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10.0
38219
10.0 |
The Independent
There's few, if any, moments of musical innovation, but in terms of political intent, there won't be a harder, more challenging album released all year
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10.0
38404
10.0 |
Rolling Stone
The most despairing, confrontational and musically turbulent album Bruce Springsteen has ever made
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9.1
38409
9.1 |
Pretty Much Amazing
A mostly great Springsteen record, and a reminder of former glories
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9.0
38417
9.0 |
No Ripcord
If you haven’t been on board since the E Street Band broke up, get back on. And if you haven’t ever been on board…well, this train carries you too
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9.0
38671
9.0 |
Rave Magazine
In Springsteen’s most compelling work, he is sincere, inspiring and never stops questioning the cruel myths surrounding mercurial notions of patriotism and the working class
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9.0
38303
9.0 |
PopMatters
Finds Springsteen still firing on all cylinders
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9.0
38220
9.0 |
BBC
A work of commanding range and masterful execution. The fact that it comes from a man who exclusively seems to become more commanding with age only adds to its magnificent appeal
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9.0
37976
9.0 |
Uncut
He's never before sounded quite so bitter and angry as he does on Wrecking Ball. Print edition only
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8.3
38387
8.3 |
A.V. Club
Wrecking Ball is a mainstream rock record because that’s what Bruce Springsteen does—even if, as a culture, we’ve come to regard centrism in our music with the same distrust we have for it in politics
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8.0
39096
8.0 |
Under The Radar
Wrecking Ball's strength exists in its overarching narrative and sequencing—the relationships between the songs and their characters, and the shift in mood as the album progresses toward more spiritual themes
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8.0
38535
8.0 |
State
It’s a shame that it has taken such dire circumstances to bring out the best in him
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8.0
38101
8.0 |
NME
If ever America needed a fired-up Boss doing what he does best it's in 2012. And boy oh boy, is Bruce Springsteen fired up
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8.0
38214
8.0 |
The Irish Times
This album is a dramatic and considered personal statement; the E-Street Band aren’t involved, save the odd cameo. It is also, at times, wonderful, passionate music, a key factor that never eludes the canny entertainer in Springsteen
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8.0
37944
8.0 |
Daily Telegraph
You can certainly delight in the kind of uplifting surges that will inspire fist-waving explosions of joy at an E Street Band concert, but pay anything but the most arbitrary attention and you are confronted with a sense of fury just a chord change away from despair
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8.0
37945
8.0 |
Mojo
Uninhibited, Wrecking Ball only misses a star here because two love-among-the-economic ruin songs don't quite fit the big-theme fierceness. Print edition only
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8.0
37946
8.0 |
Q
It's a serious record for serious times. It also finds Springsteen, at 62, sounding as vital as he's ever done. Print edition only
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8.0
38226
8.0 |
The Guardian
It exists not merely to put bums on stadium seats, but in service of an anger that feels righteous, affecting and genuine. At its best, Wrecking Ball defies you not to be swept along with it
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8.0
38286
8.0 |
Evening Standard
With the economy in crisis and the world at war, who better than The Boss to plug in the Telecaster and tell some hard truths?
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8.0
38298
8.0 |
musicOMH
An impressive work from a genuine legend and as a response to our current situation, leaves us with a pertinent message: in Bruce we trust
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8.0
38407
8.0 |
Entertainment.ie
Wrecking Ball is passionate, it's intense, and it's a firm reminder that Springsteen as an artist is as relevant as he's ever been
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8.0
38338
8.0 |
Consequence Of Sound
The Boss continues to explore rock ‘n’ roll that sounds as good in a church as it does in a stadium
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7.0
38374
7.0 |
Drowned In Sound
The times they are a-hard and it’s good to have this old guy around, warts and all
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7.0
38506
7.0 |
The Digital Fix
He is the voice of nation, a patron saint of the common man, the voice of the disenfranchised. Maybe he doesn't get it right all the time, but he hits home runs more often than most
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7.0
38522
7.0 |
Paste Magazine
Almost without trying — or at least without showing any signs of strain — Springsteen balanced hardscrabble realities with rock ‘n’ roll fun
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7.0
38677
7.0 |
Spin
It's primarily about the death of a nation, or the death of an idea of a nation, which is as firma as Springsteen's terra gets
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7.0
39084
7.0 |
Tiny Mix Tapes
The Boss still has a talent for disguising his most trenchant material in the friendliest of exteriors
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7.0
38610
7.0 |
Blurt
More about a carnival of living souls moving in solidarity than a giant iron orb meant to destroy
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6.0
38547
6.0 |
The Quietus
Marred by late-to-the-table dilettantism
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6.0
38386
6.0 |
The Scotsman
Only Bruce Springsteen could get away with such musical profligacy on an album which deplores capitalist excesses
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6.0
38310
6.0 |
Prefix
while you might wish Springsteen had done a few things differently, it's still unlikely you won't find yourself warming to the embers of Wrecking Ball. Even if they could have been bonfires
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6.0
38271
6.0 |
Independent on Sunday
This is not the Bruce who gets into your blood with the detail of his observation; it's a Bruce who wants to boot the bad guys in the ass and get arrested
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5.9
38419
5.9 |
Pitchfork
Polemics from a man who has been betrayed one too many times
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5.8
38613
5.8 |
Beats Per Minute
An album that will reinforce most everyone’s preexisting opinion of The Boss, whether they be good or bad
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4.0
38423
4.0 |
Slant Magazine
Springsteen seems more concerned with overtures toward harmony than actual dissent, a newfound wishy-washiness that leaves him sounding entirely defanged
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