'' is the sixth album by
Bruce Springsteen , released in 1982 (see
1982 In Music ). The album was a critical success in spite of a lukewarm public reception.
Initially, Springsteen recorded demos for the album at his home with
4-track Cassette recorder. The demos were sparse, using only
Acoustic Guitar ,
Electric Guitar (on "Open All Night"),
Harmonica , and Springsteen's
Voice .
Springsteen then recorded the album in a studio with the
E Street Band . However, he and the producers and engineers working with him felt that a raw, haunted
Folk essence present on the home tapes was lacking in the band treatments, and so they ultimately decided to release the demo version as the final album. Complications with mastering of the tapes ensued because of low recording volume. But the problem was overcome with sophisticated noise reduction techniques.
Springsteen fans have long speculated whether Springsteen's full-band recording of the album, nicknamed ''Electric Nebraska'', will ever surface (in a 2006 interview, manager and have been played in various guises ever since.
The album begins with "
Nebraska ", a
First-person Narrative by a
Serial Killer (based loosely on
Charles Starkweather ) and ends with "Reason to Believe", a complex narration that renders its title phrase into contemptuous sarcasm. The remaining songs are largely of the same bleak tone, including the dark "State Trooper" (influenced by the band
Suicide ), although "
Open All Night ", a
Chuck Berry -style lone guitar rave-up, does manage a dose of defiant, humming-towards-the-gallows exuberance.
A
Music Video was produced for the song "
Atlantic City "; it featured stark, black and white images of the city, which had not yet undergone its later transformation, and was still rather bleak and depressed. "Atlantic City" was released as a single in the UK but not the U.S.
In 1989, ''Nebraska'' was ranked #43 on ''
Rolling Stone '' magazine's list of the
100 Greatest Albums Of The 1980s .
The Nebraska Project took place at Winter Garden/World Financial Center, New York City, on January 14, 2006, as the opening night concert of the 2006 New York Guitar Festival (www.newyorkguitarfestival.org). This live celebration and re-creation of the seminal album, produced by Festival creator and artistic director David Spelman and co-produced by A.J. Benson, and hosted by WFUV DJ John Platt, presented a diverse line-up of artists who covered the songs in album sequence. Line-up was as follows: Nebraska: Michelle Shocked / Atlantic City: Jesse Harris / Mansion On The Hill: The National / Johnny 99: Chocolate Genius / Highway Patrolman: Martha Wainwright with Marc Ribot / State Trooper: Dan Zanes with Vernon Reid / Used Cars: Laura Cantrell / Open All Night: Otis Taylor / My Father's House: Mark Eitzel / Reason to Believe: Kevn Kinney with Lenny Kaye / Encore (comprising all artists, plus special guest Bruce Springsteen): Oklahoma Hills / Plus instrumental interludes by Gary Lucas, Harry Manx, Marc Ribot, Kerryn Tolhurst & David Spelman.
All songs written by Bruce Springsteen.
#"
Nebraska " – 4:32
#"
Atlantic City " – 4:00
#"Mansion on the Hill" – 4:08
#"Johnny 99" – 3:44
#"
Highway Patrolman " – 5:40
#"State Trooper" – 3:17
#"Used Cars" – 3:11
#"
Open All Night " – 2:58
#"My Father's House" – 5:07
#"Reason to Believe" – 4:11
- Mike Batlin – Engineer
- David Michael Kennedy – Photography
- Dennis King – mastering
- Andrea Klein – design
The songs of ''Nebraska'' are classic Springsteen in the sense that they deal with ordinary, blue collar characters who face a challenge or a turning point in their lives. Some characters on ''Nebraska'' also commit some sort of offence as on the song "Highway Patrolman" - even though the protagonist works for the law, he can be seen letting his brother escape after he has hit somebody with his car. This became the basis for the
Sean Penn -directed film
The Indian Runner . Similar to this, on the song "Nebraska", the characters are based on real people who drove through their local town randomly opening fire on people just for "fun". Because of these kinds of themes on ''Nebraska'', there is very little of the grace or salvation which can be seen in other albums. It could be said that the bleakness of the album was the reason it received poor sales, yet critical acclaim.
