{"id":15625,"date":"2020-01-26T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-26T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/?p=15625"},"modified":"2023-01-01T13:05:50","modified_gmt":"2023-01-01T21:05:50","slug":"roll-of-the-dice-chasin-wild-horses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2020\/01\/26\/roll-of-the-dice-chasin-wild-horses\/","title":{"rendered":"Roll of the Dice: Chasin’ Wild Horses"},"content":{"rendered":"

At last: the dice lead us to Bruce Springsteen’s latest and finest album, Western Stars<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Seven months after its release, with the benefit of distance, catalog comparison, and deep and repeated listens, I can confidently rank\u00a0Western Stars\u00a0<\/em>at the very pinnacle of Bruce’s officially released catalog.<\/p>\n

Born to Run<\/em> may be a more important milestone;\u00a0Darkness on the Edge of Town<\/em><\/a> may have brought us a legendary tour;\u00a0Tunnel of Love<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>may reveal the artist at his most vulnerable. But\u00a0Western Stars<\/em> is unrivaled in songwriting and musical craftsmanship, and in years to come I trust that it will receive its due recognition.<\/p>\n

Western Stars<\/em> is a deeply romantic and emotionally vibrant album. I’ve heard some call it depressing, even nihilistic–but respectfully, I would argue the opposite: Western Stars\u00a0<\/em>is uplifting, a tribute to life lived. There’s a theme to be found at work in Western Stars,<\/em> but we have to look beyond its American West imagery and not allow our lens to be overly filtered through our knowledge of Bruce’s chronic depression.<\/p>\n

Released shortly before his 70th birthday (and recorded some years prior),\u00a0Western Stars<\/em> introduces us to a handful of characters late in their lives. They’ve made mistakes, as have we all, and to varying degrees of success they dedicate themselves to moving forward regardless, as do we all. That’s the theme of Western Stars\u00a0<\/em>in a nutshell: living your life when the road ahead is so much shorter than the road already traveled. If we are each the sum of our life experiences and decisions, how do we continue to grow and move forward while carrying the weight of them?<\/p>\n

Over the next few years, we’ll explore each and every track on the album, from the carpe diem “Drive Fast (The Stuntman)<\/a>” and the achingly beautiful “Moonlight Motel,<\/a>” both of which I rank in Bruce’s top ten best songs ever, to what is perhaps the happiest and most romantic song Bruce has ever written, “Hitch Hikin’<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

But today we’ll start with the album’s literal centerpiece, “Chasin’ Wild Horses.”<\/p>\n

We’ll break it down in a moment, but as with every track on\u00a0Western Stars<\/em>, we need to first take a deep, close listen to fully appreciate the subtlety and artistry at work. If you have headphones available, take them out and listen:<\/p>\n