Personnel: Bruce Springsteen (vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards); Nils Lofgren (vocals, guitar); Jimmie Wood (harmonica); Roy Bittan (piano, synthesizer); Danny Federici (organ); Garry Tallent (bass); Max Weinberg (drums, percussion); Patty Scialfa, Clarence Clemons (background vocals).
Producers: Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau, Chuck Plotkin.
Recorded in New Jersey and at A&M Studios, Los Angeles, California.
TUNNEL OF LOVE (Bruce Springsteen's ninth album) is essentially a solo release and marked the final chapter of The E Street band, whose members appear separately on several tracks. Springsteen's home studio in Rumson, New Jersey was the primary recording location.
Popular music as an art form has attained some of its greatest peaks when dealing with the thorny material of relationships. Bruce Springsteen's Tunnel Of Love, a powerful meditation on his own disintegrating marriage, represents a classic of its type. Predominantly an intimate solo recording the songs convey the gamut of emotions experienced in a long-term relationship, from desire ('Ain't Got You') through disquiet and deceit ('Tunnel Of Love' and 'Brilliant Disguise') to despair ('When You're Alone'), ending on a note of cautious optimism ('Valentine's Day'). Springsteen would never again be as nakedly emotional as he was on this beautiful and honest album.
What the critics say...
Rolling Stone (11/89) - Ranked #25 in Rolling Stone's 100 Best LPs Of The 80s Survey.
Q (10/01, p.43) - Ranked #48 in Q's "Best 50 Albums of Q's Lifetime" - "...Springsteen never sounded more focussed..."
Q (3/00, p.124) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...the first in a series of bravely confessional releases (the closing 'Valentine's Day' is quietly heartbreaking) and his last work for some time with the E Street Band..."
