Category: Bruuuuuuuuce!!

Bruce Springsteen Releasing 4 New Songs On Record Store Day EP

Bruce Springsteen will release four unreleased songs on a 12″ vinyl EP entitled American Beauty for Record Store Day on April 26th. Three of the tracks – “American Beauty,” “Mary Mary” and “Hey Blue Eyes” – were recorded during the High Hopes sessions with producer Ron Aniello, but ultimately discarded. The origin of the other song, “Hurry Up Sundown,” is unknown.

It’s unclear if the material on American Beauty will ultimately be offered to fans in any non-vinyl format. None of the songs on the EP have been heard before, but Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello — who is featured prominently on High Hopes and is on tour with Springsteen — plans on covering “Hey Blue Eyes” for an upcoming project.

A DVD, Blu-ray and digital download of the 2013 MusiCares Person of the Year concert, a multi-artist charity tribute concert to Bruce Springsteen set for release both physically and digitally on March 25th, is also in the works. The show, held at the Los Angeles Convention Center on February 8th, 2013, featured Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Sting, John Legend, Mumford & Sons, Patti Smith and others playing Springsteen classics. It wrapped up with a brief set by Springsteen and the E Street Band.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are in the middle of a month-long Australian tour. They kick off an American tour April 8th at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio, just two days before the E Street Band’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

A MusiCares Tribute To Bruce Springsteen and American Beauty track list

A MusiCares Tribute To Bruce Springsteen

1. “Adam Raised a Cain” Performed by Alabama Shakes
2. “Because the Night” Performed by Patti Smith
3. “Atlantic City” Performed by Natalie Maines, Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite
4. “American Land” Performed by Ken Casey
5. “My City of Ruins” Performed by Mavis Staples and Zac Brown
6. “I’m On Fire” Performed by Mumford and Sons
7. “American Skin (41 Shots)” Performed by Jackson Browne and Tom Morello
8. “My Hometown” Performed by Emmylou Harris
9. “One Step Up” Performed by Kenny Chesney
10. “Streets of Philadelphia” Performed by Elton John
11. “Hungry Heart” Performed by Juanes
12. “Tougher Than the Rest” Performed by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill
13. “The Ghost of Tom Joad” Performed by Jim James and Tom Morello
14. “Dancing in the Dark” Performed by John Legend
15. “Lonesome Day” Performed by Sting
16. “Born in the U.S.A.” Performed by Neil Young with Crazy Horse
17. “We Take Care of Our Own” Performed by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
18. “Death to My Hometown” Performed by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
19. “Thunder Road” Performed by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
20. “Born to Run” Performed by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
21. “Glory Days” Performed by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band & cast ensemble

American Beauty

1. “American Beauty”
2. “Mary Mary”
3. “Hurry Up Sundown”
4. “Hey Blue Eyes”

Bruce Springsteen Back In The U.S.A.

The first wave of U.S. tour dates for Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band are in showing a tour taking place in April and May. Meanwhile, West Coast fans are still waiting with “High Hopes” for their evenings with The Boss.

It’s what isn’t on the schedule that stands out. With the exception of The Woodlands, Texas, slotted for May 6, the itinerary maps out a routing keeping the tour mostly east of the Mississippi. Newly announced stops include Cincinnati, Nashville, Pittsburgh, Atlanta and Tampa.

Springsteen is touring in support of his new album, High Hopes, which debuted at No. 1 in countries when it was released last month. Here’s the U.S. routing:

April 8 – Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. Bank Arena
April 12 – Virginia Beach, Va., Farm Bureau Live At Virginia Beach
April 15 – Columbus, Ohio, Nationwide Arena
April 17 – Nashville, Tenn., Bridgestone Arena
April 19 – Charlotte, N.C., Time Warner Cable Arena
April 22 – Pittsburgh, Pa., Consol Energy Center
April 24 – Raleigh, N.C., PNC Arena
April 26 – Atlanta, Ga., Aaron’s Amphitheatre At Lakewood
April 29 – Sunrise, Fla, BB&T Center
May 1 – Tampa, Fla., MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre
May 3 – New Orleans, La., Fairgrounds Racecourse (New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival)
May 6 – The Woodlands, Texas, The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
May 13 – Albany, N.Y., Times Union Center
May 14 – Hershey, Pa., Hersheypark Stadium
May 17 – Uncasville, Conn., Mohegan Sun Arena
May 18 – Uncasville, Conn., Mohegan Sun Arena

General onsales for Pittsburgh, Albany, Hershey and Uncasville begin Feb. 14; Nashville, Atlanta, and Sunrise and Tampa Feb. 15; Cincinnati, Virginia Beach, Columbus, Charlotte, and Raleigh Feb. 21; The Woodlands Feb. 28. The onsale for New Orleans was previously announced.

Visit BruceSpringsteen.net for more information.

Bruce Springsteen Scores 11th No. 1 Album on Billboard 200

Bruce Springsteen earns his 11th No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 this week with the arrival of “High Hopes.”

The set, which Columbia Records released Jan. 14, sold 99,000 copies through the week ending Jan. 19, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

With the No. 1 debut, Springsteen pulls ahead of Elvis Presley to stand alone as the act with the third-most No. 1s in the history of the Billboard 200. Ahead of both acts on the all-time list are the Beatles (with 19 No. 1s) and Jay Z (with 13).

Springsteen’s first No. 1 album was “The River,” released in 1980. He has since followed it up with chart-toppers through the ’80s, ’90s, ’00s and ’10s. Having already claimed a No. 1 in the 2010s (2012’s “Wrecking Ball”), Springsteen remains the only act to have achieved No. 1 albums in each of the last four decades.

“High Hopes” is Springsteen’s first studio album (released since Nielsen SoundScan started tracking data in 1991) to debut with fewer than 100,000 copies. His SoundScan-era high came when 2002’s “The Rising” powered through 525,000 copies in its first week, easily debuting at No. 1.

“High Hopes” sold particularly strong with Internet retailers, thanks largely to Amazon.com. The company carried an exclusive CD/DVD version of the album, with the DVD sporting a full-length concert of Springsteen and his E Street Band performing the entire “Born in the U.S.A.” album.

Through Internet sellers, the physical version of “High Hopes” sold nearly 37,000 copies for the week — the largest week for an album sold via the Internet since last May. Daft Punk’s “Random Access Memories” was the last biggest seller through the ‘net, when it shifted 38,000 in its debut frame. That sum was largely due to Web-based orders of the vinyl LP version of the album. The vinyl set accounted for 12,000 of that 38,000 Internet total.

(As for the vinyl version of “High Hopes,” it sold a little more than 2,000 copies in its first week.)

In total, “High Hopes” sold 74,000 physical copies last week, easily making it the week’s top-selling physical album. On the digital side of things, “High Hopes” sold 26,000 downloads, the fourth-largest-selling digital album of the week.

Last week’s Billboard 200 No. 1, the soundtrack to Disney’s “Frozen,” slips to No. 2 to with 87,000 (though it’s up 2% in sales). The album is in its eighth week on the list, and has spent the past three weeks locked in one of the top two rungs. In turn,it’s the first soundtrack to spend three weeks in the top two since May 2009, when “Hannah Montana: The Movie” spent seven nonconsecutive frames in the region.

The long-running “Kidz Bop” series collects its 18th top 10 album, as “Kidz Bop 25” bows at No. 3 with 76,000. The franchise, which features kid-friendly covers of popular songs, collects its 39th charting album in total with the arrival of “Kidz Bop 25.” In addition to the 25 numbered albums, the “Kidz Bop” franchise has spawned themed collections like “Kidz Bop Christmas,” “Kidz Bop Sings the Beatles” and “Kidz Bop Halloween Hits!”

Behind “Kidz” this week is Beyonce’s self-titled album, which falls 2-4 with 61,000.

Two more new entries arrive in the top 10: Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles with her solo debut, “That Girl,” and rock band Switchfoot with “Fading West.” The former starts at No. 5 with 54,000, while Switchfoot steps in at No. 6 with 39,000.

As one-half of Sugarland (with singer/guitarist Kristian Bush), Nettles racked up six earlier albums on the Billboard 200, with three of them hitting No. 1. The pair topped the list with “Love on the Inside” in 2008, the live set “Live on the Inside” the following year and then “The Incredible Machine” in 2010. Collectively, Sugarland’s albums have sold 9.9 million copies in the United States, according to SoundScan.

“That Girl” also arrives at No. 1 on the Country Albums chart.

Meanwhile, Switchfoot garners its third top 10 album on the Billboard 200 with “Fading West.” It’s the act’s highest-charting set since 2005’s “Nothing Is Sound” debuted and peaked at No. 5. “Fading West” also gives the act its fifth No. 1 on the Christian Albums chart, following “Vice Verses,” “Oh! Gravity,” “Nothing Is Sound” and “The Beautiful Letdown.”

Lorde’s “Pure Heroine” is up next on the Billboard 200 this week, dipping two slots to No. 7 with 31,000. Eminem’s “The Marshall Mathers LP 2” falls four rungs to No. 8 with 29,000 (down 19%), and Katy Perry’s “PRISM” descends 7-9 with 22,000 (down 2%). Imagine Dragons’ “Night Visions” rounds out the top 10, falling one spot to No. 10 with 20,000 (though it’s up by 17%).

Over on the Digital Songs chart, Perry’s “Dark Horse,” featuring Juicy J, remains at No. 1 with 261,000 downloads sold (up 7%). Meanwhile, a Great Big World & Christina Aguilera’s “Say Something” rises one spot to No. 2 with 208,000 (down 4%).

Pitbull’s “Timber,”featuring Ke$ha, drops 2-3 with 202,000 (down 11%), and Aloe Blacc’s “The Man” rises 7-4 with 165,000 (up 19%).

OneRepublic’s “Counting Stars” descends 4-5 with 156,000 (down 15%) while Jason Derulo’s “Talk Dirty,” featuring 2 Chainz, flies 18-6 with 148,000 (up 84%).

Eminem’s “The Monster,” featuring Rihanna, slides 5-7 with 136,000 (down 16%), Lorde’s “Team” is stationary at No. 8 with 133,000 (up 7%), and Passenger’s “Let Her Go” falls 6-9 with 130,000 (down 12%). Bastille’s “Pompeii” closes out the top 10, falling one spot to No. 10, with 129,000 (up 4%).

Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending Jan. 19) totaled 4.4 million units, up 4% compared with the sum last week (4.3 million) and down 11% compared with the comparable sales week of 2013 (5 million). Year-to-date album sales stand at 14.1 million, down 14% compared with the same total at this point last year (16.3 million).

Digital track sales this past week totaled 24.1 million downloads, down 6% compared with last week (25.6 million) and down 13% stacked next to the comparable week of 2013 (27.8 million). Year-to-date track sales are at 80.3 million, down 12% compared with the same total at this point last year (91.2 million).

Springsteen’s punk roots

On his new album, the Boss pays tribute to perhaps his most surprising influence: way-underground noisemakers Suicide.

Ask any Springsteen fan what Bruce’s biggest musical influences are, and you’re likely to hear the same names over and over: Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, the British Invasion bands and, naturally, the Jersey Shore groups of the early 1970s.

Few followers of the Boss ever bring up the names Alan Vega and Martin Rev of New York electro-punk pioneers Suicide. But that is about to change, as Bruce releases his 18th album on Tuesday. Called “High Hopes,” the record closes with a sublime cover of Suicide’s 1979 single “Dream Baby Dream.”

Even in the duo’s notorious CBGB and Max’s Kansas City days, the Boss was a fan.

“We first met Springsteen in 1980,” remembers Vega. “He was recording ‘The River’ and we were recording our second album in New York. I spent five or six days hanging out with him and driving around. Then we had a playback meeting for our album. There were three or four big shots from our label, and Bruce was there, too. After we played the album, there was deathly silence . . . except for Bruce, who said, ‘That was f - - king great.’ He made a point of telling us how much he loved us.”

Praise is something that Suicide were not used to, and neither did they seek it out. They first met in 1969, at a downtown art space when Vega was an artist and Rev played in an avant-garde jazz band. The following year, they began working on Suicide, with Rev creating a stark and scary synthesizer backdrop for Vega’s demented howling. They called themselves a punk band years before the word had entered the musical lexicon, and together, the duo forged a sound that was as unsettling and creepy as New York at the time.

Alongside Suicide’s provocative sound was a deliberately confrontational live show. “I would often yell at the crowd,” adds the now 75-year-old Vega with a chuckle. “I had a bike chain which I would swing around. Sometimes I cut my face with a broken bottle. One time we were playing at the Mercer Arts Center [in Greenwich Village], and I stood in front of the doors so people couldn’t leave!”

Unsurprisingly, that tactic would sometimes backfire. One show in 1978, opening for Elvis Costello in Belgium, ended with in a full-scale riot. Another, in England, supporting the Clash that same year, saw Vega almost being struck by a tomahawk thrown by the angry crowd.

But Springsteen was on to Suicide and knew they had something special. His love for the stark sound of their first two albums (1977’s “Suicide” and 1980’s “Suicide: Alan Vega and Martin Rev”) began dripping into his own music through the brooding 1982 album “Nebraska.” One track, in particular, “State Trooper,” was punctuated with shrill yelps that were an obvious steal from Vega. “I remember walking into my label just after it came out,” Vega says. “I thought it was one of my albums that I had forgotten about. But it was Bruce!”

Springsteen’s love of the song “Dream Baby Dream” came to the surface during his 2005 solo tour, when he performed it (with slightly altered lyrics) as the last song at almost every date. “I’ve liked Suicide for a long time,” Springsteen told British magazine Mojo that year. “If Elvis came back from the dead, I think he would sound like Alan Vega.”

The Boss even had plans to perform the tune as part of his 2009 Super Bowl halftime performance but backed out at the last moment, opting to perform all of his own songs, instead. “It’s like a symphony,” says Vega. “It’s a very hopeful song. I think it should be the national anthem.”

Even though Suicide last put out an album in 2002 (their fifth effort, “American Supreme”), more artists have voiced their appreciation of Vega and Rev in recent years. Fellow New Yorkers MGMT love them so much that they invited the pair to open for them at a now infamous Halloween 2008 show at Webster Hall, during which Rev wore ski goggles while Vega growled and scowled at the terrified front row of teeny-boppers. Even more surprisingly, alt-pop singer Sky Ferreira paid homage to them on the dissonant throb of “Omanko” — a track from last year’s “Night Time, My Time” album.

For their part, Vega and Rev are more into gangsta rap. “I think Snoop Dogg and Ice T are really great artists,” adds Rev, now 65. “Rap music is music of necessity — of the street. That’s what we were when we started.”

Although Vega now earns most of his money through his visual art, both members are happy to note that they make more money from Suicide’s music than they ever did. Springsteen’s inclusion of “Dream Baby Dream” on “High Hopes” is likely to add a few more cents to their tally. “I’m middle-class now,” laughs Vega. That may be so, but give them a chance and Suicide can still cause a riot. After all these years, there’s no greater success than that.

Springsteen songs get a fair hearing on ‘The Good Wife’

The Good Wife has a new Boss.

The critically acclaimed drama — and CBS’ website — will be the unusual first official spots to listen to Bruce Springsteen’s 18th studio album, High Hopes, before its Jan. 14 release.

Starting at 10 p.m. ET Sunday, until 7 p.m. ET on Jan. 13, fans can stream the album exclusively, in its entirety, at CBS.com/springsteen. And the Jan. 12 episode of Wife will feature snippets of three songs from the forthcoming album, including the title song (released as a single last month), Hunter of Invisible Game and The Ghost of Tom Joad, a new version of the title track of a 1995 album.

It’s part of a deal between Springsteen’s label, Columbia Records, and CBS to gain wider exposure for the album in an unconventional way, and lure his Baby Boomer fans to the show and the top-rated network’s website. CBS paid a customary fee to license the songs for the episode.

“Of course we were incredibly excited by the potential; we’re huge Springsteen fans,” says Michelle King, co-creator and executive producer of the series with her husband, Robert.

The deal came together after the episode, this season’s 12th, had been written and filmed, but not yet edited. Its writer, Keith Eisner, is “from New Jersey, and when he heard Bruce Springsteen songs were being used, he literally jumped up and down,” she says.

Springsteen recorded versions of the 12 songs during the decade before his last album, 2012’s Wrecking Ball, but only three were released in their early forms: Hopes, a Tim Scott cover, on a 1995 EP, American Skin (41 Shots) on a 2001 live set and Tom Joad. All tunes were freshly recorded for the new disc, which also includes covers of The Saints’ Just Like Fire Would and Suicide’s Dream Baby Dream.

“This is music I always felt needed to be released,” Springsteen says in a statement announcing the CBS deal, to be unveiled today. “I felt they all deserved a home and a hearing.”

Robert King says the producers got a “super-secret” listening session a few weeks ago, and though they initially planned to use one song, “we got greedy” and chose three. “The one that obviously jumped out at us was High Hopes; it has that driving momentum,” he says. And they picked Invisible Game for the closing scenes, tying together several plot threads.

In the episode, titled “We Are Juries,” Alicia (Julianna Margulies) and former partner Will (Josh Charles) separately represent each side of a couple accused of drug smuggling, and cause confusion when they insist on separate jury pools.

Aiming for better ways to promote as music sales lag, it has become more commonplace for musicians to offer sneak previews of their work on iTunes or their own websites. Making an entire album available on a broadcast TV network website, however, is unprecedented.

But CBS’ hopes for a coup were partially dashed when Amazon’s mobile site on Saturday briefly sold tracks from the album. The songs were pulled, but not before eager fans had purchased and uploaded them to file-sharing sites. Early reviews based on those songs were mixed.

Bruce Springsteen Accidentally Pulled a Beyoncé

Early Sunday morning, it seemed like Bruce Springsteen had taken a (modified) lesson from the Beyoncé book of surprises and released his upcoming album early. Billboard reports that High Hopes — which is scheduled to come out on January 14 — was briefly available for purchase and download on Amazon. But, after properly waking up and having our respective coffees, it now seems more likely that the Internet retailer just screwed up than that the rock legend decided to get creative with release strategies. According to Billboard, “It is unclear whether or not [the early release] was the website’s intention,” considering the option to purchase anything besides the title single was only visible on their mobile site. “Amazon has since rescinded the ability to download the album, which was merely available by buying each song individually.” Congratulations to the hardcore Springsteen fans who got there in time.

Springsteen ‘Born to Run’ manuscript is for sale

NEW YORK (AP) — A handwritten working manuscript of Bruce Springsteen’s 1975 hit “Born to Run” will be offered at auction on Dec. 5, with a presale estimate of $70,000 to $100,000, Sotheby’s said Wednesday.

The seller was not revealed. The auction house said the document used to be in the collection of Springsteen’s former manager, Mike Appel.

Sotheby’s said most of the lines in this 1974 version, written in Long Branch, N.J., are apparently unpublished and unrecorded, but the manuscript does include “a nearly perfected chorus.”

Springsteen’s thought process, written in blue ink on an 8½-by-11 sheet of ruled notepaper, looks like this:

“This town’ll rip the (out your) bones from yourback / it’s a suicide trap (rap) (it’s a trap to catchthe young) your dead unless / you get out (we gotto) while your young so (come on! / with) take myhand cause tramps / like us baby we were born to run.”

“The imagery and tone are constant from the present manuscript to the final song,” the auctioneer said.

There are also some words in the margins: “Wild” and “Angels” and a word that looks like “velocity,” with the letter “t” in Springsteen’s curlicue cursive.

“Although Springsteen is known to have an intensive drafting process, few manuscripts of ‘Born to Run’ are available, with the present example being one of only two identified that include the most famous lines in the song,” Sotheby’s said.

The document will be part of a Manhattan sale of fine books and manuscripts.

Bruce Springsteen to Release ‘High Hopes’ Studio Album in January

Columbia Records announced Monday that Bruce Springsteen’s 18th studio album, “High Hopes,” will be released on Jan. 14, 2014.

The record is an eclectic combination of cover songs, new songs, and songs previously performed by Springsteen in some format. The album was produced by Ron Aniello, who also worked with Springsteen on his previous release, “Wrecking Ball.” Additionally, producer Brendan O’Brien shares production credits on three tracks.

Springsteen is accompanied on this release by the E Street Band, along with Tom Morello (The Nightwatchman, Audioslave, Rage Against The Machine) who temporarily joined the band on the 2013 Australian tour to fill in for Steve Van Zandt (who was absent due to filming commitments for his Netflix series, “Lilyhammer”). Both Danny Federici and Clarence Clemons (who passed away in 2008 and 2011, respectively) also appear on the record.

“High Hopes” Tracklist:
1. High Hopes (Tim Scott McConnell) – featuring Tom Morello
2. Harry’s Place * – featuring Tom Morello
3. American Skin (41 Shots) – featuring Tom Morello
4. Just Like Fire Would (Chris J. Bailey) – featuring Tom Morello
5. Down In The Hole *
6. Heaven’s Wall ** -featuring Tom Morello
7. Frankie Fell In Love
8. This Is Your Sword
9. Hunter Of Invisible Game * -featuring Tom Morello
10. The Ghost of Tom Joad – duet with Tom Morello
11.The Wall
12. Dream Baby Dream (Martin Rev and Alan Vega) – featuring Tom Morello

A closer look at the songs of “High Hopes”:

THE COVERS:

HIGH HOPES: Both a cover and a previously recorded number, this upbeat rockabilly tune by The Havalinas was first recorded by Springsteen in 1995 as part of the sessions for Springsteen’s Greatest Hits album, later released on the “Blood Brothers” DVD. The song was revived onstage when Springsteen visited Australia in the spring of 2013, with one of Morello’s trademark guitar solos. In the liner notes, Springsteen credits Morello with the suggestion to add this track to the band’s set: “Tom and his guitar became my muse, pushing the rest of this project to another level. Thanks for the inspiration Tom.” This track, along with “Just With Fire Would,” are noted as coming out of a mid-tour recording session in Australia.

JUST LIKE FIRE WOULD: Originally written and recorded by the Saints, who (along with frontman Chris Bailey), are best known as punk rock pioneers both in Australia and internationally. This track comes from 1987’s more mainstream “All Fool’s Day,” and would reach the top 30’s on the Australian charts. Springsteen and the E Street Band (with Morello) performed the song at their March 14, 2013 show in Brisbane.

DREAM BABY DREAM: Originally written and recorded by Alan Vega and Martin Rev of seminal punk band Suicide in 1975, Springsteen transformed this dark electronic composition into a warmer and more optimistic version, anchored by harmonium, when he added the song to the “Devils & Dust” tour in 2005. The track recently resurfaced as the soundtrack to a ‘thank you’ video released in October to thank the fans for supporting the 2012 & 2013 “Wrecking Ball” tour. Alan Vega, in an 2005 interview with Backstreets Magazine, said, “A lot of bands have done my stuff, Suicide stuff, and they basically try and copy and do it the way that you do it. He just – thank god! – finally somebody did their version of it. They interpreted my song, he did it his way, and such a great way, that I’m going to have to sing it that way, or not sing it at all any more!”

RE-RECORDED:

AMERICAN SKIN (41 SHOTS): This protest number was written in 2000 as Springsteen’s reaction to the Amadou Diallo shooting in New York City. It was first performed in Atlanta on June 4, 2000, just prior to Springsteen’s tour-ending ten night stand at Madison Square Garden. The performances of the song in New York resulted in enormous media coverage, as well as boycotts and protests by the New York City Police Department and the Police Benevolent Association.

“American Skin (41 Shots)” has periodically reappeared on Springsteen’s setlists in response to current events, including an incendiary performance in Florida in 2012 as response to the shooting of Trayvon Martin.

THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD (Duet with Tom Morello): The title track of Springsteen’s 1995 acoustic album, this ode to the hero of Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” was also recorded by Rage Against The Machine in 1997 and released as a single. Their version would reach No. 35 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and No. 34 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. These two worlds would eventually meet in 2008, when Morello joined Springsteen and the E Street Band onstage in Anaheim to perform a version that merged the two approaches, creating an electrified Springsteen version of the song, which had formerly been performed acoustic or semi-acoustic. Morello has reprised that performance many times since then, including at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary concerts, at the Hard Rock Calling festival in London’s Hyde Park in 2012, and every night on Springsteen’s 2013 Australian tour.

NEW SONGS:

The remaining songs on “High Hopes” are Springsteen originals: “Harry’s Place,” “Down In The Hole”, “Heaven’s Wall,” “Frankie Fell In Love,” “This Is Your Sword,” “Hunter of Invisible Game,” and “The Wall.” Two of these seven tracks already have some history:

HARRY’S PLACE: An outtake from “The Rising,” “Harry’s Place” was recorded in 2002 with the E Street Band. It would be later revealed by Springsteen to Ted Koppel that “Harry’s Place” was one of two songs recorded that didn’t make the final cut for the album, Springsteen believing that the song’s subject matter didn’t fit thematically with the rest of the record. During the interview, Springsteen read some of the lyrics to Koppel:

Downtown hipsters drinkin’ up the drug line
Down in the kitchen workin’ in the coal mine
Got a special sin, mister, you can’t quite confess
Messy little problem
Maybe baby needs a new dress
Razor-back diamond shines a little too hard
Need a hammer help you handle
A little trouble in your backyard
Bring it on down to Harry’s Place

THE WALL: In February 2003, Springsteen performed two solo acoustic concerts in Somerville, MA to benefit the financially strapped Doubletake Magazine. On the first night, he debuted “The Wall.” Springsteen prefaced the song by explaining that he had taken his wife to visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial during a trip to Washington, DC, and while there, had been moved to look for the names of friends on the wall: “the drummer of my first band and another close friend in town.” The other dedication would later be revealed during a 2005 performance of the song as Walter Cichon, the leader of Jersey Shore band the Motifs.

This story is reprised by Springsteen in the “High Hopes” liner notes, adding a dedication to Walter Cichon, a local Jersey Shore musician in the Motifs. Springsteen states, “The Motifs were a local rock band who were always a head above everybody else. Raw, sexy and rebellious, they were the heroes you aspired to be. But these were heroes you could touch, speak to, and go to with your musical inquiries. Cool, but always accessible, they were an inspiration to me, and many young working musicians in 1960’s central New Jersey.” The liner notes also reveal that the title and the idea of the song came to him from Pittsburgh musician and friend, Joe Grushecky.

Not surprisingly, the track as originally performed is dark and bitter, with lyrics unvarnished and direct:

Cigarettes and a bottle of beer, this poem that I wrote for you
This black stone and these hard tears are all I’ve got left now of you
I remember you in your Marine uniform laughing, laughing at your shipping out party
I read Robert McNamara says he’s sorry
You and your boots and black t-shirt, ah, Billy you looked so bad
Yeah you and your rock and roll band was the best thing this shit town ever had
Now the men that put you here eat with their families in rich dining halls
And apology and forgiveness got no place here at all at the wall

In January, Springsteen and the E Street Band will travel to South Africa for the first time to perform three dates in Cape Town and one in Johannesburg, followed by 13 shows in Australia and New Zealand in February. Sources say that Springsteen plans to return to Europe later in 2014 on the festival circuit.

There are no North American tour dates announced at this time.

Bruce Springsteen Jams With Tom Morello on Newly Leaked Single

Bruce Springsteen’s exuberant new single “High Hopes” features a wah-wah, Rage Against the Machine-style guitar solo and rhythm part from Tom Morello as well as what sounds like a full horn section. The single will be officially released next week, but it leaked online today.

The song begins with a New Orleans carnival beat and a squall of feedback before a chunky acoustic guitar and Springsteen’s teeth-gritted vocals kick in, followed by horns, accordions and an army of backing vocals on the chorus. The finished product sounds like an unexpected mix of the Seeger Sessions Band, Rage, the E Street Band and the Meters. Judging by this track, Springsteen isn’t done with the musical boundary-pushing that characterized 2012’s Wrecking Ball.

Springsteen originally recorded “High Hopes” in 1995 during a brief reunion with the E Street Band. The song was written by Tim Scott McConnell in 1987, and he rerecorded it three years later with his band the Havalinas.

There is no official word about a new Springsteen album, but multiple sources say that one will be released early next year.

Bruce Springsteen Announces ‘High Hopes’ Single; New Album in January?

Bruce Springsteen has announced he’ll release a new single on Nov. 25. Titled “High Hopes,” the vibrant song is actually a cover of a track by short-lived Los Angeles band The Havalinas, and fans will note that Springsteen included an earlier version on the 1996 documentary, “Blood Brothers.”

Sources say that a larger release is on its way, and that a new Springsteen studio album could be out as early as January — a quick follow-up to 2012’s chart-topping “Wrecking Ball.”

The E Street Band performed “High Hopes” with Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello during a tour of Australia in March, and Springsteen confirmed in an interview over the summer that all parties “had a recording session” while Down Under. “We did a couple of things that I wanted to put down,” Springsteen told Rolling Stone in June. “Being with Tommy was exciting.”

Springsteen and Morello’s rowdy, horn-filled performance of the song can be seen in footage from the March 18 show at Sydney’s Allphones Arena. At one point, Morello breaks into one of his trademark toggle switch-flicking solos before lifting the guitar to use his teeth for added effect.

“High Hopes” appeared on The Havalinas’ debut album in 1990. The ecclectic band featured ex-Rockats guitarist Tim Scott and bassist Smutty Smith, along with drummer Charlie Quintana, whose next gig was behind the kit in Izzy Stradlin’s Ju Ju Hounds. Six years later, a version of “Hopes” was incorporated into the film “Blood Brothers,” which chronicles Springsteen’s reunion with the E Street Band.

Springsteen netted his 10th No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 with 2012’s “Wrecking Ball.” The set debuted atop the tally with 196,000 sold in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The album has sold 506,000 to date. It generated the No. 43 Rock Songs hit “We Take Care Of Our Own.”

Among all acts, Springsteen is tied with Elvis Presley for the third-most No. 1 albums in history. Only the Beatles (with 19) and Jay-Z (13) have more. Overall, he has released 17 studio album and five live albums.