Bruce Springsteen
High Hopes
Well, it's finally here - the new album from the Boss. I came to this with mixed expectations - on the one hand, he's been in kind of a slump recently. Magic was awful, and both Working on a Dream and Wrecking Ball were mediocre at best. But on the other hand, it's Bruce fucking Springsteen.Whatever he puts out, it's always wort a listen - he's made very few bad albums.
The title track is a vibrant, anthemic album opener, the kind of song guarunteed to get concert audiences singing along. Harry's Place shows a surprising return to Springsteen's '80s days - it's all swirling synth atmosphere and subtle, pulsing beats. It's fantastic, especially Tom Morello's guitar outro. The version of American Skin (41 Shots) is a little lacklustre, suffering from Springsteens recent tendency towards anthemicness for its own sake. Personally, I prefer this version. The next track is Just Like Fire Would, wich sounds like a rejected track from the Wrecking Ball sessions. Down in the Hole is no better - it's beginning to sound a lot like Springsteen's lost it, and that impression is only strengthened by the piss-weak attempted gospel of Heaven's Wall. Frankie Fell In Love is a half-decent pop song that rises above the previous tracks on the strength of its chorus and the fact that Springsteen actually appears to have some degree of emotional investment in the song. This Is Your Sword is just shit. Just utter, utter shit. Hunter of Invisible Game can go fuck itself, and the new version of Ghost of Tom Joad is pointless. The Wall is prety good, actually, but we've come to expect a lot more than pretty good from Springsteen. Fortunately, the album finishes with an excellent cover of Suicide's Dream Baby Dream, but that's not enough to save this abortion of a record.
Rating: 3/10
No comments:
Post a Comment