Album: Bruce Springsteen – Tracks II: The Lost Albums

It’s somewhat surprising to read that The Boss wasn’t happy with the Born in the USA. After all, it was – remains – his most iconic album, the LP (for that’s what it was originally) that jet-propelled Bruce Springsteen into the mainstream. A cultural phenomenon whose anthemic title track was, wilfully and otherwise, often

misinterpreted and frequently misappropriated. It sold 30m copies and spawned seven hit singles. Turns out it was just “a record I put out. It became the record I made, not necessarily the record that I was interested in making.” He was much more interested in the bleak and haunting narrative work that became Nebraska (always my favourite album), a lo-fi affair that was in part at least a reaction to what had gone before. And it turns out there’s an electric version still in the vaults!

The seven previously unreleased albums that comprise Tracks II span the years from 1983-2018, and their release now is the direct result of Springsteen, off the road and unexpectedly with time on his hands in 2020, digging deep into his home archives. The result is rather magnificent, 74 songs across genres we don’t readily associate with Springsteen, whose own introductory essays explains: “The records in this collection did not comfortably fit into that narrative, my creative arc…. After recording, mixing, and reviewing them I felt I’d found faults that made me unsure of turning them into major releases. I’ve always released my records with great care, making sure my narratives built upon one another. I’m glad I did, as it usually assured the best of what I had came out, weaving a clear picture in my fans’ minds of who I was and where I was going in my work life at that moment.”

One, Faithless, recorded between the Devils & Dust tour and the release of We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, was commissioned as the soundtrack to “a spiritual western” that got stuck in development hell. Others were recorded on “a whim”. And others were simply experiments, Springsteen venturing into electro-pop with synths and drum loops, and into standards and AOR. The joy for him now, in his sixth decade in the rock ‘n’ roll pantheon and as he heads toward his 75th birthday, is “their imperfections”.

But those imperfections, perceived and otherwise, are what makes Tracks II so engaging because through them we come to better know Springsteen, a man who’s sat at the pinnacle of rock superstardom for decades yet who seems not to have been corrupted by fame, fortune or position. A genuine blue collar American hero who quietly called 9/11 widows; a proud Jersey boy who did much to bring about the rebirth of Asbury Park and who has campaigned for a broad swath of human rights causes; and man who has never shied away from criticism of “the con man from Queens” – about whom Bob Dylan has uttered not a word.

The Streets of Philadelphia sessions with all their 1990s pop sensibilities, is an enjoyable and often touching listen, though perhaps less appealing to hardcore Bruce fans. The title song was, after all, the number that rejuvenated a career that seemed to have plateaued. A much-garlanded title number for the Tom Hanks movie and its coincidence with The Ghost of Tom Joad, it made Springsteen “relevant” again.

From around much the same time, Somewhere North of Nashville kicks off with two short sharp Springsteen-meets-Chuck Berry moments which give way to the gorgeous and heartfelt “Poor Side of Town”. Another standout is “You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone”, while “Blue Highway” and the title track set the scene for the outstanding Inyo.

This was the album that was meant to follow Tom Joad, inspired by Springsteen’s Harley ride through California. It grapples with the state’s history, its geography and still-troubled borders, in a suite of intimate and perfectly pitched songs, with some exquisite fiddle and mariachi touches, and what sounds like a Paraguayan harp. With “Adelita”. “The Lost Charro” and especially the slow “Cuidad Juarez”, with all its vocal melismata, we are deep into Big O territory, with a touch of Marty Robbins. If I had to pick a favourite, this album would be it.

Twilight Hours, written at around the time of Western Stars, is Springsteen’s own equivalent of The Great American Songbook, jazz-inflected unresolved chords with strings and high backing vocals. He himself has described it as “Glen Campbell, Jimmy Webb, Burt Bacharach” and you can hear what he means. Lovely little vignettes for the night-time hours. Perfect World take us into E Street Band territory and perhaps the notable track is “Blind Man”, which could have come from the pen and lips of Bob Dylan, the feeling enhanced by Charlie Giordano’s Hammond.

A few songs from the LA Garage Sessions ’83 – which Springsteen has described as “a critical bridge between Nebraska and Born in the USA” – had quietly surfaced, among them “Johnny Bye-Bye”, his reflection on the death of Elvis, and the ballad “Richfield Whistle”. The early version of “My Hometown” finds Springsteen with a frog in his throat, while “The Klansman” sounds like it’s been abandoned, a powerful idea rather squandered. Faithless is wonderfully rootsy, “All God’s Children” a meeting between Pete Seeger and Steve Earle, while on “Where You Going, Where You From”, a song with nursery rhyme overtones, Springsteen’s young sons join their mom and pop in the studio.

Altogether, Tracks II is a terrific collection offering a tour d’horizon of Springsteen’s always impressive career, properly launched in 1975 with now-legendary shows at New York's iconic Bottom Line. Completists will treasure it. The good news is that while there are no more complete albums in that home vault, there’s enough material for Tracks III and he promises it won’t be a long wait.

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