The New Bruce Springsteen Album, "Only The Strong Survive", As Expected, Is Awesome
Back when the boss announced this album in late September my dick got harder than a frozen Chinese math book.
As die hard fans of Springsteen know, Bruce and The E Street Band came up playing bars on the Jersey shore interweaving covers from soul titans like Eddie Floyd, Sam Cooke, Arthur Conley and Gary U.S. Bonds. Chances are anybody that's seen Bruce play live more than once has heard him cover a Motown tune during his audience request segment, or close out with his version of "Shout".
So the announcement he was doing an entire album of tracks of this sort got the juices flowing.
He teamed up with his E Street Bands' horns and duet partner Sam Moore from the legendary Sam & Dave to produce the album, and the result is magic.
If you are a fan of horns, like I am (I am obsessed with saxophones), then you will love this album.
The standout horn accompanied tracks for me are Ahmet Ertegun and Betty Nelson’s “Don’t Play That Song” (a hit, first for Ben E. King, then Aretha Franklin),
and on smoldering “Nightshift" by The Commodores.
Do I wish this album didn't sound so clean and polished as it does? Yes, not going to lie. I think it's ingrained in me that when listening to Motown/soul, there has to be that gritty sound from the analog recordings, complete with the vinyl pops. Motown is my all time favorite genre of music, I think it's some of the best music ever created, by some of the most talented artists ever to live, during much simpler, yet divisive times. Which makes it timeless.
So hearing it crooned by the boss over such tight and clean arrangements sounds odd in a way. But I still appreciate what he did here.
Luckily, he and produce Danny Ainello did one of the most beautiful songs of all time justice - "Someday We'll Be Together"
Springsteen's last original material album came in 2020, Letter To You, and he actually disclosed last week that he had recorded an entire new album of new material before deciding to scrap it.
He said (via Exclaim): “Initially, it was really hard. I was picking material and I’m going, “It’s hard to sing somebody else’s songs, and get them to sound authentic and it’s coming out of you.” So I made an entire record that I threw out, and it’ll show up in different places, and there were some good things on it but didn’t feel quite right.
“So I came across this ‘Do I Love You’, the Frank Wilson, Motown rarity, and the States, I guess, no one had heard it. And I want to try that. And so my producer, Ron Aniello, created the track and the track was really good, really strong. I said, “Well, if I can get up near Frank Wilson’s range, I’m going to take a swing at it.” And we cut that, that felt great.”
Springsteen added: “I said well, maybe I’ll orient myself towards soul music, because it’s how I grew up, and all my great mentors were soul men that came, Sam Moore and, of course, James Brown, Smokey Robinson as a writer. I mean, just so many. And the great singers, David Ruffin, Levi Stubbs, all masters. They were all my masters and I said well, let me try and sing some of this material.”
The Boss is set to feature on three consecutive episodes of Jimmy Fallon's "The Tonight Show" this week, beginning tonight, in support of the new album, as well as a special Thanksgiving episode later this month.
Only the Strong Survive Tracklist:
01. Only The Strong Survive (Jerry Butler)
02. Soul Days (Dobie Gray)
03. Night Shift (The Commodores)
04. Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) (Frank Wilson)
05. The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore (The Walker Brothers)
06. Turn Back The Hands of Time (Tyrone Davis)
07. When She Was My Girl (The Four Tops)
08. Western Union Man (Jerry Butler)
09. I Wish It Would Rain (The Temptations)
10. Don’t Play That Song (Aretha Franklin)
11. Any Other Way (Jackie Shane)
12. I Forgot To Be Your Lover (William Bell)
13. Rooms of Gloom (The Four Tops)
14. What Becomes of the Brokenhearted (Jimmy Ruffin)
15. Someday We’ll Be Together (Diana Ross and The Supremes)