Bruce Springsteen: Wrecking Ball - 2012

"Very rock 'n' roll ... with unexpected textures—loops, electronic percussion and an amazing sweep of influences and rhythms, from hip-hop to Irish folk rhythms" - The Hollywood Reporter

 

Another somewhat perplexing album, after some patchy output in the first decade of the new millennium, Bruce Springsteen was back, this time railing at big finance, bankers and corporate business. Many would say this was somewhat hypocritical from a multi-millionaire, but Springsteen’s heart has always been in the right place. His targets were/are definitely deserving of it. 

This is not an E Street Band album, some of the members, like Garry Tallent and Nils Lofgren do not appear at all. Others appear randomly on just a few tracks. Springsteen employs a large brass section, and the album is a sort of bridging point between the folky brass oompah of The Seeger Sessions and the guitar-driven rock of the last three albums. There are other styles in there too, lots of Irish rebel folk instrumental breaks, some gospel inflections and even some rap (which appalled some fans!). 

Let's check out the rocky ground.....

For me, this is an album which starts really well, but tails off quite markedly. We Take Care Of Our Own is a pounding diatribe against a country who clearly does not always take care of its own, as in the case of Hurricane Katrina. Easy Money is a folk rock gripe at financiers, as is the catchy, singalong Shackled And Drawn with its big band backing. 

Jack Of All Trades is an evocative sparsely backed slow number, Bruce telling us how he will fix our roof, while Death To My Hometown is another rousing, folky tub thumper uniting us poor souls all against those nasty bankers. 

While Wrecking Ball is another fist pumper, just before that song we had the tedious This Depression which saw the general standard of songs decline and this was continued by the thoroughly unremarkable and actually equally tedious You’ve Got It. 

Rocky Ground features the rap and is actually quite appealing, as is one of the album’s best songs, the moving We Are Alive which sees ghosts of pioneers and past social conflicts rising up to tell their stories against a rousing Johnny Cash Ring Of Fire backing. Either side of that, though, is the studio version of the live barnstormer Land Of Hope And Dreams which is extremely disappointing and nowhere near as inspirational as the version that appeared on Live At New York City. 

Swallowed Up (In The Belly Of The Whale) is terribly turgid, but things are finished on a high note with the exhilarating Irish-influenced American Land. 

There is some good material on here, but there are also some treading water moments which render this an album that feels a little incomplete.