posted by on Mar 16
Bruce Springsteen’s latest offering going by the moniker of Wrecking Ball is without doubt the most confrontational, turbulent and generally emotionally charged he’s made in quite a long time to say the least. From the word go, Springsteen appears angry and despairing in most of the tracks – though not without due cause of course. His vision of the US appears to be one of a rather disappointing wasteland of profiteering and ailing national values, with “This Depression” and Shackled and Drawn” leading the charge in no uncertain terms.Instant smash hit “We Take Care of our Own” also couldn’t be more clearly a direct attack on lost values and the abandoning of the American way, cementing a dark undertone that goes way beyond the odd double-meaning here and there.
Of course, Bruce is no stranger to this style of writing, having already documented the daily anguish of his father’s life in “Factory” back in 1978. However, most between then and now at least carried a glimmer of light and positivity, albeit to a diminished extent, but in the case of Wrecking Ball this really is nothing other than a red diesel powered leviathan of a swipe at the American landscape of today – plain and simple.
This is also Springsteen’s first release of new material with co-producer Ron Aniello, along with his first full album since 2005 without full E Street Band backing. A couple of rather apt guitar solos from Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello add an unexpected dynamic to the proceedings, but all in all the basic formula of strings, brass and folky undertones are the order of the day.Reception has generally been pretty warm so far and those preferring the raw, emotionally charges side of the man himself will indeed revel in Wrecking Ball. On the other hand, some critics have been all-too keen to suggest the time has well and truly come for Springsteen to quit serving up reruns of the same old general sounds.
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