Speed of Life

by Gregg Chadwick Wrecking Ball (Song by Song Review of Bruce Springsteen's New Album - Wrecking Ball) " The great athlete in the midst of the play rises up and shines- all attention is drawn to him. And everything around him- the players in the field, the coaches on the sidelines, the fans in the stadium, the announcers in the booth, everyone understands who they are and what they are to do immediately in relation to the sacred event that is occurring."  - Hubert Dreyfus and Sean Kelly in   All Things Shining Gregg Chadwick When the Levees Broke 48"x48" oil on linen 2010 The title track,  Wrecking Ball ( Listen Here ), marks the halfway point on Springsteen's new album.  In this rousing song with an almost classic Springsteen sound the emotional tenor of the album begins to shift.   Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Play Wrecking Ball at Giants Stadium  Initially written as a tribute to Giants Stad...

by Gregg Chadwick This Depression (Song by Song Review of Bruce Springsteen's New Album - Wrecking Ball) "Pessimism and optimism are slammed up against each other in my records, the tension between them is where it's all at, it's what lights the fire.":  - Bruce Springsteen, Paris, February 2012 Margaret Bourke-White The Louisville Flood  9 11/16'" × 13 3/8" gelatin silver print mounted on board 1937 Whitney Museum of American Art, New York Midway through  Wrecking Ball, Bruce  Springsteen's   haunting song  This Depression  ( Listen Here ) limns the album's lowest emotional point. In contemporary America, empathy seems to be an underrated virtue. Talk radio and squawking television news channels attempt to prejudice their audience with the idea that economic victims of this latest recession have created their own reality through a lack of hard work or because of some sort of moral failing. In an u...