El Boss has never hidden his passion for soul, nor the importance that this style has had in his DNA as a composer. It is therefore very logical that his new album Only the strong survive, which is published today, is a tribute to music that has marked his personality on fire. He has spared nothing in an album of fifteen songs, chosen from a wide range of artists and who have in common that flame of soul and rhythm
The album opens with the song that serves as its title, original from 1968 and in whose composition stand out Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, creators of the baroque “Philadelphia Sound”. It is a song made famous by Billy Paul -Elvis Presley also recorded it- and in keeping with it, Bruce enhances the string arrangements, adding some beautiful female choirs and taking the vocal part to his terrain, much rougher and more temperamental.
The first song to advance the album in September was Do I love you (Indeed I do), a Frank Wilson cover that transports the Motown original into something grander, with a sax and production reminiscent of Motown. E Street Band.
The second single, released on October 14, was Nightshift, a version of a Commodores classic written in 1985 in memory of Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson. Springsteen's emotional version exalts an intimate and melancholic tone, which connects with gospel, with brass, choirs and keyboards edging the melody and lyrics that pay tribute to two of the greatest singers in the history of soul. The third single, Don't play that song, was written by Ahmed Ertegun -composer and co-founder of Atlantic Records- and Betty Nelson, Ben E. King's wife, the first to sing it. Bruce's version, with an intro that seems to be recorded live, gives it a much grander and more swinging tone, elevated by his voice and determined choirs, which push, as he says in the lyrics, "let's dance".
Soul days features the special collaboration of Sam Moore -the one who was part of the mythical duo Sam
In The sun ain't gonna shine anymore -a great success in the voices of The Walker Brothers in 1966- the romantic and sad halo of the original prevails, although infusing it with a dramatic quality and a solemnity that is a trademark of the house, thanks to some effective and very eloquent orchestral arrangements. For its part, Turn back the hands of time, a single by singer Tyrone Davis, retains the exuberant sound of the Atlantic original, although Bruce adds an extra intensity due to his rough and delivered voice rocked by heavenly female choirs.
From the Four Tops he rescues When she was my girl, preserving his same romanticism and groove, in a song that is caressing and at the same time pushes you to snap your fingers and move your feet, with a superb guitar solo punctuating the melody. And again Hey, Western Union man turns to Gamble
Another immersion in Motown is supposed to be I wish it would rain, originally recorded by The Temptations, which preserves a solemn and demure tone, which fits like a glove in the Boss's way of doing things; he sublimates it by giving it a plus of spiritual grandeur signed by strings and piano. With William Bell's Any Other Way, Stax's old-school soul is on full display, with brass cracking gleefully and a guitar capering as Bruce squeezes his throat deep. And I couldn't miss a song composed by the legendary Holland-Dozier-Holland for Four Tops, another Motown pearl entitled 7 rooms of gloom in which Bruce puts all the meat on the grill, with the indispensable help of the choirs, slowing down something the tempo to give the song a liturgical air, without losing an iota of its danceable dynamics.
Motown continues to rule the repertoire with What becomes of the brokenhearted, a song that became a Jimmy Ruffin hit in 1966. A heartfelt ballad that does justice to the title, since it is a totally heartbreaking melody, with a final climax in the that Bruce and the choirs give it their all. To finish, Someday we'll be together is reserved, which was Diana Ross's last number one
