My first album review, and it's fitting that this should be by one of my most recently discovered musical heroes. Bruce Springsteen first caught my attention with Wrecking Ball in 2012, and I like many others have been awaiting the followup, which debuted earlier in 2014 in the form of High Hopes.
Composed of various covers, re-imaginings and outtakes from previous albums, plus a new partnership with Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine, the album is a solid addition to Springsteen's catalogue, with some patchy aspects which are perhaps due to the nature of this mish-mashed project.
The Music
Truthfully this album took a couple of listens for me to really warm up to. The debut single, High Hopes, on first listen, left me cold compared to the tracks from Wrecking Ball. However, immediate redemption came on learning that a studio version of American Skin (41 Shots) was to be included in the album - a track for which I had longed for a definitive studio rendition for as long as I had been a fan (far shorter for me than some others).
This feels like an album that needs to grow on the listener - the first tracks that I enjoyed on a basic level were Harry's Place (which feels like a Bruce vs Goodfellas mashup), American Skin (one of Bruce's finest songs, with a driving beat and a killer solo by Tom Morello), Hunter of Invisible Game (a great ballad track), and Ghost of Tom Joad (a rocked-up duet with Tom Morello, giving the track a renewed feeling). Only four tracks out of twelve!! Incidentally, these remain the tracks that I would consider essential to the album, with many others making for pleasant, if forgettable listens.
High Hopes and Just Like Fire Would both felt anti climactic despite their attempted bombast. Down In The Hole makes for a solid and brooding Bruce track, however the following three tracks I felt were the weakest on the album. The record comes to a close with The Wall and Dream Baby Dream, which were a great contrast from each other and a solid way for the record to come to an end.
A mixed bag, then, in terms of quality. I found the covers tracks to be very middle of the road, while many of the songs from Bruce's back catalogue comprised the strongest segments of the album.
Length
As with every Springsteen record, this album has a respectable length at twelve tracks running just under one hour, with most tracks being an average length of four and a half minutes. However, there are a few tracks contained within with longer track times - fortunately, these comprise some of the albums strongest moments.
This is a record you could completely finish on a morning commute, so well worth taking the time out to listen.
Summary
It is difficult to recommend this album as wholly essential - it has moments of greatness, and with American Skin the album contains one of my single favourite Springsteen tracks. However, the at-times forgettable quality of several of the tracks included prevent the album from being truly great.
The quality is varied enough that the weaker songs are bolstered by the stronger ones around them, and at no point should you really find yourself reaching for the off switch, though the skip button could be a different matter.
For every weaker track on the album, you will find a great moment which, if you are already a fan of Bruce, makes the album worth investing in. Perhaps best avoided if you are looking to hear Bruce for the first time - try 2012's Wrecking Ball instead.
Rating
3/5
Top Tracks
American Skin (41 Shots)
The Hunter of Invisible Game
The Ghost of Tom Joad
The Wall
