High Hopes (album)

Springsteen said that the new music was "some of our best unreleased material from the past decade" and among his best writing and deserved a proper studio recording. Work on the album started on December 9, 2012, when Springsteen called producer Ron Aniello to discuss some unfinished demos of older songs. Aniello began production on the album in Los Angeles while the band continued the Wrecking Ball Tour. While many critics found that the album lacked the cohesion typical of Springsteen's releases, Aniello insisted that Springsteen went "back and forth with sequences for months and months until he [got] it exactly where he [wanted] it." "We recorded a lot and at first it was a much longer record. Bruce did the same thing with Wrecking Ball", he recalled. ==Songs==

High Hopes was Springsteen's first studio album composed entirely of covers, outtakes and reimagined versions of songs from past albums and tours. "The best way to describe this record," Springsteen said, "is that's it's a bit of an anomaly but not much. I don't really work linearly like a lot of people do." The title track was the album's first single, and was originally recorded in 1995 and released on the Blood Brothers EP the following year. "Heaven's Wall", "Down in the Hole" and "Hunter of Invisible Game" date from 2002 to 2008. Morello also suggested two covers. "Just Like Fire Would", by Australian punk rock band The Saints, and "Dream Baby Dream" by protopunk band Suicide. In 2005, Springsteen closed out shows on his solo Devils & Dust Tour performing the song on a pump organ. ==Release and promotion==

The album was preceded by the single "High Hopes". A music video for "Just Like Fire Would" was released January 22, 2014. A music video for "The Wall" was aired during the 2014 HBO special, ''Bruce Springsteen's High Hopes. On July 9, 2014, Springsteen released a short film for "Hunter of Invisible Game" which marked his directorial debut. In April 2014, Springsteen released American Beauty, a four-track EP of songs that did not make the final cut of High Hopes''. On December 28, 2013, Amazon.com made the album available for purchase as individual MP3 files through their mobile application. Amazon quickly removed the files, but it was too late and the album leaked by mid-day. On January 12, 2014, the television series The Good Wife featured snippets of three songs ("High Hopes", "Hunter of Invisible Game" and "The Ghost of Tom Joad") during the episode. Usage of Springsteen's songs was part of a deal between his label and the CBS television network to gain wider exposure for the album in an unconventional way and lure his baby boomer fans to the show and the network's website. Springsteen said, "This is music I always felt needed to be released. I felt they all deserved a home and a hearing" in a statement discussing the CBS deal. On January 14, 2014, the entire episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon was dedicated to Springsteen. Springsteen and the E Street Band, with Tom Morello but without Steven Van Zandt (who was filming Lilyhammer), performed "High Hopes", "Heaven's Wall" and "Just Like Fire Would". The latter song was streamed online and was not shown on television. Springsteen and Fallon, both dressed as Springsteen from the Born in the U.S.A. era, performed a parody song to the theme of "Born to Run" titled "Gov. Christie Traffic Jam", poking fun at the Fort Lee lane closure scandal. Springsteen was also interviewed. On April 4, 2014, HBO aired ''Bruce Springsteen's High Hopes, a 30-minute documentary on the making of High Hopes. In May 2014, Sony Music Netherlands released a 45-minute documentary to YouTube titled High Hopes in South Africa'' which documented Springsteen and the E Street Band's first-ever concerts in South Africa. ==Critical reception==

High Hopes got a mixed reception from critics, with Metacritic giving it 67 / 100, based upon 37 reviews, a "generally favorable" response. At Pitchfork, Stephen M. Deusner noted that "the thick arrangements distract from the good songwriting and conceal the bad". Jesse Cataldo of Slant Magazine saw Springsteen "[aligning] himself with a long tradition of folksingers" in tuning into "the deeper inequalities that inspire" the songs. In December 2014, Rolling Stone named High Hopes the second best album (behind only U2's Songs of Innocence) on their Top 50 Albums of 2014 list. ==Commercial performance==

The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart on its first week of release, Springsteen's eleventh No. 1 and placing him third on the acts with the most No.1's behind the Beatles (with 19 No. 1s) and Jay-Z (with 13). The album sold around 99,000 copies in the US in its first week, and as of October 2015 had sold 213,000. The album also debuted at No. 1 in the UK, his tenth time to top that chart. ==Track listing==

Notes • The album was also released on 180-gram vinyl as a double LP. The CD version of the album also came packaged with the LP. • The deluxe version of the album included a limited edition DVD titled Born in the U.S.A. Live: London 2013, featuring the band performing the entire Born in the U.S.A. album in London, England, during the Wrecking Ball World Tour. ==Personnel==

Adapted from the album's liner notes: • Bruce Springsteen – lead vocals , guitar , mandolin , banjo , additional bass guitar , drums , vibraphone , percussion , percussion loop , synthesizers , organ , piano , harmonium • Roy Bittan – piano , organ • Clarence Clemons – tenor saxophone • Danny Federici – organ • Nils Lofgren – guitar , pedal steel , mandolin , backing vocals • Patti Scialfa – backing vocals • Garry Tallent – bass guitar • Steven Van Zandt – guitar , backing vocals • Max Weinberg – drums , percussion • Tom Morello – guitar , lead guitar , lead vocals , backing vocals • Charles Giordano – organ , accordion • Ron Aniello – guitar , 12-string guitar , bass guitar , drum loop , vibraphone , percussion , percussion loop , synthesizers , organ , farfisa organ , accordion , • Soozie Tyrell – violin , additional violin , backing vocals • Sam Bardfeld – violin • Jake Clemons – tenor saxophone solo , horns • Barry Danielian – horns • Clark Gayton – horns • Stan Harrison – horns • Ed Manion – horns • Curt Ramm – horns , cornet • Scott Tibbs – horn orchestration • Jeff Kievit – piccolo trumpet • Cillian Vallely – uilleann pipes, low whistle, tin whistle • Josh Freese – drums • Everett Bradley – percussion , backing vocals • Curtis King – backing vocals • Cindy Mizelle – backing vocals • Michelle Moore – backing vocals • Evan Springsteen – backing vocals • Jessica Springsteen – backing vocals • Samuel Springsteen – backing vocals • Tawatha Agee – backing vocals • Keith Fluitt – backing vocals • John James – backing vocals • Al Thornton – backing vocals • Brenda White – backing vocals • Atlanta Strings : • Ed Horst – string arrangement, conductor • Justin Bruns, Jay Christy, Sheela Iyengar, John Meisner, Christopher Pulgram, William Pu, Olga Shpitko, Kenn Wagner – violins • Amy Chang, Tania Maxwell, Lachlan McBane – violas • Karen Freer, Charae Krueger, Daniel Laufer – celli • NY Chamber Consort Strings : • Rob Mathes – string arrangement, conductor • Lisa Kim (concertmaster), Quan Ge, Hyunju Lee, Jessica Lee, Ann Lehman, Joanna Mauer, Suzanne Ornstein, Annaliesa Place, David Southorn, Jeannie Wynton, Sharon Yamada – violins • Maurycy Banaszek, Desiree Elsevier, Shmuel Katz, Robert Rinehart – violas • Maria Kitsopoulos, Alan Stepansky, Ru Pei Yeh – celli Technical • Ron Aniello, Bruce Springsteen – production , co-production • Brendan O'Brien – production • Ross Petersen, Toby Scott, Nick DiDia – recording engineering • Rob Lebret, Kevin Mills, Geoff Sanoff, Bob Clearmountain, Dave Schiffman – additional recording • Bob Clearmountain – mixing • Brandon Duncan, Sergio Ruelas Jr., Chris Lord-Alge – assistants • Nik Karpen, Keith Armstrong, Brad Townsend, Andrew Schubert – assistants • Brendan O'Brien – mixing • Tom Syrowski, Karl Egsieker, Tom Tapley – assistants • Bob Ludwig – mastering • Karl Egsieker, Tom Tapley, Brendan Dekora, Alex Williams, Sean Astill, Tom Astill, Jordan Power, Jack Prest, Luke Yeoman, Daniel Zaidenstadt, Benjamin Rice, Phil Joly, John Horne, Joe Viscano, Mike Bauer, Ted Tuthill, Owen Mulholland – engineering assistants • Kyle Hoffman, Brandon Duncan – assistants • Billy Bowers – Pro Tools • Toby Scott – production coordination • Shari Sutcliffe – musician contractor • Sandra Park, Patricia Horst – strings contractor • Kevin Buell – guitars and technical services • Michelle Holme – art direction, design • Danny Clinch – photography • Edward Smith, Nyra Lang – assistants ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==