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Springsteen’s New Album

March 3, 2012 by · Comments Off on Springsteen’s New Album 

Springsteen’s New Album, “Hold tight to your anger and don’t fall to your fears,” Bruce Springsteen snarls on the defiant title track of Wrecking Ball (***½ out of four), a raging state of the union address enveloped in rootsy folk-rock.

The album, already widely streamed and leaked but not officially available until Tuesday, is his angriest and most politically pointed to date, stomping with fury yet crackling with jubilation as its protagonists scramble for lifelines out of a tattered and toxic economy.

While not his strongest outing, Wrecking soars on familiar strengths: passion, roadhouse swagger, muscular melodies and a fighting spirit. Springsteen keenly captures the current plight of the nation without stamping an expiration date on his songs.

The messages – biting, unambiguous and in language often drawn from the Bible – focus on unemployment, crooked banks and the decaying American Dream. Rage and despair fuel these tunes, but an uplifting chorus is always just around the corner.

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