BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
TRACKS (1998)
320 KBPS

For years, decades even, Bruce Springsteen was legendary for the amount of recordings he did not release. Every time he cut an album, he recorded a surplus of songs and left some out, not always on the basis of quality, but often because they simply didn't suit the mood of the record. It was inevitable that dedicated fans and collectors would bootleg these recordings, and for many years, he was one of the most popular bootlegged artists, rivaling even Bob Dylan. Dylan released a box set of unreleased songs in 1991, paving the way for the long-overdue appearance of a similar Springsteen set, Tracks, in 1998. Spanning four discs, it isn't entirely devoted to unreleased material — a few B-sides pop up here and there — nor is it truly definitive, since it misses a number of key outtakes, plus his original version of "Because the Night," the sole hit for Patti Smith. Instead, the compilation is an unassuming sampling of what's in the vaults, from his early acoustic demos to polished outtakes from Human Touch and Lucky Town. Along the way, there are a number of great songs — "Bishop Danced" is every bit as terrific as its legend, as are "Thundercrack," "Give the Girl a Kiss," "Hearts of Stone," "Roulette," and many others. Tracks merely offers fans an enjoyably sequenced selection of what was left behind. If the end result isn't as revelatory as some may have expected (even the acoustic "Born in the U.S.A.," powerful as it is, doesn't sound different than you may have imagined it), it's because Springsteen is, at heart, a solid craftsman, not a blinding visionary like Dylan. That's why Tracks is for the dedicated fan, where The Bootleg Series or The Basement Tapes were flat-out essential for rock fans.

DISC 1
1. Mary Queen of Arkansas (demo version)
2. It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City (demo version)
3. Growin' Up (demo version)
4. Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street? (demo version)
5. Bishop Danced (live, at Max's Kansas City)
6. Santa Ana
7. Seaside Bar Song
8. Zero and Blind Terry
9. Linda Let Me Be the One
10. Thundercrack
11. Rendezvous
12. Give the Girl a Kiss
13. Iceman
14. Bring on the Night
15. So Young and in Love
16. Hearts of Stone
17. Don't Look Back

DISC 2
1. Restless Nights
2. A Good Man Is Hard to Find (Pittsburgh)
3. Roulette (B-Side To "One Step Up")
4. Dollhouse
5. Where the Bands Are
6. Loose Ends
7. Living on the Edge of the World
8. Wages of Sin
9. Take 'Em as They Come
10. Be True (B-Side To "Fade Away")
11. Ricky Wants a Man of Her Own
12. I Wanna Be With You
13. Mary Lou
14. Stolen Car
15. Born in the U.S.A.
16. Johnny Bye-Bye
17. Shut Out the Light (B-Side To "Born In The U.S.A.")

DISC 3
1. Cynthia
2. My Love Will Not Let You Down
3. This Hard Land
4. Frankie
5. TV Movie
6. Stand on It (B-Side To "Glory Days")
7. Lion's Den
8. Car Wash
9. Rockaway the Days
10. Brothers Under the Bridge ('83)
11. Man at the Top
12. Pink Cadillac (B-Side To "Dancing In The Dark")
13. Two For the Road (B-Side To "Tunnel Of Love")
14. Janey Don't You Lose Heart (B-Side To "I'm Going Down")
15. When You Need Me
16. Wish, The
17. The Honeymooners
18. Lucky Man (B-Side To "Brilliant Disguise")

DISC 4
1. Leavin' Train
2. Seven Angels
3. Gave It a Name
4. Sad Eyes
5. My Lover Man
6. Over the Rise
7. When the Lights Go Out
8. Loose Change
9. Trouble in Paradise
10. Happy
11. Part Man, Part Monkey
12. Goin' Cali
13. Back in Your Arms
14. Brothers Under the Bridge