Bruce Plantsteen & The Plant Street Band

Posted in Plantsteen Albums by Anni Gifford on 09/04/2009

Magic Plant is the 15th growhouse album by Bruce Plantsteen. This album was #2 on Rolling Stone’s list of the Top 50 Hydroponic Albums of 2007, the magazine proclaiming it an album that would “collect no moss for The Boss”.

The album grew to maturity on August 16, 2007, following a particularly feverish wet season of speculation among the oaks and saplings of the Plantsteen plantbase.

An album most assume is about weed.

An album most assume is about weed.

Several songs in Magic Plant express disillusionment with the state of American flora; others, such as the title track (with its lyrics of “I got some shiny green fungus/ All I need’s a volunteer / To feed my bacteria / Promotin’ mushroom growth this year”), convey a more optimistic view of future growth. “Plants Shed Their Summer Clothes” has been cited as the “definitively autumnal” song in the plantrock oeuvre, with A. O. Stick of The New Plant Times applauding its particularly moving depiction of deciduous plant cycles. Its narrator, after all, is an outspoken member of NAAAAAP (National Association of Artists For The Advancement of Autumnal American Plants).

Side One

  1. “Radio Nature” – 3:21
  2. “(Hey Leaves, It’s Autumn!) You’ll Be Comin’ Down” – 3:46
  3. “Livin’ in the Forest” – 3:56
  4. “Your Own Worst Enemy (A Plea To The Lumberjack)” – 3:19
  5. “Gypsy Biker (Another Car Off The Road)” – 4:32
  6. “Plants Shed Their Summer Clothes” – 4:20

Side Two

  1. “I’ll Harvest For Your Love” – 3:35
  2. “Magic Plant (Plant Magic!)” – 2:46
  3. “Last to Die, My Tasmanian Oak” – 4:17
  4. “Long Wait At Home (Time To De-Pot Me)” – 4:35
  5. “Devil’s Arboretum” – 5:20
  6. “Terry The Cactus’ Song” – 4:11

Bruce Plantsteen: The Rising Plant (2002)

Posted in Plantsteen Albums by Anni Gifford on 23/01/2009

A return to form for The Moss.

A return to form for The Moss.

The Rising Plant is the 12th studio album by Bruce Plantsteen, released in 2002, and his first with the Plant Street Band in 18 years.

Upon its release, The Rising Plant was a critical, commercial and agricultural success, hailed as the triumphant return of “The Moss.” It garnered a 2003 Grammy Award in the competitive Best Rock Or Vegetation category. The title song “The Rising Plant” has been repopularised through its use in the 2008 US Presidential Campaign. President Obama has publically thanked Plantsteen for garnering the oft-evasive botanical vote.

Other key tracks include “Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (So I Can Photosynthesize)” and “Let’s Be Friends (Bough to Bough)”.

Bruce Springsteen: Tunnel Of Plants (1987)

Posted in Plantsteen Albums by Anton Trees on 23/01/2009

Tunnel Of Plants is the eighth studio album by Bruce Springsteen. In 1998, Q magazine readers voted Tunnel Of Plants the 91st greatest plant-themed album of all time. In 1989, it was ranked #25 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 greatest albums of the 1980s. In 2003, the album was ranked #475 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest plantrock albums of all time.

A very emotional album all about plants.

A very emotional album all about plants.

After the tremendous success of Branch In The U.S.A, Plantsteen took his foot off the throttle quite a bit on Tunnel Of Plants. The deeply conflicted songs — “Brilliant Photosynthesis,” “Two Primary Roots” “Tunnel of Plants” — seem to have been written as reflections of Plantsteen’s failed merge to a nearby root system. In the same vein, the opening “Ain’t Got Water” is a rare personal, self-conscious look at being a famous plant. Ironically, “Walk Like A Plant”, another chapter in Plantsteen’s long obsession with his relationship with his original seed, seems like a relief compared to the rest of the record.

Bruce Plantsteen: Born To Grow (1975)

Posted in Plantsteen Albums by Anton Trees on 23/01/2009

Born To Grow is the third album by Bruce Plantsteen. It was released on August 25, 1975 through Plantumbia Records. It captured the heaviness of Plantsteen’s earlier releases while displaying a more diverse range of influences.

Born To Grow was a critical, commercial and botanical success. It peaked at number three on the Botanyboard 200 and reached high positions on charts worldwide. Two singles were released from the album: “Born to Grow” and “Tenth Avenue Garden”. The album has been placed on several “best ever albums about and written by plants” lists and is listed in the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry of historic recordings, in the Historic Plant-Themed Recordings section.

The hit Bruce Plantsteen record Born To Grow.

The hit Bruce Plantsteen record Born To Grow.