This week, it’s the boss, the complainant, and the defendant.
Bruce Springsteen recently dropped seven albums at once – let’s start with 1983’s LA Garage Sessions.
Little Simz’ Lotus is often preoccupied with her former producer and friend Inflo, who allegedly never repaid a £1.7m loan. Inflo’s band, Sault, also addresses the controversy on 10.
Bruce Springsteen
LA Garage Sessions ’83
2025, 8/10
Springsteen recently released Tracks II, an archival set of seven previously unreleased albums. The earliest of these is LA Garage Sessions ’83, part of protracted songwriting sessions for Born in the USA, where he whittled 70-90 songs down into a twelve-song sales behemoth.
But apart from ‘Dancing in the Dark’, written at the last moment when CBS demanded a hit single, most of the Born in the USA songs were demoed by the E-Street Band in May 1982. At one point, Springsteen planned an electric/acoustic double album. Instead, he released his acoustic demos for 1982’s Nebraska, while the electric songs ended up as the core of Born in the USA.
“By that time, I’d recorded a lot of music … But in the end, I circled back to my original groups of songs. There I found a naturalism and aliveness that couldn’t be argued with. They weren’t exactly what I’d been looking for, but they were what I had.”
Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run, 2016
Even though Born in the USA isn’t a favourite, Springsteen wrote a lot of strong material for the record. Lots of good songs already surfaced on b-sides (‘Pink Cadillac’, ‘Shut Out the Light’) and on Tracks (‘Frankie’, ‘This Hard Land’). In late 1982, Springsteen built an eight-track studio in his new LA home. He recorded frequently between January and April 1983. Only ‘My Hometown’ surfaced on Born in the USA – most songs were intended for solo arrangements rather than the E-Street Band.
It’s too long and samey to make for a great album, but the songwriting is exemplary. There’s a strong Woody Guthrie influence as he dips into Americana on songs like ‘Richfield Whistle’ and ‘Black Mountain Ballad’. It’s amazing that great songs like ‘Unsatisfied Heart’ spent so long in the vaults.
I’ve already covered ‘Shut Out The Light’ on my great b-sides series. The Klansmen is provocative, with Springsteen using his narrative device of inhabiting shady characters. It closes with “When the war between the races lives as in a fiery dream/It’ll be a Klansman who will wipe this country clean/This, son, is my dream”
If you’re a Springsteen fan, this is essential.
Little Simz
Lotus
2025, 7.5/10
Little Simz has been a public figure since her early teens, achieving success as both an actor and a rapper. She won the 2022 Mercury Prize for her album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, while she starred in Netflix series Top Boy.
Her sixth album, Lotus, is most notable for its preoccupation with her lawsuit against childhood friend and producer Inflo. The lotus is “one of the only flowers that thrive in muddy waters”.
Money, money, money, money, money threw you off balance…
Hollow
You told me be wary of the sharks and then you became one
It feels like the sense of injustice sometimes overshadows the music – it launches straight into ‘Thief’, which alleges “you talk about God when you have a God complex”. Lotus is often better when Little Simz’s mind is elsewhere – it’s surprisingly eclectic at times. ‘Free’ taps into the R&B crossover sound of Sault.
She’s quirky on ‘Young’, playing a character who can’t wait to get to the bingo. Often duets feels like feeble attempts at crossovers, but here they expose different facets of Little Simz’s personality. Michael Kiwanuka duets on the epic title track, his smooth tones calming Little Simz’s overwrought parts. The back-and-forth narrative of ‘Blood’ is also surprisingly effective.
Lotus is hit and miss, but when it hits it’s very good indeed.
Sault
10
2025, 8/10
Like Bruce Springsteen, Sault released seven records in a year – in 2022, they released five albums and two EPs. These ran the gamut from classical to funk to gospel. 10 settles things down – their only album of 2025 so far, and a return to the style of their early albums.
Sault sound best when they couple Cleo Sol’s sumptuous vocals with organic, supple grooves. While Inflo plays most of the instruments, veteran session player Pino Palladino guests on bass. There’s a great concoction of sounds on tracks like ‘R.L.’, with funky Palladino bass, a horn section, and Sol’s crystalline vocals.
The song titles are all acronyms – confusing when ‘S.I.T.L.’ (Sorry It’s Too Late) closely tails ‘I.L.T.S.’ (I Love To Sing) on the tracklist.
Inflo and Cleo Sol are less fixated on the Little Simz loan, but I assume standout track ‘S.I.T.L.’ addresses it:
This time, it is over
It will never be the same
The trust has been broken
Sorry, it’s too late
It’s nice to have Sault back to their core style on 10.
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I’ve listened to the Springsteen albums. I’m a huge Springsteen fan but so far they are not resonating with me as much. I’m going back over them again to see if there is any traction.
As I’ve said before…the last Springsteen album I’ve really loved was Tunnel of Love. Born in the USA is not my favorite but for me, it beats what he has some up with in the 21s century so I thought I would really like some of the 80s cuts on this album. I’m going to spend more time with them…
I’ve only spent time with the first four. Not very keen on the Nashville one, but the other three were pleasantly surprising for me. The Streets of Philadelphia one is easily his best 1990s album in my book – I don’t love adult-contemporary Bruce, but the songs are good.
I’m going to listen to them again. Some Springsteen albums take a while to grow on me.
I did hear one album that I liked…not like his previous albums but the album Magic…that one I connected to.
Magic’s pretty good – haven’t spent that much time with it, but definitely a contender for his best 21st century record. Radio Nowhere is surprisingly raw and energetic.
SAULT’s songs are really nice, and I agree Cleo Sol’s vocals are sumptuous. I look forward to listening to all of “10”.
Cool – nice to have a comment that’s not about Springsteen!
I started listening to Springsteen’s “Tracks II: The Lost Albums.” Obviously, it’s a pretty massive collection, and I’m glad he released all this music. This is clearly something for die hard Springsteen fans first and foremost.
What I’ve heard thus far sounded okay but not outstanding to me. I wouldn’t be able to tell you one song title. Among the material I’ve heard, there’s no equivalents to truly memorable tracks like “Born to Run”, “Darkness on the Edge of Town”, “The River”, “Hungry Heart” or “Born in the U.S.A,” though the latter has been burned.
That said, perhaps these comparisons are a bit unfair. Clearly, I would need to do more listening to come to a better informed opinion.
The four albums I’ve listened to so far from the Bruce set are all pretty subdued – not many big, hooky songs there. Plenty of quality though.
There are some bangers on the first Tracks boxset though – always been partial to this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8NGmaEAAPY
The intro to that song grabbed me right away. I don’t recall having heard it before. Agree it’s great!
Too much music, too little time.
Sault have released 13 albums since 2019, Bruce has released seven this year….
Like the sound of Sault. Reminds me a bit of a band called Moonchild.
I’d never heard of Moonchild, but listening now they cover similar ground.
Great backstory on Born In The USA. I will have to add this one to my library.
That backstory is pretty complicated! Took me a while to get my head around it.