Springsteen, Bruce
Wrecking Ball
Rare & Collectible Vinyl Records

Springsteen, Bruce

Wrecking Ball
Sealed 2012 180gm 2LP Original With Custom Hype Sticker On The Shrink Wrap. Includes CD Version Of The Album. "Heavy lies the crown on Bruce Springsteen's head. Alone among his generation -- or any subsequent generation, actually -- he has shouldered the burden of telling the stories of the downtrodden in the new millennium, a class whose numbers increase by the year, a fact that weighs on Springsteen throughout 2012's Wrecking Ball. Such heavy-hearted rumination is not unusual for the Boss. Ever since The Rising, his 2002 return to action, a record deliberately tailored to address the lingering anger and sorrow from 9/11, Springsteen has eschewed the frivolous in favor of the weighty, escalating his dry, dusty folk and operatic rock in tandem, all in hopes of pushing the plight of the forgotten into public consciousness. Each of his five albums since The Rising have been tailored for the specific political moment -- Devils & Dust ruminated over forgotten Americans in the wake of the Iraq war; We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions was an election year rallying call; Magic struggled to find meaning in these hard times; Working on a Dream saw hope in the dawning days of Obama -- and it’s no mistake that Wrecking Ball fuses elements of all four into an election year state of the union: Bruce is taking stock of where we are and how we’ve gotten here, urging us to push forward. If that sounds a bit haughty, it also plays that way. Springsteen has systematically removed any element of fun -- "Mary’s Place" is the only original in the past decade that could be called a party song -- along with all the romance or any element of confessional songwriting. He has adopted the mantle of the troubadour and oral historian, telling tales of the forgotten and punctuating them with rallying calls to action. Wrecking Ball contains more of the latter than any of its predecessors, summoning the masses to rise up against fatcat bankers set to singalongs lifted from Seeger. There's an unshakable collectivist hootenanny feel on Wrecking Ball, not to mention allusions to gospel including a borrowed refrain from "This Train," but Springsteen takes pains to have the music feel modern, inviting Tom Morello to do aural paintings with his guitar, threading some trip-hop rhythms into the mix, and finding space for a guest rap on "Rocky Ground." As admirable as the intent is, the splices between old-fashioned folk protests and dour modernity become too apparent, possibly because there's so little room to breathe on the album -- the last recorded appearance of Clarence Clemons helps lift "Land of Hope and Dreams" above the rest -- possibly because the message has been placed before the music. Springsteen is so focused on preaching against creeping inequality in the U.S. that he's wound up honing his words and not his music, letting the big-footed stomps and melancholy strumming play second fiddle to the stories. Consequently, Wrecking Ball feels cumbersome and top heavy, Springsteen sacrificing impassioned rage in favor of explaining his intentions too clearly." All Music Guide - Stephen Thomas Erlewine

$29.00
In Stock
  • Genre: Rock
  • Type: New - LP
  • Label: Columbia
  • Catalog ID: 88691 94254 1
  • Condition:
    Vinyl:
    Mint (M)
    Sleeve:
    Near Mint (NM or M-)
  • Country ID: US
  • SKU: 96662

Track List

A1 We Take Care Of Our Own
A2 Easy Money
A3 Shackled And Drawn
B1 Jack Of All Trades
B2 Death To My Hometown
B3 This Depression
C1 Wrecking Ball
C2 You've Got It
C3 Rocky Ground
CD-1 We Take Care Of Our Own
CD-10 Land Of Hope And Dreams
CD-11 We Are Alive
CD-2 Easy Money
CD-3 Shackled And Drawn
CD-4 Jack Of All Trades
CD-5 Death To My Hometown
CD-6 This Depression
CD-7 Wrecking Ball
CD-8 You've Got It
CD-9 Rocky Ground
D1 Land Of Hope And Dreams
D2 We Are Alive

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