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20 Years on and Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band are Still Rising
Tomorrow marks the twentieth anniversary of the release of what I consider one of Bruce Springsteen’s finest and most important albums: The Rising.
Here are my reasons.
The Rising was released on 30th July 2002 and boy did we need it. The Rising was the first album recorded with the full E Street Band since Born in the USA which was almost twenty years earlier back in 1984. In between that time, we got some excellent Springsteen albums in Tunnel of Love and The Ghost of Tom Joad, and the somewhat disappointing Human Touch and Lucky Town released at the same time in 1992. Don’t get me wrong both the latter albums had some good songs, but I believe I have agreed with my Springsteen Medium buddies Paul Combs and Alex Markham that they would have been far better accompanied by the E Street Band and some improved arranging with the help of a certain Mr. Van Zandt. We also got a greatest hits album including three new songs which was the catalyst for the E Street Band reunion.
The United States was still reeling from the devastating 9/11 attacks that rocked the world and have continued to cause anguish for so many families who lost loved ones in the atrocities. It is reported that not long after someone went up to the Boss and said, “we need you now more than ever”.
