Post by Kapitan on Jun 4, 2023 15:13:13 GMT
Bruce Springsteen, Wrecking Ball (2012)
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band toured Working On A Dream in three legs, two American and one European, from April through late November 2009. Immediately thereafter, Springsteen returned to his New Jersey home to work on new material. He began thinking in solo terms, "just me and a guitar singing these songs," as he wrote. The financial collapse and Occupy Wall Street movement were fresh in the nation's consciousness, and Springsteen clearly had them on his mind as he wrote. He has said he wrote 30-40 songs in this period.
In early 2011, Springsteen began working with an outside producer on the material--but not Brendan O'Brien, who had helmed his projects for the past decade or so since The Rising. Instead Ron Aniello was brought in, a producer whose credits over the prior 15 years or so included softer and mainstream traditional rock music (The Barenaked Ladies, Sixpence None the Richer, Ian Hunter) as well as country and Christian rock. He had co-produced Patti Scialfa, Springsteen's wife, in 2007.
Springsteen said that Aniello "brought a large library of sound that allowed me to explore – like maybe a hip-hop drum loop or country-blues stomp loop. The actual drums came later. There was no preconceived set of instruments that needed to be used, I could go anywhere, do anything, use anything. It was very wide open."
The album was built around Springsteen's own performances (guitar, banjo, drums, organ, piano, percussion), loops from Aniello's library, and contributions from 30 musicians, not including a choir and a string ensemble. (Twelve of the 30 provided only backing vocals.) Among the instrumentalists were a few E Street Band members--Max Weinberg, Stevie Van Zandt, and Clarence Clemons, who died nearly a year before the album's release. Springsteen also employed studio aces Steve Jordan and Matt Chamberlain and alternative rocker and fellow activist Tom Morello.
"We Take Care Of Our Own" was released in January 2012, and was used by President Obama in his campaign for re-election. Its sales increased by 409% after President Obama used it in his speech at the Democratic National Convention. (Now-President Biden used the song in his 2020 campaign, as well.) Still, it did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100, rather reaching #11 in the Billboard Adult Alternative Songs category and #43 in the Billboard Hot Rock & Alternative Songs category.
Wrecking Ball was released on March 6, 2012, debuting at #1 in 16 different countries (including the US and UK). It was his 10th #1 album in the US, tying him with Elvis Presley for the third-most #1 albums ever. (The Beatles [19] and Jay-Z [12] top that list.) While it was atop the charts for a time, its 1.5 million in sales worldwide made it only the 22nd-best selling album in 2012. It was generally give positive reviews, with much of the criticism being from the political left that it was too patriotic, too tepid in its rhetoric, or didn't focus enough on specific solutions to social problems. It was certified gold in many countries including the US and UK, and platinum in several European countries.
The album proper is 11 songs, 51 minutes; some versions included two bonus tracks, adding about 10 minutes to the running time. (One of the two, "American Land," dates back to the Seeger album sessions. The other was new.) Our ratings here will include only the album proper, the 11-song version. Feel free to listen to and discuss the bonus tracks, however.
Please listen to, discuss, and rate Bruce Springsteen's Wrecking Ball. It will be up through Saturday, June 10.
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band toured Working On A Dream in three legs, two American and one European, from April through late November 2009. Immediately thereafter, Springsteen returned to his New Jersey home to work on new material. He began thinking in solo terms, "just me and a guitar singing these songs," as he wrote. The financial collapse and Occupy Wall Street movement were fresh in the nation's consciousness, and Springsteen clearly had them on his mind as he wrote. He has said he wrote 30-40 songs in this period.
In early 2011, Springsteen began working with an outside producer on the material--but not Brendan O'Brien, who had helmed his projects for the past decade or so since The Rising. Instead Ron Aniello was brought in, a producer whose credits over the prior 15 years or so included softer and mainstream traditional rock music (The Barenaked Ladies, Sixpence None the Richer, Ian Hunter) as well as country and Christian rock. He had co-produced Patti Scialfa, Springsteen's wife, in 2007.
Springsteen said that Aniello "brought a large library of sound that allowed me to explore – like maybe a hip-hop drum loop or country-blues stomp loop. The actual drums came later. There was no preconceived set of instruments that needed to be used, I could go anywhere, do anything, use anything. It was very wide open."
The album was built around Springsteen's own performances (guitar, banjo, drums, organ, piano, percussion), loops from Aniello's library, and contributions from 30 musicians, not including a choir and a string ensemble. (Twelve of the 30 provided only backing vocals.) Among the instrumentalists were a few E Street Band members--Max Weinberg, Stevie Van Zandt, and Clarence Clemons, who died nearly a year before the album's release. Springsteen also employed studio aces Steve Jordan and Matt Chamberlain and alternative rocker and fellow activist Tom Morello.
"We Take Care Of Our Own" was released in January 2012, and was used by President Obama in his campaign for re-election. Its sales increased by 409% after President Obama used it in his speech at the Democratic National Convention. (Now-President Biden used the song in his 2020 campaign, as well.) Still, it did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100, rather reaching #11 in the Billboard Adult Alternative Songs category and #43 in the Billboard Hot Rock & Alternative Songs category.
Wrecking Ball was released on March 6, 2012, debuting at #1 in 16 different countries (including the US and UK). It was his 10th #1 album in the US, tying him with Elvis Presley for the third-most #1 albums ever. (The Beatles [19] and Jay-Z [12] top that list.) While it was atop the charts for a time, its 1.5 million in sales worldwide made it only the 22nd-best selling album in 2012. It was generally give positive reviews, with much of the criticism being from the political left that it was too patriotic, too tepid in its rhetoric, or didn't focus enough on specific solutions to social problems. It was certified gold in many countries including the US and UK, and platinum in several European countries.
The album proper is 11 songs, 51 minutes; some versions included two bonus tracks, adding about 10 minutes to the running time. (One of the two, "American Land," dates back to the Seeger album sessions. The other was new.) Our ratings here will include only the album proper, the 11-song version. Feel free to listen to and discuss the bonus tracks, however.
Please listen to, discuss, and rate Bruce Springsteen's Wrecking Ball. It will be up through Saturday, June 10.