Wrecking Ball Out.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: Wrecking Super Tuesday

Bruce Springsteen's 17th studio album, Wrecking Ball, is out today. 11 of the 13 songs are new, and Springsteen says he was "pissed off" when he wrote them. "My work has always been about judging the distance between American reality and the American dream. An enormous fault-line cracked the American system wide open, and its repercussions are just beginning to be felt." He adds that the album title, Wrecking Ball, reflects the "flat destruction of some American ideals and values over the last 30 years. It seemed like a good metaphor."

Wrecking Ball was produced by Ron Aniello, who produced 2007's Play It as It Lays for Springsteen's wife, E Street Band singer Patti Scialfa. Though the album includes contributions from members of the E Street Band, including the last sax solo by the late Clarence Clemons on "Land of Hope and Dreams," it also features other musicians, including Aniello, drummers Matt Chamberlain and Steve Jordan, and Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello.

Wrecking Ball is streaming today on Springsteen's website, which has been revamped in conjunction with the release. And Springsteen is encouraging you to support your local record shop by purchasing the album there.

Springsteen's tour in support of Wrecking Ball starts on March 18th in Atlanta, though there are two one-offs beforehand -- Friday at New York's Apollo Theatre and March 15th at the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas.