New Jersey rocker Bruce Springsteen has long been considered the prolific musician's prolific musician. Since his 1973 debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., the man affectionately nicknamed "The Boss" has put out over twenty studio albums (including Asbury). He's also released a swarm of live records and has toured for decades with and without his trademark E Street Band, with show quality/lengths that, even as he's aged into his 70s, are still the stuff of legend.
Would it be hard to believe, then, that even after all that output, Springsteen would still have a massive haul of previously unreleased material to drop? Whether it's surprising or not (and it feels like a bit of both), Springsteen is doing just that, coming up later this year with a release from his vault: Tracks II: The Lost Albums. This box set will cover seven albums, finished in varying degrees by Springsteen from 1983 to 2018, that stopped before hitting the finish line for one reason or another.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Springsteen decided to finally finish the material, and will soon be giving it to the public for their own consumption. So, what do we know about these LPs so far, and what is their place inside Bruce Springsteen's storied catalog?
Finding Bruce Springsteen's Lost Albums
Filling In The Springsteen Gaps
Springsteen first introduced some of his vaulted material to fans and friends alike back in 1998 with the release of the box set Tracks, which contains 66 songs recorded between 1972 and 1998. Tracks has a mixture of never-before-heard songs from various album sessions, as well as B-sides, demos, and alternate versions of material that had already been heard.
Tracks II goes deeper this time around; instead of single songs and throwaways, the focus is on seven albums: LA Garage Sessions '83, Streets of Philadelphia Sessions, Faithless, Somewhere North of Nashville, Inyo, Twilight Hours, and Perfect World. To break that down in song , that's 83 previously unreleased tracks, 74 of which have never come out in any prior form.
LA Garage Sessions is said to be a stripped-down link that bridges the transition gap between classic Springsteen LPs Nebraska and Born in the U.S.A., while Streets of Philadelphia Sessions expands on the more synth and electronic-heavy style Springsteen was recording in making the song "Streets of Philadelphia" for the 1993 Tom Hanks-starring movie Philadelphia. Faithless was music made for a film that, unlike Philadelphia, never got made, leaving the material in limbo for years until now.
"Maybe Bruce... Will Get To That": Bruce Springsteen's Scrapped Album From 42 Years Ago Still Deserves A Release, And The E Street Band Agrees
1982’s Nebraska was a phenomenal, introspective, and personal album – but it has a louder, electric side that remains unreleased, even after 42 years.
Meanwhile, Somewhere North of Nashville busts out the pedal steel and country twang Springsteen has only scantily touched over the years, and Inyo takes that Southern-type of sound further over the border for a Mexican/Spanish-inflected feeling. Twilight Hours promises an intriguing mixture of noir and orchestral arrangements, while Perfect World eyes up a large, arena-rock-sounding E Street Band effort that was assembled purposefully for the release of this box set. The first single from Tracks II is "Rain in the River" from Perfect World, and it certainly delivers on that bigger sound.
What's Next On The Journey To "Tracks II"
First Single Sound And A Release Date
"Rain in the River" has all the familiar Bruce Springsteen signposts, from his usual bone-weary storytelling to his familiar rusty-gruff vocals that have a signature way of drawing attention to his songs. The promised arena rock pull of Perfect World is also here, as the drums feel pumped up, with the guitars and choruses on IMAX ready to wash over and thrill the listener. Just when it seems like Springsteen is out of ways to surprise you, it feels like there's still some intriguing new ground to come with this box set.
Just when it seems like Springsteen is out of ways to surprise you, it feels like there's still some intriguing new ground to come with this box set.
Tracks II: The Lost Albums will be released June 27th on various formats, including CD and vinyl. A companion set made up of a selection of 20 highlight songs from the box set entitled Lost And Found: Selections from The Lost Albums will also come out on the same day. Bruce Springsteen is proving through this release that he has a massive legacy, and it isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
