1. Only The Strong Survive - Jerry Butler2. Soul Days - Dobie Gray3. Night Shift - The Commodores4. Do I Love You - Frank Wilson5. The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore - The Walker Brothers6. Turn Back The Hands of Time - Tyrone Davis7. When She Was My Girl - The Four Tops8. Western Union Man - Jerry Butler9. I Wish It Would Rain - The Temptations10. Don't Play That Song - Aretha11. Any Other Way - Jackie Shane12. I Forgot To Be Your Lover - William Bell13. Rooms of Gloom - The Four Tops14. What Becomes of the Brokenhearted - Jimmy Ruffin15. Someday We'll Be Together - Diana Ross and The Supremes
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 28 September 2022 23:08 (one year ago) link
(heavily rumored track list)
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 28 September 2022 23:09 (one year ago) link
"Night Shift"!
― The self-titled drags (Eazy), Wednesday, 28 September 2022 23:14 (one year ago) link
I Wish it would rain + what becomes of the brokenhearted = hell yes
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 28 September 2022 23:26 (one year ago) link
Lots of great tracks in that list. William Bell one and Tyrone Davis one. Bell still does gigs and was great both times I saw him.
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 29 September 2022 03:50 (one year ago) link
This could be good if it's recorded relatively raw and live-ish.
I'm fully expecting overproduced glop.
― Cow_Art, Thursday, 29 September 2022 12:42 (one year ago) link
I’m hoping for overproduced glop, tbh. At least half the songs on this list had wonderfully massive and dramatic production.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 29 September 2022 12:46 (one year ago) link
well, those tiny little snippets teased already sound pretty big, backing vocalists and stuff, but not unlike the seeger sessions. in character. hard to tell.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 29 September 2022 12:57 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usSLCdiRoAw
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 29 September 2022 13:16 (one year ago) link
Short, sweet, sounds fine, just what you'd expect it to sound like.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 29 September 2022 14:05 (one year ago) link
I think that's violinist Katie Jacoby, who's actually been a highlight of the Who and Roger Daltrey's tours in recent years (she gets the spotlight on "Baba O'Riley"). Also, not an exact match, but the lighting and color makes it look like an homage to Elvis's 1968 TV special.
But yeah, classic sweet soul music - sounds pretty good. Would've made a very nice B-side back in the day.
― birdistheword, Thursday, 29 September 2022 14:08 (one year ago) link
Digging this! Who's the drummer? (Kind of glad it's not Max, tbh.) And yep, Jacoby's great -- kills the "Baba" solo every time.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 29 September 2022 14:21 (one year ago) link
They kind of obscure the band in the video, so it remains a mystery.
Someone noticed that there is a "Covers (Vol. 1)" affixed to the album title ...
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 29 September 2022 15:18 (one year ago) link
https://is2-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Music112/v4/ea/bb/1b/eabb1b66-4007-6270-82fb-da7a94a30a15/196589231055.jpg/1000x1000bb.webp
Shoulda called it "Cover Them."
Tragic missed opportunity
― the floor is guava (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 29 September 2022 15:23 (one year ago) link
At least the cover looks good. Best cover since Tunnel of Love
― Cow_Art, Thursday, 29 September 2022 15:23 (one year ago) link
"How YOU doin'?"
― "Cool ranch dressing!" (morrisp), Thursday, 29 September 2022 16:26 (one year ago) link
"Before my daughter takes you out in this car, let me tell you about the time I drove it to the boardwalk in 1986, Annie Liebowitz was waitin' there for me, I had my bolo tie..."
― The self-titled drags (Eazy), Thursday, 29 September 2022 17:51 (one year ago) link
Everyone looks cool next to a '50s-'60s American car.
Sit on the hood of a Prius, Bruce. See if you still look cool.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 29 September 2022 17:57 (one year ago) link
A vintage wood-paneled station wagon might be a better fit.
― birdistheword, Thursday, 29 September 2022 18:18 (one year ago) link
Or convalescent home shuttle bus
― calstars, Thursday, 29 September 2022 18:29 (one year ago) link
Played the Killers' encore with Jake Clemons.
― birdistheword, Sunday, 2 October 2022 05:15 (one year ago) link
It's been years and years since he was so active popping up with other people.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 2 October 2022 23:44 (one year ago) link
Besides McCartney (which he's done at least twice), the Killers and Coldplay, where else has he popped up in recent years?
I can only remember four: Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Pearl Jam and Arcade Fire (in 2007 when they did "State Trooper" and "Keep the Car Running").
― birdistheword, Monday, 3 October 2022 15:03 (one year ago) link
Bleachers, too.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 3 October 2022 15:23 (one year ago) link
Billy Joel lol (2018)
― The self-titled drags (Eazy), Monday, 3 October 2022 16:01 (one year ago) link
Total projection, but after doing so much autobiography with the memoir and the Broadway show, I can imagine it's refreshing for him to do a bunch of songs where the meaning is simple and on the surface. And the arrangements here feel like an extension of the Western Stars orchestrations.
― The self-titled drags (Eazy), Monday, 3 October 2022 16:03 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsTKEQzLkmw
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 14 October 2022 05:56 (one year ago) link
Nice to see him in a suit again.
The sound of it is kind of bland and soul-free. Technically good but it doesn't do much for me.
Crushing on the bassist.
― Cow_Art, Friday, 14 October 2022 10:13 (one year ago) link
Glad to hear the song, but kind of an odd choice, as the sole '80s track on the record (right?). Also, a nostalgia take on a song about nostalgia. Sonically it sounds like his slick '90s wilderness years.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 14 October 2022 11:55 (one year ago) link
Kinda stiff with less range compared to Commodores
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrkEDe6Ljqs
― curmudgeon, Friday, 14 October 2022 12:17 (one year ago) link
He should’ve covered this on his 1985 tour, though I doubt Max could’ve played with the necessary finesse. And that’s what this feels like: a somewhat unexpected and mildly interesting one-off — “Hey, didja hear what Bruce covered the other night?” — but not something I feel compelled to return to (unlike the original).And at the beginning he doesn’t seem to know what to do with his arms.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 14 October 2022 12:36 (one year ago) link
Is he lip-synching? There's something weird about the sound.
― Lily Dale, Friday, 14 October 2022 13:13 (one year ago) link
― We Have Never Been Secondary Modern (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 14 October 2022 14:34 (one year ago) link
It's likely he's lip-synching. IIRC whenever he's used a live mic in his videos, the takes were allowed to run a bit (or in the case of "Brilliant Disguise" the whole video came from a single take), but it becomes much less practical when they're choreographing camera movements and they're making as many cuts like they're doing here.
― birdistheword, Friday, 14 October 2022 14:41 (one year ago) link
I mean Bruce brings nothing to this song. It’s also kind of weird he’s singing a tribute to someone else’s friends. Did he ever meet Marvin?
― Chris L, Friday, 14 October 2022 14:44 (one year ago) link
I don't think he's in the video, but one of the backing vocalists on the recording is Fonzi Thornton, currently touring with Roxy Music.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 14 October 2022 14:45 (one year ago) link
Did he ever meet Marvin?
I think Bruce, like millions of others, felt like Marvin was a friend from how he connected with Marvin's music.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 14 October 2022 14:47 (one year ago) link
I think it's a fine cover, and pretty much what I expect from this album - faithful to the original arrangements and "tastefully" executed. That's kind of what he does in concert, though it's a bit more thrilling there with many of them unplanned or last minute tributes, kind of like testing the band.
I guess we'll see how the rest of the album plays. I'm sure it'll be very listenable, but at the moment it definitely feels like a lot of covers projects - Moondog Matinee, CHOBA B CCCP, etc. - where it's mostly for the devoted.
― birdistheword, Friday, 14 October 2022 14:49 (one year ago) link
It’s also kind of weird he’s singing a tribute to someone else’s friends.
That's what I thought at first, too.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 14 October 2022 14:54 (one year ago) link
but at the moment it definitely feels like a lot of covers projects - Moondog Matinee, CHOBA B CCCP, etc. - where it's mostly for the devoted.
― We Have Never Been Secondary Modern (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 14 October 2022 15:29 (one year ago) link
I dunno, Jann Wenner described the new album a "stunning."
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 14 October 2022 15:30 (one year ago) link
Thanks! Now that you've told me that, it's a horse of different color entirely.And yeah, I am sure he loved Marvin Gaye as a fan as much as anyone else, but Marvin just doesn't seem as much of a Springsteen-connected artist as, say, Roy Orbison or Ronnie Spector, to name two.
― We Have Never Been Secondary Modern (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 14 October 2022 15:31 (one year ago) link
xp It's a lock for Barack Obama's best of 2022 playlist.
― Chris L, Friday, 14 October 2022 15:32 (one year ago) link
The synth sound and tempo are so close to "Streets of Philadelphia" that I could imagine the two songs overlapping in concert or else stay far away from each other.
But if "Streets of Philadelphia" is a chamber piece, this one expands into a Philly Soul arrangement before long. I like it a lot. And whenever I hear a major songwriter cover a song, I can't help but listen for what they admire about the song they're covering. This one definitely fits in Springsteen's wheelhouse (in themes, in the blues-to-gospel relationship between the verses and the chorus, in the blue-collar metaphor of the title) while also definitely not being a song of his own.
― The self-titled drags (Eazy), Friday, 14 October 2022 15:35 (one year ago) link
― We Have Never Been Secondary Modern (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 14 October 2022 15:50 (one year ago) link
Wow, just noticed this:
Only The Strong Survive features vocals from Springsteen and instrumentation primarily from his longtime producer Ron Aniello.
So Ron Aniello plays most of the music, with others providing horns and vox? Man, looking at his credits, how did Aniello even get on the Bruce train in the first place?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Aniello
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 14 October 2022 16:01 (one year ago) link
Maybe when he co-produced the Patti Scialfa album in 2007?
― Linkin Bio (morrisp), Friday, 14 October 2022 16:15 (one year ago) link
So there will be a few hits buried amongst a lot of who-cares misses.
Moondog Matinee is kind of like that ("Share Your Love With Me" and "Mystery Train" are highlights, the rest aren't bad but not really memorable either).
I'd have to listen to CHOBA B CCCP again but I remember it being fairly consistent with no real peaks. Enjoyable stuff, but what's missing becomes very clear when you compare it to Run Devil Run.
― birdistheword, Friday, 14 October 2022 16:33 (one year ago) link
Yes, Moondog Matinee is exactly what I was thinking of and those tunes are indeed the highlights.
― We Have Never Been Secondary Modern (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 14 October 2022 16:40 (one year ago) link