Bruce Springsteen

Tunnel of Love

After the tremendous success of Born in the U.S.A., Springsteen took his foot off the throttle quite a bit on Tunnel of Love. The deeply conflicted songs - "Brilliant Disguise," "Two Faces," "Tunnel of Love," "One Step Up" - seem to have been written as reflections of Springsteen's failing marriage to Julianne Phillips. In the same vein, the opening "Ain't Got You" is his rare personal, self-conscious look at being a famous rock star, while the closing "Valentine's Day" inverts the chords of "My Funny Valentine" to produce a death-haunted narrative full of the nature imagery he would pursue further in the early 1990s. "Walk Like a Man" is another chapter in Springsteen's long obsession with his relationship with his father.

The New York Times' Jon Pareles wrote that Tunnel of Love "turned inward, pondering love gone wrong. His first marriage, to the actress Julianne Phillips fell apart; he also decided to part ways with the E Street Band." "Brilliant Disguise" has been called "a heart wrenching song about never being really able to know someone,"and "a song about the doubts and struggles of married life."

Members of the E Street Band were used sparingly on the album; Springsteen recorded most of the parts himself, often with drum machines and synthesizers. Although the album's liner notes list the E Street Band members under that name, it is very doubtful whether Tunnel of Love should be considered an E Street Band album. Indeed, Shore Fire Media, Springsteen's public relations firm, does not count it as an E Street Band album  and The Rising was advertised as "his first studio album with the E Street Band since 'Born in the USA'".

Commercially the album went triple platinum in the U.S., with "Brilliant Disguise" being one of his biggest hit singles, peaking at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, "Tunnel of Love" also making the Top 10, reaching #9, and "One Step Up" just falling short.

The 1988 Springsteen and E Street Band Tunnel of Love Express tour would showcase the album's songs, sometimes in more confrontational arrangements courtesy of The Miami Horns. Once Springsteen remarried to Patti Scialfa and started a family, however, he seemed to have a harder time relating to Tunnel of Love's songs, and they appeared only rarely in his concerts during the late 1990s and 2000s.

Songs Ain't Got You Tougher Than The Rest All That Heaven Will Allow Spare Parts Cautious Man Walk Like A Man Tunnel Of Love Two Faces Brilliant Disguise One Step Up When You're Alone Valentine's Day

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