Bruce Springsteen - Wrecking Ball Album Review

To be on studio album seventeen and still sound relevant, and most importantly, still sound original, then The Boss can do no more.

By Brian Charity / March 7, 2012

rating: 4

Wrecking Ball is as subtle as the title suggests. Listening to the majority of Bruce Springsteens seventeen studio albums, it is obvious he has never been one to duck in behind someone and poke his head out whenever the coast is clear. Springsteen, as he has done and will continue to do, marches right out and puts himself in the firing line. Perhaps to some people, an album so heavily influenced by global depression and political uncertainty could prove monotonous. Those people are wrong. Hes called The Boss for a reason. The album begins with We Take Care of Our Own, a song immediately distinguishable as Classic Springsteen. A marching drum beat punches this patriotic sound, echoing the lines Wherever this flag is flown/ we take care of our own. Springsteen has always reached for those anthems that you can imagine festival crowds screaming back at him. It has already been released as a single, and it has that single vibe. It is probably the easiest of the album for non-fans to tap along to. Easy Money is much more folk-sounding. I can imagine sitting on my rocking chair, looking out from my porch, drinking some homemade whiskey and shouting yee-haw every so often. Its not the best song on the album, but it is a nice segue into the downright funky Shackled and Drawn. Its a toe-tapping, knee-slapping rousing song, complete with choir and catchy chorus. The song is a traditional workmans song, coming complete with Freedom, son, is a dirty shirt/ the sun on my face and my shovel in the dirt. I know the feeling. Jack of All Trades takes me by surprise. It is much slower, poetic, almost haunting. For the first time we hear Springsteen raw and uncut. His voice doesnt soar through the clouds. But thats the point. This song is about experience, about sounding real. It sits in the corner and sings quietly. Maybe after some homemade whiskey, as the night draws to a close, you can imagine listening to this song. A polite criticism is that is sounds to me to be more of a closing song, for the end of the album. Though, it does have one of the best brass sections Ive heard for many years. And it comes with my favourite line of the entire album If I had me a gun, I'd find the bastards and shoot 'em on sight/ I'm a Jack of all trades, we'll be alright. So Ill trust the Boss on this one. Death To My Hometown is Springsteen dipping his toes into the pool of Irish traditional music. Tin whistle and all. Its a linking arms and dancing around song. So close to St. Patricks Day, I think this album might just be on repeat. Its a rebel song from one of the best rebels around. Following this is This Depression, which as the title suggests, is not a rousing classic, but a slow, contemplative song. Its the weakest on what is so far an incredible album. It has heart and experience, but it feels a bit too low and broken to keep my attention. Wrecking Ball is the middle finger salute which Springsteen has held aloft through the album. The title song of the album is good, and comes with the depressing message of hard times come, hard times go/ just to come again. Again, the trumpets work overtime, the choir come back, Springsteen growls, and his guitar ends up broken no doubt. Interestingly, Springsteens late sax player Clarence Clemmons shines on this, one of his last recordings with the Boss. What is an album without some song about a woman/man? Nothing. Exactly. Youve Got It shows a sexually-frustrated Springsteen complimenting a woman, saying Baby, youve to it/ come on, give it to me. Not quite Shakespeare, but Shakespeare didnt have an E Street Band. Think its a lesson for everyone. Its not the sort of Michael Buble/Valentines Day soundtrack, but if anything it acts as an interlude to Rocky Ground, a little less classic Springsteen and a little more Fugees. Complete with rapping. Not from Bruce (alas!) Its got a modern feel, but it sticks out a bit. Not convinced just yet. Clemmons appears on Land of Hope and Dreams, with an enigmatic solo, something fans and admirers of his will long remember. The song is one Springsteen has played live before, but has undergone a facelift, throwing in a gospel choir for good measure. You sense the album is drawing to a close with Land of Hope and Dreams. Springsteens religious influences creep into this album throughout, but it is none more potent that this song, cries of You just thank the Lord fade out. We Are Alive is the final song on the album, and sounds like the backing track has been lifted from Johnny Cashs Ring of Fire. It puts me off in all fairness. Springsteen has spent an entire album doing what he does best, but its this riff that juts out a bit too much for my taste. The album is wholly political. To listen to Bruce Springsteen and not assume some sort of political oversight would be to disregard the man entirely. The album has got some beautiful moments, the highlights being Jack of All Trade, and the solo from Clarence Clemmons on Land of Hope and Dreams. There are one or two moments where I found myself out of the album and listening to with a puzzled face (We Are Alive still drives me nuts), but to be on studio album seventeen and still sound relevant, and most importantly, still sound original, then The Boss can do no more. Bruce Springsteen's new album Wrecking Ball is available now.