Personnel: Bruce Springsteen (vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards); Nils Lofgren (vocals, guitar); Jimmie Wood (harmonica); Roy Bittan (piano, synthesizer); Danny Federici (organ); Garry Tallent (bass); Max Weinberg (drums, percussion); Patty Scialfa, Clarence Clemons (background vocals).

Producers: Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau, Chuck Plotkin.

Recorded in New Jersey and at A&M Studios, Los Angeles, California.

Personnel: Bruce Springsteen (vocals, guitar, harmonica, sound effects); Nils Lofgren (vocals, guitar); Clarence Clemons (vocals, saxophone); Danny Federici (vocals, organ); Patti Scialfa (vocals); James Wood (harmonica); Garry Tallent (horns); Roy Bittan (piano, keyboards, synthesizer); Max Weinberg (drums, percussion).

Audio Mixers: Mark McKenna; Bob Clearmountain.

Recording information: A&M Studios, Hollywood, CA; Kren Studio, Los Angeles, CA; Nj; The Hit Factory, New York, NY.

Photographers: Bob Adelman; Annie Leibovitz; Elliot Erwitt.

Just as he had followed his 1980 commercial breakthrough The River with the challenging Nebraska, Bruce Springsteen followed the most popular album of his career, Born in the U.S.A., with another low-key, anguished effort, Tunnel of Love. Especially in their sound, several of the songs, "Cautious Man" and "Two Faces," for example, could have fit seamlessly onto Nebraska, though the arrangements overall were not as stripped-down and acoustic as on the earlier album. While Nebraska was filled with songs of economic desperation, however, Tunnel of Love, as its title suggested, was an album of romantic exploration. But the lovers were just as desperate in their way as Nebraska's small-time criminals. In song after song, Springsteen questioned the trust and honesty on both sides in a romantic relationship, specifically a married relationship. Since Springsteen sounded more autobiographical than ever before ("Ain't Got You" referred to his popular success, while "Walk Like a Man" seemed another explicit message to his father), it was hard not to wonder about the state of his own two-and-a-half-year marriage, and it wasn't surprising when that marriage collapsed the following year. Tunnel of Love was not the album that the ten million fans who had bought Born in the U.S.A. as of 1987 were waiting for, and though it topped the charts, sold three million copies, and spawned three Top 40 hits, much of this was on career momentum. Springsteen was as much at a crossroads with his audience as he seemed to be in his work and in his personal life, though this was not immediately apparent. ~ William Ruhlmann

TUNNEL OF LOVE (Bruce Springsteen's ninth album) is essentially a solo release and marked the final chapter of The E Street band, whose members appear separately on several tracks. Springsteen's home studio in Rumson, New Jersey was the primary recording location.

Popular music as an art form has attained some of its greatest peaks when dealing with the thorny material of relationships. Bruce Springsteen's Tunnel Of Love, a powerful meditation on his own disintegrating marriage, represents a classic of its type. Predominantly an intimate solo recording the songs convey the gamut of emotions experienced in a long-term relationship, from desire ('Ain't Got You') through disquiet and deceit ('Tunnel Of Love' and 'Brilliant Disguise') to despair ('When You're Alone'), ending on a note of cautious optimism ('Valentine's Day'). Springsteen would never again be as nakedly emotional as he was on this beautiful and honest album.

Rolling Stone (11/89) - Ranked #25 in Rolling Stone's 100 Best LPs Of The 80s Survey.

Q (10/01, p.43) - Ranked #48 in Q's "Best 50 Albums of Q's Lifetime" - "...Springsteen never sounded more focussed..."

Q (3/00, p.124) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...the first in a series of bravely confessional releases (the closing 'Valentine's Day' is quietly heartbreaking) and his last work for some time with the E Street Band..."