Reviewed by Craig Hoffman
Letter to You is Bruce Springsteen’s twentieth studio album. It is his first record with the E Street Band since High Hopes in 2014. Bruce Sprinsteen is an American singer and songwriter, and leader of the E Street Band.
The release of Born to Run in 1975 propelled him to worldwide fame. During his over fifty-year career, Springsteen has been known for his socially conscious lyrics and high-energy stage presence as “The Boss.” From its title down, Letter to You is a message to diehard Springsteen fans, the sound of an artist fighting hard in difficult times.
Things start with Springsteen in an intimate, solo acoustic vibe on the beautiful “One Minute You’re Here.” It’s a vibrant tune that sets the mood for the entire album. The live recording of this record delivers a real in-person feeling. But this is not just a nostalgia-filled album.
“House Of A Thousand Guitars” and “Rainmaker” pulls no punches against the “criminal clown” in the White House, and “Letter To You” is as young at heart as any of Springsteen’s best musical moments. His political stances and statements aside, there is no doubting that Bruce Springsteen is an amazing artist.
On “Letter to You,” Springsteen is at his most vulnerable. The artist turned 71 this year. He’s lost two members of the E Street Band (Clemons and organist Dan Federici) and in 2018 became the last living member of his first band, The Castiles.
“Ghosts” is about the beauty and joy of being in a band, and the pain of losing one another to illness and time. The song speaks to the spirit of the music, something none of us owns but can only discover and share together. In this song, Bruce Springsteen captures the spirit of who we are as humans. Amid the fast and joyous anthem of being alive is the pain of losing part of ourselves.
Springsteen transforms into his 20-year-old self, slipping into that younger way of singing. It is remarkable how well his voice has held up after all these years. Many of his peers have declined vocally. His singing is as strong, on pitch, and full-on as ever. If the production and level of the current E Street Band were not so high, one would feel transported back to the mid-70s.
Alex McLevy of The A.V. Club gave the album an A rating, calling it “one of the finest achievements of Bruce Springsteen’s career” for the song writing’s profound look at loss and the fact that listeners can hold up “nearly any track as a microcosm of its overall scope.”
Bruce Springsteen has been a big part of the music landscape over 50 years. It is great when he finds his perfect groove. This is a wonderfully rocking Bruce record with the E Street Band.
The songs are solid, and The Boss and his band are clearly having fun. 2020 is a strange year for music, but Bruce still makes you feel like it’s the 1980s. It’s such a great Springsteen recording and a much welcomed gift from the legend.
Final Take: Hard to give anything Springsteen does five stars when compared to his earlier catalogue of classics, but this is darn close. Letter to You - Bruce Springsteen. Letter to You should be put on repeat until the tour starts in 2022. 4.5/5.
Craig Hoffman is a music graduate of Ohio Northern University and The University of Akron School of Music. He also serves as the Icon’s Japan correspondent.
