Wrecking Ball By Bruce Springsteen Review

Posted by Jacob Krol on March 6, 2012 4:59 pm in Music, Reviews | 1 comment

Bruce Springsteen’s newest album dropped today, Wrecking Ball. It is not a full rock’n roll album, as some may have expected. Some have compared to it Nebraska, one of his early records. However, it has a lot of gospel and Seeger sessions sound in it, and this makes for an awesome sounding album. He still does rock out on the album, in songs like “We Take Care Of Our Own” and “Death To My Hometown”. It talks about America and themes from the 2011 occupy movements can be found, even though the album was written before the movements began. It is a very angry album and that brings some great sounding music. Let’s start off with the first track of the album, “We Take Care Of Our Own“. It is an ironic song, what he talks about is what they should be doing for American’s. Ah but, that it not necessarily happening everywhere. It almost gives out the same message as “Born In The USA”. Therefore the track will most likely be misinterpreted by some people, either way it is a great way to open the album. The next song is “Easy Money“, this talks about the money issues that we have in America. It tells the story of someone going out on the town and making or taking money. The overall story is about the recession. It has both him singing, while he has the rest of the band backing up as well. “We’re going on the town now Looking for easy money” is repeated throughout the song as well as many other lyrics. Then he also takes about the “Fat Cats” and how they think it is just “funny”. Now we have “Shackled And Drawn” which talks about the common American citizen and what they have and what they are going to go through. In the line “”Another day older and closer to the grave” he talks about being closer to death and how we are all getting there and what do we have to show for our struggles? He says that the world had gone wrong, which is true in some cases. And in order to make it in this world you have to work and there is no other real option. “Jack Of All Trades” speaks about the working class and the “others”. Many of the working men provide for the family as much as they can. This is shown in the lyric “I’m a jack of all trades, honey will be all right“, then later in the song it switches to “we’ll be all right” with the removal of the honey. It shows anger towards the end of the song, but anger is found everywhere on the album. “Death To My Hometown” talks about the problem in American cities. The death was not caused by guns or a war but, it was caused by the people at the top or the ones who are in power. And how one or two people can destroy everything that we had going and it will happen again as it already has. He tells us to be ready for it again and how the ones who caused it are out there free and are not punished for what they have done. “This Depression” is probably the most saddest song on the album, it talks about being down and more down than you have ever been. It shows that to make it through what our country is going through, that we need to bond together and help each other out. “Wrecking Ball” was first played at the September 30, 2009 concert at Giants Stadium. The arrangement is different, for this album then when it was originally played. It is also the title track of the album and it is still a rock ballad. It talks about the end of the Giants Stadium but, he also says, ”Hold tight to your anger, and don’t fall to your fears”.the demolition of the stadium becomes a metaphor for what is happening in America. Which gives you hope and lets you know never to back down or to give up on something you care about. “You’ve Got It” talks about what you naturally have and how no one can take it, copy it, or event try to think about it. You can’t learn it in a school or read a book about it, but you’re trying to give it to someone. Now, this song is similar to “Let’s Be Friends” from “The Rising”, it is the uplifting song to the album and it makes you think. “Rocky Ground” takes about what it is happening in America, “as the floodwaters are rising”. He is also taking a risk with the song, with all of the loops and rap that it is in it. However, all of this put together makes for a strong, great song. It talks about “hard times” and how we wish that they won’t come again and how we have been traveling with them but, there is a “new day coming”. It brings hope to the table and that is what we need. Next up is one of the best songs of the album “Lands Of Hope And Dreams“, this is the first time it has ever been studio recorded. It features Clarence Clemons saxophone solo, which is both great, touching and very inspiring to hear. It has a new opening and a little bit of a different arrangement from when we last heard it live. It is a very inspiring song, when it comes down to it. This will be an amazing song to hear live on the upcoming tour. It takes about meeting him in the “land of hope and dreams”, which is a place you would want to be. You “leave behind your sorrows” and “tomorrow there’ll be sunshine and all this darkness past”. It will bring you to happier place but, it is a long ride to get there. “We Are Alive” is the last song on the regular edition of the album, it wraps up the album in an uplifting way. “Our souls and spirits rise To carry the fight and the light the spark To fight shoulder to shoulder and heart to heart”. It shows that we are happy to be here and will continue to fight for what we believe in and almost as if we were doing the fitting all as one. It has a folk sound to it and it does start off solo, which all makes for a good song. And that is the end of the regular version of the album, and it brings it too a close in a very good way. It tells the story of what we are going through, it includes the highs and the lows, the anger and the happiness, and everything else in the mix. I am very happy to have The Boss Back and doing what he does best, singing about everyone in America and fighting for what he believes in. I give Wrecking Ball by Bruce Springsteen 5 Out Of 5 Starts. Now, on the special edition you get 2 bound songs. The first one is “Swallowed Up (In The Belly Of  The Whale)“, it is an interesting song. It talks about being swallowed up and disappearing from the world, it talks about the sadness and all of the problems that are going on in America. The last of the bound tracks is “American Land“, which is one of the best songs on the Album. It has a new opening and the arrangements is a bit different, but it sounds great. It talks about why people came to America in the first place. Hearing America Land in this new form is great and the lyrics still have an awesome meaning to them. For More Info And To Get Your Copy Of “Wrecking Ball”, Please Click Here.

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