4/5
The Letter E.
Japan. Further East in this 2020 year of COVID-19 that keeps us quarantined in lockdown, all at a social distance. When you bumbling like Hugh Grant finally meet someone the same age and you're doing the music litmus test like the temperature check. Incubus? Check! Chili Peppers? Check! Springsteen?! "I don't know him...is he R&B?!" Wait...(kind of)...what?! Check please! "How can you not know Springsteen? Don't you know he has a song called 'Tokyo'?" Fun fact for you. Turns out this fellow Norah Jones fan does have taste and knew exactly who I meant as we started Boss and Cox 'Dancing In The Dark' after hours later to a Spotify song off my phone. This is a different time though, especially this year. When this generation is more concerned with Tik Tok than someone whose lyrics and tracks could even rival Dylan's great American songbook. Still, Springsteen has Twitter and now his own hash-tag this week with his iconic 'Born In The U.S.A.' rolled up white t-shirt and blue boot cut jean, guitar thrashing, superhero landing. The Boss an emoji?! Whatever next?! Although we like he telling Stephen Colbert on the hosts 'Late Show' Zoomed in quarantine with a digital letter to us think "it's wonderful". Now with similar snow covers for the fall, this week we see two musical heroes release an album on the head-to-head same day with Ben Harper's lap guitar instrumental 'Winter Is For Lovers' with these cold nights closing in like the warmth of your arms and Bruce's 'Letter To You' with a return to E Street after his Roy Orbinson, cinematic solo under the 'Western Stars' last Summer. 'Letter's' opener 'One Minute You're Here' feels like a return to sender reply to the tougher than the rest 'Ain't Got You' acoustic acapella off the 'Tunnel Of Love' out of E Street that felt like his drive to Orbison country back in the 1987 day. But after that personal human touch, its all about a band back on the run from Soprano's to sax from Clemons nephews that evoke the unwavering spirit of Clarence that was still born to run like the perfect portrait of leaning on your shoulder. As this one provides a Bill Withers to your burdens. Lean on this when you're not strong in this year we lost him, the Black Mamba and Panther and so many more lives that mattered.
Ben E. King. Elvis Presley. So many legends are mentioned or mesmerized in melody here as The Boss takes his stage throne again like only he could do. For three plus hours on any given night like lighting the right match, even locked down at home. In the hash-tag of a 'New Music Friday' where we had this and Harper's new harp like beauty to brood over, aswell as work and get these reviews down, this writer found himself stuck on the first track like I would here today, still here tomorrow never leave. But 'One Minute' later I was Lionel Richie stuck on the soaring 'House Of A Thousand Guitars' inspiration. That's just what the Boss does with instant, household name classics off E Street for his vintage in his fine wine years getting better with each sip and sup. From the Central Park malls to the classic horse and carriage NYC streets that could take it back to classic Manhattan like Ben's 'Lovers' for your artwork this Winter, Springsteen's sound is as cinematic as it comes. Whether 'On Broadway' for New York and Netflix, under the old Hollywood movie 'Western Stars', or even this new 'Letter To You' script for an Apple TV documentary. Take a bite out of this one. Because like The Boss warns us, "Big black train comin' down the track/Blow your whistle long and long/One minute you're here/Next minute you're gone." Because, "here the bitter and the bored/Wake in search of the lost chord/That'll band us together for as long as there's stars/Yeah in the house of a thousand guitars." From the self-titled single, to the following 'Ghosts' that haunt us in day bleeding into night, year long isolation.
"Alive, I can feel the blood shiver in my bones/I'm alive and I'm out here on my own/I'm alive and I'm coming home," he sings with the spirit of the Holy Ghost leaving a lamplight on for all those who have departed E Street, but remain in heart. Knowing that this Christmas all that's past will come back not to haunt you, but hold you close like those bittersweet memories. Facing down mortality with the ability to bring a powerful resonance Springsteen soars with his eyes on the sparrow. Scribing his way out of writers block in just a week with some of the best songbook entries in this journey of life and journal of the American dream, the shades of Dylan or Orbinson (pick your Wilbury) would be proud of. Springsteen put his white tee, jeans and leather jacket back on for the coming Winters fall like he was sanding in front of the closed blinds of a 'Darkness On The Edge Of Town'. Still, with some roadblock in the creative process of the man who sang about American girls and muscle, Bruce took some tracks from his past like the 'High Hopes' of the last record off E Street. Taking three records he penned for his debut 'Greetings From Asbury Park NJ' back in 1973 and bringing them to new life here. The saintly 'If I Was A Priest', the Frankie, Wendy or Mary like ode of 'Janey Needs A Shooter' and a 'Song For Orphans' too. Sounding to the letter as classic as the '73 day they were written for a 'Greetings' card back in Jersey for this boy. Springsteen keeps the flame lit from the fire of a 'Burnin' Train', all the way to the tracks of tears (the cinematic 'Rainmaker'), Smoky, atmospheric rails (the hands together 'Power Of Prayer' that piano plays into the same keys of 'Guitars' for the Boss rhythm and blues gospel in this land of hope and dreams) and the final destination of the hallmark, beautiful ballad closer, 'I'll See You In My Dreams'. One R.E.M. that sounds like a slower long walk home as Springsteen sings with streets of fire and E, "Alive, I can feel the blood shiver in my bones/I'm alive and I'm out here on my own/I'm alive and I'm coming home," for all the souls who feel like they've "been split at the seams." From multiple Norah Jones records to of course Ben Harper's instrumental instrumental piece, we've had plenty of locked in studio sessions to hold us down, but working on a dream, like the magic of his Obama era music, the 'Last Man Standing' here is still trying to bring about change like waiting on a sunny 2020 day this fall. 'Western Stars' was his Summer album. 'Letter To You' is his Winter. The Boss may have not given us the best record of the year (that honour goes to Haim, the 'Women In Music' with their California girls 'Part III'), but with one of his greatest hits he's given us hope like you do when you vote. And that's what we all need now like the sincere best regards at the end of a letter. Signed, sealed and delivered. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Playlist Picks: 'Ghosts', 'One Minute You're Here', 'House Of A Thousand Guitars'.
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