Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

As a person who dragged friends to clubs in the 70s to hear this guy named Bruce Springsteen, and stayed with him through the nadir of Queen Of The Supermarket, and listened to him continue to play electric in Fenway Park through the rain - let me tell you this album is the real deal. Yes, the departed members of the E Street Band are missed, God love 'em - but this band plays with the decades of experience and shared memory that you only hoped to hear again one day. Now, I proclaimed Western Skies (Live) a true, mature masterpiece. I felt privileged that Bruce had shared his maturity, accumulated wisdom, and deeply personal insights with us. Not only in the music of Western Skies, but the film, On Broadway, and of course in his stunningly well-written autobiography BTR. But a mature masterpiece implies a leveling off - an apex, or at least a plateau of sorts. Letter To You is nothing of that kind. It's a youthful (though wizened) return to form. It's thrilling, its majestic, and its a helluva rock'n'roll record. Or disc. Or file. Whatever. At the age of 71, Bruce may be slowing down - but his musical soul and wellspring of creativity isn't. Mostly new songs, and some chestnuts off the shelf finally dusted off and recorded - the songs themselves re-explore classic Springsteen themes: religion, small towns, trains, rivers, thoughts of mortality.....and the need to move on. I'm grateful to have been given the opportunity to hear this great, great band play some new tunes once again. For all of us fans - Letter To You is an early holiday present and just what we need to weather these difficult times.