This Is Not A Dark Ride

Tunnel of Love’ was Bruce Springsteen’s first studio offering since 1984’s ‘Born in the USA’. That album catapulted the man to the platform of mega stardom and created hype that, unlike with Born to Run, Springsteen was happy to go with. For many that image of Springsteen is the one that they remember and during that whirlwind tour of 1984-1985 he married. Bruce Springsteen had made it to the top of the mountain with the previous album and to everyone he was a hero. The next album is all about the man behind the image, finding out who that man was and living the married life. It may not have sold as many as its predecessor but to many, myself included 1987’s ‘Tunnel of Love’ is a stronger collection of songs and the concept behind it is truer and more lasting simply because there is no concept. Nothing on ‘Tunnel of Love’ is manufactured because Springsteen ‘needed a hit’, nor is any part of it re-packaged in a bolder brassier arrangement because that would sell more. Throughout this album you get the sense of a man stripped of the image, learning to deal with life’s issues like the partnership of love and marriage and how much it takes to make that work and, ultimately what to do when it isn’t.

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