record reviews

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

Album: “Wrecking Ball”

Grade: A

Bruce Springsteen talks about how he wrote his album “The Rising” after a fan stopped him on the street after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and begged for new music, saying, “We need you now.”

You can almost imagine that a similar plea inspired his new album, “Wrecking Ball” (Columbia), as Springsteen takes the shocks caused by America’s economic crisis as seriously as he took the losses at the World Trade Center. And, once again, he answered the call with one of the best albums of his career.

“Wrecking Ball” acknowledges the struggle of everyday Americans, offering the 99 percent their own personalized soundtrack and confirmation that their worries have been heard. Springsteen then goes the extra mile and also provides uplifting anthems to help get us through.

There are moments of darkness here. “This Depression” sounds desperate and fitful, while “Swallowed Up [in the Belly of the Whale]” is wrenching with its hauntingly empty arrangement. Perhaps even more upsetting is “Jack of All Trades,” where Springsteen repeatedly sings “I’m a jack of all trades, honey, we’ll be all right” in a wavering voice that suggests he might not actually believe his comforting words. He sounds far more certain, though, once the mournful piano switches to a raucous guitar solo and he thinks about taking revenge on those responsible for his troubles.

Springsteen’s inspirational declarations are even more effective. “Land of Hope and Dreams,” which has been part of his live show since the ’90s when he reunited with the E Street Band, finally found a home on a studio album, and its surroundings couldn’t be more complementary. (The song also marks one of the final sax solos from the late Clarence Clemons, and it is fittingly powerful and poignant.)

The title track from “Wrecking Ball” also has been a fan favorite from recent E Street Band tours. However, its studio version, with the help of producer Ron Aniello, has been honed to a much sharper point, the epic sprawl corralled to provide far more potent kicks.

Springsteen punctuates nearly every defiant chorus of “Bring on your wrecking ball, come on and take your best shot, let me see what you got” with a frenzied Irish-folk-punk celebration that calls to mind both The Pogues and The Gaslight Anthem. He follows a chant of “Hard times come, hard times go” with a gospel-inspired, horn-filled climax that is overflowing with joy. It’s practically a victory dance that taunts all comers with “You thought that would stop us?”

“Wrecking Ball” (the song) eventually will stand next to “Born to Run” as one of the defining songs of both Springsteen and his fans. “Wrecking Ball” (the album) will show that the 62-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer still has some amazing surprises left in him.

— Glenn Gamboa, Newsday

SLEIGH BELLS

Album: “Reign of Terror” (Mom + Pop)

Grade: B

On Sleigh Bells’ delectable 2010 debut “Treats,” the car-crash pileup of Derek E. Miller’s overdriven guitars and gargantuan drum-machine beats laid a violently explosive foundation for charismatic front woman Alexis Krauss to coo over sweetly.

It worked so well, in part, because there were discernible melodies beneath the maelstrom of noise. For the most part, that’s still true on “Reign of Terror,” though Miller’s production strategy of intensely compressing the sound before turning it all the way up to 11 can create barriers to entry quite difficult to overcome, as on the well-titled “You Lost Me.”

And while the whole of “Reign of Terror” gleefully blasts away with a wall of noise to make the Jesus & Mary Chain blush, the concise, essentially pop architecture of the arrangements turn initially abrasive tunes like “Comeback Kid” and “Road to Hell” into earworms.

— Dan DeLuca, Philadelphia Inquirer

ANDREW BIRD

Album: “Break It Yourself” (Mom + Pop)

Grade: B

Andrew Bird writes thoughtful songs that are as prone to flights of fancy as they are to academic diction. He is a casual and sensitive singer, an even better whistler, and an even better-than-that violinist. And on “Break It Yourself,” his first album of new songs since 2009’s Noble Beast, all of those talents come together in a near- perfect balance.

It’s a mostly subdued album with songs that flow gradually and often end up in very different places from where they started. “Orpheo Looks Back” begins in plucky syncopation, but violins begin sawing, looping and conversing, and Bird whistles a refrain between verses that allude to Orpheus, the mythic Greek musician. “Desperation Breeds ...” begins with a murmuring pulse as Bird considers “accidental pollination in this era without bees,” and the song builds to an arabesque of “peculiar incantations.” It’s gorgeous, as is the rest of this impressive album.

— Steve Klinge, Philadelphia Inquirer

RUTHIE FOSTER

Album: “Let It Burn” (Blue Corn)

Grade: A

Ruthie Foster wrote only three of the 13 songs on her new album — two of them being gospel numbers on which she is backed by the Blind Boys of Alabama. But “Let It Burn’s” canny selection of covers highlights Foster’s strengths as a powerful and often soul-stirring vocalist and a striking interpreter.

Mostly, Foster reaches back for material. She duets with soul veteran William Bell on his “You Don’t Miss Your Water,” offers a supremely moving take on the Band’s “It Makes No Difference,” and joins again with the Blind Boys for David Crosby’s “Long Time Gone.” But she also goes contemporary with Adele’s “Set Fire to the Rain” and the Black Keys’ “Everlasting Light.”

In some cases, Foster turns the songs inside out, refreshing familiar material with new arrangements while remaining true to it and maintaining her cohesive vision. The up-tempo Johnny Cash hit “Ring of Fire” becomes slow and simmering — a moody torch song, if you will. Pete Seeger’s “If I Had a Hammer” likewise is slowed down and spellbinding: Built on piano, bass and sax, it becomes less a folk anthem and more a deeply personal statement of purpose.

— Nick Cristiano, Philadelphia Inquirer

MAGNETIC FIELDS

Album: “Love at the Bottom of the Sea”

Grade: A

Stephin Merritt’s Magnetic Fields, after detouring for album-length considerations of “Distortion” and the letter “i,” have returned to love, the concept they cleverly tackled in the landmark “69 Love Songs.”

For “Love at the Bottom of the Sea” (Merge), there are more clever short stories — starting boldly with the new-wave tale of abstinence “God Wants Us to Wait” paired with the joyous, Beach Boys-styled pop of “Andrew in Drag.”

— Glenn Gamboa, Newsday