Goodbye Bruce, you sing too long

I was watching old iMovies of the kids yesterday, and I was reminded of how excited I was before Springsteen released The Rising, summer before last.

This excitement was based on the quality of the pre-released tracks, which were the title song, Lonesome Day, and Into the Fire. Based on those, it looked as if the record would be superb. Unfortunately, they were almost the only tracks worth having.

The record is boring. And long. Long and boring. My trajectory with The Rising has been a bit like that bit in Hop on Pop, where it goes,

THING THING
What is that thing?
THING SING
That Thing can sing
SONG LONG
A long, long song
Goodbye Thing, you sing too long.

There are 15 songs on The Rising. Had there been just 9 (or 10 at a push) it would be tighter, better, and shorter, though still too long. I reckon 8 of its songs would make a good record - and I'd have not been disappointed at that.

In it's new incarnation, Let it Be is just 35 minutes long. This is perfect. An album should be no longer than 40 minutes. Anything more is just self-indulgent flab. My 8 track version of The Rising would come in at about 39 minutes:

Lonesome Day 4:08
Into The Fire 5:04
Waitin' On A Sunny Day 4:18
Nothing Man 4:23
Mary's Place 6:03
You're Missing 5:11
The Rising 4:50
My City Of Ruins 5:00

Even here I'm being generous, including Mary's Place, just because it's a nostalgic throwback to 1973. And Waitin' on a Sunny Day is only included because it's Chloé's favourite. And yet the record company would probably sue your ass if you made yourself a copy of The Rising with just these tracks.

And of course some artistes get all pissy at the very idea that you might only download a selection of their tracks from the iTunes music store. But serve them right for producing filler.