Tunnel of Love (album)

For other uses, see Tunnel of love.

Tunnel of Love
File:TunnelOfLove1987.JPG
Studio album by Bruce Springsteen
Released	October 9, 1987
Recorded	January - July 1987
Genre	Pop, pop rock
Length	46:25
Label	Columbia
Producer	Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau, Chuck Plotkin
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band chronology
Live/1975-85 (1986)Live/1975-851986 Tunnel of Love (1987) Chimes of Freedom (EP) (1988)Chimes of Freedom (EP)1988
Singles from Tunnel of Love
"Brilliant Disguise" Released: October 3, 1987 "Tunnel of Love" Released: October 17, 1987 "One Step Up" Released: February 27, 1988 "Tougher Than the Rest" Released: June 1988 "Spare Parts" Released: October 1988

Tunnel of Love is the eighth studio album by Bruce Springsteen. The album was originally released on October 9, 1987. Although members of the E Street Band were used occasionally 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, Shore Fire Media, Springsteen's public relations firm, does not count it as an E Street Band album and 2002's The Rising was advertised as "his first studio album with the E Street Band since 'Born in the USA'".

In 1989, the album was ranked #25 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Best Albums of the Eighties" while in 2003, the same magazine ranked it at #467 on their list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. "Brilliant Disguise", "Tunnel of Love", "One Step Up", "Tougher Than the Rest", and "Spare Parts" were all released as singles.

Background

The album is one of Springsteen's least performed set of songs. 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." According to Pareles, most of the album's songs are pop rock paeans or midtempo ballads. "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."

On the B-sides of vinyl and cassette singles, outtakes like "Lucky Man", "Two for the Road" and a vintage 1979 track, "Roulette" were included. On the mini-album that accompanied the 1988 tour, Springsteen included album cut "Tougher Than The Rest", but included another River outtake, "Be True" a rearranged, acoustic "Born To Run", and the Bob Dylan cover, "Chimes of Freedom".

Commercially the album went triple platinum in the US, 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 arrangements courtesy of The Miami Horns.

Music videos

Irish filmmaker Meiert Avis directed the music videos for "Brilliant Disguise", "One Step Up", "Tougher Than the Rest", and "Tunnel of Love". The videos were shot on locations in New Jersey, including Asbury Park. The intensely personal "Brilliant Disguise" video broke new ground on MTV, being a single shot without edits. The video was nominated for four MTV Awards, including Video of the Year and, paradoxically, Best Editing.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Chicago Tribune
Q
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
The Village Voice	A

In a contemporary review for Playboy, music critic Robert Christgau wrote that, apart from the humorous opening track and the clichéd track that follows, Tunnel of Love is "convincing, original stuff—it zeroes in on fear of commitment as a pathology and battles it." He particularly praised the album's introspective second half in his consumer guide for The Village Voice, saying that it showed Springsteen's decency and ability for self-examination. Rolling Stone magazine's Steve Pond said that Tunnel of Love is "a varied, modestly scaled, modern-sounding pop album" rather than a rock and roll album and felt that its unromantic tales of love are similar to Springsteen's socially conscious work about broken promises and dreams in America:

On Tunnel of Love, Springsteen is writing about the promises people make to each other and the way they renege on those promises, about the romantic dreams we're brought up with and the internal demons that stifle those dreams. The battleground has moved from the streets to the sheets, but the battle hasn't changed significantly.

In 1989, the album was ranked #25 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Best Albums of the Eighties" while in 2003, the same magazine ranked it at #467 on their list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 1998, Q magazine readers voted Tunnel of Love the 91st greatest album of all time.

In The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics poll, Tunnel of Love finished second in the voting for the year's best album. Christgau, the poll's creator, named it the third best album of the year in his own list.

Writing for America Magazine, Catholic priest and sociologist Andrew Greeley argued that this album exemplifies the American Catholic imagination.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Bruce Springsteen. 

Side one
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Ain't Got You"	2:11
2.	"Tougher Than the Rest"	4:35
3.	"All That Heaven Will Allow"	2:39
4.	"Spare Parts"	3:44
5.	"Cautious Man"	3:58
6.	"Walk Like a Man"	3:45

Side two
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Tunnel of Love"	5:12
2.	"Two Faces"	3:03
3.	"Brilliant Disguise"	4:17
4.	"One Step Up"	4:22
5.	"When You're Alone"	3:24
6.	"Valentine's Day"	5:10

Unreleased outtakes

With over 80 songs said to have been recorded for the previous album, 19 songs are known to have been recorded for Tunnel of Love with twelve making the album's final cut while "Lucky Man" and "Two For the Road" were released as b sides and later on the Tracks along with other outtakes such as "The Honeymooners", "The Wish" and "When You Need Me". "Part Man, Part Monkey" was also recorded during these sessions and played live on the Tunnel of Love Express Tour although that version remains unreleased and it would be re-recorded during future album sessions and eventually released. "Walking Through Midnight" is the only other unreleased song which was co-written by Southside Johnny who recorded the song for his own album, 1988's Slow Dance.

• Part Man, Part Monkey
• Walking Through Midnight

Personnel

• Bruce Springsteen – lead vocals, backing vocals, guitar, mandolin, bass guitar, keyboards, harmonica, percussion, drum machines

The E Street Band

• Roy Bittan – piano on "Brilliant Disguise", synthesizers on "Tunnel of Love"
• Clarence Clemons – backing vocals on "When You're Alone"
• Danny Federici – organ on "Tougher Than the Rest", "Spare Parts", "Two Faces", and "Brilliant Disguise"
• Nils Lofgren – guitar solo on "Tunnel of Love", backing vocals on "When You're Alone"
• Patti Scialfa – backing vocals on "Tunnel of Love", "One Step Up" and "When You're Alone"
• Garry Tallent – bass guitar on "Spare Parts"
• Max Weinberg – drums on "All That Heaven Will Allow", "Two Faces" and "When You're Alone"; percussion on "Tougher Than the Rest", "Spare Parts", "Walk Like a Man", "Tunnel of Love", and "Brilliant Disguise"

Additional musician

• James Wood – harmonica on "Spare Parts"

Production

• Bob Clearmountain – mixing
• Jay Healy – mixing assistant
• Bob Ludwig – mastering
• Mark McKenna – mixing assistant
• Roger Talkov – engineer

Charts

Peak positions

Chart (1987–88)	Position
Australian Kent Music Report	5
Austrian Albums Chart	6
Canadian RPM Albums Chart	1
Dutch Albums Chart	4
French SNEP Albums Chart	5
Italian Albums Chart	1
Japanese Oricon LPs Chart	3
New Zealand Albums Chart	6
Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart	1
Spanish Albums Chart	1
Swedish Albums Chart	1
Swiss Albums Chart	2
UK Albums Chart	1
U.S. Billboard 200	1
West German Media Control Albums Chart	3

Year-end charts

Chart (1987)	Position
Australian Albums Chart	63
Canadian Albums Chart	16
Dutch Albums Chart	52
French Albums Chart	35
Italian Albums Chart	18
UK Albums Chart	49

Chart (1988)	Position
Dutch Albums Chart	36
Swiss Albums Chart	14
U.S. Billboard Year-End	16

Certifications

Region	Certification	Sales/shipments
Australia (ARIA)	Platinum	70,000
Canada (Music Canada)	3× Platinum	300,000
Finland (Musiikkituottajat)	Gold	40,716
France (SNEP)	2× Gold	201,700
Germany (BVMI)	Gold	250,000
Japan (Oricon Charts)		128,400
Netherlands (NVPI)	2× Platinum	200,000
Spain (PROMUSICAE)	2× Platinum	200,000
Sweden (GLF)	Platinum	100,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	Platinum	300,000
United States (RIAA)	3× Platinum	3,000,000
^shipments figures based on certification alone

External links

• Album lyrics and audio samples

Preceded by Bad by Michael Jackson	UK number one album October 17, 1987 – October 23, 1987	Succeeded by ...Nothing Like the Sun by Sting
Preceded by Bad by Michael Jackson	Italian FIMI Chart number-one album October 24, 1987 – October 30, 1987	Succeeded by ...Nothing Like the Sun by Sting
Preceded by Bad by Michael Jackson	Swedish Chart number-one album October 28, 1987	Succeeded by Efter stormen by Marie Fredriksson
Preceded by La Bamba (soundtrack) by Various artists	Canadian RPM 100 number-one album October 31, 1987 – November 14, 1987	Succeeded by Vital Idol by Billy Idol
Preceded by Bad by Michael Jackson	Billboard 200 number-one album November 7–13, 1987	Succeeded by Dirty Dancing (soundtrack) by Various artists
Preceded by Bad by Michael Jackson	Norwegian VG-lista number-one album 42 – 47 / 1987	Succeeded by Glade jul by Sissel Kyrkjebø