On Bruce Springsteen's newest album, Wrecking Ball, the Boss addresses "Big Picture themes about America," says Randall Roberts at the Los Angeles Times: "War, the economy, provincialism, and revolution." These are classically Springsteen-esque touchstones — the sort of political rallying cries featured prominently on Born in the USA., Darkness on the Edge of Town, and Nebraska, albums that gave the rocker his reputation as the voice of blue-collar America. But packed with protest songs and Occupy Wall Street-ready anthems, does the blatantly politicized Wrecking Ball go overboard?
This is the Boss at his best: Wrecking Ball isn't just one of the finest, most resonant albums of Springsteen's already-impressive career, says Andy Gill at the U.K.'s Independent. It may actually be the "most potent album so far this century." Unlike the "gritty romanticism" that defined rally records like Born in the USA a quarter-century ago, Wrecking Ball "seethes with a sense of betrayal." On "We Take Care of Our Own," Springsteen asks, "Where's the promise from sea to shining sea?" "Easy Money" and "Jack of All Trades" brutally take on Wall Street fat cats. Politically, there "won't be a harder, more challenging release all year."
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