That said, my favorite song from that record didn't make it on it. "Brothers Under the Bridge". I think that's my favorite Bruce tune of the '90's.
There's some very strong songwriting on Joad, but it's just such a dull record musically. Nebraska is great because it sounds so spontaneous and almost unhinged in spots, and Devils is great because it sounds so lush and fully realized while still being a stripped down record. Joad is so one-note it puts me to sleep.
I think "Black Cowboys" is one of his best story songs. And "All I'm Thinking About" is, for me, one of the catchiest damn things he's ever written. It gets stuck in my head on a regular basis.
I actually listen to Devils & Dust a surprising amount for it not being one of my favorite records of his. I probably play it more than any post-2000 Bruce record other than Wrecking Ball.
There are a lot of really good, catchy songs on that record that he probably could have turned into E Street songs, but I love how they sound acoustic. That's the best production O'Brien ever did on a Bruce record, too.
"Worst" is a hard term to use but Human Touch, Joad, and Working on a Dream are probably the records I return to least, by a real long shot.
I'm calling Joad worst album (though I still need to catch up on a few), but not necessarily a bad one. The title track in particular has always stopd out to me.
article i read says theater executives/writers have approached him with the intent to adapt BTR into a musical, and that he was very interested in the idea. don't know how i feel about that. i'm just picturing american idiot but they're singing thunder road and backstreets instead.
I've thought about what that might look like before. The issue is that you run out of songs pretty quickly.
I think they'd be adapting the book into a musical, not the album, so they could use songs from his whole career.