Bruce Springsteen's Big Announcement Is a Glorified Rarities LP
Bruce Springsteen, the 20-time Grammy-winning rocker whom The Wire has acclaimed as "fine," rather swiftly stole the spotlight from last night's American Music Awards with a new album announcement. It's titled High Hopes, fearlessly clearing the way for puns as awful as this one:
Got #HighHopes for a new album in 2014? pic.twitter.com/3umidDs6Gr
— Bruce Springsteen (@springsteen) November 25, 2013
Turns out it's a bit of an odds-and-ends rarities collection, cobbling together covers, outtakes, and what Springsteen terms "some of our best unreleased material from the past decade." Which, of course, begs two questions: does any fanbase grow as excited as Springsteen's at word of a glorified set of repurposed old tracks and covers less than a year after a studio disc? And how many minutes did it take to Photoshop that album artwork?
Interestingly, Springsteen's latest collaborator, former Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, who joined for the E Street Band's Australian tour, plays on several tracks. It was Morello who initially suggested the group resurrect Tim Scott McConnell's "High Hopes," which Springsteen's band first recorded nearly two decades ago. The guitarist's wah-wah intro is the clearest indication you'll find of his history with Rage, though he makes for an intriguing addition to the Boss's lineup:
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Finally, the record will also feature several contributions from the late Clarence Clemons, the longtime saxophonist who passed away in 2011. See the full tracklist here.
This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/entertainment/2013/11/springsteens-big-announcement-is-a-glorified-rarities-lp/355477/
