---
title: "Review of Bruce Springsteens album Only the Strong Survive: the Boss is in a reflective mood"
id: 1525slug: "review-of-bruce-springsteens-album-only-the-strong-survive-t"
category: "Entertainment News"
description: "Springsteen kicks back with the Sixties soul and R&B songs he knows from his teens"
canonical_url: "https://infosaurs.com/entertainment-news/review-of-bruce-springsteens-album-only-the-strong-survive-t/1525"
date_published: "2022-11-10T00:00:00+00:00"
last_modified: "2022-11-10T00:00:00+00:00"
entity_type: "Person"
publisher: "INFOSAURS Media AG"
format: "markdown"
---

# Review of Bruce Springsteens album Only the Strong Survive: the Boss is in a reflective mood
**Registry Identifier:** Record #001525  
**Archival Track:** Verified Biographical Dossier  
**Canonical Record:** [View Live Web Page](https://infosaurs.com/entertainment-news/review-of-bruce-springsteens-album-only-the-strong-survive-t/1525)  
**Last Verified:** November 10, 2022
> Springsteen kicks back with the Sixties soul and R&B songs he knows from his teens
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Typically, a musician releases a cover version at two points in their career: the beginning, when they may not have enough original songs to last a 45-minute live set, and the very end, when they have nothing left to prove and simply want to sing the songs they^/ve always liked. (And, of course, thirdly, when they foolishly decide that the world requires yet another Christmas record.)

**Bruce Springsteen, **73, is merely experiencing nostalgia. In recent years, he has also completed a one-man Broadway show and his autobiography. He reunited with his E Street Band for his most recent album, Letter to You, which featured three songs he^/d written the year before he dropped his debut. So why not also enjoy some of the R&B and soul music from the 1960s that he remembers from his teen years?

  
On the album^/s opening title track, a female background quartet can be heard repeatedly saying, "I remember." Two relatively new tracks, however, perfectly capture the essence of the endeavour: The Commodores^/ 1985 song Nightshift pays homage to Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson, both of whom passed away the year before; Dobie Wilson^/s 2000 song Soul Days recalls that lovely sound of youth. Springsteen sings over swaying horns and mellow organ notes, "Those yesterdays/Cruising in my Chevrolet/I cradled my kid in my arms/But my first love was always the music."

Apart from its horn section, the E Street Band is not present. This was a more relaxed project that producer Ron Aniello and engineer Rob Lebret worked on late at night during lockdown limitations. Compared to his most well-known work, the approach is gentler and less of a massive wall of sound, yet Bruce Springsteen^/s gruff, worn-out voice works well for soul. He sustains an extremely long note on The Four Tops^/ When She Was My Girl, lending weight to the instrumentation^/s moderately groovy feel.  
The song selection demonstrates that this is content that has been gathered with affection rather than as a quick shot at the top of the charts. The Sun Ain^/t Gonna Shine Anymore, which is loyal to the Walker Brothers original, and Jimmy Ruffin^/s Motown classic What Becomes of the Brokenhearted are perhaps the songs that people are most familiar with. Except for diehard soul fans, a couple of the others might sound unfamiliar, but nothing here will be unwelcome when he performs two massive concerts in Hyde Park the following summer.
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