‘Nebraska ‘82’ review: An entirely new take on Bruce Springsteen’s ultimate masterpiece
“If I had to pick one album out and say, ‘This is going to represent you 50 years from now,’ I’d pick Nebraska,” Bruce Springsteen once declared in an interview with CBS.
Well, here we are, a little over 40 years from the original release of that acoustic masterpiece, and it still captures the artistic drive and songwriting genius which has made Springsteen a household name since the 1970s. Even more impressively, there is still more of Nebraska to discover, a fact which is presented beautifully on the shiny new vinyl of Nebraska ‘82: Expanded Edition.
By the time 1981 rolled around, Bruce Springsteen was firmly atop the American rock landscape, coming off the back of three utterly incredible records in the form of Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, and The River. Anybody else in Springsteen’s position at that time might have continued down the same path, creating more heartland rock anthems that would seem equally fitting blasted out over the PA of a baseball stadium or in some neon-lined dive bar in the arse-end of New Jersey. Luckily, Springsteen isn’t like everybody else.
Subverting the expectations of the masses in a way that hadn’t been seen since his hero, Bob Dylan, unleashed Self Portrait a decade prior, Nebraska offered a complete departure from those previous albums. An incredibly vulnerable, intimate, and acoustic affair, the album is Springsteen at his most stripped-back and emotionally powerful, and it forever changed the global perception of the songwriter, even if the record wasn’t nearly as commercially successful as his previous effort.
After all, those songs and tales of working-class underdogs have underpinned the lives of countless Springsteen devotees over the decades. As those same devotees will be all too aware, though, the album that hit record store shelves in 1982 was composed of recordings principally intended as demos; the ‘real’ Nebraska recordings were meant to be accompanied by the stylings of the E Street Band.
Now, though, after being locked away in some mystery vault for decades, the Electric Nebraska tapes have finally been uncovered and published in the form of Nebraska ‘82: Expanded Edition, offering an entirely different perspective on Springsteen’s ultimate masterpiece. “I didn’t know they existed,” the songwriter told Mojo, discussing the discovery of those electric recordings. “I was taken aback when I found out Electric Nebraska was something real, that we’d gone as far as we had.”
It isn’t as though the addition of the E Street Band changes the words that Springsteen is singing, but it is fascinating to listen to the electric version of the album and see just how much songs like ‘Atlantic City’, for instance, are transformed by the backing of his faithful group. Of course, even they couldn’t render a song as gut-wrenching as ‘My Father’s House’ in an optimistic heartland rock style, which is perhaps why there is no included electric version of that particular masterpiece.
Alongside Electric Nebraska, the expanded edition also features a few outtakes and off-cuts from Springsteen’s original, acoustic demos for Nebraska, ‘Losin’ Kind’ being among the highlights, and a live recording of Springsteen performing the full album at New Jersey’s Count Basie Theatre, going some way to making up for the fact that he never toured the album back in 1982.
One of the release’s highlights, however, comes in the form of a demo version of ‘Born In The USA’, recorded during Springsteen’s original Nebraska sessions. Far more in-keeping with the stripped-back sound of the 1982 record, rather than the bold pop-centric sound of the track’s eventual release two years later. Sonically, it is an entirely different song, and its often misunderstood anti-war stance is laid down much clearer – if this had been the final version of the song, perhaps it wouldn’t have been appropriated by a litany of politicians who never stopped to listen to the words.
Throughout the entire release, of course, it is easy to take the rather cynical viewpoint that all of these songs were deemed not fit for release 40 years ago, so why should people listen to them now? It is certainly true that the music industry has a habit of grave-robbing unused material from legendary figures like Springsteen and repackaging them for eye-wateringly inflated prices, but Nebraska ‘82 does not feel like one of those releases.
Sure, the outtakes, electric versions, and demos do not eclipse the genius of the original album, but the release, when viewed in its entirety, offers an unparalleled look at one of the most important records of the 1980s and one of Springsteen’s finest moments.
Packaged beautifully either in its 4CD or 4 LP interaction, it is a release which has been handled perfectly, with the focus placed entirely on the musical mastery of ‘The Boss’, rather than relying on the same kinds of gimmicks which often accompany these ‘expanded’ editions and anniversary releases.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out New Music Newsletter
All the latest New Music from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.