Album Review — Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen — Letter To You

Let’s face it. 2020 sucked. Most of us haven’t been to a concert for nine months or more. A bunch of records and tours have been cancelled. We’ve lost a ton of rock and roll icons this year. 2020 has been a pile of hot garbage.

That being said, there have been a few highlights as far as music goes. As this is the last review of the year, I wanted to end the year on a high note. Bruce Springsteen released “Letter To You” at the end of October. It took me a long time to warm up to Bruce, but “The Rising” record is a personal favorite and although I don’t love everything he’s done, I find myself really enjoying most of his catalogue.

“Letter To You” is billed as a Bruce Springsteen record, but the E Street Band is present and accounted for. Springsteen released “Western Stars” in 2019 and it’s very acoustic and more mellow. “Letter To You” is an E Street Band record.

The album actually starts with an acoustic track. “One Minute You’re Here” is simply Bruce and an acoustic guitar with a little orchestration. It’s an interesting choice to start a record that features multiple rockers.

The title track is next and is more mid-tempo. There are more classic sounding E Street Band songs to come, but it’s a good start.

“Burnin’ Train” would be my choice for the album opener. It’s a driving rocker that I could see the band using to open live shows. It’s Bruce and his band at their best.

“Janey Needs A Shooter” is nearly seven wonderful minutes of Bruce. It’s everything that makes Bruce great. It sounds like old Bruce, especially in the chorus, and even has a bit of a Tom Petty feel to it. That piano in the chorus countering the voices is magical. We even get a harmonica solo.

“Last Man Standing” is another classic sounding Springsteen track complete with saxophone. I love that Bruce can write a track that could fit seamlessly into one of his earlier records but it doesn’t sound dated.

“The Power of Prayer” almost sounds like “Last Man Standing” part two. It has a very similar sound, especially in the verses. The song construction is even similar with the sax solo. I think the two songs would work better further apart in the sequencing.

“House of a Thousand Guitars” completes what I would call a trilogy of old school Bruce tracks. There are other songs here that remind me of older Bruce, but these three back to back to back really stand out.

“Rainmaker” starts a little bluesy with a little acoustic slide guitar but kicks in for the chorus. Springsteen’s classic growl is still there when he wants it. The fiddle reminds me of “The Rising” record. Another great track.

“If I Was The Priest” is classic Bruce spinning a tale. There’s a lot of Bob Dylan influence on this one, but a little more upbeat.

If you saw Bruce on SNL, you heard “Ghosts”. It’s simply a classic Bruce anthem. The band’s performance on SNL was epic and the album version has a similar live feel to it. The band recorded the majority of the album live and that really shines through on “Ghosts”. One of my favorite songs of the year.

“Song For Orphans” is another Dylan-sounding track featuring lots of harmonica. I’m always going to prefer rocking Bruce to Dylan-y Bruce, but it’s still quality stuff.

“I’ll See You In My Dreams” was the second track the band did on SNL, and although not as rocking as “Ghosts”, it’s a quality track. It had a little more edge in the live performance but it’s still a strong song.

If I have any issue with “Letter To You”, it’s the sequencing. I would have liked to see “Burnin’ Train” open the record, “One Minute You’re Here” close it out and spreading out some of the similar sounding songs.

But other than that, I love this record. It’s upbeat and hopeful and strangely comforting to hear Bruce back with his band. The highs on “Letter To You” are phenomenal and every track is high quality.

If you are a Springsteen fan you probably have already spent a lot of time with this record and are enjoying it. If you are like me and are a little more picky on your Bruce records, this is one you want to check out. I can take or leave his “solo” stuff, but this is an E Street Band album and should have been billed as such.

95 out of 100

Track Listing

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

*Best Songs