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Lucky Town

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Untitled

Lucky Town is the tenth studio album by Bruce Springsteen. The album was released on March 31, 1992, the same day as the Human Touch album.

Background

Springsteen was working on Human Touch, which he intended to release sometime in 1990, but the project took him longer than he thought. He shelved the project in early 1991 and came back to it in September of the same year. Intending to record one more song for the album ("Living Proof"),[1] he ended up with ten new songs, which became Lucky Town. Once he completed Lucky Town, he decided to release both albums at the same time. While most of the songs from the album have received few performances since the reunion of the E Street Band, "If I Should Fall Behind" was played at every show during the 1999-2000 Reunion Tour and was included in the Live in New York City DVD and CD release.[2]

Themes

Compared to Human Touch, Lucky Town has a more stripped down, folksy sound and is more personal in terms of its songs' lyrics. Human Touch consisted of mostly love songs, while Lucky Town focuses on more specific events in Springsteen's life.[3] The opening track "Better Days" expresses his desire to start over after some rough patches in his life (his divorce from his first wife).[3] "Living Proof" is about the birth of his first son and "Local Hero" is about a time that he saw a picture of himself in a store window. When he went to buy it, the clerk told him it was a picture of a "local hero."[4] "Souls of the Departed" recalls "Born in the U.S.A." both in terms of its big music sound and its scathing social commentary. The song was inspired by the Gulf War.[5]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[6]
Chicago Tribune[7]
Rolling Stone[8]

Upon release the album received generally positive reviews. Rolling Stone gave the album a positive review (a combined review with its companion album, Human Touch), but thought that the aims of the two albums "would have been better realized by a single, more carefully shaped collection."[8] In a mostly positive review, Allmusic said of the album: "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."[6]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Bruce Springsteen

No.TitleLength
1."Better Days"4:08
2."Lucky Town"3:27
3."Local Hero"4:04
4."If I Should Fall Behind"2:57
5."Leap of Faith"3:27
6."The Big Muddy"4:05
7."Living Proof"4:49
8."Book of Dreams"4:24
9."Souls of the Departed"4:17
10."My Beautiful Reward"3:55

Unreleased outtakes

Eleven songs were written during these sessions with the song "Happy" being the only outtake and eventually released on the Tracks box set.[9]

Personnel

Charts

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[29] Platinum 70,000^
Austria (IFPI Austria)[30] Gold 25,000*
Canada (Music Canada)[31] 2× Platinum 200,000^
Finland (Musiikkituottajat)[32] Gold 28,642[32]
Germany (BVMI)[33] Gold 250,000^
Japan (RIAJ)[35] Gold 110,000[34]
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[36] Platinum 100,000^
Sweden (GLF)[37] Platinum 100,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[38] Gold 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[39] Platinum 1,000,000^

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ^ "Bruce Springsteen - Human Touch/Lucky Town - Album Review". AbsolutePunk.net. March 31, 1992. Retrieved May 17, 2012.
  2. ^ "Live in New York City". Brucespringsteen.net. March 27, 2001. Retrieved May 17, 2012.
  3. ^ a b "Lucky Town". Brucespringsteen.net. March 31, 1992. Retrieved May 17, 2012.
  4. ^ "Local Hero by Bruce Springsteen". Songfacts.com. Retrieved May 17, 2012.
  5. ^ "Souls Of The Departed by Bruce Springsteen". Songfacts.com. September 18, 2003. Retrieved May 17, 2012.
  6. ^ a b Lucky Town at AllMusic
  7. ^ Kot, Greg (August 23, 1992). "The Recorded History of Springsteen". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
  8. ^ a b DeCurtis, Anthony (April 30, 1992). "Lucky Town | Album Reviews". Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 17, 2012.
  9. ^ Brucebase - Lucky Town - Studio Sessions
  10. ^ "australian-charts.com Bruce Springsteen – Lucky Town" (ASP). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved February 4, 2012.
  11. ^ "austriancharts.at Bruce Springsteen – Lucky Town" (ASP). Hung Medien (in German). Retrieved April 6, 2012.
  12. ^ Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 2012-04-06
  13. ^ "dutchcharts.nl Bruce Springsteen – Lucky Town" (ASP). Hung Medien. MegaCharts. Retrieved April 6, 2012.
  14. ^ "InfoDisc : Tous les Albums classés par Artiste > Choisir Un Artiste Dans la Liste" (in French). infodisc.fr. Retrieved April 6, 2012.Note: user must select 'Bruce SPRINGSTEEN' from drop-down
  15. ^ "Album Search: Bruce Springsteen – Lucky Town" (in German). Media Control. Retrieved October 31, 2011.
  16. ^ a b "Hit Parade Italia - Gli album più venduti del 1992" (in Italian). hitparadeitalia.it. Retrieved April 6, 2012.
  17. ^ "マドンナ、洋楽女性初の快挙 アルバム2作同時初登場TOP10". oricon.co.jp (in Japanese). Oricon Style. April 3, 2012. Retrieved April 9, 2012. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  18. ^ "charts.org.nz Bruce Springsteen – Lucky Town" (ASP). Hung Medien. Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. Retrieved April 6, 2012.
  19. ^ "norwegiancharts.com Bruce Springsteen – Lucky Town" (ASP). Hung Medien. VG-lista. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
  20. ^ "swedishcharts.com Bruce Springsteen – Lucky Town" (ASP) (in Swedish). Retrieved April 7, 2012.
  21. ^ "Bruce Springsteen – Lucky Town - hitparade.ch" (ASP). Hung Medien (in German). Swiss Music Charts. Retrieved April 6, 2012.
  22. ^ "Chart Stats: Bruce Springsteen – Lucky Town" (PHP). UK Albums Chart. Retrieved April 6, 2012. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  23. ^ "allmusic ((( Lucky Town > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums )))". allmusic.com. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
  24. ^ "Austriancharts.at - Jahreshitparade 1992" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
  25. ^ "Les Albums (CD) de 1992 par InfoDisc" (PHP) (in French). infodisc.fr. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
  26. ^ "Hitparade.ch - Schweizer Jahreshitparade 1992" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
  27. ^ "Complete UK Year-End Album Charts". Retrieved April 4, 2012.
  28. ^ "Billboard.BIZ - Year-end Charts - Billboard 200 - 1992". billboard.biz. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
  29. ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2008 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
  30. ^ "Austrian album certifications – Bruce Springsteen – Lucky Town" (in German). IFPI Austria. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
  31. ^ "Canadian album certifications – Bruce Springsteen – Human Touch". Music Canada. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
  32. ^ a b "Bruce Springsteen" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
  33. ^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Bruce Springsteen; 'Lucky Town')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
  34. ^ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  35. ^ "Japanese album certifications – ブルース・スプリングスティーン – ラッキー・タウン" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Select 1992年4月 on the drop-down menu
  36. ^ "Solo Exitos 1959–2002 Ano A Ano: Certificados 1991–1995". Solo Exitos 1959–2002 Ano A Ano.
  37. ^ "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 1987−1998" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 17, 2011. Retrieved April 6, 2012.
  38. ^ "British album certifications – Bruce Springsteen – Lucky Town". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved April 6, 2012. Select albums in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type Lucky Town in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  39. ^ "American album certifications – Bruce Springsteen – Lucky Town". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
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