Western Stars review

[Westside Steve]

Western Stars
Warner Brothers
PG               83 min

Reviewing movies  or  music  is  always partly a matter of taste but especially so with the ladder. If you don’t like a particular artist odds are you’re not going to like his records or performances. I like Bruce Springsteen a lot and have for many years and I think he’s one of the most important pop artists of the century and WESTERN STARS is a live performance film (albeit with substantial Studio post-production) of his latest LP, or record or album or CD or whatever they call it these days. 
  A line from  Better Days sums up his music for me and that is “a rich man and a poor man’s shirt.” For decades the Boss has assumed the role of the common man, the lovers and dreamers from the streets of New Jersey or the small-towns or rust belt cities of the Midwest. Despite the slight shift in geography this album is no different. A rule of thumb in the record business is that you place your signature song in the fourth position. Not exactly sure why but this one is no exception, with the title song Western Stars in slot number four. For this record this character he assumes is an aging cowboy star looking back at a successful if unspectacular life and making peace with it as he looks off into the sunset. 
The whole thing is filmed with a full orchestra inside the beautiful 100 year old barn at Springsteen’s horse farm. The exterior scenery shots, deserts and badlands as well as the narrative might lead you to believe the location was somewhere out west but I’m pretty sure Springsteen’s place  is located in Jersey. Of course I don’t really expect his, or anyone’s art, to be completely autobiographically  accurate. He’s telling  stories. And besides the past his prime cowboy actor the stories are about other hard-working people making the best of their lives and trying to hold on to elusive romance or battling the demons of their past. It’s just that this group of characters live out west as opposed to the Jersey shore. Most of these songs follow the musical patterns we’ve come to expect over the last few decades of the post Born to Run era. Songs flavored with the roots of Americana. And often Bruce repeats the hook over and over, for instance in the song Stones “Those are only a lies you’ve told me.”
In the opening song Hitch Hikin' he’s on his way out west looking for a place to put down roots of a new life he’s hoping to build,  later on he’s waiting for his baby to come join him on the Tucson Train. Sleepy Joe’s Café is a tip of the hat to a favorite watering hole and Drive Fast is the story of a stuntman who’s been patched up more than once but is still on his feet.  Sundown is a tribute to one of his influences, the prolific Jimmy Webb and the one song that has a different feel than the rest.
My personal favorite, at least one of them, is called Moonlight Motel a bittersweet tale about driving past the dilapidated hulk of the place he and his love used to spend hours of passion.
Again the songs follow the structural pattern the last few albums and this time the melodic background which has been in the past performed by Fender guitars or synthesizers is now a full Orchestra. I have no doubt that the tracks were polished to perfection with studio magic but it does sound great. And Springsteen’s voice is cleaner and more on pitch than you’ve ever heard it in a live performance. 
The between song narrative might be a little hokey but what the hell. Like I said if you’re a Springsteen fan you’ll probably love it. If you’re not you probably aren’t going to see it anyway.
A