Bruce Springsteen - High Hopes

For his 18th studio album High Hopes, 'The Boss' has rounded up members of the E Street Band as well as guitarist Tom Morello and many additional players. Recorded in New Jersey, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Australia and New York City, High Hopes includes his own liner notes that detail the album’s evolution.

"High Hopes is not exactly an album of new material. In fact, none of the songs are new. Springsteen acolytes might recognize a song or two (or perhaps all 12) from having seen Bruce live in concert. That's because the record is a compilation of songs from Bruce's closely guarded archives. (Think of it as if he's sharing vintage bottles from his expensive wine cellar.) In this case, he has recorded or re-recorded some of his favorite unreleased material: songs he has only performed live in concert (like his cover of Suicide's 'Dream Baby Dream' or his own 'American Skin (41 Shots)') and songs he wanted to modernize (such as the fully realized studio recording of 'The Ghost Of Tom Joad').

"To help him, Springsteen enlisted the help of longtime collaborators like producer Ron Aniello and backup singer (and wife) Patti Scialfa. But the most powerful impact comes from a new member of Bruce's team, Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello, who is featured on eight of the album's 12 tracks. In the High Hopes liner notes, Springsteen gushes, 'Tom and his guitar became my muse, pushing the rest of this project to another level.' And indeed, the album's title track is a jolt of frenetic energy, combining Morello's rattlesnake guitar with staccato drum beats, congas, a horn section, and pianos, with Bruce's six-string and voice surfing on top. ... This album is a no-brainer for Bruce completeists and die hards. For the rest of us, think of the album as Bruce in experimentation mode, as the project shows an artist looking simultaneously backwards and forwards in time in an attempt to contemporize his sound. Tom Morello’s influence might be an indicator of the direction the next all new Springsteen album could go. Or it could be a one-off trial run of Bruce tinkering in the studio. Either way, the results are interesting." — Parade Magazine, January 2014