James Arden checks out the garage rockers latest album.
The Christian rock band from Brighton bring religion to the masses.
Recipe for modern R'n'B album: liberal helpings of guest rappers and an overdose of sexual euphemisms.
Into his sixties now, Springsteen’s unabated touring schedule and three album releases since 2005 are good enough testament to the man’s prolificacy as a songwriter, but in The Promise we see a snapshot of a Bruce of the old days. The Promise is a collection of songs from the “lost sessions” following his 1975 breakthrough with Born to Run, which never made the cut onto the subsequent Darkness on the Edge of Town. He hadn’t drawn his pension and headlined Glastonbury on the same day back then; he was a twenty-seven year old Garden State upstart in need of proving himself not just a one-hit wonder. Well I’d say the fact that this double album only just covers half the material recorded in those sessions certainly helps that cause.
But who cares that he wrote a load of songs? Are they any good? Well this may sound the wishy-washiest answer in the history of history, but it really does depend on the light you view it in. It’s no Lady Gaga album, that’s for certain. It doesn’t punch you between the eyes with hooks whether you like it or not. It won’t be blitzing the airwaves or blowing Ziggy’s PA any time in the future, near or far. It’s an album you have to listen to to appreciate. The kind of record that demands you stare aimlessly out of the window or put your head in your hands and close your eyes, while you spend an antisocial and completely unproductive hour and a half revelling in fairy tales of blue-collar New Jersey.
And therein lies the main strength of The Promise. Musically, the Boss has given us better, and thirty plus years down the line the odd track sounds decidedly dated in vibe, I’ll make no pretences about that. But as always, as a lyricist, storyteller and all-round passionate performer, you simply cannot fault the man. With his almost unrivalled gift for turning simple pleasures, pains and hopes into something Robert Browning would be proud of; at times you can’t help but be charmed by the rough-round-the-edges, heart of gold, working class hero staring wearily through the stereo at you.
Like this? Try Bryan Adams, 11, Matt Monro, Rare Monro, Mark Knopfler, The Ragpicker’s Dream
He is incredible and proves in The Promise that he is one of the greatest songwriters of our time. Check out the box set and his fun performances on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon 
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