2023 seems to have flown by. We’ve already made it to December, and that can mean only one thing. It’s time for The Real Gone Advent Calendar!
As is traditional, over the next twenty four days, we’ll be posting a new link. It might be a video. It might be audio only. It might be an old favourite. It might be something brand new and unfamiliar. The only way to find out is by coming back each day and opening a new window!
In 2016, Robert Rex Waller released his solo debut ‘Fancy Free’. On that record, the sometime collaborator with I See Hawks In L.A. put his own stamp on a well curated selection of cover tunes, often with mixed results. Great versions of Neil Young’s often overlooked ‘Albuquerque’ and Dylan’s ‘She Belongs To Me’ gave the album an easily approachable core, whilst a drastically reworked version of The Doors’ ‘Crystal Ship’ showed how Waller was unafraid of rebuilding material from the ground up. Even when the material that wasn’t quite as interesting, showed off a man with a rich voice. The album certainly could have done without the misjudged version of ‘Waterloo Sunset’, but the good often outweighed the bad.
Considering how Bruce Springsteen has long been a devotee of the music from Phil Spector’s stable and many of his deeper album cuts convey the sounds of Detroit via their horns and storytelling, he’s taken a long time to get around to recording an album of soul covers. Perhaps that has much to do with him being a prolific songwriter himself – Bruce has effectively shelved albums and albums worth of material that many artists would consider top tier work – meaning that recording other peoples’ songs has never seemed like a priority.
A 90 minute running time might seem short for one his live shows compared to the regular standard that’s been set by Bruce Springsteen over the years, but for the 1979 ‘No Nukes’ concert, performed at Madison Square Garden in front of a packed house, it’s very much a case of quality over quantity.
Although it has spent many years on the shelf, the show is an important one, in that it showcases the classic line-up of the E Street Band at the peak of their powers, somewhere between the well documented ‘Darkness’ shows and the release of the well-loved double LP ‘The River’.
New music from Bruce Springsteen is always welcome…and next month he releases his twentieth studio album ‘Letter To You’. The twelve track album follows 2019’s well-received ‘Western Stars’.
More details about the new record can be found in the below press release along with the video for the title track.
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Bruce Springsteen’s new studio album with the E Street Band, ‘Letter To You’, will be released by Columbia Records on 23rd October. A rock album fuelled by the band’s heart-stopping, house-rocking signature sound, the 12-track ‘Letter To You’ is Springsteen’s 20th studio album and was recorded at his home studio in New Jersey.
“I love the emotional nature of ‘Letter To You,’” says Springsteen. “And I love the sound of the E Street Band playing completely live in the studio, in a way we’ve never done before, and with no overdubs. We made the album in only five days, and it turned out to be one of the greatest recording experiences I’ve ever had.”
‘Letter to You’ includes nine recently written Springsteen songs as well as new recordings of three of his legendary, but previously unreleased 1970’s compositions, ‘Janey Needs a Shooter,’ ‘If I Was the Priest’ and ‘Song for Orphans.’ Springsteen is joined on ‘Letter To You’ by Roy Bittan, Nils Lofgren, Patti Scialfa, Garry Tallent, Stevie Van Zandt, Max Weinberg, Charlie Giordano and Jake Clemons. The album was produced by Ron Aniello with Bruce Springsteen, mixed by Bob Clearmountain and mastered by Bob Ludwig. ‘Letter To You’ is Springsteen’s first performance with the E Street Band since ‘The River’ 2016 tour, which was named the year’s top global tour by both Billboard and Pollstar.
Bruce Springsteen’s recording career spans over 40 years, beginning with 1973’s ‘Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ’ (Columbia Records). He has garnered 20 Grammys, won an Oscar and a Tony, been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, received a Kennedy Center Honour and was MusiCares’ 2013 Person of the Year. Springsteen’s memoir ‘Born to Run’ (Simon & Schuster) and its companion album ‘Chapter and Verse’ were released in September 2016 and he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in November 2016. His historic 236-show run of ‘Springsteen on Broadway’ at Jujamcyn’s Walter Kerr Theatre from October 2017 to December 2018 also yielded an accompanying soundtrack album and Netflix special. In 2019, Springsteen released ‘Western Stars,’ his first studio album in five years, and together with longtime collaborator Thom Zimny he co-directed ‘Western Stars,’ a feature film released through Warner Bros.
LETTER TO YOU
1. One Minute You’re Here
2. Letter To You
3. Burnin’ Train
4. Janey Needs A Shooter
5. Last Man Standing
6. The Power Of Prayer
7. House Of A Thousand Guitars
8. Rainmaker
9. If I Was The Priest
10. Ghosts
11. Song For Orphans
12. I’ll See You In My Dreams