material shines, once it wasĀ properly worked out. Unfortunately, theĀ "carelessness" of Lucky Town isĀ also highlightedĀ by the perfectly crafted (like it or not) material onĀ Human Touch.Ā Had Human Town been released in 1990 and Lucky Town in 1992 our opinion on both albums would have probably been pretty different, I guess. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
timeisillusion Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 2 hours ago, stillilllife said: 1. Better days 2. Human touch 3. Leap of faith 4. Roll of the dice 5. If I should fall behind 6. Lucky town 7. Man's job 8. Living proof 9. I wish I were blind 10. My beautiful reward ...Would've definitely been one of his best albums indeed! - Man's job + Real world + Sad Eyes + Loose change = great 12 song album Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TOWNFULLOFLOSERS Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 3 hours ago, Captain Chaos said: Let me see where Iād fit in in... 1. Darkness 2. TOL 3. BTR 4. Western Stars 5. GOTJ 6. WIESS 7. Nebraska 8. Lucky Town 9. Magic 10. Greetings 11.Ā The River 12.Ā BITUSA 12. The Rising 14.Ā Wrecking Ball 15. WOAD 16.Ā Sessions 17.Ā Human Touch 18.Ā DevilsĀ 19.Ā High Hopes Ā That's an incredible assumption right there, WoW !!Ā Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stillilllife Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 2 hours ago, MacBruce said: His voice seemed strained I think that what you're describing here is actually one of the things I really like about several of these songs. Better days is a good example. I can really Feel the song through his voice sounding at the top of its ability. That same thing is in for example Living proof and Roll of the dice as well. I love it. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stillilllife Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 1 hour ago, timeisillusion said: - Man's job + Real world + Sad Eyes + Loose change = great 12 song album Agreed about Sad eyes and Loose change. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Captain Chaos Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 59 minutes ago, TOWNFULLOFLOSERS said: That's an incredible assumption right there, WoW !!Ā Whatās an incredible assumption? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
phantomengineer Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 Releasing LT and HT simultaneously was a big mistake. If Lucky Town had it's own release and promotion it would have fared far better with the public and the critics. Human Touch was the dead weight. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Perisic Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 Lucky Town is a very solid album. Human Touch... not so much. Only 3Ā songs that I really really really like on that album - Human Touch , I Wish I Were Blind and Real World (very underrated!). The studio version of Real World is... okay but the solo version of that song (Christic, D&D Tour) is just fantastic.Ā If you put Human Touch, I Wish I Were Blind and a solo Real WorldĀ on Lucky Town instead of Book of Dreams; Big Muddy and Souls of the DepartedĀ you'd have a classic album. And it should have been titled Living Proof, best song on the album. Yeah it's just weird that he released 2 albums at the same time. Should've combined them. And he should have recorded with E Street. Ah well, easy to say now. Also: MTV Plugged is a fantastic live album. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Perisic Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 That being said, I do love this: Ā 1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lampi Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 53 minutes ago, Perisic said: Ā Real World (very underrated!). The studio version of Real World is... okay but the solo version of that song (Christic, D&D Tour) is just fantastic. Is Real World really underrated? Your post -the quoted part- says it all. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Perisic Posted September 17, 2020 Share Posted September 17, 2020 51 minutes ago, Lampi said: Is Real World really underrated? Your post -the quoted part- says it all. Well yeah I mean there's a masterpiece hidden inside ofĀ that song. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gretsch Country Gentleman Posted September 17, 2020 Share Posted September 17, 2020 The lyrical content of LT is interesting...Bruce isn't yearning as much... he's living in the moment and appreciating what he's got... although some fans didn't connect with this..Bruce admitted as much with his comments regarding "happy music".Ā But I had a housemate at the time LT came out ..he was a casual Bruce fan, and a drummer...and he was more into music than he was into lyrics. In his words, it was "sonically boring".Ā He made the point that the songs range from medium fast 4/4 time to medium slow 4/4 time -that's it.Ā Even Nebraska, despite it's simplicity, contains a shuffle, a waltz, a Bo Diddley beat song and a fast rocker.Ā Nearly every other Bruce album has more rhythmic variation than LT.Ā Add to that it's mostly guitar driven, without the memorable sax, piano or harmonica solos that feature in a lot of his other stuff....(edit) ...and it's all sung in that kind of nasal country rock voice... it's just a bit on the bland side.Ā Ā Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Promise61 Posted September 17, 2020 Share Posted September 17, 2020 It's a great album. A minor gripe, for me, is that the Big Muddy (chorus stolen from Preacher's Daughter) interrupts the autobiographical story arc of domestic bliss. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jertucky Posted September 17, 2020 Share Posted September 17, 2020 The Big Muddy goes up on his Mt. Rushmore of bad songs. I donāt get how he could even have put that out. I think the best songs on Lucky Town are really good songs that I love.Ā And there a few of them. But as a total album Iām not sure where Iād rank it. Somewhere in the middle I guess.Ā Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The_Magic Rat Posted September 17, 2020 Author Share Posted September 17, 2020 1 hour ago, Gretsch Country Gentleman said: The lyrical content of LT is interesting...Bruce isn't yearning as much... he's living in the moment and appreciating what he's got... although some fans didn't connect with this..Bruce admitted as much with his comments regarding "happy music".Ā But I had a housemate at the time LT came out ..he was a casual Bruce fan, and a drummer...and he was more into music than he was into lyrics. In his words, it was "sonically boring".Ā He made the point that the songs range from medium fast 4/4 time to medium slow 4/4 time -that's it.Ā Even Nebraska, despite it's simplicity, contains a shuffle, a waltz, a Bo Diddley beat song and a fast rocker.Ā Nearly every other Bruce album has more rhythmic variation than LT.Ā Add to that it's mostly guitar driven, without the memorable sax, piano or harmonica solos that feature in a lot of his other stuff....(edit) ...and it's all sung in that kind of nasal country rock voice... it's just a bit on the bland side.Ā Ā That's interesting. Im strictly a lyrics man so that is an interesting perspective on both points. I find the lyrics on LT very wise and philosophical, its nice to learn that Bruce discovered, through trials and tribulations, what really mattered in life. But you can still tell that a rather cautious and scared man lies beneath that wisdom. He's and observer and will always be a bit of an outsider and his family, more than anything, try to draw him out for the better. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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