Album Review: Bruce Springsteen - 'Wrecking Ball' (on antiMUSIC)

Bruce Springsteen – ‘Wrecking Ball’

Album Review: 

*** ½ (3.5 Stars)

By Anthony Kuzminski

Read the full review HERE over at antiMUSIC.

The centerpiece of the album, “Death to My Hometown” is a stinging portrait of betrayal. Highlighted with a booming martial drumbeat that evokes the cries of a community under siege it lashes out against unpunished criminals who did something worse than physically attack our land; they gutted it from the inside out. “Hometown” is an account of how we mistakenly believed that outside sources would destroy our country when in fact Americans who never wielded a gun or knife caused more harm than anyone ever could have imagined. The streets we grew up on, the towns that made our cars and the small businesses that helped our country and communities thrive, dried up because of greed. The glaring irony here is that in 1984, Springsteen foreshadowed this in a deeper level as he spoke about the closing of auto plants and how it ruined the heart of these small towns on “My Hometown”. That death and destruction went beyond main street America and infected the country as a whole. This was a decades-long detonating bomb that shattered the American dream. The final chorus changes to “Death to our hometown” where he places himself next to the listener. Springsteen is doing more than telling a story but mourning the loss of his childhood and his home. The streets and shops he walked with his father are gone and no amount of money and success can bring it back. It’s a subtle change in the song, but it penetrates the listener and pulls them closer like a friend in need. There is no divide between Springsteen and his audience here; we are one in the same sharing the same dreams and nightmares. 

Read the full review HERE over at antiMUSIC.

Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network. His daily writings can be read at The Screen Door. He can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com and can be followed on Twitter