High Hopes (album)

High Hopes
Studio album by Bruce Springsteen
Released	January 14, 2014 (2014-01-14)
Recorded	December 2012 – 2013 in Thrill Hill; Thrill Hill West; Stone Hill Studio; Southern Tracks Recording Studio; Studios 301[1]
Genre	Rock, alternative rock, funk rock
Length	56:24
Label	Columbia
Producer	Ron Aniello, Brendan O'Brien, Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band chronology
Collection: 1973–2012 (2013) High Hopes (2014)
Singles from High Hopes
"High Hopes" Released: November 25, 2013 "Just Like Fire Would" Released: January 22, 2014

High Hopes is the eighteenth studio album by American recording artist Bruce Springsteen, released on January 14, 2014, on Columbia Records. The album was Springsteen's eleventh #1 album in the US, placing him third all-time for most #1 albums only behind The Beatles and Jay-Z.^[2] It was his tenth #1 in the UK, putting him joint fifth all-time and level with The Rolling Stones and U2.^[3]

The album features Springsteen's regular backing band, the E Street Band, and guitarist Tom Morello. Contributions from deceased E Street Band members, Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici, are also included. Co-produced by Ron Aniello, Brendan O'Brien and Bruce Springsteen, the album was preceded by the single "High Hopes", and is a collection of cover songs, out-takes and re-imagined versions of tracks from past albums, EPs and tours. A week following the album's release, a music video for "Just Like Fire Would" was released January 22, 2014.

Springsteen said that the new music was "some of our best unreleased material from the past decade" and among the best of his writing and deserved a proper studio recording.

Background

Work on the album started on December 9, 2012. Springsteen called Aniello to discuss some demos of older songs that had never been finished.^[4] Finding time to record the album proved to be difficult due the band's being halfway through the Wrecking Ball Tour.^[4] Aniello began production on the album in Los Angeles while the band toured.^[4] Aniello said, "He was gone most of the time, so we weren't able to sit in a room and sort it out all. It all happened in a very unusual manner. But once we got started on it and he started to uncover what it was exactly it was . . . It just took the most part of a year for him to figure it out. I'm not sure what he had in mind from the beginning, but this is what we ended up with."^[4]

In March 2013, the day before Springsteen flew to Australia to resume touring, he went to Los Angeles.^[4] Aniello and Springsteen did mixes, and Springsteen posed for the album pictures. Aniello said Springsteen was "working his ass off, just working his ass off. I've never seen someone his age work like that. He put in a 15-hour day in the studio."^[4] During their time in Australia, Springsteen and the E Street Band (minus Steven Van Zandt, who was off filming his television series, Lilyhammer) were joined by Tom Morello (Van Zandt's replacement).^[4] The band spent its off time recording new music, although at the time there were no specific plans for a new album.^[4] Aniello said recording in Australia was a spontaneous decision that was possible because recording engineer Nick DiDia was there to work with the band.^[4] More recording took place at various studios around the USA, including Springsteen's personal home studio in New Jersey, Atlanta, New York City and Nashville.^[5]

Aniello stated 20 songs were recorded for the album.^[4] Aniello said, "The thing with Bruce is that he accepts his inspiration without question, he doesn't analyze it. But when it comes time to analyze, that's when he turns the screws on everything. Then he'll go back and forth with sequences for months and months until he gets it exactly where he wants it. I don't see that in any other artist that I work with. It's usually like, 'What's a good sequence?' And then, 'Oh, the hit sounds good first. Then the bad songs should go at the end.' That's not how Bruce does it. He has a story to tell. We recorded a lot and at first it was a much longer record. Bruce did the same thing with Wrecking Ball. I have the piece of paper with all 15 or whatever songs on it, and he draws a line through the last four and goes, 'This is it. Let's take these four off.' It was like a knife in my heart. I was like, 'Those are my favorites!' At the end of the day, though, he's always right. It's gotta work as a piece. This was a much bigger experiment because it was so different. There was a little more back and forth with it."^[4]

Song background

High Hopes is a first for Springsteen: a studio album composed entirely of covers, outtakes and reimagined versions of songs from past albums and tours. "The best way to describe this record," Springsteen said, "is that's its a bit of an anomaly but not much. I don't really work linearly like a lot of people do."^[6]

The album's title track and first single, "High Hopes", was originally recorded in 1995 and released on the Blood Brothers (EP).^[6] According to Springsteen, Morello suggested they perform the song during the Wrecking Ball Tour, which ultimately led to it being re-recorded. "American Skin (41 Shots)" was originally written in 2000 in response to the death of Amadou Diallo.^[6] A live version was released on Live in New York City while the studio version was released on a rare 2001 promo CD.^[6] During the Wrecking Ball Tour, Springsteen started to perform the song again as a tribute to Trayvon Martin. "The Ghost of Tom Joad" was the first single from the 1995 album of the same name and has been performed many times, often featuring Morello on guitar and trading vocals with Springsteen.^[6] The track had been covered by Morello's former band, Rage Against the Machine, in a 1997 video, and later appeared on their album Renegades.^[6]

The album also features songs that were originally written for other albums, such as "Harry's Place", a song written in 2001 and intended originally for The Rising;^[7] "Heaven's Wall", "Down in the Hole", and "Hunter of Invisible Game", which all date from 2002–2008;^[1] and "The Wall", which Springsteen wrote around 1998 based on an idea from Joe Grushecky. "The Wall" tells the story of Springsteen's visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., and memories of Walter Cichon, a New Jersey musician who did not return home from the Vietnam War. "Walter was one of the great early Jersey Shore rockers, who along with his brother Ray (one of my early guitar mentors) led the Motifs. The Motifs were a local rock band who were always a head above everybody else. Raw, sexy and rebellious, they were the heroes you aspired to be," Springsteen explained.^[8]

Morello also inspired the performances of two covers that ended up being recorded. "Just Like Fire Would" is a cover of Australian punk rock band The Saints' 1986 single, while "Dream Baby Dream" is a cover of the protopunk band Suicide's 1979 single.^[6] A version of Springsteen's cover of "Dream Baby Dream" was released in September 2013 as a music video tribute to the fans who attended the Wrecking Ball Tour.^[9] In 2005, Springsteen closed out shows on his solo Devils and Dust Tour performing the song on a mellotron.^[6] According to Aniello, songs such as "Cold Spot", "Hey Blue Eyes", "American Beauty" and "Mary Mary" were among the 20 songs recorded that did not make the final cut.^[6]

Amazon.com album leak

On December 28, 2013, Amazon.com made the album available for purchase as individual MP3 files through their mobile application. Amazon quickly removed the files, but it was too late and the album leaked by mid-day.^[10][11]

Promotion

On January 12, 2014, the television series The Good Wife featured snippets of three songs ("High Hopes", "Hunter of Invisible Game" and "The Ghost of Tom Joad") during the episode. Usage of Springsteen's songs was part of a deal between his label and the CBS television network to gain wider exposure for the album in an unconventional way and lure his baby boomer fans to the show and the network's website. Springsteen said, "This is music I always felt needed to be released. I felt they all deserved a home and a hearing" in a statement discussing the CBS deal.^[12]

On January 14, 2014, the entire episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon was dedicated to Springsteen. Springsteen and the E Street Band, with Tom Morello but without Steven Van Zandt (who was filming Lilyhammer), performed "High Hopes", "Heaven's Wall" and "Just Like Fire Would". The latter song was streamed online and was not shown on television. Springsteen and Fallon, both dressed as Springsteen from the Born in the U.S.A. era, performed a parody song to the theme of "Born to Run" titled "Gov. Christie Traffic Jam", poking fun at the Fort Lee lane closure scandal. Springsteen was also interviewed.^[13]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	66/100[14]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[15]
The A.V. Club	C+[16]
Chicago Tribune	[17]
Entertainment Weekly	B[18]
The Guardian	[19]
The Independent	[20]
NME	8/10[21]
Pitchfork	4.0/10[22]
Rolling Stone	[23]
Slant	[24]
Spin	5/10[25]

High Hopes garnered some mixed, but mostly positive, reception from music critics. At Metacritic, the album holds a weighted average Metascore of 67 out of 100, based upon 37 reviews, indicating generally favorable reception.^[14] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic rated it three-and-a-half stars, stating that "Strictly speaking, these 12 songs don't cohere into a mood or narrative but after two decades of deliberate, purposeful albums, it's rather thrilling to hear Springsteen revel in a mess of contradictions."^[15] At Rolling Stone, David Fricke rated the album four-and-a-half stars, writing that "The cumulative effect of this mass of old, borrowed, blue and renewed – covers, recent outtakes and redefining takes on two classics – is retrospect with a cutting edge, running like one of the singer's epic look-ma-no-set-list gigs: full of surprises, all with a reason for being there."^[23] Kyle Anderson of Entertainment Weekly graded the album a B, stating that the release "crackles with immediacy, despite the cobbled-together nature of the material."^[18] At The Independent, Andy Gill rated the album four stars, noting that "Though lacking the thematic unity one expects from Springsteen albums, High Hopes has much to recommend it, particularly the way that Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello has re-invigorated old material".^[20] Leonie Cooper of NME rated the album an eight out of ten, writing that Springsteen is "Still The Boss."^[21] Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune gave the album 2 stars out of 4 saying "if there's a thread tying these disparate tunes together, it's the singer's desire to update his sound". The writer praises song like "Just Like Fire Would" comparing it to other classic Springsteen covers such as "Trapped" and "Jersey Girl" and felt songs like "American Skin (41 Shots)", which improved upon its live version, "The Ghost of Tom Joad" and "Dream Baby Dream" are the "main attractions" of the record.^[17]

At The A.V. Club, David Anthony graded it a C+, stating that "Springsteen splashes his brightest colors against a canvas, crosses his fingers, and hopes they mesh."^[16] Jessica Hopper of Spin rated the album five out of ten, commenting that "This is the small tragedy of the uneven High Hopes: that it doesn't play like a Springsteen album."^[25] At Pitchfork, Stephen M. Deusner rated the album a four out of ten, noting that "the thick arrangements distract from the good songwriting and conceal the bad, often to the extent that it’s impossible to discern which is which."^[22] Jesse Cataldo of Slant rated the album three stars, writing that "Springsteen aligns himself with a long tradition of folksingers, and as a devotee of protest music, he clearly understands the genre's responsibility in identifying such trends; the specific instances that create the songs may change, but the deeper inequalities that inspire them don't."^[24] At The Guardian, Ian Gittins rated the album three stars, highlighting that "High Hopes may be a stopgap, but it is one assembled with tender, loving care."^[19] USA Today's Edna Gundersen gave the album one of its more negative views saying it was a grab-bag album of material that could hurt Springsteen's "High Hopes". Gunderson cited some mixed reviews and expected lukewarm sales for the album pointing out less that positive sales for Wrecking Ball saying High Hopes likely won't even match that album's numbers of 196,000 in its first week and its only competition being the new Kidz Bop album. Also in Gundersen's article, Billboard magazine associate director of charts/retail Keith Caulfield questioned Springsteen's decision to allow his music to be used for The Good Wife television show saying Springsteen's move mirrors Tony Bennett enlisting AARP as a tour sponsor or Taylor Swift plugging her album Red on Papa John's pizza boxes.^[26]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Bruce Springsteen, except where noted.

• The album was also released on 180-gram vinyl as a double LP. The CD version of the album also came packaged with the LP.^[27]
• The deluxe version of the album included a limited edition DVD titled Born in the U.S.A. Live: London 2013, featuring the band performing the entire Born in the U.S.A. album in London, England, during the Wrecking Ball Tour.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Certifications

Personnel

References