Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Letter To You’ Is Too Good For A Guy Like Him, Steven Van Zandt Claims
Steven Van Zandt recently discussed why he believed Bruce Springsteen and E Street Band’s latest album, ‘Letter to You,’ was ‘too good for a guy like him’ on a chat with Kyle Meredith.
The guitarist was disclosing the creative process beneath his solo albums, how he often came up with different themes and motives before writing down his lyrics or composing the tunes. That’s usually been the way to proceed with creative sessions for Steven, but it seemed that Bruce also decided to try a few things out from his book.
He noted how E Street‘s latest project, ‘Letter to You,’ was a concept record, making it a first through Springsteen’s lengthy discography. Bruce’s inspiration came after a longtime friend and former bandmate, George Theiss, passed, leaving the rocker with the realization that he was the last surviving member of his first band, The Castiles.
Steven then continued appreciating the album’s brilliance, celebrating it by saying it was of high quality even by the standards of Springsteen, who released quite a few notable records throughout his impressive career. Van Zandt then pointed out how Bruce and Bob Dylan were the two rock icons who never knew to stop, putting forward new quality works when they’ve already established their name.
The rocker’s words on Springsteen’s concept album and how brilliant it was:
“The last album we did, ‘Letter to You,’ had the most coherent theme of Bruce’s career, really I mean, all my albums are thematic albums, every single one, I come up with the idea first, [and] the theme first and what I wanna say and then and then I write the album.
Bruce had never really worked like that until this one; he happened to have one of his long, long, longtime friends die, and he realized he was the last guy left from his original band, The Castiles, when George Theiss died, and that makes you think suddenly, ‘Wow…’
Out of that [the realization] grew that wonderful album which is extremely high quality for a guy doing it this long and having no reason to continue being creative, honestly. I mean, Bruce and Bob Dylan, these two guys, they don’t know how to stop the songs on ‘Letter to You’ are incredible…”
The guitarist noted how Springsteen had so much to give creatively to the scene, although he had already formed a prominent name as a rock legend in the industry. Bruce didn’t need to put out so many new, quality ideas anymore, but he still gave his best to his musical projects, making ‘Letter to You’ admirable quality work.
