Springsteen is a phenomenon. One can hardly imagine another artist who binds together the musical taste of fathers and sons and eliminates the differences so perfectly.

They say people in New Jersey grow their kids on The Boss. It’s not hard to picture a classic American workingman with a broken American dream, a big family behind him and even a bigger mortgage loan to cover for the rest of his life, playing ‘Wrecking Ball’ on the Sunday BBQ, under the ragged and smoked Stars and Stripes flag flying on his porch. “It’s a great country- he says to his son, his smile bitter-sweet, although he believes what he says- because it’s a country founded by immigrants”.

This is “Wrecking Ball”- probably the most thoughtful collection of songs Bruce has written for the last 10-12 years, since he re-united with E-Street Band. Most of the material  was written in 2009, in the very heart of the economic depression.

“We Take Care Of Our Own” for instance is a magnifecent manifest of the typical American attitude of the people who rebuilt their hometown after Katrina destroyed it, while the drunken Irish folklore of “Death To My Hometown” is a protest song against the guys that wear ties, who The Boss hold accountable for the crisis.

While the aforementioned tracks fail to surprise musically, you have to hear “Rocky Ground” to believe it. It is is a real experiment which shows how the classic Americana style can relate to gospel and rap (the few lines rapped by Michelle Moore are just priceless), the same way Clint Eastwood’s stubborn yankee philosophy in “Gran Torino” finds a way to communicate with the black aesthetics of his chaniging neighborhood that left him alienated in the first place.

But the most beautiful thing about “Wrecking Ball”is the overalloldschool feeling. Springsteen doesn’t preach- you can’t come heavy when you’ve been pulsing around in a tight white t-shirt and worn out jeans for the last 40 years.

Despite all the new musical touches here and there you can not really expect him to execute anew classic. That’s not the goal after all. The important thing is that he’s here again with lyrics that can burn holes and melt tyres, a man who gazes upon a big horizon and has no intention of ending his journey.

God bless!