Bruce Springsteen - High Hopes

High Hopes is the sixteenth album from the Bruce Springsteen, tidying up songs written over the course of the last decade or so alongside a couple of covers and a re-recording of his Steinbeck-inspired anthem for the common man, ‘Ghost of Tom Joad’

Several of these tracks were recorded during a break on the Wrecking Ball tour with ex-Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello and though on the surface purveyors of widescreen American rock and ferocious rap-metal have little in common, both Springsteen and Morello share a sense of empathy with the downtrodden and a debt to the works of both Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan that makes their collaborations less unlikely than they may initially appear. Unfortunately whilst perhaps shaking Bruce out of his roots-rock comfort zone is an admirable goal, many of Morello’s worse impulses are allowed to run unchecked. On the seven minute revisit of ‘Ghost of Tom Joad’ – explosively covered by Rage on their patchy covers album Renegades - he smothers the track in wah-wah sounds, guitar pyrotechnics and his famous axe-as-turntable screeches but ends up with a lesser result than the stripped back original.

Springsteen has never been afraid to sing songs about the little man even now that he’s a very big man indeed but conceptually the grab-bag nature of the tracks undermines any sense of High Hopes as a cohesive album. For aficionados a studio release for ‘American Skin (41 Shots)’ – originally written about the killing of Amadou Diallo by New York policemen and revisited in the wake of the death of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin. – offers compelling testimony that Bruce has had a much better 2000s than he had a nineties but bar a pair of classic modern-era Springsteen cuts High Hopes flounders under the weight of curious celtic drum flourishes and predictable songcraft.

‘This is the Sword’ and ‘Hunter of Invisible Game’ are as stuffy and lifeless as their titles suggest, whilst the plodding ‘Harry’s Place’ suggests that although Springsteen can churn out widescreen mid-tempo rock in his sleep Harry’s place may actually be in the retirement home.

Fortunately, the sax ecstasy of ‘Just like Fire Would’ and ‘Frankie Fell in Love’s wailing Steve Earle guitar swing the pendulum back in favour of the more uplifting end of his output; tales of burning love with just enough hints of darkness to navigate a descent into hokey cheese but when you stop to think what High Hopes tell us about Bruce Springsteen, about America and about rock music, you realise that this is more of a stop-gap affair than a burning romance.

4



Max Sefton

March 2012 Round Up

Hello lovely readers, the last month was March and some items of interest occurred during its 4-week reign, namely:

SXSW happened:
Skrillex’s performance led to the creation of a thousand think pieces on a thousand blogs that debated and evaluated every aspect of those thudding bass drops until, bloodied and weeping, Sonny Moore hung himself in a backstage urinal, wrenching off his signature luscious locks and garrotting himself as he whispered “I just wanted to be taken seriously, I love Aphex Twin, I once offered Ryan Schreiber oral pleasure in exchange for a 7.4”. The union representing emo kids who converted to dubstep “way before it got big man” and middle aged men with mohicans is yet to release a press statement.

The ASAP crew beat the shit out of some bloggers in an effort to show off their rock hard attitude and snatch the position of the toughest rap crew in the US whilst Odd Future are busy disappearing up their own arseholes in a flurry of sold out shows, fuck-awful sketches and overpriced merch.

Cloud Nothings were supposed to have been pretty good.

In other Odd Future news, the gang dropped “The OF Tape Volume 2” to largely positive reviews. It’s a pretty decent showcase of the groups stylistic disparity and gave us hope for their future in the form of the ten minute posse cut “Oldie” and Mike G’s dense and thuggish “Forest Green”, which marked his transition from background player to force to be reckoned with. Although its defining feature must surely be OF’s abandonment of their misogynistic lyrical bent in favour of several tracks that are like listening to cats hugging. Oh, hang on, three of the tracks have Bitch in the title, forget that last bit.

Andrew WK announced that he is to reissue the 2001 classic LP I Get Wet on July 17th. Not much to say on this other than, with luck, it’ll lead to Party Hard seeing a pseudo-ironic revival amongst trendy young things and WK’s unbeatable outfits inspiring a new generation to embrace the sport trainer/ white trouser combination.

And with great sadness, we bid farewell to a band that burned briefly yet so brightly. I am of course talking of the late great Viva Brother. Emerging from 2010 as the kings of the UK’s music scene, a succession of hit singles preceded their astonishing debut “Famous First Words” captured the hearts and minds of millions and inspired Pitchfork to declare them “possibly better than Sufjan”, which is high praise indeed. So let’s all grab a drink, stick “The Darling Buds of May” on and raise a toast to those kings of men. 
 

Lastly, here are some releases we’ve been rinsing senseless in Sound Influx’s theoretical offices:

Slow Animal – Slow Animal

“With their self titled debut album, it is evident they have progressed since their initial demos. The energy is higher, the drumming is fiercer, the songs are more detailed. A lot of the initial demos seemed to centre on small helpings of chords that often repeated. Not to say that is a bad thing, they’re still great songs, but with their debut release, the songs are a lot more fleshed out and mature. The band have evidently progressed.”

Eliot Humphreys’ full 8.3 review is here.


Kindness - World, You Need A Change Of Mind

"World, You Need A Change Of Mind is exactly what you would expect from this Peterborough-based pioneer who seems to be capable of reviving any genre that’s thrown his way and make it relevant. A brilliant record that’s not going to be kept secret so tell your brother, tell your sister, tell your mother."

See Aurora Mitchell’s glowing 8.5 review here.


Bruce Springsteen – Wrecking Ball

“It is surprising how well the blend of different styles of music work on this record. The combination of Irish folk, gospel and almost hip-hop style synthed drums makes the record feel all-encompassing in its approach to the topics at hand. Despite this however, it is the most stereotypical anthem tracks that stand out. The title track challenges the system to bring down our homes, and the stunning ‘Land Of Hope And Dreams’ is about the promise of a better life, one that is out there if we a willing to search for it.”

Sean Collinson’s glowing 9.0 for the Boss’ newie is here.


Ned Powley

Bruce Springsteen - Wrecking Ball

It would appear that since the release of Magic in 2007, Bruce has regained much of the popularity he lost during the late 90s. I will state this outright, 'Wrecking Ball' is a fantastic album, one that incorporates everything that makes Bruce one of the biggest recording artists ever with modern touches that brings a new variety to his music. It is also considerably more focused than any of his recent work, tackling the question posed in the open track, do we ('we' being Americans but it works on an international level) take care of our own.

Bruce has always sought to address the gap between the American dream and reality through his music, and Wrecking Ball approaches this through telling the stories of characters in the recent economic crisis. The man in 'Easy Money' who has decided to steal because there is more money to be had in theft, or the man in 'Jack Of All Trades' who is willing to take whatever work is going to support his family. It paints a bleak picture of modern times.

It is surprising how well the blend of different styles of music work on this record. The combination of Irish folk, gospel and almost hip-hop style synthed drums makes the record feel all-encompassing in its approach to the topics at hand. Despite this however, it is the most stereotypical anthem tracks that stand out. The title track challenges the system to bring down our homes, and the stunning ‘Land Of Hope And Dreams’ is about the promise of a better life, one that is out there if we a willing to search for it.

Wrecking Ball really does feel like Bruce back to his best. It may lack the classic feel of the likes of Born to Run, but it's him at his most honest and passionate for decades. It's Bruce for a new age, the questions posed in his classic records brought forward into the modern day. It's brilliant.

9.0 

Sean Collison