2023 Charity Shop Purchases #65 - Bruce Springsteen - High Hopes
I had 20 of the 21 studio albums by Bruce Springsteen on vinyl, CD or Download (Letter to You, Only the Strong Survive). The only one I didn't have was 2014's High Hopes.
That has now been rectified as I picked up a copy in Oxfam in Troon for 99p .I had been warned on these pages by various folk that it was by far his worst album and boy were they right. Metacritic gives in 67/100 and Any Decent Music? 6.4/10 .They are being over generous. Rolling Stone incredulously had it as its second best album of 2014 for goodness sake. The fact that U2's Songs of Innocence was number one gives that ranking some perspective.
Whereas some of the blame must lie with the Boss guitarist Tom Morello also must take some responsibility. He had previously sat in on the Australian leg of a tour when Steve Van Zandt was unavailable, He features on many of the songs and in my opinion his style of guitar playing is not conducive to the E Street Band sound.
It is only the completest in me that is stopping this one going back.
Yeah. That the best song on there is the Suicide cover speaks volumes. One that gathers dust on the shelf... along with last year's soul covers disc.
ReplyDeleteAgreed.Not really a fan of the Soul covers.
DeleteSongs of Innocence. Grr. The "free" album popped up on my iTunes/iPod uninvited nearly 10 years ago and is still there today like an STD that just won't go away. I feel like I have paid for it in spades. For that, even having never listened to it, this Springsteen album is better.
ReplyDelete