Wrecking Ball : The Boss Is Back (And You’re Gonna Be in Trouble)

DedMels Review — 9/10

The Boss is back, and he’s pissed… well, you know, as far as filthy-rich mainstream rock gods go. With Wrecking Ball, Bruce rails against economic and social injustice with some of the heaviest lyrics of his career but music that you can play at your upcoming St. Patty’s Parade party in South Boston.

Let’s come right out and say it, the formula works. He’s done it before with one of his biggest albums (and songs) Born in the U.S.A., and he uses it again here to great advantage. From the opening drums and chords of first song and single, “We Take Care of Our Own,” it’s apparent that Bruce is back in the mode of social commentary as party anthem. Just as “Born in the U.S.A.” was dolled up from it’s early version (I believe originally intended for Nebraska, if you can imagine that), it’s easy to see how this song was probably developed from a venom-spitting acoustic number into an easy crowd-rocker for the E Street Band. And throughout the album, Springsteen proves there’s not necessarily anything wrong with that.

Some early standouts include “Jack Of All Trades,” with quintessential Springsteen lyrics about a hard-working man waiting for the next job to come along, and a solo from Tom Morello that starts off all “Tuesday’s Gone”-ish before transforming into one of his typical, if reserved, space shots. The next song, “Death to My Hometown,” presents the tale of how it doesn’t necessarily take a natural disaster or terrorist act to transform the “Hometown” that Bruce has sung about famously before. Set to an Irish-folk/march melody, the song about corporate greed flat-out rocks and has some of the best lyrics on Wrecking Ball.

Springsteen wrote a batch of songs here that lend themselves to huge choruses of background vocals, all while making you feel like you’re listening to a collection of protest songs from the 50s and 60s. Even the more relatively stripped-down “We Are Alive” adds a horn section, and though “Rocky Ground” has a melody similar to Springsteen’s own “My City of Ruins,” there are certainly elements here (loops! rapping?!) on Wrecking Ball that likely even the most die-hard Bruce fan hasn’t heard on one of his records before. It’s refreshing to see a guy that could easily coast on his past laurels still impassioned enough by music to lay down something as exciting as this album to tape.

And if you can watch this video from Jimmy Fallon’s show last week and not have at least some desire to see the Boss when he rolls through your city, then we probably don’t have a lot in common.
-mitch