He's releasing a new single on the 25th, a cover of a Tim Scott McConnell (?) song called "High Hopes" (previously recorded on the ultra-rare Blood Brothers EP), and there are whispers that it's from an upcoming release--possibly a sequel to Tracks. Here's the original cover:

He was doing High Hopes in Australia this year with Morello (no SVZ). They did a day session in a Sydney studio during the tour so my guess is they laid down High Hopes. It was a good version live so I'm keen to hear this studio version.
From 1 of the shows I saw:

Man, I need to see Bruce live again. I caught one of the Born to Run shows in '09 (my first time seeing him) and it was unbelievable--probably among the top 3 concerts I've ever been to. I really hope this single is from a new release and not just a one-off deal.

Rumours of a new album in January.

Is Morello a permanent band member now? I can scarcely think of another guitarist less suited to Bruce's music.

He was great live. There were the 2 spots of knob flicking that stood out but he was really inconspicuous otherwise. I don't think he's a member though. He didn't go to South America.

I actually loved Morello's playing on Wrecking Ball. His solos on "Jack of All Trades" and "This Depression" take those songs to another level.

Morello stood in for Steven Van Zant for the gigs down under because he had a prior commitment to film the Lilyhammer series. Morello has guested many times over the last few years though.

"New" album in 2014. Lots of previously released stuff on it though. I'm kinda cynical at the moment...

1. High Hopes
2. Harry's Place
3. American Skin (41 Shots)
4. Just Like Fire Would
5. Down In The Hole
6. Heaven's Wall
7. Frankie Fell In Love
8. This Is Your Sword
9. Hunter Of Invisible Game
10. The Ghost of Tom Joad
11.The Wall
12. Dream Baby Dream

Obviously High Hopes, American Skin, The Ghost of Tom Joad, and Dream Baby Dream have been released in some form. Harry's Place is a Rising-outtake he mentioned in the Charlie Rose interview I believe. Is this supposed to be an outtakes/rarities collection? Or is this supposed to be a legitimate "new" studio record?

According to Consequence of Sound*, it "includes a mixture of original material, covers, and reworked versions of past songs." I'm kind of skeptical at the moment, too. Why Bruce wouldn't choose to bundle all this together with the songs that didn't make Tracks--reportedly two full discs worth of material, if memory serves, a number that's probably doubled since given Bruce's prolificacy--is beyond me.

I can only surmise that he thinks these songs hang together cohesively in some way, or that the album is only supposed to cover a restricted period of time (i.e. the last decade or so of material). But then, as mentioned, "High Hopes" was originally recorded in the mid-'90's, so who knows.

*http://consequenceofsound.net/2013/11/bruce-springsteens-new-album-high-hopes-due-out-in-january/

Seriously, this Tom Morello fetish has got to stop. Morello's been recycling the same 2-3 tricks since 1992--do we really need a re-recorded version of "The Ghost of Tom Joad" to hear them again? Don't most people's copies of "Evil Empire" still work pretty well for the most part?

After seeing Chris Cornell the other night I tossed on the Audioslave records, far from an exemplary band I tire of Morello's work very quickly.

I'm not exactly overjoyed at this release just yet but having Land of Hopes and Dreams on Wrecking Ball was an extreme highlight of the album, so we'll see how these work out. Also, having high hopes be the name for a collection of outtakes works for me.

It's a b-sides album. I am not sure they can ever live up to the original albums, though The Promise pretty much did.

Jesus Christ, does Bruce Springsteen even look at his album covers before giving the OK? Thing's hideous!

I totally disagree. It was a dry and cavernous release, with all the life and energy sucked out. Some of those tracks, maybe they just never got them sounding better before abandoning them....it's certainly not a collection of poorly written works, by any measure...but the mixes/performances that appeared on boots or in concert over the years all sounded fresher and more emotional than they did on the Promise. Weirdly dry and brittle sounding, and neither as lethargically lost as Darkness nor as highway-free as Born to Run.

I can't figure why he's schlurping out unreleased material in this haphazard fashion. The disc on Essentials....the Promise...this....he'd have been better off slow-working on a Tracks 2, which could include all of this and more, than putting his energies into forgettable or incomplete sounding releases.



He's gotta be one of the worst artists ever for album art, but this one might actually win the "all time" award.

Agree with all the Morello criticism. It's just a bad fit and if he's going to collaborate with someone new, the list I have is ten miles long before it gets to Tom fucking Morello.

Also, "High Hopes" is really bad. Sigh.

Musically I kinda like it, and the production is certainly solid, but I'm so not into his whole 21st century "soul of Woody Guthrie" message-song thing.

It was good when it tributaried into his storytelling or whatever, but this whole "Bruce Springsteen has something important to say to you now" deal is right up there with Ed's proselytizing for cringe-inducement value. Do not want. This song reminds me more of that than it does the era from which it might have come (I don't actually know, as apparently I'm too lazy to read today).

Regardless of the tropes on a broader level it just bores me, which is the highest sin.

Akin to trying to kill love.

Have we talked about how horrible Morello is? Why is the boss so hot on him?

I like some of the stuff on The Promise a lot--"Racing in the Street (78)" in particular is on a par with anything from Darkness for me, including the original version of that song. But I do think some of that stuff suffered from 2010 Bruce attempting to refurbish 30 year old material. Like that version of "Racing," the man who made that album way back when might as well be a different entity now, and some of those songs ended up sounding more like Working on a Dream outtakes than they did Darkness cuts.

Flaws aside, I'm glad we got it though, even if the long-coveted "original" studio version of the title track ended up paling next to the solo piano version on 18 Tracks, which all told is probably one of my top 10 Springsteen songs.