Designed as a companion to Bruce Springsteen's 2016 memoir Born to Run, Chapter & Verse provides something of an aural autobiography, tracing Springsteen's development from a Jersey garage rocker into one of the great American songwriters. Springsteen compiled the 18-track disc himself, intending his selection to mirror the themes in his book, so he balances epics with intimate miniatures since both kinds of songs can capture his quests for deliverance and escape. He alternates his well-known anthems ("Born to Run," "Badlands," "Born in the USA"), with a few other popular singles ("Brilliant Disguise," "The Rising") and a host of deep cuts, all of which tend to downplay both his romantic and hard-rocking sides.
L'artiste raconte son enfance dans le New Jersey, au sein d'une famille ouvrière, sa découverte de la poésie, ses efforts incessants pour devenir musicien, ses débuts dans les bars et ses divers engagements, en faveur de la cause homosexuelle, des Noirs, des chômeurs, du président Obama, etc. …
Letter to You comes quickly on the heels of Western Stars, a long-gestating 2019 immersion into the lush, progressive country vistas of the early 1970s, but in a sense, it's a true sequel to Bruce Springsteen's 2016 memoir Born to Run and its 2017 stage companion Springsteen on Broadway. It's an album where Springsteen reckons with the weight of the past, how its ghosts are still readily apparent in the present, an album where the veteran singer/songwriter is keenly aware he has more road in his rearview mirror than he does on the highway ahead of him.
Western Stars is a title that suggests wide-open, cinematic vistas, music made for the outer reaches of a widescreen. Such sweeping ambition isn't necessarily alien to Bruce Springsteen, a rocker who designed his self-styled 1975 breakthrough as a larger-than-life hybrid of AM pop and FM album rock profundity – a daring fusion that eventually favored the latter, perhaps because it was easier for the E-Street Band to fill arenas with cranked amps and big riffs…
Best Of Bruce Springsteen is a collection of original songs spanning his storied 50-year recording career, from 1973's Greeting from Asbury Park, NJ to 2020's Letter To You. It will be available as an 18-track set across 2 LPs or 1 CD. The collection spans early-career favourites like "Growin' Up" and "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)," staples of Springsteen's live shows from "Dancing In The Dark" to "The Rising," best-selling breakouts like "Born To Run" and "Hungry Heart," as well as recent releases "Hello Sunshine" and "Letter To You." Here, these career-spanning works appear together in one set for the first time. The packaging includes archival photos and a new essay.