JF i completely like all the songs and would put the album in my list of 200 favourite records anytime. (I used to comment and grade the records and songs back then, and it is one of the very few records that all but three songs are marked with 5 stars, and the other three with 4! I note that this is probably his best moment, but there is something lost due to the constant radio plays. So back then I had no problem with the sound itself) Although I bought my copy in 1993 (my 179th record-I have lost count since!
) I knew most of the songs and grew up with them. But you probably misunderstand me. Even though I only said that has not aged well (not dated=old-fashioned, completely different ), means that it bears the unmistakable sounds of a certain time in music history (the 80ies) that the use of certain synthesizers has marked distinctively and they don't sound that well anymore, sometimes because they sound unnatural and sometimes because of their very relation with that specific age they originated from. I can tell you that I have an open mind and like many kinds of music and the 80ies is a very big part of it, so it is probably the unnatural feeling they create. I still like to listen it, but on certain songs, even the fantastic composition doesn't save me from feeling that something is wrong with the sound. But listen to "The River", or "Born to run" or my favourite "The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle" and the sound still sounds alive and real, even if there are elements that point to the time they were recorded. I guess it has to do with the sound. Even Dire straits, had the same problem with BiA, (and in lesser degree OES) even though I cut them a great deal of slack, for reasons you probably understand.
