Bruce Springsteen Lucky Town CD

Personnel: Bruce Springsteen (vocals, various instruments); Ian McLagen (Hammond organ); Roy Bittan (keyboards); Randy Jackson (bass); Gary Mallabar (drums); Patti Scialfa, Lisa Lowell, Soozie Tyrell (background vocals); Roy Bittan.
Producers: Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau, Chuck Plotkin, Roy Bittan.
Recorded at Thrill Hill Recording, Los Angeles, California.
Personnel: Bruce Springsteen (vocals, guitar); Bruce Springsteen (bass guitar); Crystal Taliefero (vocals, guitar, percussion); Patti Scialfa (vocals, background vocals); Bobby King , Angel Rogers, Gia Ciambotti, Carol Dennis, Cleo Kennedy (vocals); Shane Fontayne (guitar); Tommy Sims (bass guitar); Gary Mallaber, Zachary Alford (drums); Soozie Tyrell, Lisa Lowell (background vocals); Roy Bittan (keyboards, keyboard bass).
Audio Mixer: Bob Clearmountain.
Recording information: A&M Studios, Hollywood, CA; Thrill Hill Recording.
Editors: Dave Collins ; Scott Hull.
Photographers: Pamela Springsteen; David Rose.
Reportedly, Bruce Springsteen recorded most of Human Touch in 1990, but left it unreleased. He returned to work in the fall of 1991, intending to add a song, but ended up recording a whole new album, Lucky Town, and then decided to release both records at the same time in the spring of 1992. He might have been better off pulling a couple of the stronger songs from the earlier album, adding them to the later one (which runs less than 40 minutes), and shelving the rest. While Human Touch was a disappointing album of second-rate material, Lucky Town is an ambitious collection addressing many of Springsteen's major concerns and moving them forward. Here was the rage and the humor, the sense of compassion, the loyalty and commitment that had been the stuff of Springsteen's best music from the beginning. Songs like "Better Days" and "Local Hero" commented on and deflated the commercial success with which Springsteen clearly felt uncomfortable; "If I Should Fall Behind" and "Book of Dreams" expressed romantic fidelity and generosity; "Souls of the Departed" contained scathing social commentary; and "My Beautiful Reward" was a meditative epilogue. The lyrics were better, the arrangements tighter, the performances more powerful than those on the companion release. If Lucky Town, like Tunnel of Love and Human Touch before it, sounded a little under-produced, it nevertheless had the mark of the major artist Springsteen is, and if he had released it alone, it might have had a more significant impact. ~ William Ruhlmann
After a five year recording hiatus following the emotionally eloquent TUNNEL OF LOVE (and a subsequent world tour), Springsteen returned in 1992 with the tandem release of HUMAN TOUCH and LUCKY TOWN. Though released separately, both albums signalled the singer's more mature preoccupation with introspective, complicated themes of desire, despair and regret. The albums were also Springsteen's first without the full E Street Band. HUMAN TOUCH and LUCKY TOWN marry Springsteen's popular persona of fist-waving, stadium rocker with the more reflective, rootsier sound the singer favored on NEBRASKA.
LUCKY TOWN's "Better Days" is Springsteen's forthright contemplation of his contradictory status as a multi-millionaire, working class hero. The slight Nashville lilt of "If I Should Fall Behind" is reminiscent of the sentimental balladry on BORN IN THE USA and "Leap of Faith" is a keening, raspy return to the Springsteen of anthemic yore. HUMAN TOUCH and LUCKY TOWN may never be revered in same way as some of his other releases, but both albums are immensely satisfying as a double shot farewell to the raucous rebelliousness of Springsteen's youthful rock and roll years.Rolling Stone (4/30/92, p.67) - 4.5 Stars - Excellent Plus - "...the album's ten songs paint a convincing--and only rarely cloying--portrait of domestic homelife and its contents...the fascinating progress of one of the most compelling artists of our time..."
Entertainment Weekly (4/3/92, p.50) - "...comparatively more intimate, with delicate acoustic tracks, nods to folk rock and twang..." - Rating: B
Q (1/93, p.73) - Included in Q's list of the 50 Best Albums Of 1992.
Q (5/92, p.87) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...has an infectious swagger..."
Village Voice (3/2/93, p.5) - Ranked #18 in the Village Voice's list of the 40 Best Albums Of 1992.