Wrecking Ball- Bruce Springsteen

 

This is the angriest music Springsteen has made for quite some time. Despite this, his masterful technique of finding beauty in the struggles of everyday life and the broken promises of the American dream have fuelled some of his greatest work. So how good is his 17th effort?

Springsteen has always had a knack for punchy opening tracks and he doesn’t break the pattern on Wrecking Ball. Lead single and album kick off ‘We Take Care of Our Own’, is as widescreen as Springsteen has ever been; a song straight from the classic E Street Band mould. Under the rabble-rousing chorus and driving delivery, a hidden message of political slander is in place. Springsteen voices the sense of isolation and helplessness in the hearts of the American people: ‘We yelled ‘’help’’ but the cavalry stayed home/ There ain’t no-one hearing the bugle blown’. The voice of the American people is prominent, but sadly for Springsteen fans, the album opener proves to be the stand out, amongst a set of ultimately forgettable songs.

 

Despite its lack of quality tunes, Wrecking Ball remains a step forward for the Boss. His previous release, Working on a Dream, saw the abandonment of his political and social vigour in favour of throwaway pop. The notions of street level, working class struggle that made Springsteen a power-house of American songwriting was replaced by songs about supermarket crushes and birthday surprises. But what made Working on a Dream such a baffling record was its timing. Obama becomes president, and Springsteen, of long standing progressive political voice, decides to release an album of inconsequential glossy pop. Thus, Wrecking Ball is refreshing, if only in the sense that Springsteen is refusing to become lost in the depths of commercial music by engaging with significant subject matters.

 

Following on from ‘We Take Care of Our Own’ and the angry romp of ‘Death of My Hometown’, the album goes not-so-gradually downhill, loosing focus and momentum with ‘Jack of All Trades’; a baffling six minutes of stodge, reminiscent of an uninspired X Factor winners song. The title track goes some way towards album recovery, but Wrecking Ball ultimately peters out with a whimper.

 

Springsteen’s latest effort refuses to rest on the overly familiar and easy whereby re-direction, rather than re-invention, is embraced. However, the jury is out on ‘Rocky Ground’, a track tucked away towards the end of the album featuring what would appear to be rapped verse. Its effect is open for interpretation, however it is undeniable that Springsteen is encouraging the new, a process perhaps exaggerated by the loss of Clarence Clemons.

 

Only two recordings for Wrecking Ball were made by ‘the big man’ before he passed away, and his absence is noticeable. ‘The Land of Hope and Dreams’, the last track ever to be graced with one of Clemons’ signature saxophone breaks, is a worthy album highlight. Sadly there are too few of these moments to transform the album into anything worth getting too excited about, and it fails to deliver the hammer blow that the title would suggest. Ultimately, this album will leave new listeners cold, and old-school Springsteen fans reaching for their back catalogues.