Bruce Springsteen, Letter to You | Album Review 💿

The thrilling Letter to You marks the best Bruce Springsteen album in years, surpassing The Boss’ 2019 LP, Western Stars.

The Boss – 🎙 Bruce Springsteen – is 71 years young.  He definitely doesn’t sound like a man in his 70s on his 20^th studio album, 💿 Letter to You.  The Boss, in all honesty, is on autopilot from start to finish.  Letter to You rocks, reflects, and most of all, reminds us why Springsteen has been the man for so many years.

“One Minute You’re Here”

“Big black train comin’ down the track / Blow your whistle long and long,” Springsteen sings on the opener, 🎵 “One Minute You’re Here.”  He continues the first verse, singing, “One minute you’re here / Next minute you’re gone,” the titular lyric, and a key, recurrent line throughout the course of the song.  Clearly, Bruce remembers and laments those he’s lost in his life, particularly close musical colleagues (more to come later).  He keeps things simple, but it’s an incredibly effective start to Letter to You. 

✅ 🎵 “Letter to You” kicks off with an unapologetic rock intro; there’s definitely some spunk! The production (🎙 Ron Aniello) is great overall. I love the musicianship exhibited from start to finish.  That includes strong vocals by Bruce, who doesn’t miss a beat. Two consecutive verses occur prior to the chorus. The songwriting is solid, maintaining the simplistic bar set by “One Minute You’re Here.” Still, it’s telling and quite thoughtful. The chorus is strong, highlighting the titular lyrics:

“In my letter to you
I took all my fears and doubts
In my letter to you
All the hard things I found out
In my letter to you
All that I found true
And I sent it in my letter to you.”

An instrumental follows the chorus, providing nice contrast and a great opportunity for the band to flex. One final verse and chorus conclude this standout ultra-successfully. 🎵 “Burnin’ Train” keeps the energy high and the tempo quick.  Furthermore, Springsteen continues to be assertive, fully in command from a vocal standpoint.  Like the duo that precedes it, the chorus is constructed via the titular lyric (“Take me on your burnin’ train”).  Nothing wrong with that – it works without a hitch!

“Janey Needs a Shooter”

As consistent and enjoyable as “Burnin’ Train” is, ✅ 🎵 “Janey Needs a Shooter,” one of many older written songs, is an absolute juggernaut.  Not only is it one of the songs to beat on Letter to You thanks to consummate musicianship, it’s also just shy of seven minutes in duration.  It’s time well spent, listening, with The Boss’ ripe, gritty pipes, a heaping dose of rock organ, and of course, ample guitar.  Here, the songwriting is definitely stepped up a notch, as Bruce imparts a powerful, totally captivating narrative.  This is apparent from the start:

“Well, Janey’s got a doctor who tears apart her insides
He investigates her and silently baits her sighs
He probes with his fingers but knows her heart only through his stethoscope
His hands are cold and his body’s so old
Janey turns him down like dope.”

Even with more focused lyricism, Springsteen manages to give us another catchy, memorable chorus.  The band is at their best here.

“Janey Needs a Shooter” may be a tough act to follow, but Bruce Springsteen definitely isn’t done just yet. No sir! He continues to ‘shine like a beacon’ via 🎵 “Last Man Standing,” yet another high-flying number where the music is electric. Furthermore, he definitely doesn’t sound like a man anywhere near 70.  Notably, he remembers his late band member, 🎙 George Theiss, from 🎙 The Castiles. Arguably, ✅ 🎵 “The Power of Prayer” is even better (Of course they say, prayer is the key of heaven). Anyways, Springsteen is reminiscent over the course of three verses, while also making lite spiritual references.  He doesn’t quote scripture or go extremely deep, but he admits his Catholic upbringing influences his writing, specifically this song.

“House of a Thousand Guitars” 

Moving on from and ultimately surpassing “The Power of Prayer,” Springsteen invites us all into ✅ 🎵 “House of a Thousand Guitars.” I definitely want a ticket! Where, oh where is this House of a Thousand Guitars? Sadly, there is no such place, but Bruce is certainly convincing, and the songwriting suggests a place where there’s some special community – a ‘congregation’ of sorts.  Again, there’s a hint of spiritual without explicitly referencing the Biblical or church itself, even if we’re given the lyric, “Bells ring throughout churches and jails” early on. “House” is another masterfully penned number, ranking right near the top of Letter to You.

If you thought the faith would cease post-“House of a Thousand Guitars,” you were dead wrong. On 🎵 “Rainmaker,” spirituality continues to show up in a big way, even more explicitly than before to be honest.  Prime examples include “We’ve been praying but no good comes” and “Hands raised too Yahweh to bring the rain down.” While divine intervention is definitely needed, the rainmaker referenced here is clearly a false prophet that’s counterproductive at best.  The chorus sums it up best: “Sometimes folks need to believe in something so bad, so bad, so bad / They’ll hire a rainmaker.” Indeed Bruce Springsteen, indeed!

Fittingly, ✅ 🎵 “If I Was the Priest” follows, continuing to amplify faith and spirituality.  Jesus appears on the first verse, with the Virgin Mary and the Holy Ghost appearing on the second verse. There’s that Catholicism in play. That said, Springsteen also adds another prevalent theme, the west, coming up with quite the compelling gem.  Worth noting, this narrative cut is early Bruce Springsteen, originally written 50 years prior to its appearance on Letter to You. Despite its age and somewhat novel status, the nearly seven-minute cut fits perfectly on this album.  Once again, the vocals are 🔥, as is the band – 🚫🎩!

“Ghosts”

On ✅ 🎵 “Ghosts,” Springsteen is reminiscent once more, again remembering Theiss and his early professional band, The Castiles.  Less spiritual to a great extent, that doesn’t mean that Bruce leaves faith behind. “Rock of ages lift me somehow” is very rock n roll, but also hearkens back to the beloved hymn, “Rock of Ages.” Also, worth noting, Springsteen references the aforementioned “Last Man Standing,” asserting, “I’m the last man standing now.”

Forget any notions of simplistic songwriting on 🎵 “Songs for Orphans.”  The big takeaway from the penultimate record is how elite the lyricism is. It makes sense considering this is another old Springsteen song.  There’s just a higher, sharper level of lyrical craft here, where each verse feels absolutely perfect; utterly sublime.  The sound of the record is awesome as well, capturing those vintage ‘Bruce’ days.  ✅ 🎵 “I’ll See You in My Dreams” caps things off marvelously. Springsteen is still reflective, reminiscent, and totally in his head.  While there’s no true resolution for losses, he does seem to have found peace:

“I’ll see you in my dreams when all our summers have come to an end
I’ll see you in my dreams, we’ll meet and live and laugh again
I’ll see you in my dreams, yeah around the river bend
For death is not the end
And I’ll see you in my dreams.” 

Final Thoughts 💭 

Cutting straight to the chase, Letter to You is the best Bruce Springsteen album in years.  💿 Western Stars was a winner mind you but Letter to You is in a different league – on a different plane.  What makes it so great? Lots of things.  Powerful vocals, elite musicianship, terrific lyricism, and digging back into the catalog, bringing old, previously unreleased songs to life. I dare you find one bad song on this album.  You can’t because there isn’t one.  The Boss is truly a boss on Letter to You, period.

✅ Gems 💎: “Letter to You,” “Janey Needs a Shooter,” “The Power of Prayer,” “If I Was the Priest,” “Ghosts” & “I’ll See You in My Dreams”  

🎙 Bruce Springsteen • 💿 Letter to You • 🏷 Bruce Springsteen • 🗓10.23.20

[ 📷: Bruce Springsteen]