Bruce Springsteen has announced a new covers album: Only the Strong Survive will be out November 11 via Columbia Records. The album is a celebration of soul music and sees the Boss taking on tracks from the catalogues of Motown, Gamble and Huff, Stax, and more. It also features guest vocals by Sam Moore, contributions from The E Street Horns, string arrangements by Rob Mathes, and backing vocals by Soozie Tyrell, Lisa Lowell, Michelle Moore, Curtis King Jr., Dennis Collins, and Fonzi Thornton. Check out Springsteen’s rendition of Frank Wilson’s ‘Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)’, along with a video directed by Thom Zimny, below.
“I wanted to make an album where I just sang,” Springsteen commented in a press release. “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. My goal is for the modern audience to experience its beauty and joy, just as I have since I first heard it. I hope you love listening to it as much as I loved making it.”
Only the Strong Survive, which follows 2020’s Letter to You, was recorded at Thrill Hill Recording in New Jersey with producer Ron Aniello. It was engineered by Rob Lebret and executive produced by Jon Landau.
Only the Strong Survive Cover Artwork:
Only the Strong Survive Tracklist:
1. Only the Strong Survive
2. Soul Days feat. Sam Moore
3. Nightshift
4. Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)
5. The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore
6. Turn Back the Hands of Time
7. When She Was My Girl
8. Hey, Western Union Man
9. I Wish It Would Rain
10. Don’t Play That Song
11. Any Other Way
12. I Forgot to Be Your Lover [feat. Sam Moore]
13. 7 Rooms of Gloom
14. What Becomes of the Brokenhearted
15. Someday We’ll Be Together
