vintage postcard of asbury park casino and carousel house

Given that so many of the best bands to emerge from the current indie scene wear Bruce Springsteen hearts on their musical sleeves–Arcade Fire, The Hold Steady, Wolf Parade and Titus Andronicus have all released Springsteen-indebted albums this year–it makes sense that one of the best albums of the year comes from The Boss himself in the form of The Promise, an album culled from Darkness on the Edge of Town outtakes. Last week a lucky few got to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band perform songs from that release in an intimate setting at Asbury Park, New Jersey’s Carousel House.

One of the coolest things about The Promise, aside from the fact that it fucking rocks, is that it reveals just how much Springsteen loved Elvis, a point driven home by this short set that closes with a version of “Blue Christmas,” a country Christmas standard that Elvis turned into a rock and roll Christmas classic when he released it on 1957′s Elvis’ Christmas Album.

Check out that song plus four tunes from The Promise in a video, appropriately titled “Songs From The Promise,” of Springsteen’s Carousel House performance. The video is available below as well as over at VEVO, where it will be up until January 1.