It was a surprise when Bruce Springsteen announced in September 2020 a new album with the E Street Band for October of the same year. And it's the same now that the 73-year-old has a new collection of soul classics on the horizon. Only once in his long career has the Boss tackled other people's compositions at album length. On "We Shall Overcome - The Seeger Sessions," Springsteen paid tribute to Pete Seeger and original American folk music with a large band nearly 20 years ago. So it seems logical that the man from New Jersey dedicates himself for his second project with cover versions to a musical area that is at least as important and influential: the soul music of the 60s and 70s. The unofficial soundtrack to the black civil rights movement in the USA. Back in 2012, Bruce Springsteen explained what the soul music of that era meant to him, "It was a music of gritty determination. A music of the blues, the church, the earth and the sex-soaked sky. It was a sweaty music full of sodden demands for pleasure and respect. It was adult music made wholesome by soul men and women - not teen idols." It is to these very soul men and women that Bruce Springsteen now pays his respects with "Only The Strong Survive." Stax and Motown classics by Jerry Butler, the Four Tops, Diana Ross & The Supremes and many more. Springsteen celebrates these hits with his longtime producer Ron Aniello, who was also responsible for most of the instrumentation this time around. Also featured are guest vocalist Sam Moore and the horns of the E Street Horns, as well as string arrangements by Rob Mathes and background vocals by Soozie Tyrell, Lisa Lowell, Michelle Moore, Curtis King Jr, Fonzi Thornton and Dennis Collins. "Only The Strong Survive" will be released on CD, as a double LP on black vinyl and as a colored double LP on Translucent Orbit Orange, exclusively for jpc worldwide (while supplies last). Both LP versions come in gatefold cover with printed inner sleeves, a 12″ × 24″ poster and etching on the D-side.