A new Springsteen album is quite a rare sight nowadays - actually the previous album 'The Rising' was released back in 2002. Every now and then the Boss decides to go acoustic by releasing an album full of atmospheric acoustic singer-songwriter music... take, for example, Springsteen's classic "Nebraska" and "The Ghost Of Tom Joad". Titled as Devils & Dust, Springsteen's 13th studio album covers a wide variety of subjecs (from the different side of human nature to Jesus, mother-child relationship and prostitution as well as war, which the title track handles).

Devils & Dust is an all-acoustic album, which doesn't have any qualities that would justify labeling it as a rock album. This is mainly an acoustic singer-songwriter album with some country influences as well as campfire rockabilly infused into the mix together with occasional female backings and string arrangements. Surprisingly the language used on Devils & Dust is stronger than on Springsteen's previous efforts.

The production on this album is very good. The sounds are atmospheric and to the point. The mastering has been carried out skilfully by the famous mastering engineer Bob Ludwig. Brendan O'Brien and Toby Scott took care of mixing, which they handled rather well. At first I was slightly put off by the boxy drum sound, but it actually suits the atmosphere of this album really well.

In addition to the original CD, there's a bonus DVD included that contains the album in 5.1 surround sound together with the lyrics. Also five acoustic performances of songs with extensive introductions by Bruce Springsteen himself have been included on the DVD. Unfortunately enough the DVD didn't play flawlessly on my system (the audio on filmed acoustic performances played slowly causing Springsteen's voice to become really low). I reckon it's a pressing error, since other DVDs play flawlessly on my system.

All in all, Devils & Dust is rather refreshing Springsteen album that surely will appeal to the majority of fans. Definitely an album worth checking out, since it comes with the DVD audio included. In USA it's available in DualDisc format.

Visit Artist's Website


- MAGE (May 15th, 2005)

« back

LINE-UP:
Springsteen, Bruce: Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards, Percussion, Tambourine, Bass & Drums O'Brien, Brendan: Bass, Tambora, Sitar, Electric Sarangi & Hurdy Gurdy Jordan, Steve: Drums & Percussion Nashville String Machine: Strings Plotkin, Chuck: Piano Rifkin, Marty: Steel Guitar Federici, Dan: Keyboards Tyrell, Soozie: Violin Pender, Mark: Trumpet - Horns - Welty, Susan Witte, Thomas Andrus, Brice Strand, Donald - Background Vocals - Scialfa, Patti Tyrell, Soozie Lowell, Lisa
Producer:	O'Brien, Brendan; Springsteen, Bruce & Plotkin, Chuck
Mixing by:	O'Brien, Brendan & Scott, Toby
Mastering by:	Ludwig, Bob

	TRACKLIST:
	CD 01. Devils + Dust 02. All the Way Home 03. Reno 04. Long Time Comin' 05. Black Cowboys 06. Maria's Bed 07. Silver Palomino 08. Jesus Was an Only Son 09. Leah 10. The Hitter 11. All I'm Thinkin' About 12. Matamoros Banks Length: 50:51 BONUS DVD 01. Devils + Dust 02. All the Way Home 03. Reno 04. Long Time Comin' 05. Black Cowboys 06. Maria's Bed 07. Silver Palomino 08. Jesus Was an Only Son 09. Leah 10. The Hitter 11. All I'm Thinkin' About 12. Matamoros Banks Filmed Acoustic Performances of 13. Devils + Dust 14. Long Time Comin' 15, Reno 16, All I'm Thinkin' About 17. Matamoros Banks Length: 80:42