Wrecking Ball
 

Anyone else rocking out to the new Springsteen album, or is it just me? Seriously love it.

I do. :D Very interesting mix of styles. Will write more after a few listens.

at first i was disappointed....Meat's vocals on HIAH are way more intense, Bruce is definitely choosing the approach of songs with less of a vocal range.

But after a few days, i became addicted. The music ~~~~ing rocks, the message is sweet, This Depression is haunting and makes me wonder if it has to do with Clarence :( But its a very moving song and that's what makes it so excellent. Also Bruce does some cool stuff vocally and shows he's still very much on his game.

The man just never says die. I love his spirit which totally absorbs me in this album. He has some very pointed remarks to make and totally nails his colours to the mast. "We Take Care Of Our Own" could be an anthem for any country in the world to make your heart swell with some national pride again. Pay attention, Mister Cameron, this is how to inspire people to greater things.

I've listened to it on Grooveshark a few times and really like it - just waiting for my Amazon pre-order to arrive, it was dispatched this afternoon.

Actually, "We Take Care of Our Own" is meant to be ironic; he's saying that while we supposedly take care of our own, we really don't. Beside the references to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, he says:

"I've been stumbling on good hearts turned to stone
The road of good intentions has gone dry as a bone..."

"Where're the eyes, the eyes with the will to see
Where're the hearts, that run over with mercy
Where's the love that has not forsaken me
Where's the work that'll set my hands, my soul free
Where's the spirit that'll reign, rain over me
Where's the promise, from sea to shining sea
Where's the promise, from sea to shining sea
Wherever this flag is flown
Wherever this flag is flown
Wherever this flag is flown

We take care of our own..."

He drove this home even harder when he played it live and inserted the word, "that", so that the line became:

"Where's the promise, from sea to shining sea
That wherever this flag is flown
We take care of our own"

That said, though I love the album. :D It's really different from anything else he's done- I'd say it's kind of like Seeger Sessions, but modern. If you trace the arc of the songs, he starts off very pissed, until you get to the low point with "This Depression", then we come back up again until you get get to "Land of Hope and Dreams", which while it's kind of an old song, he's redone it here, and I think it's is simply epic! (and Clarence is on the song, too :cool:) I love the way it just crashes in after the intro.

IMO, his vocals on the album were quite good, actually, especially on "Rocky Ground".

I think these songs are going to be awesome live- "Wrecking Ball" was killer on the Jimmy Fallon show the other night:

http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon....-27-12/1387743

Bring on the tour! :D

Fair enough point, I've only listened to it twice so the lyrics haven't sunk in yet!

Yeah, it takes a few listens. ;)

Bruce was on Jimmy Fallon tonight again. They did "Death to My Hometown", "Jack of All Trades" (which was very good) and the most amazing "E Street Shuffle"! :D

http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon....treet-shuffle/

Wow! :faint: That is awesome! :D

The performances on Fallon appear very promising with regard to what we can expect from the upcoming tour.

Can't stop watching Death To My Hometown on Jimmy Fallon. Words can't describe how fantastic that performance is.

It was a good performance, but he seemed to struggle a little bit with the phrasing. I'm sure he'll have it down once the tour starts, though. He seemed maybe a little nervous, too- I don't think he likes doing television very much.

But the "E Street Shuffle"- he was smiling and relaxed and in the zone! :D THAT was fantastic! :cool: They had something like 23 people, with the ESB, The Roots, and Tom Morello. lol With the horns on tour, maybe that one or "Kitty's Back" will get a lot of play. :pray:

It's not out here in Australia for another three or four days, which is annoying >.< I've been trying to wait it out so I can enjoy it properly, but I may or may not have given in and listened to a few of the songs on YouTube.

We Take Care of Our Own (sounds like a modern Born in the USA) and Land of Hopes and Dreams are awesome, although I'm not crazy on the fake drums on the latter. I don't think anything can really replace the sound of a real drum kit. Wrecking Ball is pretty good too, and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about Death to My Hometown just yet. That one might have to grow on me.

I'll write a little more after I've heard the rest in three or four days :D

The whole thing is streaming on his website for the rest of today:

http://brucespringsteen.net/

It seems like the album is doing pretty well: :D

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/bruce...rst-day-sales/

Thank you, Bruce! :-) (And thank you, Julie, for the link.) I like it when "older", established artists use modern ways to promote their stuff instead of considering them a threat. Bruce proves that you can be progressive and conservative at the same time - and remain successful. I'm enjoying listening to the stream but I'm looking forward to listen to the vinyl, too.

You're welcome! ;) It's a new website for Bruce, too, and I think it looks great! :D

As for "Wrecking Ball", I just picked up my Special Edition CD a little while ago; "This Depression" playing now. Loving it (the album) even more. I'm convinced now it's a clanking chain on "Shackled and Drawn". :cool:

I'm going to pick up the vinyl later today.

yep!!! i like him alot, but you see he is considered cool and hip = gets the credit he deserves imo. unlike some fantastic artists, lets say like oh yeah Meat Loaf;)

I'm interested in your theory regarding why Bruce is considered "cool and hip" and Meat isn't. But maybe we should save that for another thread. ;) I think complaints that Meat Loaf doesn't get the credit he deserves are totally unfounded, as I said before: http://www.mlukfc.com/forums/showthread.php?p=561889.

hes very talented, i have some albums. but he is the darling of the media imo, hes the peoples champion, the list goes on. i have always got the impression that Meat is viewed not as a joke, but hes more open to silly comments, critics, etc etc,, maybe because he s not a songwriter perhaps?

as dave fanning said way back in '95 i'll paraphrase as best as i recall.. "meat loaf has not always been a credible figure to the rock n roll cognicenti ( no idea how it's sp), but to lovers of widescreen over the top entertainment, there's no doubt about it, meat loaf himself is the undisputed king." which is pretty much what sarge said lol

i'd agree with you, to the music press.. meat doesnt write his own songs, play any instruments or have a band (as such)... and maintains he's an actor, not a singer.

appologies for leaving the bruce topic for a moment

well thats true, i remember that quote.

Neither are many other artists who are well-respected anyway. By the way, there are many people who think that Bruce is "overrated". So it's totally pointless to start a discussion on why a particular artist presumably gets more recognition than another. And now back to The Boss, please, before a guy called Meat Loaf gets more attention than poor Bruce in a thread that's not even dedicated to him. ;)

@nikox1:
Like Sarge, I'd like to hear more on your theory as well- serious question. You seem to somehow take it personally that you don't think Meat is viewed as "cool", while Bruce is. You seem to imply that the media is somehow to blame.

For my part, I don't see Bruce portrayed as a "media darling" at all- not since 1985 at least. I really would like to see an example (Rolling Stone mag not withstanding) As Sarge also said, lots of people call Bruce "overrated", or flat-out say they can't stand his singing voice. I've seen some of the most hateful things written about him because of his politics, which I don't think he's really all that vocal about, and IMO should not be used as a means to critique his music. Yet, the comments on almost any article about him seem to turn in that direction, even on YouTube videos! I talk to young people who either don't know who Bruce is, or just see him as one of those "old guys".

Bruce is supportive of young bands, and some of them cite him as an influence; The Dropkick Murphys and Gaslight Anthem are known fans, for example. Lady Gaga's a huge fan as well. Why do you think that is?

On that note, I've seen Bruce get up and play with virtual unknowns, which IMO was very, very cool (yet not publicized anywhere): :cool:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-P_9KJDwpag

But anyway- back to the album- so far, professional reviews have been mixed, but the fans seem to mostly like this one a lot, especially as compared to his last album.

I got my vinyl, too- just haven't had a chance to play it yet. :D

Hitting #1 on itunes and amazon proves that record companies will market the "old guys". He had a week on Jimmy Fallon and has had tons of promo as well as great branding. The album is good - but no more good than Meat Loaf's album. I'd say HIAH and HCTB are greater achievements at this stage in Meat's career than Wrecking Ball is for Bruce in terms of his performance, NOT and i repeat NOT the quality of the songs.

So I think this should end the debate on whether or not the record companies will shell out for the senior most artists....they will...they just need to spend more on Meat because he is worth every penny.

Bruce Springsteen gets brought up and praised enough in threads that are supposed to be dedicated to Meat Loaf.

This one is about Bruce Springsteens new album so let's keep it on topic. There should be nothing about comparing Meat to Bruce in this thread. Create a new one if you want but don't muddy the waters of this one.

The Jimmy Fallon performances were excellent. I loved the Tom Morello solo in Death to my Hometown and the E-Street Shuffle was also fab.

I'll remember that one for next time St. Springsteen is brought up in a Meat Loaf topic.

The mention of any artist in any thread is acceptable, as long as it's within the context of the conversational topic of that thread. Like it or not there are similarities between Meat's music and Bruce's, and also between the careers of these two (not to mention that there are many on here who are fans of both), so the comparison is bound to crop up more often than the comparison of say, Meat and One Direction ...

Please do.

I created this topic to talk about Bruce's new album, not to compare the popularity of Bruce to Meat Loaf and develop things in that direction. I accept that there are certain similarities in perhaps some of their music, maybe bits of their careers but comparing the two directly is like talking about chalk to a cheesemonger.

In any event, Wrecking Ball, having listened to it through several times, is a great album and better, in my view, than Working On A Dream.

Wish someone would give play.com (who to be fair are usually brilliant with deliveries of new releases, just let me down this tim!) a kick to get my copy delivered, felling left out not being able to form a proper opinion!

My Amazon copy arrived yesterday and I'm really enjoying it.

I loved Working on a Dream, perhaps it is a bit lower-keyed, but if it wasn't for that cd I wouldn't have bought any other Springsteen ones. I was not big on him at all, despite my dh having a few of the classic album, but somehow that changed when I heard this one. Now I can't get enough and Wrecking Ball is great I think! :)

I quite liked this album. Its different.

I'm liking it :up:

"The E Street Shuffle" was the bomb, but I was very impressed with the other performances as well. :-) Morello was cool- people are wishing he would come on the tour, which would be amazing, but I don't see it happening. I'm sure that Nils can easily handle his parts, though.

In regards to the other discussion, I think it's an interesting topic, so I started a new thread here: http://www.mlukfc.com/forums/showthr...223#post566223

I'm glad that you're enjoying his music, but I find it interesting that it was "Working on a Dream" that changed your opinion. Lots of people (not including myself) really disliked that one. I'm curious- do you prefer the new albums to the classic ones? If so, what do you like about the new ones that you didn't find in the older albums?

I've splashed out 89p a time on ten tracks from 'Wrecking Ball', after investigating them all online. This includes the two extra songs on the 'special edition' are indeed, very special (and vital) ... 'Swallowed Up' puts a remarkable twist on the biblical story of Jonah and the whale. Tracks 7, 9, 11 don't quite make the grade, for me, so I haven't invested in those, and track 6 flows better if played after track 8. But aside from those quibbles, Bruce has, overall, pulled another gem out of the bag - digging into the nitty-gritty of the world after the economic crises, yet still offering homely and believable images of compassion and hope -- So similar to the response in 'The Rising' to the world after 9/11 etc, in that respect - and a worthy companion/ successor to it. Oh, and I haven't even mentioned the rich brew of instruments he's thrown in along the way ...

I really liked Working On A Dream too btw.

Gotta say that I just ain't feeling it. Granted I've never been a huge Springsteen fan but I do enjoy some of his older work, and to me this just isn't up to par.

yeah i know what you mean

after a couple days i got into it :-) its do-able

Bruce and the band performed tonight at the Apollo Theatre in New York for Sirius Satellite Radio's anniversary. The concert was broadcast live on Sirius, and the band sounds fantastic! They did 8 songs from the new album- there's video here:

"We Take Care of Our Own"/ "Wrecking Ball"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ojhFzOKibA

and here:

"Death to My Hometown"
http://brucespringsteen.net/

This footage is great! I have a sneaky feeling we might get a DVD or something out of this. :-)

Oh, by way- could someone PLEASE remind this man that he is 62 years old?! :shock:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net...86637983_n.jpg

https://p.twimg.com/Anl8mf_CMAAMi17.jpg

What ya doing Bruce! I bet the venue staff were nervous as hell with him up there! What a guy, can't wait to see him this summer, though dreading the gap on the left of the stage :(

Gotta give him credit. Big production, big band, great instrumentation, and Bruce himself has loads of energy and enthusiasm.

Thanks for the streaming link a few days ago, Julie! I had a look, but it wasn't until a day or two after and it was gone by then. So I had to wait till the album officially came out :( Thanks anyway, though :lol:

After having listened to the album a few times, I really like it. I don't really have much more to add to the short paragraph I wrote before, but the stand out tracks are definitely Take Care of Our Own, Wrecking Ball and Land of Hopes and Dreams for me. Otherwise:

>Jack of All Trades and This Depression are pretty good too.
>Death to My Hometown I'm still unsure of.
>Easy Money and Shackled and Drawn sound too similar for my liking, but I really like their sort of tone :D
>The remaining three I don't really feel anything for yet. They may grow on me, hopefully :D

Thing that saddens me, though, is the lack of saxophone. It's only real appearance is on Land of Hopes and Dreams, and it's not nearly enough :( Clarence will be missed :( Kind of sad to think I'll never have the opportunity to see him play live :(

Videos above are awesome, too. Looks like these songs all work really well live, too :D

if i may... FANTASTIC pictures... thats beautiful crowd interaction :)

Meat should do this during Took The Words over the summer this tour. would get alot of people out of their seats.

Especially the people beneath him. :bleh:

that made me smile lol

:mrgreen:

That's not the half- word was that during the rehearsal, he was planning to JUMP down! :shock: The wife (thankfully) put the kabosh on that idea. lol Guess he used the ladder instead. He must give his security a heck of a time. :lol:

Thanks! I wish I could say they were mine. lol

Check this out- if you look you can spot Ben Stiller, Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas, and I think Bette Midler:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIW8M...eature=channel

Clarence's nephew Jake took the sax solo. He's going on the tour- rumor is he will be playing C's sax as well. :-)

Video of the balcony climb here (during the second song):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XwmrUVyqss

The album's not an E Street Band record, although it is Clarence on LOHAD and "Wrecking Ball". I know what you mean about the Big Man- he will be missed. :( Last night, during the band introductions, Bruce asked the crowd, "Are we missing anybody?" After the crowd responded, he then said, "The only thing I can guarantee tonight... if you're here and we're here, they're here." :cool:

So far, the new songs are sounding great, IMO. "Death to My Hometown" is becoming a favorite of mine. :-) Although, from last night's show, "Mansion on the Hill" was stunning, and "Thunder Road" has a slightly different arrangement- it made me cry. The second I heard the violin, the tears started. And then that sax was missing. :(

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd_bz_4C5q4

Went in at number 1
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17333542

Awesome awesome album. By far the best album I've heard from any artist for the last 15 years or so and definitely one of my favourite Springsteen albums along with "The Rising" and his earlier work. It captures the essence of his Americana heart and soul perfectly and contains haunting celtic influences he has toyed with on several occasions (Seeger sessions band etc).

The title track, Death to my Hometown. a beautiful album version of Land of Hope and Dreams and Rocky Ground are my favourites.

The songs, instrumentation, arrangements and vocal performances are top notch for me.

Deserves to be at number 1! Definitely!

Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici would be proud.

BRING ON YOUR WRECKING BALL!

My double LP arrived today. It's great that you also get the album on CD along with it. :D The only thing that bothers me is the fact that the inner sleeves aren't anti-static.

Wish I'd know that when I ordered my cd.

It's a cool idea, but the CD that comes with the vinyl doesn't have the bonus tracks, which aren't on the vinyl either. You could always buy the bonus tracks from iTunes, I guess. I like "Swallowed Up"- it's different. "American Land" is a good version, but not really too different from the live version.

True, it doesn't have the bonus tracks but they can be purchased separately. (One of the few reasons why I like the possibility of buying MP3s.) I paid € 18.99 which is a good price for two records and a CD, in my opinion. :-)

Exactly. The price for the vinyl with a CD thrown in is a good deal indeed! Springsteen Inc missed a trick there to squeeze a few extra dollars/euros/pounds out of the sale of that one!

So lived with this album for a little while now and generally love it.

It's an album of two halves with the second half being weaker IMO than the first, and saved by American Land, LOHAD and We Are Alive. All of which I love.

The Seeger Sessions influences are superb, (especially the banjo ... Jonty you should but this album if you haven't got it already!).

Only let downs for me are the looped drum tracks and the female vocals on Rocky Ground which really don't fit in my view.

Can't wait to hear the live versions of some of these songs, just hope they stay in the set list for when Bruce and the band hit the UK shores later in the year.

Wrecking Ball, Land Of Hopes and Dreams and American Land show that Bruce's songwriting and recording skills are best suited to writing a song, refining it in the live show setting and then recording it, like he used ot in the 70's. These songs are on another level for having developed on the road.

Love Land of Hope and Dreams on there too. The loud intro strikes are stunning coupled with the bass drum and then rhythm guitar during the first verse really bring that essence feel into the song, as if it is saying "Ok HERE we go", more impressive than I've ever heard it live. The arrangements are some of the most interesting I've ever heard of Bruce on an album.

lol, i have no springsteen albums, and i must confess, never considered getting any... i appreciate his work, and have enjoyed a number of his songs and performances etc.. though i did see a good bit of the seeger session on bbc4 and i really enjoyed it.

i have really loved finding and experiencing new artists and musicians that i had never heard off before, and been blown away by.. and wished people would get to hear and experience them aswell this past few years.. so i really think i should maybe just get my first ever springsteen album :D

there's a boxset of his first seven albums available here for a very competitive price ;)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Collection-1...2338937&sr=1-1

Don't stop at one- there's a lot of them and they're all different. :-) That box set looks like a good deal. Definitely dig past the "Greatest Hits", because that's where the best stuff us, IMO.

If you liked the Seeger stuff, you'll probably like the new album. You might try "Live in Dublin" as well- you can get a CD/DVD combo pretty reasonably. The cool thing about that one is that you get lots of his own songs reworked as well as the traditional ones. I love, love, love the version of "Growin' Up" on there. :-)

As to the other albums, it depends on what you like; start with the songs you like, and get those albums. If you like jazzy stuff, go for "The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle" (one of my faves); "Darkness on the Edge of Town" (my #1 fave) rocks the hardest, I'd say, especially live versions (look up the Paramount Theater performance from the 2010 boxset on YouTube- incredible!) For solo acoustic stuff, there's "Nebraska" (the title song is haunting), "The Ghost of Tom Joad", and "Devils and Dust" (I like that one a lot). "Born to Run" is a MUST. Of the more recent stuff, "The Rising" and "Magic" are my favorites. In any case, have fun! ;)

@AndyK, there are live videos starting to pop up on YouTube; I think most, if not all, the audio from the Apollo show is out there. The Fallon performances are on Jimmy's website, I believe. What I've heard so far sounds pretty good.

"Rocky Ground" from Greensboro:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oNF3-k49vY

I like this one a lot; people seem to love it or hate it.

I'm not seeing my first show until the middle of April, so I can't give a first-hand review yet. ;)

As far as LOHAD goes, I think this new version is amazing! :D "American Land", though, isn't really too different here, IMO. I like the song- it's fun at shows (especially on St.Patty's Day ;)), but I'm a little tired of it; I'd be just as happy if he played something else.

Yeah the vines will start appearing in the usual places soon I'm sure so the postman could well be very busy ;-)

You still do vines? Technology is your friend, my friend. ;)

I've gone to a show only to find the *cough* footwear available by the time I got home. lol

i wish these vines were as prevalent for Meat shows....

It's also your enemy ... I work in IT security and I avoid the bittorrent sites like the proverbial plague that they can so easily provide.

Goddamn that is a good price! :shock:

I was lucky enough to get it at my local Asda for £11 or £13 or something like that a while back when it was released. I already had all but one of them on CD already, but as these are all the Legacy remastered versions I couldn't NOT buy it when I saw it. I posted that link because it was easy to find. There's possibly even cheaper ones than that, because like I said, I paid less for it.

oh yeah, and the fact that they're all like mini-LPs is very cool too ;)

...and just found out from an amzon review that apparently they're not the remasters, but they sounded great to me when I played them regardless.

You're right- you have to know your source, I guess.

Here's "Jack of All Trades"- nice solo by Nils:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NawwN...eature=related

"Easy Money"; rockier than the album- I like it! :-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr0HNJMZLhQ

"Death to My Hometown"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aLPXaqsVx4

Man, that stage has gotten big! :shock:

Indeed, and the advantage of the vines IMO is that they've had chance to be cleaned up, some of them that I've had hold of have been fantastic quality mixes from multiple sources including IEM etc.

Oh, I know, but those same mixes often end up on the torrent sites as well, and, depending on who started the vine, may even have originated there in the first place. (Unless you know some ubers who aren't sharing, in which case, sign me up! :mrgreen: :lol:) The key is to only download from places you trust.

The biggest problem I have with vines is that they can move very slowwwwwly, or even wither and die before you get your "cutting". I'm not that patient. ;)

am i the only one who has no idea what a vine in this context is?

Can I talk about this here? :angst: lol

Basically, it's a method of sharing "fan projects", if you will. ;) It goes back to tape trading days; now many people share electronically. First, the participants sign up on a list, often on a fan forum or such. Then, the person who has the original "project", or "seeder", sends the master copy (usually a CD) to the first person on the list. That person makes his or her own copy, then sends the master to the next person on the list, and so on down the line. This is done via snail mail, so there is mailing time involved, people may "sit on" the master before sending it on, it might get lost, etc. Hence the slowness factor. Plus, you're trusting that people are actually sending the original (as is etiquette), as opposed to a copy. So, you can get burned (and I don't mean as in CD ;)) or left empty-handed.

There are variations, such as weeds and trees, which distribute faster, but are more likely to "pollute" the trading pool with low (or is that high?) generation or lossy (highly compressed) copies. This isn't a problem with a vine, as each copy is (theoretically) made from the master.

You can also do traditional trades;for example, people who don't have the equipment/ know how to burn may do a "B&P", meaning that you trade for blanks and postage. You can also do direct trades, but again, you have to trust the person you are trading with, and hope they abide by the usual etiquette. In my experience, most people are usually cool.

thank you, it sounds like a rather complex and long procedure... i assume this is for the rare unreleased type of material?

Can be, but most of that's been around for a long time and is widely available (new stuff doesn't usually make it out anymore), unless you are talking about elite collectors who may indeed have rare stuff that they only trade amongst themselves. The stuff that gets shared most often these days is live recordings, which, as Andy has pointed out, can often be of amazingly good quality.

There's some great quality videos from last night's Boston show posted here:

http://blogs.wickedlocal.com/springs...#axzz1qKMWaZIS

Here's the end of Sunny Day, which a lot of diehards love to hate, but I think it's a lot of fun. :D It seems Bruce picked the girls to sing because he couldn't find a kid. :lol: The double facepalm is too funny...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juiclRw8cC8