For the first time in Bruce Springsteen’s 45-year career,the Boss is taking a step forward by picking up missing pieces from the past.
With Springsteen’s newest and 18th studio release, “High Hopes,”the famed New Jersey rock ‘n’ roll legend and his E Street Band are reaching into his songwriting grab bag of the last two decades, pulling out revamped recordings, never-before-released tracks and a few curiously chosen covers in a first-of-its-kind Springsteen album.
While Springsteen’s classic songwriting remains strong, the execution of “High Hopes” trades a more traditional rock ‘n’ roll aesthetic for a contemporary sound that struggles to find any sort of balance between Springsteen’s folk rock stylings and the guitar work of guest musician Tom Morellofrom Rage Against the Machine.
The album begins with its title track, a cover written by Tim Scott McConnell,which was originally featured on Springsteen’s 1996 “Blood Brothers” EP.The revived track features an added presence by Morello, with his signature bending guitar cries and hard rock solos. Unfortunately for the title track, Springsteen’s now stone-like croons, Morello’s misplaced shredding on the electric guitar and the loud brass of Springsteen’s E Street Band cannot lift the song onto solid footing, and the album is forced to redeem itself after a sub-par opening track.
One of the most prominent ways in which Springsteen vindicates the album is by featuring strong re-recordings of some of the Boss’ inspirational songs from the past few decades, such as “American Skin (41 Shots).” Originally composed in 2000 after the police shooting death of Amadou Diallo by New York City policemen, Springsteen’s revival of the song was brought upon by the shooting of Trayvon Martin in 2012, and the similar racial profiling protests that were held across the country.
Springsteen’s stark yet moving lyrics have a way of never losing timeliness, as he sings, “Is it a gun?/ Is it a knife?/ Is it a wallet?/ This is your life.”
The fading echoes of Springsteen’s voice provide an eerie edge to the song, before a great build up sends it into a full rock ‘n’ roll ballad.
After the low execution of “High Hopes,” Springsteen’s next cover, of “Just Like Fire Would” by Australian alternative rock bandThe Saints, proved, oddly enough, to be one of the most classic Springsteen-sounding songs on the album. With a bombastic and loud chorus, “Just Like Fire Would” provides Springsteen fans with an opportunity to see the songwriter really personalize a cover by incorporating his American heartland rock in an alternative rock song from Australia.
During the middle of the album, Springsteen rides forgettable song after forgettable song into a creative lull. Songs including “Down in the Hole,” “Heaven’s Wall” and “This is Your Sword,”which were all unreleased songs Springsteen had written over the past decade,are unmemorable, fumbling around with uncreative folk-rock tunes that would have probably served the overall sound of the album better if they had remained unreleased.
The album, however, is greatly redeemed by the last few tracks. First, “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” which this time around combines the Woody Guthrie-folk stylings of Springsteen’s original recording of the song with Morello’s unyielding guitar, which finally finds proper footing in the track. It’s the needed example of how Morello’s added electric excitement and new age twist can propel the songwriting of Springsteen to an interesting, worthwhile product.
Perhaps the standout track on the album, which had not been previously released, is the penultimate track “The Wall.” Based on Springsteen’s visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the stories of New Jersey musician Walter Chichon, who died serving in Vietnam,”The Wall” presents itself as a tremendous attempt, lyrically as well as instrumentally. Like many of Springsteen’s great folk songs, “The Wall” shows promise, but falls short in execution, with Springsteen not being able to replicate some of his greater folk songs like “4th of July (Asbury Park)”or “Nebraska.”
Ending the album with another cover, “Dream Baby Dream” by proto-punk band Suicide, Springsteen leaves this attempt with a bland, unmoving ending. But though the album definitely had its weaknesses in composition and execution, Springsteen still has the utmost capability to bring new charm by revamping the old.