Monday, 14 November 2022

Bruce Springsteen [2022] - Only the Strong Survive [Columbia Records] (Full Album)


Purists look away now! 'The Boss' does soul. What a furore there was from the Northern Soul fraternity (and not in a good way) when he pre-released the first track a few weeks back which was a cover of the Northern Soul rarity by Frank Wilson. Yet I have just been reminded of the album's release on Friday by a post by NS 'Godfather' Richard Searling posting Springsteen's version of "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore)" originally recorded by Frankie Valli but possibly better known from The Walker Brothers cover?

Each song will be familiar to anyone who has listened to soul music for any length of time so you don't need me to spell them out for you but the album includes well known songs from the likes of Jerry Butler, Lionel Ritchie, Tyrone Davis, Four Tops, Temptations, Jimmy Ruffin, The Supremes and he even has a go at an Aretha Franklin song. 

Sam & Dave's Sam Moore features on two songs "Soul Days" (thanks to Bill Buckley SoulAndJazzAndFunk for pointing out that this was a song sung by Dobie Gray on an album of the same name in 2000 as I didn't recognise it), and a cover of William Bell's "I Forget To Be Your Lover".

Some work better than others and no doubt the album will sell by the shed load because of who he is. Not  that he needs the income with well over 2bn streams on Spotify for his top 10 songs alone. That equates to approx. $68m in streaming fees and that's only from Spotify and doesn't include other streaming platforms, downloads or physical sales and live shows ... let's just say he's worth a bob or two (one source estimates $650m)! 

Whether you like his music or not, as they say, he is laughing all the way to the bank! A pretty sad state of affairs when you consider the number of streams achieved by indie soul artists creating original new music, but let's not go there!

Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.

Details
Explicit: N
Genre/Style: Classic Soul / Blue-Eyed / Cover Versions
Format: Album
Media: Digital
Label: Columbia Records
Cat No: None
Date: 11/11/2022
Price: £11.99
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