Friday is Boss’ Day: Rediscovering “Devils and Dust”

I got an iPod a few weeks ago – one of those 80GB models that allows you to store thousands upon thousands of songs. I put my entire Springsteen collection on there, and then I got to Devils and Dust.

When I first heard the CD in its entirety I remember telling a friend of mine that “this was not his best work.” He sang in all these different voices, and some of the lyrics were unintelligable.  But being the devoted fan I am, I gave it a second and third listen, but still thought the same thing.  A few months later, I started hearing “Leah” and “Maria’s Bed” every now and then on XM Satellite Radio, and that prompted me to pull out the disc again. It was starting to sound a little better, although it was still hard to stomach slower tracks like “Matamoros Banks,” “Reno,” and “Black Cowboys.”

So I load the disc on the iPod a few weeks ago, and figure I will give it another listen. I don’t know if it was time or what, but Devils and Dust has finally grown on me.

Who’s Crying Now? Journey, Eagles and Wal-Mart

 

There really is nothing fancy about Wal-Mart. People don’t care what they look like when they go shopping there, prices are low, and if you can find a family of four with a full set of teeth at the store by my house, I’ll buy you lunch. But somehow, the nation’s No. 1 retailer has become the venue of choice for classic rockers to sell their product.

We here at 30 Days Out laughed when The Eagles (we mostly made fun of Don Henley who hates corporations who make money, except when it serves his interest) said they were only selling their first album in nearly 30 years, Long Road Out of Eden, exclusively at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club. Several million copies later, the joke is on us. Now Journey with new lead singer Arnel Pineda, and later this year, AC/DC will be hawking their stuff in the land of the dentally challenged.

Although we laughed, the business model is genius. Wal-Mart is hyping these releases like they are the Second Coming with big displays and videos playing all over the store. There is no way these guys (maybe the Eagles would) get this type of coverage if they were in every store. They would end up, as Billy Joel once said, “in the discount rack like another can of beans.” 

It’s nice to see the classic rockers getting over. A lot of these guys are still making great music, and most of them are never heard because radio refuses to play their new stuff and record companies fail to promote them properly. So bands like the Eagles and Journey decided to go where their demographic shops. Pure genius. As for Wal-Mart, it might single-handedly save the CD.  Don’t Stop Believin’.

 MP3: “Don’t Stop Believin'” by Journey (2008 version)