Bruce Is Back On E Street - Letter To You

Its been 7 years since Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band have recorded and released an album together, and 11 since they have released new material. Now, in the middle of a global pandemic, they are back with Letter To You. 

The album contains 9 newly released songs, along with 3 songs written back in the early 70s, when Springsteen's career was only just beginning. 

The story of the beginning of the record, according to Bruce, is as follows. 

"…a fan — from Italy, he thinks — gave Springsteen an acoustic guitar at his Broadway stage door. 'I said, Geez, you know, thanks,' Springsteen recalls. 'And I just took a quick glance at it and it looked like a nice guitar, so I jumped in the car with it.' The guitar, made by a company he’s never heard of, sat in his living room for months, until Springsteen picked it up around April of last year. Without warning, 'all the songs from the album came out of it,' he says, full of wonder. 'In perhaps less than 10 days.'"(Rolling Stone Magazine, Ghost, Guitars, and the E Street Shuffle).

This is remarkable given the way Springsteen usually works. We think of a Springsteen album usually being constructed through long periods of writing, then chipped down to the songs that are released. Not a ten-day period out of which a great record is the product. It was also recorded remarkably fast, and completely live, in a five-day period, spending 3 hours on each song song. Then, on the fifth day, they listened to the album they had just created. "'It’s the only album where it’s the entire band playing at one time,...'" (Rolling Stone Magazine, Ghost, Guitars, and the E Street Shuffle). It shows. Full of the rich sound and collaboration of the band playing together. 

The albums inspiration came from the death of Springsteen's friend, and former band mate, George Theiss. Theiss died from lung cancer, and his death lit the fuse that led to the rest of the album. It also left Springsteen being the last surviving member of his very first band, the Castiles. The first song that was written was Last Man Standing, a song dedicated to describing the specific memories Springsteen had of Theiss in the Castiles. 

The album is a great comeback for the band. It captures the same sound (I'd like to imagine) as a live show. The songs that were written back in the 70s fit in perfectly, especially If I Was The Priest. The old songs also make you wonder what Springsteen's career would've been like if he had stuck with that writing style and became "the next Dylan.", full of descriptive lyrics and big harmonica blasts. I'll See You In My Dreams and Burin' Train are also two clear favorites for me. While great in all aspects, listening to the record does make me think that the bands days may be numbered, and Bruce knows it. The album is very clearly Springsteen confronting things ending on many levels, not just because of Theiss, but also Clarence, Danny, the Band's and his own mortality. Some songs like Ghosts and One Minute You're Here address those close to him, while Last Man Standing confronts Springsteen's own thoughts of everything ending. While nothing has been said to suggest that the band may hang it up, it is clear that Springsteen has been thinking about it. 

I'm making it sound as though this album is incredibly depressing, but its really not. While you can clearly tell that Springsteen has been thinking about death and mortality, the album doesn't have many slow and sad songs. It's made up of rockers clearly meant to be played live and with lots of energy.  Much of it comes across as an uplifting celebration rather than a funeral song.  

I sincerely hope the end isn't near, and I hope that Bruce and the band are able to tour when the pandemic ends, that I'll get to see them, and that their days aren't as limited as listening to this record may make it seem. 

NCB