Tracks [Box] - Springsteen, Bruce (CD 1998)

For years a black market has existed for Springsteen bootlegs of which many where the famous marathon concert shows that he has become famous for, but more interestingly a great deal of these boots where made up of outtakes from one of Bruce s official releases. Unlike most other artists Springsteen rejected worthy material for the sake of artistic vision, often leaving excellent songs off of an album because they were inconsistent with the overall them of that particular release. Bruce would often present 60 - 70 songs to the E-Street band for rehearsal during an albums session only to ultimately scratch 80% of the finished material. Somehow these tapes would usually find there way into the wrong hands and an underground bruceleg economy developed.

For years, record company executives saw the commercial potential that these outtakes held and along with fans urged Springsteen to release them. Occasionally one of these outtakes would show up on the B-side of an official single. Pink Cadillac , Be True , and Jersey Girl were all B-sides, which were more popular than the songs they were backing. Bruce only recently decided to open up the vaults for this unprecedented collection. Titled Tracks, this 66-song collection is sure to delight both the Springsteen freak (I myself fit into this category) and the casual fan. The 4 disc journey takes us from 1972 to 1998 through the most bootlegged repertoire since Bob Dylan s late `60 s output. Whereas most of Dylan s Bootleg Series Vol 1-3 relied heavily on in-concert recording, the Springsteen collection is primarily studio quality. A lot of music, including some of my favorite things, remained unreleased, wrote Springsteen in the liner notes.
The most stunning aspect of Tracks is the quality of many of the songs. To think that some of these masterpieces were rejects provides a window into the tortured process that each Springsteen album would undergo. Bruce would record such an abundance of material that often some of his best-known songs are known as hits by other artists. Because the Night was a huge hit for Patty Smith in 1979. Fire blazed the charts for the Pointer Sisters in that same year. These examples represent the extremes that an artist will go to for the sake of artistic integrity. That sword cuts both ways, though. Recall the perplexing simultaneous release of Human Touch and Lucky Town in 1992, two single albums released at the same time as two separate albums on the grounds that they told different stories. These albums bombed although there were enough good songs between the two that it would have made a kicking single album. Bruce commenting on the concept of Tracks in the albums liner note explains, This work is the alternative route to some of the destinations I traveled to on my records

The collection opens with four tracks from the now famous Hammond recording session in 1972. It is really interesting hearing these versions of Mary Queen of Arkansas , It s Hard to Be a Saint in the City , Growin Up , and Does this Bus Stop at 82nd Street? They are presented in such a confident, heartfelt way that I couldn t help but get chills when I first heard it. The first appearance of the E Street Band is on Bishop Danced . The child-like song piles rhyme on rhyme and leave no seam of alliteration unmined. Santa Ana , previously know to bootleggers as Contessa , has been touched up a bit much to my dismay. This song was always one of my favorites, but when I heard Patty Scialfa- Springsteen s backup vocals on the song (recorded in 1973) my jaw dropped. Patty joined the band in 1985. Maybe to somebody who had never heard the song before this would have been an appropriate bit of orchestration. To me it seemed sacrilegious. This sort of reworking shows up infrequently on the collection but each time is one too many for my liking. The balance of Disc 1 is comprised of outtakes from The Wild the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle , Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town taking us up to 1978. I found it to be particularly interesting when the time frame moves to 1974 and into the Born to Run sessions. It was this album where Jon Landau took a Phil Specteresque wall of sound approach to the production. Other notable changes in this period where in the band itself. Realizing that a tight musical ensemble was key to rising to the next level, Bruce replaced the sloppy Vinny Mad Dog Lopez on drums with the talented Max Weinberg (currently of Conan O Brien fame). Roy Bittan also replaced David Sancious on piano. Linda let me be the one immediately showcases these changes. There is a heightened sense of seriousness and urgency that takes hold from this point of his career forward. As the CD progresses into the Darkness era the songs get gloomier still. The arrangements are hard edged with a heavy emphasis on electric guitar.


Don t Look Back is one of Springsteen s all-time best songs. It was actually slated to be the final song on Darkness and was removed at the very last moment in favor of the title track of that LP primarily because Bruce felt it was too hard and gave the album to rough a sound. Even though the song that ultimately replaced it was a great one it s a shame Don t Look Back was omitted. In fact early pressings of the album contain Don t Look Back in place of Darkness .

The second disc takes us into the period between Darkness and The River . The characters in his songs were now beginning to raise families and he started to search out acts of heroism and defiance in living rooms as well as roadhouses. This was an amazingly productive period for Bruce. Originally Springsteen had planned for an album titled The Ties that Bind to be released in 1979. Many of the songs that Bruce wrote on the Darkness tour where recorded for this album. Songs like The Promise , Cynthia , Frankie , The Ties that Bind , and Roulette where all slated for that August release. Bruce scrapped plans for that album at the last minute and instead decided upon a double album, The River , to be released in 1980. With the exception for The Ties that Bind , most of the songs from that never released album went into the vaults. This disc sports some of the best work in the set. Roulette , a furious tale inspired by the nuclear accident at 3 mile island, begins with an ominous-sounding drum salvo that recalls, of all things, Buddy Holly s Peggy Sue, Bruce then assaults the listener with a sinewy electric guitar line slithering around a startling vocal delivery that ratchets up to a breathless scream of rage spit out, unabated, until the end of the song. The band is in top form on this song with Max s drums keeping pace throughout. As in his best compositions, Bruce s lyrics paint pictures that forever make videos irrelevant: We left the toys out in the yard sets the scene of an emergency evacuation ever so succinctly. Had Roulette been released in 1979 it surely would have been a hit and would have arguably been the finest political track since CSNY s Ohio followed the Kent State shootings. Where the Bands Are cuts to the heart of what makes Bruce tick, what we have always loved about him and the E Street Band: the sheer joy and enthusiasm of playing and listening to the music that moves us, the music that makes us feel glad to be alive: rock & roll. Wages of Sin is a beautiful, chilling song. Be True released as the B-side to Fade Away , was a long time showstopper. Mary Lou is essentially the same song that brings us to another fascinating aspect to this collection. We get to see the way these songs are crafted. Many of these songs are works in progress. Iceman , Born in the USA (totally different version), and Stand on It , all give us a window into the craft of Bruce s writing.

The third CD contains material generated during the Born in the USA sessions. Cynthia , My Love Will Not Let You Down , Lion s Den and Brothers Under The Bridge lack the inspiration and the exultant groove of that album s Glory Days and Downbound Train . These songs never seem to lift off unlike Pink Cadillac , Janey Don t you Lose Heart , and The Wish . By the time the disc moves into the Tunnel of Love era the prominence of the E Street Band begin to fade. Sax solos are replaced with guitar. Drum machines provide the percussion, and Bruce himself does much of the keyboard work.

The characters that we have followed throughout the various eras now wind up disillusioned by love, in broken relationships, and lost as they enter mid-life. When You Need Me , The Honeymooners , and Lucky Man all use acoustic guitar on a bed of unobtrusive percussion and churchy keyboards. I didn t particularly care for Tunnel of Love as an album and not surprisingly I don t really care for the outtakes from this period either.
The final CD starts with the thunderous Leavin Train , and the similarly tough but less convincing Seven Angels as we arrive begin to explore the betrayal of a broken marriage that was dealt with on Human Touch . As on his released albums the fun seems to be gone from Bruce s songs. When the fun is there it appears to be manufactured and insulting. Musically the songs are simply uninteresting. The only likeable songs on this fourth disk are the ones that were actually recorded during the sessions of earlier albums.
Though the 66 tracks will no doubt keep fans entertained for some time, there is some grumbling about outtakes that aren t included. Obvious omissions include The Promise, Preacher s Daughter, The Fever, Because the Night, From Small Things, and The Big Payback - the only B-side not to be on CD in any form whatsoever. There is still some hope that one or two of these tracks may end up as B-sides to singles from the box.
Tracks is packaged in a 6 X 12 digipak-style box and includes a 56-page booklet filled with photos and session information. Some of the session information will be as surprising to fans as the music itself, providing insights into previously unknown recording sessions. For example, Lions Den is listed as recorded on January 25, 1982 - a new possible session date for the E Street Band s legendary attempt at the electric version of Nebraska .
Tracks is quite a journey taking us from 1972 through 1998 via 66 mostly great songs that just didn t make the cut for one reason or another. With the exception of a handful of tunes the songs on this collection would surely have made it onto the albums of Bruce s contemporaries. Those who are coming to this collection for the first time might want to digest it in small bites. For those fans that have been listening to this stuff for years, kick back, crank it up, and enjoy the remastered CD quality production of these gems. The entire landscape of human emotions is here. Somehow you can bet that there will be even more to come.