Bruce Springsteen Celebrates Soul and R&B on New Covers Album

Bruce Springsteen released his anticipated new album of soul and R&B covers on Friday, November 11. First revealed by Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner in mid-September and formally announced by Springsteen at the end of that same month, Only the Strong Survive is his 21st studio album. If you follow The Boss, you may have seen reviews to date have been mixed. While I feel some of the criticism is fair, overall, I think Springsteen has delivered an enjoyable album.

Only the Strong Survive comes two years after Letter to You (October 2020), and is Springsteen’s second all-covers collection since We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (April 2006). Springsteen made the album at his Thrill Hill Recording studio in New Jersey “in early lockdown during “off hours”, as reported by Pitchfork. Perhaps that explains in part why producer Ron Aniello played nearly all instruments (drums, bass, percussion, guitar, vibes, piano, organ, glockenspiel, keyboards, farfisa). Springsteen himself mostly provided lead vocals and also played some guitar.

The number of other contributors was limited. Most notable is the now 87-year-old Sam Moore, one half of legendary Stax duo Sam & Dave. Other listed contributors include backing vocalists Soozie Tyrell, Lisa Lowell, Michelle Moore, Curtis King Jr., Dennis Collins and Fonzi Thornton, as well as The E Street Horns and Rob Mathes who provided string arrangements. Notably absent were soul fan Steven Van Zandt, who came up with the great horn arrangement for Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out, and other members of the E Street Band. Again, perhaps it’s a reflection of the circumstances, or Springsteen simply wanted to leave no doubt the album was a solo effort.

“I wanted to make an album where I just sang,” he stated. “And what better music to work with than the great American songbook of the Sixties and Seventies? I’ve taken my inspiration from Levi Stubbs, David Ruffin, Jimmy Ruffin, the Iceman Jerry Butler, Diana Ross, Dobie Gray, and Scott Walker, among many others. I’ve tried to do justice to them all—and to the fabulous writers of this glorious music.”

Time to get to some of the goodies. Let’s kick it off with Soul Days, written by Jonnie Barnett and recorded by Dobie Gray as the title track of his 2001 studio album – perhaps not the most obvious choice if Springsteen’s goal was to highlight ’60s and ’70s soul music. That said, I think it’s a great rendition. It’s also one of two tunes featuring Sam Moore on backing vocals. Just like with the other tracks on the album, Springsteen evidently did not aim to remake any of these songs – appropriate for an album that pays homage.

Another tune I think came out really well is Do I Love You (Indeed I Do). It was written by Motown producer Frank Wilson, who also recorded it as a single in 1965. But Berry Gordy felt lukewarm about Wilson’s singing. More importantly, he wanted his producers to focus on producing rather than becoming recording artists. None of the pressed copies of the single were formally released and apparently are now prized items among collectors. Yes, the strings on Springsteen’s cover are perhaps a bit lush, but the tune has that infectious Motown beat that wants you to be dancing in the street. I also think Springsteen’s raspy vocals work rather well. Of course, he does get a little help from a potent backing choir. Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) also became the album’s first single on September 29.

Turn Back the Hands of Time, co-written by Jack Daniels and Bonnie Thompson, was first released as a single in February 1970 and became the second major hit for blues and soul singer Tyrone Davis. Again, Springsteen does a nice job of delivering a faithful cover.

For the most part, Springsteen chose to cover tunes that aren’t known very widely, which I think was a smart choice. While his raspy vocals go well with the rock-oriented music he usually makes, the reality is his vocal range has limitations. One of the exceptions is I Wish It Would Rain, which became a no. 4 hit for The Temptations in 1967 on the Billboard Hot 100 and one of their numerous ’60s tunes to top the R&B chart. It was penned by Motown songwriters Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong and Rodger Penzabene. Taking on the mighty Temptations is gutsy, but once again Springsteen does a commendable job. He even throws in some falsetto. The backing vocals are excellent as well.

The last track I’d like to call out is the second tune featuring Sam Moore on backing vocals: I Forgot to Be Your Lover. Co-written by William Bell and Booker T. Jones, Bell recorded and first released the beautiful soul ballad in late 1968. The tune reached no. 45 on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at no. 10 on the Hot R&B Singles chart.

Only the Strong Survive appears on Columbia Records. It was engineered by Rob Lebret and executive-produced by long-time Springsteen collaborator Jon Landau. Following is a Spotify link to the album.

“My goal is for the modern audience to experience [the music’s] beauty and joy, just as I have since I first heard it,” Springsteen explained. “I hope you love listening to it as much as I loved making it.”

Throughout his entire career, Springsteen has included soul songs in his sets, so I feel there can be no doubt his proclaimed love for this music is genuine. Could some of his picks have been different? Sure. Is it odd he had Sam Moore as a guest and didn’t cover a Sam & Dave tune? Perhaps. Or that there weren’t any members of the E Street Band, especially since he will be touring with them next year? Not necessarily, given the album came together during COVID lockdown.

One important aspect is Springsteen picked songs that work well with his voice. Together with great backing vocals and musical arrangements that largely stay faithful to the original songs, Only the Strong Survive is a pleasant listening experience. Another question is how the album will be remembered in the context of Springsteen’s overall catalog. Time will tell.

Sources: Wikipedia; Pitchfork; Bruce Springsteen website; YouTube; Spotify

It Was 35 Years Ago

The last part of this mini-series reviews highlights from the U.S. portion of Live Aid at John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia. Things there got underway at close to 9:00 a.m. EDT (2:00 p.m. BST) on July 13, 1985. The British concert at London’s Wembley Stadium ended at 10 pm BST (5:00 pm EDT). As such, both shows overlapped by eight hours. Unfortunately, this meant viewers could not see all artist performances on their television broadcasts.

The Philly concert included reunions of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the original Black Sabbath with Ozzy Osbourne and The Beach Boys with Brian Wilson. It also featured a less than stellar appearance of Led Zeppelin with Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones who were joined by Phil Collins and Tony Thompson on drums.

With Page’s guitar out of tune and Plant’s hoarse voice, unfortunately, it was one of Zep’s poorest performances. Later, Page blamed the drumming of Collins who had played at Wembley earlier and traveled to the U.S. by supersonic jet, so he could perform in Philly as well – the only artist who pulled off that stunt. It seems to me the reality of the fiasco was a combination of factors, including lack of rehearsal, some technical challenges and probably a portion of bad luck.

While white artists were well represented at Live Aid, the same cannot be said for artists of color, especially at Wembley, where I believe only two performed: Sade and Brandon Marsalis – a bit of an oddity for a charity concert put on for the African nation of Ethiopia. The U.S. did better in this regard. The show line-up featured The Four Tops, Billy Ocean, Run-D.M.C., Ashford & Simpson, Patti LaBelle, as well as Eddie Kendricks and David Ruffin of The Temptations. In addition, U.S.A. for Africa performed their charity single We Are the World, which included additional artists of color, such as Lionel Richie, Harry Belafonte and Dionne Warwick.

Let’s kick off this last part with one of the above noted reunions: Black Sabbath with Ozzy Osbourne. Here’s Paranoid, the epic title track of the band’s sophomore album from September 1970. The music was credited to all members of Sabbath, while the lyrics were written by bassist Geezer Butler.

One of my favorite bands performing in Philly were Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. They closed their mini-set with Refugee, one of their best songs, in my opinion. Co-written by Tom Petty and Mike Campbell, the tune is from Damn the Torpedoes, the band’s third studio album released in October 1979. It also became the record’s second single that appeared in January 1980.

Neil Young is another of my all-time favorite artists. Here is Powderfinger, a beloved tune among Young fans. He first recorded the song for his live album Rust Never Sleeps from June 1979. It was also included on various other live albums he released thereafter.

As a fan of Cream, of course, I couldn’t skip Eric Clapton and his rendition of White Room. Composed by Jack Bruce with lyrics by poet Pete Brown, the classic tune was included on Wheels of Fire, Cream’s third studio album that appeared in August 1968.

The last clip I’d like to call out is a great medley of tunes by The Temptations performed by Hall & Oates, together with Eddie Kendricks und David Ruffin: Get Ready, Ain’t Too Proud To Beg and My Girl, which all first appeared as singles. Get Ready from February 1966 was penned by Smokey Robinson. Ain’t Too Proud To Beg, co-written by Norman Whitfield and Edward Holland Jr., came out in May 1966. And My Girl was first released in December 1964. Robinson and Ronald White wrote that tune together.

While you may not agree with Bob Geldof who in his introduction to Live Aid 35 said it was commonly called the ‘greatest concert of all time,’ I think there can be no doubt Live Aid was a one of a kind event. Sure, there were other historic concerts like Woodstock and the Monterey Pop Festival that brought together many of the leading music artists at the time. One must also mention the Concert for Bangladesh, the first benefit music event of significant magnitude. But none of these concerts came anywhere close to Live Aid in terms of audience reach and logistics – and in the case of the Concert for Bangladesh the scale of fundraising.

Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube

I Can Go For That (Yes Can Do)

Much of my blog focuses on rock, blues and soul, so I imagine some of the more regular visitors may be surprised to see a post about Hall & Oates. Well, in addition to the aforementioned genres, I also listen to pop, though not as often as I used to. Two recent events put Hall & Oates back on my radar screen, where they essentially had not been much since the ’80s.

Earlier this year, my wife said she wanted to see the duo during their upcoming U.S. tour. Since our music tastes are different and she usually doesn’t accompany me to concerts I visit, I felt somewhat obliged to buy two tickets. A few weeks thereafter, a guitarist I know well told me he thinks Hall & Oates are the best blue-eyed soul act – certainly a bold statement. Both of these events inspired this post.

Daryl Hall (born Daryl Franklin Hohl on October 11, 1946 in Pottstown, Pa.) and John Oates (born John William Oates on April 7, 1948 in New York City) first met in Philadelphia in 1967 during a musical competition where they were each leading their own band. After realizing they dug the same music and were both students at Philly’s Temple University, they ended up spending time together and sharing apartments. In 1970, they also decided to work worth together professionally and formed a musical duo.

John Oates (left) and Daryl Hall in 1976

Hall & Oates got their first contract with Atlantic Records and released their debut album Whole Oats in November 1972.  After their first three records, which weren’t very successful, they switched to RCA Records. Their eponymous fourth album, the first with the new label, yielded their first U.S. top 10 single Sara Smile, which climbed to no. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1976. They have since released 14 additional studio albums, the most recent of which, Home For Christmas, appeared in October 2006.

The duo’s most successful period were the ’80s with a series of platinum and multi-platinum albums and hits like Kiss On My List, Private Eyes, I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do) and Maneater. Their catalog also includes 12 live and numerous compilation records.  With an estimated 40 million albums sold, Hall & Oates are the best-selling music duo in history. In April 2014, they were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. They are also in the Songwriters Hall of Fame and rank at no. 18 on Billboard’s Greatest of All Time Hot 100 Artists. Time for some music!

While back in the ’80s I mostly listened to Hall & Oates’ straight pop tunes, including the above mentioned hits, these days I’m more fond of their soul oriented tracks. My preference is clearly reflected in the following song choices. I’d like to kick things off with Fall In Philadelphia, written by Hall and included on the duo’s 1972 studio debut.

She’s Gone is another nice song with a soul vibe. Credited to both musicians, it first appeared on their sophomore album Abandoned Luncheonette released in November 1973. When the track was first released as a single in February 1974, it was popular in the Philly market but didn’t gain much traction nationally. She’s Gone ended up becoming a national hit when Atlantic Records re-released the single in 1976, peaking at no. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. At the time, Hall & Oates had already switched to RCA Records and had just scored a top 10 success with Sara Smile. Clearly, Atlantic’s decision to make a quick buck off their former contracted artists paid off handsomely – we call it riding the gravy train!

In January 1977, Hall & Oates released Rich Girl as a single from their fifth studio album Bigger Than Both Of Us. It’s another co-write, and it became their first of six no. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100.

With the arrival of the ’80s, Hall & Oates adopted a more straight pop-oriented sound, which brought them their most commercially successful decade. Their ninth studio album Voices from July 1980 became their first platinum record, fueled by the hits Kiss On My List and You Make My Dreams. Here’s Every Time You Go Away, written by Daryl Hall. Similar to She’s Gone, it would take a few more years before the song became a major hit. In this case, it was a cover by English vocalist Paul Young, released in February 1985, which hit the top 10 in various countries, including the U.S. (no. 1), Ireland (no. 2), Norway (no. 2) and the U.K. (no. 4).

In 1985, Hall & Oates performed at New York’s storied Apollo Theater. According to Something Else!, when the duo was invited to play there, they immediately had the idea to ask The Temptations to join them and reached out to Eddie Kendrick and David Ruffin. “David and Eddie were always friends of mine,” Hall told WATD. “So, I called Eddie and asked if he wanted to come on stage — and they hadn’t really worked together that much. At that time, they weren’t working together. It was sort of a reunion for them, and a reunion for them and me. It was one of those serendipitous, amazing moments in life where full circles come around — where my origins met my present. It’s really hard to describe.” Here’s their take of Stax classic When Something Is Wrong With My Baby. Co-written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter, the song was first recorded and released by Sam & Dave in 1967 – my kind of soul tune I can go for (yes can do)!

For the last track in this post, I’m jumping to Hall & Oates’ 14th studio album Change Of Season from March 1990. It features a nice cover of another Stax recording, Starting All Over Again. Written by Phillip Mitchell, the tune was released by Mel & Tim as a single in June 1972. It was the title track of their second studio album that appeared in July that year. Hall & Oates also released their cover as a single. It peaked at no. 10 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart and no. 14 on the Canadian charts. It did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100 or in the charts of any other countries. That’s unfortunate. Personally, I take that cover any day over their smash ’80s hits like Maneater or Private Eyes, but I guess I’m out of touch, though hopefully not out of time! 🙂

Frankly, until my wife told me about their upcoming U.S. tour in August and September, I wasn’t even aware Hall & Oates are still performing together. I only knew about Daryl Hall and his online and TV series Live from Daryl’s House. Well, it turns out that while Hall & Oates haven’t released a new studio album since October 2006, they have been touring quite actively over the past few years. And why not?

Their current schedule for this year shows dates all the way until the end of September. After a series of gigs in Europe and South America, Hall & Oates start the U.S. leg of their tour in Canandaigua, N.Y. on August 15 – never heard of this place before, which is about 30 miles southeast of Rochester and actually looks quite lovely, based on Google photos! Some of the other dates include Madison, Wis (Aug 25), Atlantic City, N.J. (Aug 30), Allentown, Pa. (Sep 1) – the show for which I got tickets, and Reno, Nev. (Sep 12). The last currently listed show is on Sep 28 in Thackerville, OK.

Sources: Wikipedia, Something Else!, Hall & Oates website, YouTube