The Ghost of Tom Joad - Springsteen, Bruce (CD 1995)

Indeed, this late Springsteen masterpiece (insipred by The Grapes Of Wrath and structually reminiscent of Nebraska ) is perhaps Springsteens least interesting record, musically speaking. It centers on the use of an acustic guitar, and all other instruments are only heard in the background, really. There is also a complete lack of anything resembling a chorus (if we exclude Youngston ). But I didn t mind for a second.

You see, the music isn t really the point here. The brilliance of The Ghost Of Tom Joad resides in the stark, sometimes fatalistic, but always touching stories that Springsteen tells in the form of songs.

The album centers loosley around one major theme: the Mexican border. Bruce aproaches this issue in all ways possible: in The Line , for instance, he takes the part of a border patrolman who dares to defy authority when he falls in love with Louisa and tries to help her cross the border illegally. In Sinaloa Cowboys , meanwhile, there is the tale of the silbings Miguel and Louis who, having crossed the border, had to resort to dangeous illegal (and eventually deadly) work (they cooked methamphetamine) in order to survive. And in Balboa Park , a young man has to resort to prostituiton in order to survive, but is killed by a car anyway. There may be naive dreams of a better life up North ( Across The Border ), but after listening to this whole album, you won t doubt that Springsteen is serious when he sings the highway is alive tonight/but nobodys kiddin nobody about where it goes in the albums title track (gloriously covered by Rage Against The Machine).

This one is close to being a concept album, but not quite: there are some songs which don t aproach the US/Mexico border issue, but those are just as moving. Take the workingmans life ode of Straight Line ( eight years in it feels like you re gonna die/but you get used to anything/sooner or later it becomes your life ) or the sad story of one mans love to a prostitute ( Dry Lightning ). From these twelve tracks, only the slight My Best Was Never Good Enough fails to impress.

So, while we re waiting for ol Bruce to start working on a new album (the guy takes looooong vacations), this one is a reminder of exactly how great Bruce Springsteen can be, with or without the E Street Band.