New Springsteen Album "Western Stars" June 14*

None whatsoever, although it's still early.

But it really wouldn't surprise me if the promotional cycle is understated. Who knows how motivated he is to tour a mellow album that's already 6-7 years old, especially if the response is...muted?

I guess the bigger question is whether he wants to continue in the acoustic vein of the Broadway thing, or if he's itching to get back to rock n' roll after 3 years away from it.

Granted, he could've just been excited about a new burst of inspiration after years of not writing anything, but I feel like letting slip that he has a new E-Street record partially written is some kind of subtle indication that he's not really planning on making a big deal out of this album long-term, since surely he knows that's going to be a distraction when anyone talks about this one. So, perhaps I'm overthinking this, but it just seems to me like he's content to play Sony's game leading up to the album, make the usual TV circuit, etc, and then just sort of let it go.

I think he knows it isn't a major work...it's an acoustic(-ish) album with no real sociopolitical themes, sort of a genre experiment like We Shall Overcome, just with original songs. I honestly think the only reason it's coming out now is because he has nothing else to release, and Sony is knocking at his door.

 

I couldn't care less if it was written 6 days or 6 years ago, it's still brand new to me.
As far as weird releases are concerned, have a look at American beauty, High Hopes, Chapter and verse, and that friend thingy on Spotify. If that doesn't smell like fulfilling a contract, nothing does.
Judging from the first single from the upcoming album, this is the real deal. I haven't yet had the chance to hear single no 2, but I'm a believer.

 

Really not sure about the new single. At best it reminds of the Elvis Costello Burt Bacharach collaborations... better the second time through.. it does remind me of WOAD. Not a good thing.

 

Nor can I. But, I couldn't do the string tie of Tunnel of Love either.
I do have a couple of blue Levi's work shirts I love and more jeans than any other pants. The hat is a tough sell for me, though. But sunshine and skin cancer!
I have to learn to live with, what I can't rise above.

 

It's a grower.

 

So it's case of grower vs shower....Grower always wins!

 

You may be right. All throughout his career, he seems to write and record part of an album (sometimes an entire album) and shelve it in favor of something else. Most of the power pop material he recorded for Darkness on the Edge of Town and The River went unreleased until Tracks, The Promise and The Ties That Bind box sets. Devils and Dust is comprised of mostly core recordings that dated back nearly a decade by the time they were released.

Then there are the projects we know he worked on that still haven't been released like the LA garage sessions from '83, the sessions from '86 (separate from the Tunnel of Love sessions) that feature prominent country-western musicians, the sessions following the conclusion of the reunion tour, and the follow up to Lucky Town that was recorded with the '92 - '93 touring band in '94, which is supposedly a complete album. They become theses mythical unreleased albums for which Springsteen fans clamor for years. Western Stars, the album Bruce was working on when he got the inspiration to write the Wrecking Ball album, almost became another one of those mythical albums. For better or worse, it's finally being released next month and, so far, I'm holding out hope that it's a good one, even if Bruce may have some ambivalence about it.

 

I like this new single a lot!
But, I like the era Bruce referenced when speaking of this new record. So, I'm excitedly prepared.
Bruce and I are six months apart in age, so many of his musical touchstones are very similar to mine. Yep. Ready.

 

The missing Hip hop album, the E street Nebraska and all those other unreleased mythical project you mentioned will always be of interest fans, simply because they are unobtainable as per now. I suspect we would be dissapointed by many if released. Although the 83 session is welcome on my stereo any time.

There are miles between 'tossing the BTR test pressing in the pool' Bruce and 'off the leash anything goes' Bruce that we've seen in recent years. I wish he could find some middle ground.

 

I'm totally on board with your assessment of "High Hopes". I think many people had a hard time accepting a collection of short stories, as opposed to a novel. It's an interesting album that's not supposed to be cohesive.

 

So I'll still be listening to it in twenty years? Wow! I'm ordering it tomorrow!

 

It is unclear if there was ever a Hip Hop album. He was experimenting with Hip Hop rhythms and beats, as exemplified by Streets of Philadelphia and Missing, but it is highly doubtful that he produced a full fledged Hip Hop album with a Hip Hop vocal delivery. He also allegedly experimented with that musical style during the same period in which he recorded a full band album with Alford, Sims, and Fontayne, so who knows what was completed.

 

In an interview (or a book?) he mentioned he made an album's worth of songs in the same vein as Missing and SOP, I just assumed it's the Hip Hop album. The term Hip Hop is used loosely though. SOP and Missing isn't exactly typical Springsteen, however calling it Hip Hop....

 

the neo hip hop drum track is most annoying.

 

The bridge maybe my favorite part.

 

"The mythic west" and
'cowboys' and 'gunslingers' and 'horses' and 'outlaws' (ain't nuthin' new there) have had their place in Bruce's songs since 1972/73.

The term he uses to describe the record - 'jewel box' - might describe little compartments,
of various sizes and shapes, hidden, layered places, ornate, decorative, maybe drawers full of surprises, an interior life, maybe a safe harbor, I don't know, I think it's likely a METAPHOR though. The artists I know tend to speak more figuratively than literally. Anyway, what's embodied in the supportive instrumentation and elegant-like arrangement in Hello Sunshine, I quite like the likes of, as they intricately and subtly decorate an otherwise simple song and make it into something much more, a gem, to my ears and mind fwiw. The sound of the bass guitar and the brushes at the start are the initial musical qualities along with the tone and pitch of the voice, that capture my ear. Then near the end of the song, it's the delicate piano that seems to magically appear at just the right moment.

There Goes My Miracle reminds me of This Life meets Queen Of The Supermarket meets Kingdom of Days. It's got a catchy chorus. I don't like the 'delay echo' as production technique on parts of the vocal, the lyric, nor the kind of trip-hop mechanical sound of the percussion effects. I don't hear, understand how that fits with the tone of the song and music. A minor thing but. The bridge seems a bit lazy to me in its repetition of a single line. It is nice to hear Bruce 'singing' - "This Life" is a favorite of mine of his. Miracle reminds me of those other songs mentioned on WOAD. Miracle has a catchy melody line. Not a fan of the sound of the whole of it. Prefer Hello Sunshine which has a more naturally and musically 'authentic' sound to it imo. Miracle has more of a 'canned 80's studio' effect sound to my ears. After 4 listens in a row, fwiw I kind of dislike it, the song as much or more than the sound. The chorus is the one part I like, so there is that, and the vocal sounds like a pretty good one to me.

 

Lyric video:

 

The first release, Hello Sunshine, sounds like authentic Bruce and has a Tunnel of Love album feel. That's a good thing, imo.

The second release, There Goes My Miracle... say no more. After a dozen listens, the miracle of a solid album seems to be going.

 

Both songs are available for free download on freegalmusic.com.
You just need a library card.

 

Ooof...I liked the first single and it made me optimistic about the album, but that second one is a clunker to me...as someone said, it sounds very WOAD, which I assumed meant the album, but now I think he or she meant the song itself...which is not a good thing, IMO.

Regarding touring, I think it's quite possible he tours solo a la 2005...it might be refreshing for him after Broadway to mix it up a bit night to night, not "have" to play a bunch of hits...before that, he'd been doing band tours, and it'll take a while to get this E Street thing done I would guess, even if he has written a bunch of songs.

I'm not sure which thread it was, I think it was "best live act" the other day, but someone said E Street shows had become almost parodies of what once was, with the Jake fetish, some kid singing "Sunny Day," just bombast drenched in nostalgia wrapped in blah...at this point, I think I would prefer solo Bruce to the semi-E Street Band of today.

 

Really like the first song and production. That's not very often after '84 I can say that.

Like the second song but not the production. Sounds very pro tools modern in a bad way

 

Really liked the first single, but as others have noted there are shades of WOAD album about the second one. And one repeated line in the bridge smacks more of the-well-ran-dry-again than a deliberate choice. Hmm. Starting to lose faith once more...

 

Little bit of ABBA "Knowing Me, Knowing You" in the verses.

 

Just discovered the second tune and I must say that I like it!
It's got an even stronger 70's feel but it works. I also dig Bruce vocals, a bit higher than usual.
After several so-so albums, all those new tracks come as a nice, refreshing surprise.