Customer Reviews

Human Touch

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The songs on "Human Touch" were written by Springsteen as exercises to help him cope with writer's block. It shows. If Springsteen held himself to his usual high standards, only half of these songs would've been released. Also, many of the songs sound overproduced - too many bells and whistles thrown in and not enough focus on the vocals and guitars.

That being said, lyrically, "Real World" is one of Springsteen's best songs. It follows the characters and narrative that have been in place since his earliest albums, bringing them to adulthood. Take this verse, for example,

Well tonight I just wanna shout
I feel my soul waist deep and sinkin'
Into this black river of doubt
I just wanna rise and walk along the riverside
And when the morning comes baby I don't wanna hide
I'll stand right at your side with my arms open wide

It has some of the attributes typical to a Springsteen song - the river; the shout; the narrator wanting more, but finding it not possible because of other forces. Instead of dealing with the adolescent fantasies of Springsteen's first three albums, or the disillusionment of becoming an adult in his subsequent works, the narrator in this song is mature, his outlook on life is informed and realistic (hence the song's title), and knows he can't go it alone.

"I Wish I Were Blind," "Man's Job," "Human Touch," and "With Every Wish" are also excellent songs. "Roll of the Dice" is one of those songs that doesn't work too well on the album, but is great live. The rest of the album is mediocre by Springsteen's high standards. Despite what Springsteen has said about "Human Touch" being a different album than "Lucky Town," which was released the same day, he would've been better of paring down some of the songs and releasing the best pieces as one album.

If you'd like a good mix of the two albums, check out "In Concert: MTV Plugged." Springsteen's other band does a great job on the best songs from "Human Touch" and "Lucky Town" on that album. If you need every Springsteen album, then buy this one too. It's not a bad CD (you probably own worse), but Springsteen has done a lot better.

After a five year hiatus from releasing albums, Bruce Springsteen came back with two simultaneous releases, his first without the E Street Band (with the exception of Roy Bittan). The fact that he recorded these songs with hired studio musicians make them easy targets for his hardcore fans. Human Touch is the more commercial of the two and there is some high quality music on it. The title track is a strong song with some of the best guitar work Bruce has ever recorded while "Real World" has all the anthemic qualities of classic Springsteen songs. Bruce goes back to his old Asbury Park days with the soul influenced "Man's Job" & the superb "I Wish I Were Blind" which has backing vocals by one of the masters of blue-eyed soul, Bobby Hatfield of the Righteous Brothers. The problem with the album is that for the first time in his career, Bruce has some stinkers on it. "57 Channels" is a bad attempt at social commentary which is usually his forte, "All Or Nothin' At All" has no feeling to it and "Real Man" might possibly be the worst song he has ever recorded. The missteps aside, this album is still better than 90% of the music that is released and any music by Springsteen is better than no music by him.

Four great songs, "Real Man," "I Wish I Were Blind," "Man's Job" and "With Every Wish," make Bruce Springsteen's HUMAN TOUCH worthwhile. Springsteen dared to please himself by releasing LUCKY TOWN and this CD at the same time. He could played it safe by combining the best tracks from each on just one album. HUMAN TOUCH (and LUCKY TOWN, for that matter) did not affect me the way several other Bruce albums have, but who knows, it could grow on me. For now, HUMAN TOUCH still merits listening.

This is not Springsteen's best album, but like several previous reviewers I think it is one of his most underrated. Some Springsteen purists resented the fact that he used L.A. studio musicians rather than the E Street Band to make this album. The resulting sound is slightly more polished and commercial than his earlier albums, but doesn't undermine the essential raw emotion and energy of Springsteen's music.

Human Touch is a collection of mainly hard-rocking songs about the difficulty of life and love, and fears of inadequacy in the face of those difficulties. There are several songs of great depth here, including "I Wish I Were Blind" (one of Springsteen's best ever, in my opinion), "Human Touch", "Cross My Heart", "With Every Wish", and "Man's Job." I also like the blue-eyed soul funkiness (unusual for Springsteen) of "Soul Driver." True, there are also a few stinkers among the songs, but overall I think this is a good album and deserving of more credit than it has gotten.

The title track on this album would have to be one of Bruce's best. Soul Driver when I first heard it I thought it would be released as a single, dissappointingly it wasn't. Man's job is very good , so is I wish I were blind, but being a big Bruce fan I love them all!!

I had a hard time deciding if I should give this album three or four stars (it took me several seconds!), but I ended up with four, because Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen when he is mediocre is still far better than a lot of other guys at their best. This is really not a bad album, in fact it's quite good, but it lacks those really special songs that could make it great. The lyrics are not quite as gripping as Bruce's best efforts, and neither are the tunes. This seems more like a "regular" rock n' roll album (one of those kind that you do for fun, or maybe - God forbid - to make money) than some of Springsteens earlier efforts, which seemed more earnest and deeply felt, and really sunk its teeth into you. But still - "Human Touch" is a good album, with several really good songs, and if you think that some of Springsteen's earlier tunes were a little rough, focusing on the lyrics and forgetting about that catchy sing-along-chorus, well, then this might actually be a step up.

This is a sublime album. Very sublime. Listening to it puts you in a mood. People say it is bad - it's just hard getting adjusted to the different sounding backing sections. But still, this is a wonderful album, with "I Wish I Were Blind," which might be the best song of the decade. Very good album.

One of the reviewers wrote that Human Touch and Lucky Town are under rated is right on the button. Human Touch has great lyrics and harmony. Most musicians would kill for some of the music on these records. The critics were way off on this record. It makes you wonder what else they are wrong about. Some record stores let you listen to samplings of an artists efforts before you buy. That way you can make your own judgements on how good a record is. One should be skeptical of critical reviews and think for yourself. Being skeptical of what critics said about Human Touch and Lucky Town and hearing some samples here on Amazon helped maked my decision to buy them. I'm glad I did.

Though I understand the conflicting reviews on this very uneven album, I never understood the derision that people have for "57 Channels". It is perfect tale of modern ennui. Even though the song's character has it all, he still feels empty and cannot connect with others (including his wife) in a meaningful way. Springsteen uses the television as a metaphor, with it's facade promises and "reality" shows to envince this lack of fufillment and alienation that so many feel. The couple in the song think they can find the answers to their problems by pointing their satellite dish, like a beacon to the gods, "into the stars". But the message that comes back is void of anything genuine. This is what is significant about the Elvis reference. Ostensibly he had everything, but nothing that was emotionally real. And that bass ROCKS! (Not to mention the spector like howls and erie echo voices).

In fact the first five tracks are some great rock and roll. The title track, though derivitive of "Tunnel of Love" is dynamic and well-paced. "Soul Driver" is moody, has a great organ riff and a strong melody (how come so few folks care for this one either I'll never know). "Cross My Heart" is a great, catchy adaptation of a classic blues tune, and "Gloria's Eyes" has searing guitars and powerhouse vocals.

But then we hit, "With Every Wish". "Be careful what you wish for", wow Bruce were did you come up with such an original theme? And beautiful "Doreen". That name ranks right up there with Gertude and Bertha on the romantic/poetic scale. Not to mention one of the worst uses of poetic license I've ever heard; "rusty cans of beer". Who the hell says that? It's "rusty beer cans" Bruce and you know it. Talk about forcing the rhyme. All this and a muted trumpet against an annoying twang delivery.

"Roll of the Dice" has potential, but I always cringe at songs that use an excessive amount theme metaphors, and this one gets real cheesy with all the gambling ones.

"Man's Job"--Yuck! "Real Man"- Double yuck! (Was my choice for worst Springsteen song ever until tracks came out and introduced me to "My Lover Man".

"All or Nothing at All" and "Long Goodbye" are okay.

"Pony Boy" is self indulgent and should have not been included.

Recommended for the first 5 songs.

It's hard to know what to make of the Boss's twin release of "Human Touch," and "Lucky Town," in 1992. He was into striking out on his own and surrounding himself with studio musicians. I'm not sure if the thinking was that he could free himself up to make some music solely on his own terms or maybe to creatively expand, but for whatever reason it has left these two recordings slightly flat. Both "Human Touch," and "Lucky Town," are lumped together in my mind with "Lucky Town," being the slightly rawer more rocking of the two.

"Human Touch," starts out promisingly enough with a classically catchy Springsteen tune. From there it skips around until it arrives at a less than inspired folky Nebraska-esque "Pony Boy." However, gone is the desperation, the glaring soul cry of poverty and despair, the screaming social need of the working class, the insanity of an insane world, the cold hard light of dawn. Instead we are left with, "Giddy up Giddy up my Pony Boy."

Bruce doesn't write to many bad songs and any album he puts out proves very listenable. The man has a way with music...a gift for the singing troubadour of the common man, a voice for the masses. Unless you are a diehard fan of the boss, go looking elsewhere for his music. "Human Touch," might leave you slightly untouched.
--MMW