Bruce Springsteen--Wrecking Ball

Any publication that calls Wrecking Ball a perfect album should have a ball of rusted iron plowed through its headquarters. I’m talking to you, Rolling Stone. Bruce Springsteen deserves all the credit in the world for having good intentions. Better than any of Romney’s electioneers, Springsteen instinctively understands the political environment of Middle America: the everyman’s frustration with crony bankers, the uniquely U.S. version of grassroots patriotism and the perceived lack of Christian virtues in politics. Wrecking Ball has soul behind it, a strong message and a few tablespoons of wisdom. These are songs Democrats and Republicans alike will want for their campaign ads. But we’re judging an album here, not a belief system. As far as the music goes, the Boss has done so much better. Springsteen mistakenly shuns the personalized narratives of Nebraska and Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. in favor of generic polemics. “Rocky Ground” is a mishmash of New Testament quotations, gimmicky gospel backdrops and cloying hip-hop digressions. The title track asks us to feel pity about the destruction of Giants Stadium, but Springsteen’s writing doesn’t earn our sympathy, and it’s hard to weep for a sports arena. “Jack of All Trades” displays his best character development, but he undermines the narrator with lines like “If I had me a gun, I’d find the [bankers] and shoot ‘em.” The refrains are too often clichéd—none more so than the penultimate track’s which calls America the land of hopes and dreams without the slightest irony. The melodies, though rarely inventive, are usually pleasurable. When the stories are weakest lyrically, loud country guitars and pounding drums serve as a crutch. The arrangements recall (but never match) the strength of earlier efforts—although “Death to My Hometown” comes close to capturing the bravado of Born to Run. In terms of entertainment, Wrecking Ball outperforms the new releases of many of America’s almost- and already AARP-qualified rock stars: Tom Petty, Paul McCartney, the Who and the rest of our recent Super Bowl entertainers. Which is to say: it’s not a bad record. It shouldn’t hurt the Boss’ reputation. But those who are vaunting it have forgotten that Springsteen used to embody American greatness, not just tell us about it.