There’s a lot to be said for striking while the iron is hot and that’s just what Bruce Springsteen, five decades into one of the defining careers in popular music, has done with ‘High Hopes’.
‘Wrecking Ball’, his 17th studio album, was an agonised rallying cry, a response to merciless greed and the toll taken on the blue collar workers who have always provided inspiration for and characterised his narratives. Its follow-up is a different beast entirely. It's a response to a spark of inspiration and a reflection of the man as a musician, rather than socio-political observer.
Compiling covers, unreleased tracks and revised versions of old material, it’s a ramshackle collection that duly hits several notable highs and also frequently loses its way. Recorded on tour by a firing E-Street band, including the record’s on-off muse, Tom Morello, it’s passionate and evocative without ever tying its musical flourishes into a cohesive whole.
That said, it still hits hard at times. American Skin (41 Shots) - originally written following the shooting of AmadouDiallo by New York police officers - has a terrible new resonance as a tribute to Trayvon Martin and features sax from the late Clarence Clemons, while The Wall finds Springsteen looking back at Vietnam again, lamenting the loss of Walter Cichon, leader of New Jersey band the Motifs and a major influence on a young, impressionable Boss.
Morello manages to stay on track during the former, reeling off his best work on the record, but elsewhere his involvement is far less successful. The brooding, campfire atmosphere of The Ghost Of Tom Joad is thrown aside as he shreds his way through its closing moments, his machine gun style barely one step removed from the pyrotechnics he offered with Rage Against The Machine.
‘High Hopes’ works best when evoking periods from Springsteen’s recent past in a more straightforward manner. Heaven’s Wall is a ‘Rising’-era blast, while a reworking of the Saints’ Just Like Fire Would is also given an injection of that record’s string-led power.
Frankie Fell In Love, meanwhile, would have been at home on each of Springsteen’s post-’Rising’ releases and also revisits the sort of rock ‘n’ roll mined for the more romantic, spontaneous moments on ‘The River’.
‘High Hopes’ is proof that Springsteen’s cutting room floor can be a fascinating place, but also that breathing new life into old material isn’t easy. Where a collection like ‘The Promise’ was a snapshot of his process, and prodigious work ethic, ‘High Hopes’ is destined to remain a curio.
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