{"id":249436,"date":"2025-10-24T21:37:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T21:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/249436\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T21:37:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T21:37:07","slug":"the-boss-is-back-springsteens-nebraska-story-comes-full-circle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/249436\/","title":{"rendered":"The Boss is back: Springsteen\u2019s “Nebraska” story comes full circle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fresh on the heels of Monmouth University\u2019s week-long extravaganza celebrating the 50th anniversary of \u201cBorn to Run<\/a>,\u201d Bruce Springsteen<\/a> is making headlines yet again with the authorized biopic \u201cDeliver Me from Nowhere\u201d and the long-awaited release of the fabled \u201cElectric Nebraska\u201d album as part of \u201cNebraska \u201982: Expanded Edition<\/a>.\u201d Die-hard fans and music lovers alike will be delighted to discover that, for the most part, neither disappoints.<\/p>\n

Based upon Warren Zanes\u2019s \u201cDeliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen\u2019s Nebraska<\/a>,\u201d the film stars Jeremy Allen White<\/a> (of episodic TV\u2019s \u201cShameless<\/a>\u201d and \u201cThe Bear<\/a>\u201d fame) as the Boss. As with \u201cBorn to Run\u201d\u2019s make-or-break release six years earlier, the early 1980s find Springsteen at a crossroads. White turns in a bravura performance, bringing Springsteen vividly to life as a moody musician having achieved success beyond his wildest dreams yet uncomfortable with the international fame he realized with \u201cHungry Heart\u201d and \u201cThe River\u201d in the early 1980s.<\/p>\n

In a risky career move, Springsteen turns introspective, digesting the short stories of Flannery O\u2019Connor and Howard Zinn\u2019s \u201cPeople\u2019s History of the United States.\u201d The result is 1982\u2019s \u201cNebraska,\u201d the acoustic, lo-fi, homespun record that established Springsteen as an artist for the ages. William Ruhlmann aptly describes the LP as \u201cone of the most challenging albums ever released by a major star on a major label.\u201d<\/p>\n

As \u201cDeliver Me from Nowhere\u201d makes indubitably clear, Springsteen\u2019s artistic confidence is buoyed by his career-making partnership with Jon Landau. Jeremy Strong<\/a> (\u201cSuccession<\/a>\u201c) turns in a muted performance as the Rolling Stone critic cum record producer, imbuing Landau with a brooding intensity that misses out on the enthusiasm and zest inherent in his real-world persona. But this is a minor quibble for a film that, like the \u201cNebraska\u201d album itself, rightly dares to elevate the making of a solo acoustic record into high art. By contrast, White\u2019s performance is a wonder to behold, carefully walking the tightrope between Springsteen\u2019s bigger-than-life stardom and the deep thinker who brought the rawness of \u201cNebraska\u201d to fruition.<\/p>\n

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And speaking of \u201cNebraska\u201d: this week marks the release of one of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll\u2019s Holy Grails, the so-called \u201cElectric Nebraska\u201d sessions that Springsteen undertook with the E Street Band<\/a> before retiring to Colts Neck, New Jersey, where he recorded the album as a solo effort on a portable four-track cassette player. \u201cNebraska \u201982,\u201d the 37-track collection, clears the vaults for fans who have been salivating to hear the fabled \u201celectric\u201d recordings with the E Street Band. As with previous releases that attain mythic status, \u201cNebraska \u201982\u201d won\u2019t satisfy everyone. It\u2019s not a track-for-track full-band blueprint for the eventual album.<\/p>\n

But in many ways, it\u2019s something better, offering proof positive that Springsteen\u2019s stripped-down version of \u201cNebraska\u201d was the right artistic choice. At the same time, \u201cNebraska \u201982\u201d offers a powerful nod to the future \u2014 in this case, the blockbuster \u201cBorn in the USA<\/a>\u201d album on the not-so-distant horizon. In stark contrast with the album\u2019s bombastic, top-10 title track, the early version of \u201cBorn in the USA\u201d featured on \u201cNebraska \u201982\u201d oozes with the pain, heartbreak and disillusion inherent in the song\u2019s lyrics. For this listener, \u201cNebraska \u201982\u2019\u201ds \u201cBorn in the USA\u201d is now the standard-bearer.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/p>\n

about Bruce Springsteen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fresh on the heels of Monmouth University\u2019s week-long extravaganza celebrating the 50th anniversary of \u201cBorn to Run,\u201d Bruce…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216],"class_list":{"0":"post-249436","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}