Music Megathread

[brucejoel99]

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band dropped a new single this past week, "Letter To You" (linked below), & will be releasing an accompanying album of the same name on Oct. 23rd:

It includes 9 new songs & new recordings of 3 legendary (widely bootlegged but never officially released) songs from the '70s, so it should be really interesting to see how those early '70s songs are gonna sound side-by-side with the new stuff.

I've been waiting for a new record with the E Street Band for so long (nearly 7 years & counting now!), so it's really good to hear that classic E Street sound in the studio again (though, of course, it's just always good in general to have new Bruce, & especially so in our current climate).

[brucejoel99]

[brucejoel99]

https://youtu.be/Lo5QNcFioZ4

That is an absolute bop.

I don't know about you, but I'm getting "farewell album" vibes from that video and what we've heard so far. Which makes me really, really sad.

Eh, I don't think he'll ever plan a last album. Hell, I think it's more likely that the man will literally die on stage before he retires. And after all, Bruce said in the recent Rolling Stone article that he has a lot of projects in the works:

Could this be the last E Street Band album? "I think what he has come to realize is, it could be," says Van Zandt. "Confronting one's mortality is both truthful and realistic, and it can assist people who are in that frame of mind - who may be leaving, or who had someone pass right now that they love. And by the time this comes out, it could be 200,000 of us. It could be cathartic for those people. It could also be literal. At this point, if you have something to say, you better say it now! Don't wait too much longer! Because who knows? I don't think he meant it literally. And if it is the last album, y'know, we went out swinging. And if it's not, we're gonna have to come back, and we're gonna have to beat it!"

Springsteen acknowledges that "no tomorrows are guaranteed," but that's as far as he'll go on the subject. And it's probably worth noting that the chorus of "Ghosts" finds him practically screaming, "I'm alive!" "I plan," says Springsteen, "to have a long road in front of me.... Some of my recent projects have been kind of summational, but really, for me, it's summational for this stage of my work life. I've got a lot left to do, and I plan to carry on."

Basically, he's realizing (or, rather, conceding) that both he & the band are old now, but I don't think that precludes him from making music 'til the day he dies. The vibe I've been getting (both from this article & the songs thus far) isn't so much a farewell album but more of a transitional album: finally coming to terms with being old & the deaths of his friends, moving on from the last decade of his work & into his later years with the hope to enjoy as much of it as he can with his friends - the E Street Band.

"Letter to You," for example, is a summation/thesis statement of what he tried to do with all of his work. It's not necessarily soul-stirring, but it's moving. Bruce speaks directly to us, which is unusual for him, given that he often hides behind characters & personas. And "Ghosts" seems to be an affirmation of life as Bruce struggles to understand his place as an aging rock-star who's seen not only his band members but his lifelong friends pass away as his very art form becomes less culturally significant. Yet he & the band assert "I am alive!" because he still has something to say, & he'll carry on because he has made promises to those that came before, & not just for himself, but for those ghosts that visit him: specifically George Theiss from his days with The Castiles, but also Clarence & Danny too.

Moreover, the article describes a "third album in the can" from 2012 (allegedly the so-called "Gospel Album") & Tracks 2 consisting of lost/unreleased full-albums, & Patti has indicated that he wrote more material this past summer during the pandemic (& him actually having the inspiration for new music & songs is notable, given that he experienced a significant period of writer's block after the early-2010s writing sessions that resulted in Wrecking Ball/Western Stars/the unreleased Gospel Album), so we certainly haven't seen the last of what's to come. I think we can confidently predict that, if he's healthy, then he'll be continuing to put out new music & tour (though not 'til 2022 at the earliest re: the latter).

[brucejoel99]

https://youtu.be/Lo5QNcFioZ4

That is an absolute bop.

I don't know about you, but I'm getting "farewell album" vibes from that video and what we've heard so far. Which makes me really, really sad.

Eh, I don't think he'll ever plan a last album. Hell, I think it's more likely that the man will literally die on stage before he retires. And after all, Bruce said in the recent Rolling Stone article that he has a lot of projects in the works:

Could this be the last E Street Band album? "I think what he has come to realize is, it could be," says Van Zandt. "Confronting one's mortality is both truthful and realistic, and it can assist people who are in that frame of mind - who may be leaving, or who had someone pass right now that they love. And by the time this comes out, it could be 200,000 of us. It could be cathartic for those people. It could also be literal. At this point, if you have something to say, you better say it now! Don't wait too much longer! Because who knows? I don't think he meant it literally. And if it is the last album, y'know, we went out swinging. And if it's not, we're gonna have to come back, and we're gonna have to beat it!"

Springsteen acknowledges that "no tomorrows are guaranteed," but that's as far as he'll go on the subject. And it's probably worth noting that the chorus of "Ghosts" finds him practically screaming, "I'm alive!" "I plan," says Springsteen, "to have a long road in front of me.... Some of my recent projects have been kind of summational, but really, for me, it's summational for this stage of my work life. I've got a lot left to do, and I plan to carry on."

Basically, he's realizing (or, rather, conceding) that both he & the band are old now, but I don't think that precludes him from making music 'til the day he dies. The vibe I've been getting (both from this article & the songs thus far) isn't so much a farewell album but more of a transitional album: finally coming to terms with being old & the deaths of his friends, moving on from the last decade of his work & into his later years with the hope to enjoy as much of it as he can with his friends - the E Street Band.

"Letter to You," for example, is a summation/thesis statement of what he tried to do with all of his work. It's not necessarily soul-stirring, but it's moving. Bruce speaks directly to us, which is unusual for him, given that he often hides behind characters & personas. And "Ghosts" seems to be an affirmation of life as Bruce struggles to understand his place as an aging rock-star who's seen not only his band members but his lifelong friends pass away as his very art form becomes less culturally significant. Yet he & the band assert "I am alive!" because he still has something to say, & he'll carry on because he has made promises to those that came before, & not just for himself, but for those ghosts that visit him: specifically George Theiss from his days with The Castiles, but also Clarence & Danny too.

Moreover, the article describes a "third album in the can" from 2012 (allegedly the so-called "Gospel Album") & Tracks 2 consisting of lost/unreleased full-albums, & Patti has indicated that he wrote more material this past summer during the pandemic (& him actually having the inspiration for new music & songs is notable, given that he experienced a significant period of writer's block after the early-2010s writing sessions that resulted in Wrecking Ball/Western Stars/the unreleased Gospel Album), so we certainly haven't seen the last of what's to come. I think we can confidently predict that, if he's healthy, then he'll be continuing to put out new music & tour (though not 'til 2022 at the earliest re: the latter).

Good analysis. I hope you're right.
A gospel album is interesting - I can't imagine he means that in the literal sense as he's not  particularly religious, although he is spiritual to some extent and Catholicism is a regular theme throughout his career.
I'll certainly be here to listen to as much music and as many albums as he wants to put out in the future. I wish we could say the same for Billy, but I guess he decided he had nothing else to say musically

Yeah, think along the lines of "We Take Care of Our Own," "Shackled & Drawn," & "Rocky Ground" from Wrecking Ball & "This Is Your Sword" from High Hopes, as they're all supposedly songs that originated from the project's sessions.

And as for Billy having nothing else to say musically, yeah, I think he unfortunately made his thoughts on the matter perfectly clear with the last song on his last album:

[brucejoel99]

THE ABBA ALBUM THO! Their first new material in 40 years. I never thought that I'd see/hear it, & IT'S SO GOOD!! I honestly have no words except to say that it's amazing(!), that it's tragic that we didn't get it much sooner (i.e., in the '80s), & that finally getting to listen to a new ABBA album is a very special experience, to say the least, as somebody who was born nearly 2 decades after their initial breakup (& not to mention, a presumably once-in-a-lifetime experience, given that they've already said that they won't be putting out any more new studio albums after Voyage). I legit teared up listening to "I Still Have Faith In You."

[brucejoel99]

ABBA's just-released wintery music video for "Little Things," their first-ever Christmas song, from the newly recent Voyage:

[brucejoel99]

I realized just now that Barack Obama was President the last time that the E Street Band played stateside & now I'm sad.