WIRE FROM THE BUNKER: Meet the New Dylans

Bruce Springsteen is certainly the most famous artist to have been saddled with the "New Dylan" tag at the beginning of his career and, indeed, in a stamp-sized photo on the back cover of his first LP, the Boss looks like he coulda been Bob's greaser cousin from Joisey.His blue work shirt, in particular, calls to mind Bob's working stiff appearance on the front cover of his own Times They Are A-Changing release from 1963, a good decade before Springsteen's emergence on Greetings from Asbury Park in '73.But, musically, Bruce never quite sounded like Bob.His stuff was largely R&B and pop-based vs. Dylan's roots in folk, country, and blues.I suppose early Springsteen lyrics such as "your barroom eyes shine vacancy" (from "For You") bear a resemblance to some of Bob's more florid formulations as in "your sheet metal visions of Cannery Row" (from "Sad-Eyed Lady").But by Bruce's 4th LP, 1978's Darkness on the Edge of Town, he had left any Dylanisms behind and began to sound more like Bob's own heroes -- particularly, Hank Williams and Woody Guthrie.Bruce has stayed in that simpler musical and lyrical lane ever since.God bless him!

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