The Boss Meets The Nightwatchman4 Out Of 5 Stars
A mixed bag of Springsteen odds and ends that is a surprisingly full album. Bruce Springsteen's "High Hopes" dug into his backlog of songs that features new material cut with Rage Against The Machine (and soloman Nightwatchman) Tom Morello, at the same time uncovering material that the late Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici were party to. The sum total of your enjoyment will depend on your fandom of Springsteen; for me, this cherry picked set of odds and sods is a better album than "Magic" and "Working On A Dream."
The songs are all powerful, even if the album is a little disjointed. The much ballyhooed appearances of Morello seem limited to spurts of guitar firepower (the re-reording of "American Skin (41 Shots)") and a hotshot solo or two (the soulful "Raise Your Hand"). He makes his presence most felt on the reworking of "The Ghost Of Tom Joad," adding both a sung verse and a steamy guitar solo to this song of lost souls that gets a much louder workout than Springsteen's original recording. It's one of the album's highlights.
Among the album's oddities, the reconstruction of minimalist synth-punk band Suicide's "Dream Baby Dream" plays out remarkably well. Springsteen sings with particular longing as the song builds to a multi-layered conclusion. It's a far cry from the original's origins, but Springsteen makes it his own. The other cover comes from Australia's pioneer band The Saints, "Just Like Fire Would," but is nowhere near the revelation "Dream Baby Dream" turns into.
"High Hopes" works best when Springsteen plays to his usual strengths, a little bit of soul, some lost strangers epic ("Frankie Fell In Love") or terrific story songs (the gangster's hangout of "Harry's Place," which contains more of Morello's guitar work). I can recommend this to fans of Bruce, only slightly to folks thinking Morello would be more electric. Morello may have been Springsteen's muse on "High Hopes" (as he's suggested in interviews), but this is still Springsteen's record. And ultimately, a pretty good one.
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