The Ghost Of Tom Joad
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''The Ghost of Tom Joad'' is the eleventh
studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...
, and the second acoustic album, by American recording artist
Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originato ...
, released on November 21, 1995, by
Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 15, 1889, evolving from the A ...
. It reached the Top Ten in two countries, and the Top Twenty in five more, including No. 11 in the United States, his first studio album to fail to reach the US Top Ten in over two decades. It won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album.


Composition

Springsteen wrote and recorded the album between March and September, 1995, at Thrill Hill West, his home studio in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
, California. Following that year's studio reunion with the E Street Band and the release of ''
Greatest Hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...
'', Springsteen's writing activity had increased significantly, resulting in this album, which consists of seven solo tracks and five band tracks. Most tracks are backed by
acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...
work and the lyrics are generally a somber reflection of life in the mid-1990s in
America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
and
Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...
.Symynkywicz, Jeffery B. (2008). ''The Gospel According to Bruce Springsteen: Rock and Redemption, from Asbury Park to Magic.'' Westminster John Knox Press. . p. 122. The character of Tom Joad entered the American consciousness in
John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. (; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer and the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature winner "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social ...
’s 1939 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, ''
The Grapes of Wrath ''The Grapes of Wrath'' is an American realist novel written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939. The book won the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and it was cited prominently when Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Priz ...
'', set against the economic hardships of the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
. This spawned a film version starring
Henry Fonda Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor. He had a career that spanned five decades on Broadway and in Hollywood. He cultivated an everyman screen image in several films considered to be classics. Born and ra ...
, which in turn inspired folk singer
Woody Guthrie Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (; July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) was an American singer-songwriter, one of the most significant figures in American folk music. His work focused on themes of American socialism and anti-fascism. He has inspire ...
to pen "The Ballad of Tom Joad". Springsteen was also influenced by
Dale Maharidge Dale Maharidge (born 24 October 1956) is an American author, journalist and academic best known for his collaborations with photographer Michael Williamson. Maharidge and Williamson's book '' And Their Children After Them'' won the Pulitzer Priz ...
and Michael Williamson's 1985 study of homelessness, '' Journey to Nowhere: The Saga of the New Underclass''. The album's release was followed by Springsteen's solo acoustic
Ghost of Tom Joad Tour The Ghost of Tom Joad Tour was a worldwide concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen performing alone on stage in small halls and theatres, that ran off and on from late 1995 through the middle of 1997.Santelli, ''Greetings From E Street'', pp ...
, which ran from 1995 to 1997 and took place in mostly small venues.


Release

''The Ghost of Tom Joad'' debuted at number eleven on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, with 107,000 copies sold in its first week. However, it broke a string of eight consecutive Top 5 studio albums in the United States for Springsteen. The album won the 1997 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.


Critical reception

''The Ghost of Tom Joad'' received mostly favorable reviews, but also drew some sharp criticism. Mikal Gilmore of ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' called it "Springsteen's best album in ten years," and considered it "among the bravest work that anyone has given us this decade." He characterised it as Springsteen's "first overtly social statement since Born in the U.S.A.", and as having "an obvious kinship with Spingsteen’s 1982 masterwork, ''
Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...
''", the artist's first acoustic album. Bill Wyman of ''
The Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by a ...
'' expressed disappointment that "Springsteen can be so literal that it's hard to appreciate some of the record's subtleties." He criticized the album for being "stolidly depoppified to ensure that no one will derive actual pleasure from it." In ''The Village Voice''s annual Pazz & Jop critics poll for the year's best albums, ''The Ghost of Tom Joad'' placed at No. 8.
Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
, the poll's creator, simultaneously commended and criticized the album for being "the most courageous and the most depressing of the year," pointing out that Springsteen was the only artist in the poll's Top 40 "to directly address the war on the poor (and, increasingly, what is called the middle class) that is now the political agenda of the industrialized world." He also took aim at what he said was Springsteen's choice "to muffle his songs, so that only those who really want to hear their despair will bother trying." Christgau lamented that the "tunes, arrangements, and mysteriously praised 'phrasing' aren’t just forbiddingly minimal — often they’re rather careless", and dubbed the album "a bore".


Track listing

All songs are written by
Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originato ...
.


Unreleased outtakes

Twelve of the 22 songs recorded during the album's sessions made the final cut while "Dead Man Walkin'" was released on the soundtrack for the movie '' Dead Man Walking'' and later on ''
The Essential Bruce Springsteen ''The Essential Bruce Springsteen'' is a compilation album by Bruce Springsteen, released on November 11, 2003. The collection is part of a series of ''Essential'' sets released by Sony BMG (previously Sony Music Entertainment). It includes songs ...
'' and "Brothers Under the Bridge" was released on '' Tracks''. "I'm Turning Into Elvis" and "It's the Little Things That Count" remain unreleased; however, they were performed live while "Idiot's Delight" and "I'm Not Sleeping" were also performed live and along with "1945" and "Cheap Motel" were co-written with
Joe Grushecky Joe Grushecky (born Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is a rock musician in the United States known for his work with the Iron City Houserockers in the late 1970s and early 1980s; and for his works since the late the 1980s with his act Joe Grushecky and T ...
, who recorded the four songs for his 1997 album ''Coming Home''. * "Cynthia" * "Tiger Rose" * "I'm Turning Into Elvis" * "It's the Little Things That Count" * "Idiot's Delight" * "I'm Not Sleeping" * "1945" * "Cheap Motel"


Personnel

Credits as listed in the album liner notes. Musicians *
Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originato ...
– vocal (tracks 1-12),
guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
(tracks 1-12),
harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...
(tracks 1, 10),
keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...
(tracks 3, 5-7, 11, 12) *
Danny Federici Daniel Paul Federici (January 23, 1950 – April 17, 2008) was an American musician, best known as the organ, glockenspiel, and accordion player and a founding member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. In 2014, Federici was posthumously induct ...
– keyboard (tracks 1, 2, 8, 10),
accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...
(track 10) *
Chuck Plotkin Charles Richard Plotkin (born September 8, 1942) is a recording engineer and producer, best known for his work with Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan. Recording engineer Plotkin has recorded, engineered, mastered and produced albums by Bruce Spr ...
– keyboard (track 4) *
Gary Mallaber Gary Mallaber (born October 11, 1946 in Buffalo) is a Los Angeles session drummer, percussionist and singer. He attended Lafayette High School, where he and Bobby Militello, along with other musicians, were mentored by saxophonist Sam Scam ...
drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
(tracks 1, 2, 4, 8, 10), percussion (tracks 2, 4) * Marty Rifkin –
pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...
(tracks 1, 2, 4, 10) *
Garry Tallent Garry Wayne Tallent (born October 27, 1949), sometimes billed as Garry W. Tallent, is an American musician and record producer, best known for being bass player and founding member of the E Street Band, Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band si ...
bass (tracks 1, 8) * Jim Hanson – bass (tracks 2, 4) *
Jennifer Condos Jennifer Condos is an American bass guitarist known primarily for her session and live performance work. She has contributed to the recordings and live performances of many well-known artists. Biography Condos was a founding member of the ban ...
– bass (track 10) *
Soozie Tyrell Soozie Tyrell (born May 4, 1957), formerly known as Soozie Kirschner, is an American violinist, guitarist, and vocalist, most known for her work with Bruce Springsteen in the E Street Band and formerly The Sessions Band. Biography Tyrell wa ...
violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
(tracks 2, 4, 8, 10),
backing vocal A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...
(track 10) * Lisa Lowell – backing vocal (track 10) *
Patti Scialfa Vivienne Patricia Scialfa ( ; born July 29, 1953) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Scialfa has been a member of the E Street Band since 1984 and has been married to Bruce Springsteen since 1991. In 2014, Scialfa was inducted into ...
– backing vocal (track 10) Technical * Bruce Sprinigsteen,
Chuck Plotkin Charles Richard Plotkin (born September 8, 1942) is a recording engineer and producer, best known for his work with Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan. Recording engineer Plotkin has recorded, engineered, mastered and produced albums by Bruce Spr ...
production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...
*
Toby Scott Toby Warren Scott is an American record producer, engineer and sound mixer. In addition to serving as an engineer on 18 Bruce Springsteen albums and numerous live performances, Scott has also recorded artists including Bob Dylan, Natalie Mercha ...
engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
and mixing * Greg Goldman – engineering assistant *Gary Myerberg – technical maintenance *Shari Sutcliff – musician contracts * Terry Magovern – research * Sandra Choron – art direction *Harry Choron – art production * Eric Dinyer – cover art * Pam Springsteen – interior photographs


Charts


Weekly charts

, - , - ! scope="row", Italian Albums (
FIMI The Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana (FIMI) is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy. It was established in 1992, when major corporate labels left the previously exist ...
) Search "The Ghost of Tom Joad" as a "Titolo" then click "Classifiche". , 1 , - , - , - , - , - , - , -


Year-end charts


Certifications and sales


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ghost Of Tom Joad, The Bruce Springsteen albums 1995 albums Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album Albums produced by Chuck Plotkin Columbia Records albums Albums produced by Toby Scott