Recommendations of the Editorial team
With the song “Sunday Love”, Bruce Springsteen has released another foretaste of his upcoming box set “Tracks II: The Lost Albums”. The gentle, jazz -influenced title comes from the previously unpublished album “Twilight Hours” – a work that Springsteen recorded a few years ago, which never saw the light of day. Well, shortly before the publication of “Tracks II”, it becomes clear: Springsteen entered new musical territory.
A new chapter in Springsteen’s catalog
“Twilight Hours” was created at about the same time as the “Western Stars”, which was released in 2019- an album that was strongly based on the California pop music of the 1960s and 1970s. While “Western Stars” had clear Americana roots, “Twilight Hours” follows another inspiration: the “Great American Songbook”-i.e. jazz-related, elegantly composed songs from the 1920s to 1950s. Springsteen himself emphasizes in a press release that he did not want to record a standard album, as many of his generation did. Instead, he wrote his own songs in the spirit of this tradition, with influences from Burt Bacharach and a special focus on complex harmonies and sophisticated song structures.
“I love Burt Bacharach and this kind of songs and songwriters,” says Springsteen via “Stereogum”. “I wanted to try it because the harmonies and structures are much more complex – I enjoyed it. All of this could have come from an album from the 60s.”
“Sunday love” – gentle, thoughtful, elegant
“Sunday Love” shows Springsteen in an unusually relaxed and reflected sound. The jazzy instrumentation and the smooth melody lead clearly differ from the typical e-street rock-and that is exactly what makes the song exciting. It is a reserved, atmospheric title that convinces more by subtlety than through drama. Maybe not a classic immediately, but a fascinating insight into Springsteen’s musical experimentation.
As Springsteen further reveals in the press release, “Twilight Hours” was originally intended as a common album with “Western Stars” – possibly as a double album. Both works share an introspective tone, but differ clearly in the musical approach. The now published “Tracks II: The Lost Albums” box set offers the opportunity to completely hear this alternative creative path for the first time. In total, the collection contains seven complete but previously unpublished albums.
Familiar names and new sounds
Several familiar members of the E Street Band, including Max Weinberg, Patti Scialfa and Soozie Tyrell, have a part in “Twilight Hours”. The production again took over Ron Aniello, who already played a central role in several Springsteen projects and contributes significantly to the sound image. Further songs from “Tracks II” were released before: “Rain in the River”, “Blind Spot”, “Faithless”, “Repo Man” and “Adelita” showed different stylistic directions – from melancholic rock to experimental narrative forms.
Springsteen has often been in the headlines in the past few weeks – not only because of his music. Together with Paul McCartney, he performed in Liverpool, played with Smokey Robinson (shortly before the allegations of abuse that had become loud against Robinson) and with his political rants pulled the anger of Donald Trump. Despite all this, Springsteen continued to work on the completion and publication of his box set.