Listen to Bruce Springsteen's 'High Hopes' Now!
January 6 update: The Boss is now streaming High Hopes in its entirety a week ahead of its release! Check out the album at CBS.com, including highlights like the ripping new version of "The Ghost of Tom Joad" and a high-emotion recording of "American Skin (41 Shots)."
Forty years after his iconic debut Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J., Bruce Springsteen is set to release his 18th studio album. High Hopes, the follow-up to 2012's No.1-charting Wrecking Ball, will be in our hands and ears on January 14 via Columbia, but there's a lot to dissect here.
Recorded in New Jersey, Los Angeles, New York, Australia and Atlanta, High Hopes was recorded, in part, during the singer's Wrecking Ball tour. Despite a constant stream of material throughout his career, Springsteen is known for not repeating himself and High Hopes looks to be no different. Here's everything we know about the highly anticipated release.
1. Tom Morello is basically an E-Streeter now. Springsteen has been bringing the former Rage Against The Machine guitarist on stage to contribute his signature guitar work since 2008, but Morello began regularly appearing with the E Street Band in 2012. For a group that already has three notable guitarists – Springsteen himself, "Miami" Steve Van Zandt and the innovative Nils Lofgren – adding another guitarist would ostensibly clutter things up.
But Morello has masterfully infused his funky tones into the band, and his creative contributions reached a head when he filled in for Van Zandt on the E Street Band's Australian tour in March. Springsteen said that Morello became "my muse, pushing the rest of this project to another level."
The end result? Morello is featured on eight of High Hopes' 12 tracks, including the title track (a cover of Tim Scott McConnell's original bluesy number) below. The song was part of the setlist on Springsteen's Australian tour, though a different studio recording of this track was released on Springsteen's Blood Brothers EP in 1996.
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