Bruce Springsteen – Faithless Review

Abandoned projects are a frustrating inevitability for any artist. What it means for Bruce Springsteen is accepting the loss of an album’s worth of material because what it was attached to did not materialise. Electric Light Orchestra had much the same experience when writing Surrender, but they found use for the song. A defunct movie drags everything down with it, the soundtrack included. Faithless, the title track of one of seven on Tracks II: The Lost Albums from Springsteen, serves not The Boss but the project it was attached to. What it is does not become clear, and nor should it by listening to Faithless. The sign of a great soundtrack piece is a song which can transcend the context of the project. Where Faithless is not quite a Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door or Like a Friend, it is a firm piece of modern Springsteen. The Boss kicks on well with his soundtrack work, he always has. Faithless is no exception. 

A surprisingly simple yet sweet song of faith based not in the spiritual but in the other person. That better half who guides Springsteen, not the protagonist of Faithless, though a like-minded individual to the leading character. Where faith was not, it now is. There is a beauty in that suggestion, and the open heart which plays through Faithless is a warm effort that can be relied on. Simplicity is crucial to the core of this one, though this does not mean there is no room for beautiful specifics, detailed moments in life with those who give us the faith to go on. Faithless presents a fundamental. An always present desire to connect with the world around us. What happens when we let go is not an option, it just cannot be conjured in the mind to live without someone or something to rely on. A higher power, be it a person or a presumption, is what many need to go on.  

That is certainly the case for Springsteen, who brings about an effective, acoustic-driven song with a few twangs of country and some reserved backing vocals. For all the atmospherics Springsteen works on in the context of an unreleased movie, Faithless holds within it a narrative of its own. That lost and found, the sense of finding someone to rekindle your hopes for a bright future, is applicable beyond a cancelled movie. Faithless is a credit to Springsteen as a writer for hire, a man whose heart is still on his sleeve even when working the commercial jobs, when he must apply his trade to a story not from his life. The Boss has always been a relatable, travelling hero, and listeners can observe as much in the wider-reaching message on Faithless.  

Tradition plays its part in this song, a nod to the softer adaptation Springsteen would give his sound on Western Stars and Letter to You. This is a solo spotlight for Springsteen, a welcome break from the noodling and fidgety efforts heard on Tracks II: The Lost Albums so far. A very plain song, but such is the point. The context of Faithless is backdrop noise for a movie, not a detailed account of how love and faith are forever intertwined. Even then, Springsteen manages to get such a message through. A very solid solo experience from The Boss, where the message and song are intertwined. They never grow to more than the surface value of the words used to direct this story of hope found in the heart, but there does not need to be anything more than that. A fine track, a solid title song for an album which may pale in comparison to the rest of The Lost Albums.