Like Steven Spielberg, Bruce Springsteen needs redemption and hope with his rage and bitterness, even when his despairing characters have every right to their raw anger. So, beware the synth-dominated, sappy clunkers here. That still leaves an EP’s worth of guitar-bleeding, tom-tom-pounding, horn-blasting songs worth cheering about, and fighting over.
Reminds you of: Billy Bragg / Neil Young and Crazy Horse / The Mekons, in their Fear and Whiskey period / His own damn self, c. 1980
Bruce Springsteen: Official