I'm breaking protocol and posting a cover image because I disliked this so much. On the spoken word parts, a tiny portion of it is good; one track - "My Father's House" - is great. The rest is insufferable. Springsteen talking in his phony "old black man drawl" going on with his sentimental lectures, knowing that his adoring audience will applaud at every sentiment, laugh at every falsely self-deprecating joke, and sigh with every trite, mawkish observation by the fake everyman who actually has everything because, as he admits, he is an exceptionally good phony. I will update this review for the acoustic performance of his songs, which I want to listen to separately. But the spoken word parts, which I only listened to once, because that's all that's called-for with spoken words, are terrible. The best thing about this performance is it taught me why I've never really been behind Springsteen (although I do think he has created some fantastic albums, and even one masterpiece in my view) -- he's inauthentic.
Update: The acoustic versions of his prior songs are almost as bad as the spoken word parts. He generally needs a band behind him, especially for his songs that were written for that kind of treatment.
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