Tunnel of Love (album)
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| Tunnel of Love | ||
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| Studio album by Bruce Springsteen | ||
| Released | October 9, 1987 | |
| Recorded | January - July 1987 | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Length | 46:25 | |
| Label | Columbia Records | |
| Producer(s) | Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau, Chuck Plotkin | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bruce Springsteen chronology | ||
| Live/1975-85 (1986) |
Tunnel of Love (1987) |
Chimes of Freedom (EP) (1988) |
Tunnel of Love is the eighth studio album by Bruce Springsteen released in 1987 (see 1987 in music).
Contents |
[edit] History
After the tremendous success of the big, brash and anthemic Born in the U.S.A., Springsteen took his foot off the throttle quite a bit on Tunnel of Love. The deeply conflicted songs - "Brilliant Disguise," "Two Faces," "Tunnel of Love," "One Step Up" - seem to have been written as reflections of Springsteen's failing marriage to Julianne Phillips. In the same vein, the opening "Ain't Got You" is his rare personal, self-conscious look at being a famous rock star, while the closing "Valentine's Day" inverts the chords of "My Funny Valentine" to produce a death-haunted narrative full of the nature imagery he would pursue further in the early 1990s. Amusingly, "Walk Like a Man", another chapter in Springsteen's long obsession with his relationship with his father, seems like a relief compared to the rest of the record.
Members of the E Street Band were used sparingly on the album; Springsteen recorded many 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, it is very doubtful whether Tunnel of Love should be considered an E Street Band album. Indeed, Shore Fire Media, Springsteen's public relations firm, does not count it as an E Street Band album. [1]
Commercially, the album did not come close to matching Born in the U.S.A.'s megasuccess, but did all right. It went triple platinum in the U.S., with "Brilliant Disguise" being one of his biggest hit singles, "Tunnel of Love" also making the Top 10, and "One Step Up" just falling short. Indeed Springsteen would never see this level of studio album sales and hit singles again.
The 1988 Springsteen and E Street Band Tunnel of Love Express tour would showcase the album's songs, sometimes in more confrontational arrangements courtesy of The Miami Horns. Once Springsteen remarried to Patti Scialfa and started a family, however, he seemed to have a harder time relating to Tunnel of Love's songs, and they appeared only rarely in his concerts during the late 1990s and 2000s.
[edit] Critical response
In 1998, Q magazine readers voted Tunnel of Love the 91st greatest album of all time. In 1989, it was ranked #25 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 greatest albums of the 1980s. In 2003, the album was ranked number 475 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
[edit] Track listing
- "Ain't Got You" – 2:11
- "Tougher Than the Rest" – 4:35
- "All That Heaven Will Allow" – 2:39
- "Spare Parts" – 3:44
- "Cautious Man" – 3:58
- "Walk Like a Man" – 3:45
- "Tunnel of Love" – 5:12
- "Two Faces" – 3:03
- "Brilliant Disguise" – 4:17
- "One Step Up" – 4:22
- "When You're Alone" – 3:24
- "Valentine's Day" – 5:10
All songs written by Bruce Springsteen.
[edit] Personnel
[edit] The E Street Band
- Roy Bittan – piano, synthesizers
- Clarence Clemons – vocals on "When You're Alone"
- Danny Federici – organ
- Nils Lofgren – solo guitar 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
- Max Weinberg – drums, percussion
[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
