Tunnel of Love (album)
|
|
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2007) |
| Tunnel of Love | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Bruce Springsteen | ||||||||||
| Released | October 9, 1987 | |||||||||
| Recorded | January - July 1987 | |||||||||
| Genre | Rock | |||||||||
| Length | 46:25 | |||||||||
| Label | Columbia | |||||||||
| Producer | Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau, Chuck Plotkin | |||||||||
| Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band chronology | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|
| Problems listening to this file? See media help. | |
Tunnel of Love is the eighth studio album by Bruce Springsteen released in 1987.
In 1998, Q magazine readers voted Tunnel of Love the 91st greatest album of all time.
In 1989, the album was ranked #25 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 greatest albums of the 1980s". In 2003, the same magazine ranked it at number 475 on their list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Contents |
[edit] History
The album, the last of Springsteen's work that was created in the Side 1/2 format of an LP, is one of Springsteen's least performed set of songs. The New York Times' Jon Pareles wrote that Tunnel of Love "turned inward, pondering love gone wrong. His first marriage, to the actress Julianne Phillips fell apart; he also decided to part ways with the E Street Band."[1] "Brilliant Disguise" has been called "a heart wrenching song about never being really able to know someone,"[2] and "a song about the doubts and struggles of married life."[3]
Members of the E Street Band were used sparingly on the album; Springsteen recorded most of the parts himself, often with drum machines and synthesizers. Although the album's liner notes list the E Street Band members under that name, Shore Fire Media, Springsteen's public relations firm, does not count it as an E Street Band album[4] and The Rising was advertised as "his first studio album with the E Street Band since 'Born in the USA'".
On the B-sides of vinyl and cassette singles, outtakes like "Lucky Man", "Two for the Road" and a vintage 1979 track, "Roulette" were included. On the mini-album that accompanied the 1988 tour, Springsteen included album cut "Tougher Than The Rest", but included another River outtake, "Be True" a rearranged, acoustic "Born To Run", and the Bob Dylan cover, "Chimes of Freedom".
Commercially the album went triple platinum in the US, with "Brilliant Disguise" being one of his biggest hit singles, peaking at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, "Tunnel of Love" also making the Top 10, reaching #9, and "One Step Up" just falling short.
The 1988 Springsteen and E Street Band Tunnel of Love Express tour would showcase the album's songs, sometimes in arrangements courtesy of The Miami Horns.[citation needed]
[edit] Music videos
Irish filmmaker Meiert Avis directed the music videos for "Brilliant Disguise", "One Step Up", "Tougher Than the Rest", and "Tunnel of Love". The videos were shot on locations in New Jersey, including Asbury Park. The intensely personal "Brilliant Disguise" video broke new ground on MTV, being a single shot without edits. The video was nominated for four MTV Awards, including Video of the Year and, paradoxically, Best Editing.
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | |
| Robert Christgau | (A) link |
| Rolling Stone | |
[edit] Track listing
All songs written by Bruce Springsteen.
| Side one | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
| 1. | "Ain't Got You" | 2:11 | |||||||
| 2. | "Tougher Than the Rest" | 4:35 | |||||||
| 3. | "All That Heaven Will Allow" | 2:39 | |||||||
| 4. | "Spare Parts" | 3:44 | |||||||
| 5. | "Cautious Man" | 3:58 | |||||||
| 6. | "Walk Like a Man" | 3:45 | |||||||
| Side two | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
| 1. | "Tunnel of Love" | 5:12 | |||||||
| 2. | "Two Faces" | 3:03 | |||||||
| 3. | "Brilliant Disguise" | 4:17 | |||||||
| 4. | "One Step Up" | 4:22 | |||||||
| 5. | "When You're Alone" | 3:24 | |||||||
| 6. | "Valentine's Day" | 5:10 | |||||||
[edit] Personnel
[edit] The E Street Band
- Roy Bittan – piano on "Brilliant Disguise", synthesizers on "Tunnel of Love"
- Clarence Clemons – vocals on "When You're Alone"
- Danny Federici – organ on "Tougher Than the Rest", "Spare Parts", "Two Faces", and "Brilliant Disguise"
- Nils Lofgren – guitar solo on "Tunnel of Love", vocals on "When You're Alone"
- Patti Scialfa – vocals on "Tunnel of Love", "One Step Up" and "When You're Alone"
- Bruce Springsteen – lead vocals, guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, sound effects, harmonica
- Garry Tallent – bass guitar on "Spare Parts"
- Max Weinberg – drums on "All That Heaven Will Allow", "Two Faces" and "When You're Alone"; percussion on "Tougher Than the Rest", "Spare Parts", "Walk Like a Man", "Tunnel of Love", and "Brilliant Disguise"
[edit] Additional musician
- James Wood – harmonica on "Spare Parts"
[edit] Production
- Bob Clearmountain – mixing
- Jay Healy – mixing assistant
- Bob Ludwig – mastering
- Mark McKenna – mixing assistant
- Roger Talkov – engineer
[edit] Chart positions
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | The Billboard 200 | 1 |
[edit] References
- ^ Holden, Stephen (8 August 1992). "POP MUSIC; When the Boss Fell to Earth, He Hit Paradise". The New York Times (The New York Times Company). http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE7DE133CF93AA3575BC0A964958260. Retrieved 2007-11-01.
- ^ Pareles, Jon (14 July 2002). "MUSIC; His Kind of Heroes, His Kind of Songs". The New York Times (The New York Times Company). http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D03E5DB1430F937A25754C0A9649C8B63. Retrieved 2007-11-01.
- ^ Cavicchi, Daniel (1998). Tramps Like Us: Music and Meaning Among Springsteen Fans. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, via Google Books limited preview. p. 32. ISBN 0-1951-1833-2.
- ^ "Bruce Springsteen's 'The Rising' Set for July 30 release on Columbia Records". Shore Fire Media. 2002-06-03. http://www.shorefire.com/index.php?a=pressrelease&o=91. Retrieved 2007-12-13.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Bad by Michael Jackson |
Billboard 200 number-one album November 7 – November 13, 1987 |
Succeeded by Dirty Dancing (soundtrack) by Various artists |
| Preceded by Bad by Michael Jackson |
UK number one album October 17, 1987 – October 23, 1987 |
Succeeded by ...Nothing Like the Sun by Sting |