high hopes

2014 in music

Bruce Springsteen: High Hopes
(January 14, 2014)

 

This was no ordinary Springsteen release. Neither a collection of new songs nor an "odds ‘n’ sods" compilation, this album was conceived as a fresh approach to many numbers the Boss had been playing in concert or had recorded previously as B-sides or simply as demos. Such an offhanded "housecleaning" wouldn’t seem to amount to much, but Bruce had faith in this material, and indeed, High Hopes comes off as a much stronger album than anyone might have expected it had a right to be. Frankly, I was amazed at just how consistently good it was, maintaining an extremely high quality throughout its nearly one-hour playtime. (It was released on vinyl as a double-LP.)

High Hopes was not expected to rank high in the Springsteen canon (nor should it - it is merely a welcome adjunct), but it did sell well, reaching the No. 1 spot in the USA, the UK, and most other countries. The reviews were somewhat tepid, however, compiling a Megacritic rating of 67, which amounts to about a C+ to a B-, depending on how you look at these things. This makes it all the more surprising that Rolling Stone magazine rated it at as the second-best album of 2014. (We will discuss their No. 1 pick later, as that one was even more curious.) Surely, the truth lies somewhere in between.

Of course, the degree to which one likes (or dislikes) Springsteen is certainly going to come into play, as this aging superstar tends to divide opinions. I am a long-time fan, and I found the album to be mighty impressive and consistently powerful throughout. (I continue to be amazed at this 60-something rocker’s continued growth in the 21st century.) And from a timely point of relevance-view, "American Skin (41 Shots)" alone makes this release one of the most potent and worthwhile releases of the year.

I still have my quarrels with what I perceive as Springsteen’s (over)production. I would prefer to hear these songs closer up and nearer to the bone. But I must admit, even with that personal quibble, Bruce still has the power to deliver his message hard through all the booming clutter. If you haven’t listened to this album, I highly recommend you checking it out. There’s a great deal of variety here, a lot of passion and not a few surprises (including some of the cover songs). And especially for Americans, "American Skin" is a must.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Bruce Springsteen, except where noted.
1. "High Hopes" (Tim Scott McConnell) - The title song itself is an anomaly, in that it is a cover of a cover. Springsteen and the E Street band originally released a recording of this song by "Master of the Gothic Blues" Tim Scott McConnell (who released his version in ‘87) on a 1996 EP entitled Blood Brothers. While I prefer the simpler approach of the first version, I have to admit that the full-production treatment it gets here definitely sets a tone of angry desperation. I believe this was the only single released from the album. The strangest thing about it is that it is a cover at all - it sounds just like a classic Springsteen composition.
2. "Harry’s Place" - This is one of my favorite tracks on the album, a mean stomp about the "guy" who runs things in every town and city in America. Great, tight lyrics and unflinching delivery make this a nasty portrait that would challenge even Tom Waits’ darker visions.
3. "American Skin (41 Shots)" - On February 4, 1999, Amadou Diallo, a 23-year-old immigrant from Guinea was shot to death in the Bronx while reaching for his wallet by four plain-clothed NYPD officers. The bullet count totalled 41 shots. The officers stood trial for second-degree murder and were all acquitted. This was a great tragedy - but the greater tragedy perhaps is that this American nightmare would continue to be one of the defining issues for the nation still, 15 years later. Springsteen originally wrote and performed the song live in 1999-2000. When he turned down a request not to play the song at Madison Square Garden in 2000, New York’s Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association called for a boycott of Springsteen’s show. The show went on, as did the song. In 2012, Springsteen began to revive the song in response to the Trayvon Martin shooting. No studio recording existed for this epic horror story, so Bruce created one for this album. Released at the very beginning of 2014, who could have known that this could practically have served as the year’s sickeningly morbid theme song?
I have heard some people complain that the recording is not as powerful as the song performed in concert. I submit that it simply cannot be. There is too much emotional pull at a live event, especially with a participating audience involved. But from where I sit, listening in my den, this is one of Springsteen’s most devastatingly intense works. It passes the ultimate Springsteen test for me: I cannot listen to it without breaking down in tears.
One of the hallmarks of any great protest song is its simplicity, its honesty and directness. There is nowhere in "American Skin" where the singer starts preaching. All he has to do is state the facts. It his his natural human affinity that connects Springsteen with his subject matter. As a white middle-class male, I’ve never given two cents for what a cop thought of me, and I’ve argued with more than one of them in my life. Listening to Springsteen’s calm interpretation of a black mother’s careful instructions to her young son as to how to behave around policemen was like wooden plank slapped against the back of my head. Yes, we live in two Americas. Still.
I have not counted the number of times that the refrain "41 shots" recurs in the song, but it seems endless. Springsteen just wants to drill it into your head until you finally grasp what it means. Just stop right now and count to 41 in your head. Unbelievable. Yes, "American Skin" is eye-opening and cathartic. It is a great song that serves its larger purpose of enlightenment to its predominantly white audience. But in the end, what really matters is that it has at least the potential to open up areas we keep hidden inside ourselves, and that in some fundamental way, it helps us feel. And through this feeling, we find ourselves growing with empathy and understanding. ("We’re baptized in these waters/And in each other’s blood.") And if we get hurt and angry enough, we just might do something to change - both ourselves and our society. Once again, this song is worth the whole album.
4. "Just Like Fire Would (Chris Bailey) - Now, this is an odd cover, simply because it is a song by the Saints, one of the first punk rock bands of the late ‘70s (from Australia, no less - their single "I’m Stranded" is a classic). I wish I could hear their version of it, but I haven’t found it yet. Here, it sounds just like a Springsteen song, and a pretty good one, too. It could’ve been a single, I think.)
5. "Down in the Hole" - This dark and moody number is a classic Springsteen merger of his twin themes of love-loneliness and the numbing effects of hard, pointless labor. It’s lovely, understated and sad, with some truly interesting and beautiful textures (banjo, organ, female co-vocal like a dream, etc.)
6. "Heaven’s Wall" - This rousing gospel/rocker calls for people everywhere to "raise your hand" to "walk into Canaan land." Its beauty, as in all great Springsteen, is in the question of whether the faith is delusional. And that’s a hard one to call in the context of this performance. Do guitars always equal transcendence? Or are they just desire? You have to think it through and decide here.
7. "Frankie Fell in Love" - This welcome song is the kind of exuberant celebration of love that it seems like only Springsteen can pull off without sounding corny. "World peace’s gonna break out/From here on in we’re eating take out." Beautiful.
8. "This Is Your Sword" - This is the kind of "stand your ground" anthem that divides opinions. I suppose it all depends on one’s perspective and/or mood. I do like the Irish instrumentation at the end that helps sell it.
9. "Hunter of Invisible Game" - This is the title song of Springsteen’s film-director’s debut, a 10-minute meditation on the last survivor of an apocalypse. It’s in a waltz tempo and has a strange and haunting beauty, befitting the subject of the search for the lost and intangible. While this may be Springsteen at the profoundest edges of his personal contemplation, it is unclear who all wishes to follow him to these levels. Ultimately, it does not matter, as anyone who walks these roads really walks them alone anyway.
10. "The Ghost of Tom Joad" - When does Springsteen go too far? Once again, it’s up to the listener. Personally, I think the greater and definitive version of this song is the soft and simple ballad found on the 1995 album of the same title. There, Steinbeck’s (and Henry Fonda’s) vision mingle with the spirit of Woody Guthrie to remind us that our peoples’ poverty is not in the past. Here, under the influence of Rage Against the Machine’s version of the song (that band’s Tom Morello is a guest vocalist here), amps are up to 11 and it’s pure feral anger that takes over. While this unexpected twist might kick a concert out of a stadium, some may find it too much on a studio album. (Just for the record, I like it - and Springsteen’s guitar takes no prisoners.)
11. "The Wall" - This soft ballad is sung to an old, lost friend at the Viet Nam War Memorial, to which he makes a pilgrimage every year. It is tender and human in a very personal and poignant way. This year, he has to report, "Robert MacNamara says he’s sorry." After all the years of life his friend has missed, that is cold comfort. "(A)pology and forgiveness got no place here at all." One of the finest moments of the album.
12. "Dream Baby Dream" (Martin Rev, Alan Vega) - The album ends with this tender lullaby. Oddly enough, however, this song is a cover of a 1979 single by the proto-punk synth band, Suicide. Its repetition against a simple harmonium backing and percussion gradually gives way to a full orchestral-sounding production. It’s simply astonishing.

Come to think of it, this is really one hell of an album after all.

Personnel
The E Street Band
Bruce Springsteen – lead vocals, guitar, percussion (tracks 1, 3, 7), bass (track 6), percussion loop (track 6), organ (tracks 6, 7), synthesizers (tracks 6, 8, 12), piano (tracks 8, 12), banjo (tracks 5, 8), mandolin (tracks 7, 8, 12), vibraphone (track 1), drums (track 11), harmonium (track 12)
Roy Bittan – piano (tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12), organ (track 8)
Clarence Clemons – saxophone (tracks 2, 5)
Danny Federici – organ (tracks 5, 11)
Nils Lofgren – guitar (tracks 1, 2, 4, 11), background vocals (track 3)
Patti Scialfa – background vocals (tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 11)
Garry Tallent – bass (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 11)
Steven Van Zandt – guitar (track 3), background vocals (tracks 3, 4, 7, 8)
Max Weinberg – drums (except tracks 8 and 11)

Additional musicians
Ron Aniello – drum loops (track 1), percussion loops (6, 12), bass (7, 8, 10, 12), synthesizers (6, 8, 10, 11, 12), guitar (7, 8, 12), 12–string guitar (track 4), farfisa organ (track 6), accordion (track 11), vibraphone (track 3)
Tom Morello – guitar (tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 10, 12), lead vocals (track 10)
Jake Clemons – saxophone (tracks 3, 4)
Charles Giordano – organ (tracks 3, 4), accordion (track 10)
Ed Manion – saxophone (tracks 1, 3, 4, 12)
Soozie Tyrell – violin (tracks 5, 10), additional violin (track 9), background vocals (tracks 1, 3, 6, 8)
Sam Bardfeld – violin (tracks 6, 7, 8)
Everett Bradley – background vocals (tracks 1, 4), percussion (tracks 1, 4, 6)
Barry Danielian – trumpet (tracks 1, 3, 4, 12)
Josh Freese – drums (track 8)
Clark Gayton – trombone, tuba (tracks 1, 3, 4, 12)
Stan Harrison – saxophone (tracks 1, 3, 12)
Curtis King – background vocals (tracks 1, 3, 4, 6)
Cindy Mizelle – background vocals (tracks 1, 3, 4, 6)
Michelle Moore – background vocals (tracks 1, 4)
Curt Ramm – trumpet (tracks 1, 3, 4, 12), coronet (track 11)
Evan Springsteen – background vocals (track 5)
Jessica Springsteen – background vocals (track 5)
Samuel Springsteen – background vocals (track 5)
Cillian Vallely - uilleann pipes, low whistle, tin whistle (track 8)