November 17
Link


Columbia Records has confirmed that Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s new album 'Working on a Dream ' will be released on January 27, 2009.

The 12-track LP — Bruce’s 24th — was produced and mixed by Brendan O’Brien, who last helmed the band’s 2007 'Magic'.

“Towards the end of recording Magic, excited by the return to pop production sounds, I continued writing,” Springsteen says in a statement. “When my friend producer Brendan O’Brien heard the new songs, he said, ‘Let’s keep going.’ Over the course of the next year, that’s just what we did, recording with the E Street Band during the breaks on last year’s tour. I hope Working on a Dream has caught the energy of the band fresh off the road from some of the most exciting shows we’ve ever done. All the songs were written quickly, we usually used one of our first few takes, and we all had a blast making this one from beginning to end.”


The tracklisting is as follows:

'Outlaw Pete'
'My Lucky Day'
'Working On A Dream'
'Queen Of The Supermarket'
'What Love Can Do'
'This Life'
'Good Eye'
'Tomorrow Never Knows'
'Life Itself'
'Kingdom of Days'
'Surprise, Surprise'
'The Last Carnival'

Bonus tracks:
'The Wrestler'
'A Night With the Jersey Devil'

Copycat said:

oh, please let this be a beatles cover

Wow. That's great.

That'll be something like 4 albums in 4 years, plus "The Rising" back in 2002.

He'll be 60 next year. I guess the floodgates reopened.

You can always inspire yourself.

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[Edited 11/17/08 10:31am]

Alright, the first thing to look up to in 2009

I'm sure I won't be disappointed, both Magic and The Rising were wonderful albums!

Doalwa said:

I loved Magic--actually thought it was going to be a bigger hit for him.

A new album (with the E Street Band, so not a folk album) after nearly a year from a Bruce. That's different. I saw him during one of those free Obama shows and it was really good. I guess Bruce has that kind of clout, too, where he can just release an album so soon after without being questioned. If others would not be so afraid of their labels and follow suit, that would be great.

Damn, this is sooner than expected. Even in his heyday he didn't work this fast. Hopefully the songs won't sound like rush jobs. By the way, weren't the songs on "Devils and Dust" written years before the album came out?

Preview of the title track (courtesy of the NFL).

IstenSzek said:

From brucespringsteen.net:

Brendan said:

I think it's more a case of O'Brien's convinced him that everything that flows from his pen is gold. Personally, I was not big on D&D or Magic (with the exceptions of "Reno" and "Long Walk Home"); I think he puts out his best work when he takes the time to cull.

midnightmover said:

"Long Time Comin'" and "The Hitter" were both premiered in 1996, on the solo acoustic tour in support of The Ghost of Tom Joad.

Springsteen wrote "All the Way Home" somewhere between '89 and '91 and it was first released by Southside Johnny, on his '91 album, Better Days. This song was intended for the follow-up to Tunnel of Love, but Springsteen felt he was "just rehashing" themes he'd already covered on that record (and "All the Way Home" is lyrically very similar to "Tougher Than the Rest"). For some reason, when he recorded it for D&D, he sped it up, changed the melody and some of the lyrics (a shame, 'cause it was beautiful in its original state and atrocious after the rewriting/arranging); I would count the first version among his best songs.

Some of the others may have been written on the Joad tour, or shortly thereafter, but my memory's hazy and I don't care enough about the album to bother googling.

Here are the lyrics to the original, ballad version of "All the Way Home":

I know what it's like to have failed, baby
With the whole world lookin' on
I know what it's like to have been so sure
To wake up and find it all gone

Now, you've got no reason, no reason to trust me
And, tonight, my confidence is a little rusty
But it's gettin' late - if you don't feel like leavin' alone
Well, maybe I can walk you, baby
All the way home

Our old fears and failures, they do linger (ah, yes they do)
Like the shadow of that ring that was on your finger
Well, those days, darlin', those days are dead and gone
Oh, I could walk you baby
All the way home

Now, there's things no one can rearrange
We both have yesterdays that we can't change

It's closin' time - bartender's ringin' last call
Well, these days I don't stand on pride and I've learned how to take a fall
But the time has come and if your first choice, he's gone
Well, that's alright, baby
'Cause I can walk you all the way home

I'll walk you all the way home
I'll walk you all the way home...


The first two lines are a clear reference to his first marriage, to Julianne Phillips.

Ace said:

Magic was conceived as a double, so I think most of the "new" songs are probably from the sessions (except the two bonus cuts). I agree with you about Magic not being all that (although I love the title track, Devil's Arcade and You'll Be Coming Down), but I loved D & D. Played that album to death when it came out.

Still, great news about a new album. I don't care if the material's patchy. At least he isn't second guessing himself anymore and is releasing albums with greater frequency.

I remember the great drought of 1995 - 2003, when, granted, we got Tracks (a monsoon), but nothing new.

Expect some archive material later in the year, after the tour. A Devils & Dust tour DVD/CD on the way and, possibly, the remaster of Darkness on the Edge of Town.
[Edited 11/18/08 0:47am]

Shapeshifter said:

Joad came out at the end of '95 and The Rising was released in '02, so wouldn't it be more like 1996 - 2002?

Ace said:

What pedantry!

Look, it felt like a fucking eternity between Joad and The Rising. And it was. I managed to get married, move house three times, spend 18 months in the US, go through four jobs and quit smoking in the time it took him to release an album ...

Oh yeah, and The Stones managed to tour three times and the Who reformed twice then ....
[Edited 11/18/08 4:55am]
[Edited 11/18/08 4:56am]

Shapeshifter said:

Yeah, it was an extraordinarily long time between studio albums. Don't mind me: I'm just anal.

Album Cover Revealed
December 9, 2008
Link

Bruce Springsteen's new album leads off with one of his longest studio songs in decades. "Outlaw Pete" is eight minutes long, setting the table for "Working on a Dream," due Jan. 27 from Columbia.

Other tracks from the project get in and out much quicker, including "Tomorrow Never Knows" (2:14) and "What Love Can Do" (2:57). Late E Street Band member Danny Federici, who died in April, plays on the album, as does his son Jason.

"Working on a Dream" will be available on vinyl and in a deluxe edition featuring a DVD with 38-minutes of behind-the-scenes studio footage.