The Boss returns with his 17th studio album against a backdrop of unemployment, a global economic crisis and a disdain for the wealthy that created it – what could be better?
The opening eight bar beat of first track We Take Care of Our Own suggests that Springsteen has learnt a tick or two from the young, punk upstarts he has recently been championing. 15 seconds in however, that unmistakable New Jersey sound chimes in. The initial verse may well have sounded at home on Springsteen’s last two LP’s, however it’s when the chorus kicks in that we realise the Boss of old has returned. Raging ‘We take care of our own’ Springsteen offers a derisive quote that Republicans and other no brain patriots may well misconstrue. That Springsteen has felt cause to take such a risk for the first time since 1984’s Born in the USA was so horrifically misinterpreted highlights just how important Springsteen believes his message to be.
Second track Easy Money offers a Southern country flavour that immediately implies that Wrecking Ball will be a true Americana record. Shackled and Drawn offers a similar vibe but with a railroad blues undercurrent with Springsteen asking ‘What’s a poor boy to so in a world gone wrong?’ maintaining that unrivalled essence of storytelling that proves despite his millions, The Boss is still very much the working class man.
The albums train track pace is slowed down by the piano driven Jack of All Trades, which reaches a soft crescendo of trumpets, classical guitars and an electric solo from Tom Morello. Even this soft timbre cannot mask Springsteen’s anger however, proclaiming ‘If I had me a gun, I’d find the bastards and shoot them on sight’. Death to My Hometown has a Celtic, rockabilly mix, perfectly complimenting a stomping electric clap running throughout.
Title track Wrecking Ball may have been written and first performed ahead of the destruction of the New York Giants stadium in New Jersey back in 2009, but it fits perfectly both as an anthemic title and thumping kick-starter to the second half of the LP. The most autobiographical and hopeful song on the album, it opens with the triumphant stanza ‘I was raised out of steel here in the swamps of Jersey, some misty years ago, through the mud and the beer, the blood and the cheers I’ve seen champions come and go’. This only serves to cement Bruce’s place as New Jersey’s spokesman and hero. The crash of cymbals accompanying every chant of ‘bring on your wrecking ball’ is an adrenaline fuelled fist pumper, bringing in an equally energetic brass section, the eloquent contrast between verse and chorus perfectly orchestrated by Soozie Tyrell’s violin. Springsteen remains, however, the focal point. Repeating ‘hard times come and hard times go’ providing the sense of fight that is perhaps the most important message of all.
Acoustic driven You’ve Got It is the ideal track to follow such an anthem, providing the soulful, foot tapping, shoulder swagger that has always come so east to Springsteen. Rocky Ground is a gospel tinged singalong, broken up by a rap section from the superbly talented Michelle Moore. That this feels an almost natural progression, if a surprising one, emphasises just how much of a genre spanning album Wrecking Ball is.
Land of Hope and Dreams was first performed back in 1999 but features on Wrecking Ball for good reason. The last track recorded with E-Street saxophone icon Clarence Clemons, who passed last year and is lovingly remembered as ‘Too big to fucking die’ by Springsteen in the album notes, this is a perfect farewell, with the Big Man’s powerful solo offering both fond memories and an optimistic future.
Such an outpouring of emotion, so passionately maintained for a soul draining and refilling seven minutes is always difficult to follow and this is perhaps the unavoidable downfall of next two tracks We Are Alive and Swallowed Up (In the Belly of the Whale). We Are Alive is a rock n roll, banjo supplemented country and western song that also can’t quite match the fire of the first half of the album, despite its warmth and positivity. Penultimate track Swallowed Up (In the Belly of the Whale) serves as a slow burning melancholy lullaby ‘I dreamed I awoke, as if buried in my grave’.
The slight lull of intensity provided by Swallowed Up may well have been deliberately placed by Springsteen, as it sets up the perfect anti-dote in the shape of album closer American Land. Outlining all the promised glory and riches of the American Dream ™, Wrecking Ball’s final bow is a glorious Irish folk classic. Detailing the hope of migrants to America, Springsteen adopts an Irish snarl amidst a river dance of strings, drums, lutes, pots, pans and anything else lying around chez Springsteen.
With Wrecking Ball Springsteen has created a genuine blue collar, genre spanning masterpiece. It serves as a darker, angrier (re)definition of all that makes Bruce Springsteen great, a story told with unequalled style and musicianship underlining The Boss’ relevance and importance.
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