Along with The Beastie Boys Story, Mariah Carey's Christmas Special, the documentary Bruce Springsteen's Letter to you completes the music offering on Apple TV +.
I honestly watched the documentary about the making of Bruce Springsteen's latest album with little hope. It happens to me a bit like with U2 or with Paul McCartney. They have all my respect, they occupy an important place in my sonic universe, but I recognize that they are pieces of the mausoleum, that their time has passed and that they do nothing but walk on their skeleton doing the only thing they can do: play, play and play.
However, I must admit that, from the first shot, of that drone flying over snowy and icy fields, the whole documentary is mesmerizing, and is made with exquisite perfection.
Bruce's occasional voiceover, telling stories that lead to the song, introduces it or justifies it, welcomes and comforts you as he prepares for the next E Street Band download.
As for the music, it is as expected. Good songs, without reaching the brilliance, barely embers of what on other occasions was an intense bonfire. Huge difference between the compositions saved from the past compared to the new ones. It is an attempt to regain the roundness of the best times, which fails to light up because, as Springsteen himself admits at one point, he does not write or sing as he did then.
They are already veterans in this rock, professionals who masterfully perform any task that is proposed to them, and who achieve enormous formal beauty in everything. But somehow, in my humble opinion, it's no longer genuine. It seems like a repetition of the formula, an attempt to revive old glories, from past times that will never return. In the words of the boss himself:
| Yeah, I'm just sitting around trying to win back some of the glory of, well, time slips away and leaves you with nothing but boring stories of glory days |
Yes, you sit down trying to win back a some glory, but time slips away and leaves you alone with boring stories of glory days. |
Bruce Springsteen is certainly not living in the past (at least not quite). Try, with the body that remains and the desire that remains, to write new pages, even if they sound like an epilogue.
Still, the documentary is seen in a moment, this delicate, intimate, watch the latest rehearsal and recording of the songs from Bruce Springsteen's latest album.
Highly recommended for Bruce Springsteen fans (of course), rock lovers and those who love high quality documentaries.
