Box Set Review: Springsteen’s ‘Tracks 2: The Lost Albums’ – The Extraordinary Path Not Taken…

*Photo of my copy of Springsteen’s ‘Tracks II: The Lost Albums’ taken by the Rock Chick

I think most Springsteen fans were as pumped as I was this April when he dropped “Rain In The River” and announced, at last, he was releasing Tracks II: The Lost Albums. We’d all been waiting patiently for, checks notes, 27 years since the 4-disc box Tracks was released. I absolutely loved that box set, it was a treasure trove of unreleased songs, organized in a loose chronological fashion. A lot of those tracks had been widely bootlegged but I hadn’t heard many of them. There were some b-sides that I had but my Springsteen bootleg experience was confined to the live stuff from ’78 from the Darkness On The Edge Of Town tour. We’ve been hearing there was a Tracks II coming for decades and at last it’s in my, er, our hands.

It’s pretty astounding for an artist to have seven albums that he shelved. Only Dylan’s Bootleg Series or Neil Young’s Archives have this volume of quality material “in the can” but unreleased. Although I suspect Bob Seger and Van Morrison are sitting on their own treasure troves of material. And sure, Neil Young has released several unreleased or “lost” albums from Homegrown to Oceanside Countryside, but he often went back and pulled songs from those unreleased albums and put them on other records he actually put out, ala Dr. Frankenstein. Not many artists have complete, finished albums that have been moldering in the vault. Most of what is in this box is utterly new, at least to me. I will be honest, I don’t consider all seven of these discs to be distinct albums. There are 4 complete albums, two discs that read more like a collection of songs (more on that later) and one unreleased soundtrack record to a movie that was never released… and how many of us own a soundtrack album? I used to own the soundtrack from The Blues Brothers’ movie… the Rock Chick had Saturday Night Fever.

After the success of The River, Springsteen went through a tough period. The rumor in Kansas City at the time of that tour was that more people slept out over night for tickets than had seen him on the Darkness tour. At the conclusion of The River tour, Bruce’s girlfriend broke up with him, he faced financial issues (and was evicted from the farmhouse he was living in) and was fighting a depression. He started working out and then decamped to Los Angeles to plot his next move. It was little like AC/DC and Bon Scott on the verge of superstardom detouring into the darkness of Powerage… like they knew a storm was coming. At the same time, technology lurched forward and they came out with the TEAC II, a four track recording device that was like having a studio that you could carry around like a suitcase. (For you techno-philes out there, forgive me if I mess that part of the story up). Springsteen set up a home studio in the garage of his L.A. home and for the first time was free to record at his own pace by himself, rather than pay enormous studio fees with the whole band on hand while they wrote, rehearsed and recorded/re-recorded his songs until they were done to his perfectionist standards.

It was during that time, that rather than swing for the fences for a big commercial release, Springsteen chose to record by himself, the album that became Nebraska. Nebraska is considered a masterpiece despite being on my list of Grim And Sad albums. Bruce also laid out the demos for what would become the album that made him a superstar, Born In The U.S.A. Those albums will be forever intertwined in my mind. But it was the freedom of being able to record alone that changed Springsteen’s creative process forever. This box set is really a testament to that side of Springsteen, alone in a studio without the E Street Band, recording mostly by himself. Throughout this box, we find Bruce and maybe one other person – largely producer/multi-instrumentalist Ron Aniello – with perhaps an occasional appearance by a member of the E Street Band showing up to augment the sound. That’s what every one of these records is, a solo record. And frankly most of these are quite remarkable. Our thoughts, by album:

L.A. Garage Sessions ’83: This was like discovering the Rosetta Stone for me. This doesn’t read like an album to me, but more like a collection of songs/demos. I know these sessions have been widely bootlegged but I had never heard most of them. Yes, many of these are demo quality with Bruce singing along to a drum machine, but they’re fully realized songs and many are exceptional. It opens up with the Elvis cover, “Follow That Dream” and it hooked me immediately. This version of “County Fair” was striking. The demo for “My Hometown” is a bit karaoke-ish. “Shut Out The Light,” here with an additional verse about heroin addiction picked up in ‘Nam from the b-side previously released is one of his best tunes. “Don’t Back Down” is another that really grabbed me despite those three words being repeated over and over… This is a true peek into Springsteen’s creative process. It does make me wonder about what could have been, if he’d fleshed these tunes out with the E Street Band… Born In The U.S.A. could have easily been a double album.

Streets Of Philadelphia Sessions: Since the 90s, I’d been hearing about Bruce’s “hip hop” album. At the time I was aghast. This is far from a “hip hop” record, it’s just all done with drum loops ala the song “Streets Of Philadelphia.” I had low expectations for this record but it’s stunning. Recorded in ’93-94 this record was set to come out right after the Greatest Hits album with the mini-reunion with the E Street Band but Bruce changed his mind. This is a great album but without the title track I don’t know if it would have been the hit Springsteen so craved after the dual commercial failure of Human Touch and and Lucky Town. There is so much to like here, “Blind Spot,” “Something In The Well,” and “Waiting On The End Of The World” are stunning tracks. Admittedly, I like the version of “Secret Garden” recorded with the E Streeters with Clarence Clemons’ sax solo better. This would have been a strong edition to Springsteen’s 90s catalog.

Faithless: This is the soundtrack to a “spiritual western,” that never got made. I have to admit, this disc is the only clunker for me. Although admittedly, I’m at best a Pagan… Although I dig the gospel that Aretha or Elton bring to the table…but I digress. Beside the title track, I can’t see coming back to this record. I think he should have stripped the instrumentals out and released the better tracks on his next box.

Somewhere North of Nashville: This country album is my absolute favorite of the set. At the same time I was hearing about Bruce’s hip hop album, I heard he’d done a country album. Again, I was aghast at the thought of Bruce doing country, but this isn’t that shitty current country, this country music is informed by the days when Johnny Cash and Elvis’ music were just branches of the same tree. He recorded these songs in the afternoons, while recording the dour tracks on The Ghost Of Tom Joad at night. Marty Rifkin’s pedal steel is all over this thing and it’s sublime. From the opener “Repo Man” to the closing title track there’s not a bad song here. The sheer fun and joy here are something that was rare for Bruce in the 90s. I even love the countrified versions of “Janey Don’t Lose Heart” and “Stand On It” done here. It’s exceptional, and this is coming from me knowing I used to say, I only hate two types of music, country and western.

Inyo: This one was recorded during the Tom Joad tour circa ’95 to ’97. This is very down on the border style music and includes a couple of tracks with a mariachi band. I will tell you, on first listen I was disappointed but this album is an absolute “grower.” I keep going back to it and it gets better with every listen. I love the title track, “Adelita,” “The Lost Charro” and “When I Build My Beautiful House.” I didn’t think it was as good as SNON, the disc that preceded it, but it is quickly growing in my esteem.

Twilight Hours: This album is a stunner. It was recorded at the same time as the superb Western Stars that was considered being released as a double album. It’s all Sinatra style, late night, closing time songs. It evokes dark nights wandering under neon signs that read “cocktails” and streetlights, bourbon on my breath, headed home through the fog. I’m stunned to hear Springsteen croon. It’s very Burt Bacharach in a good way. I could hear Dionne Warwick do a few of these and I mean that as a compliment. “Sunday Love” is my life before the Rock Chick. “Late In The Evening” just grabs me by the heart strings. “High Sierra” and “Sunliner” are killer tunes that should have made the final cut on Western Stars. This may feel like a genre exercise on the surface but the strength of this material makes it shine.

Perfect World: This is the second disc that I would have considered more a collection of songs than an album but I’m pleasantly surprised by how well these songs, recorded from 1994 to 2011, hang together as a whole. Springsteen has said he wanted to end with a little rock ‘n’ roll noise to wrap this thing up and he largely succeeds. The disc starts with three songs co written with Joe Gruschecky and they’re all killers, “I’m Not Sleeping” (which I may need to add to my Playlist: Songs About Sleeping), “Idiot’s Delight” (an absolutely blues rock killer), and “Another Thin Line.” I’m already on record as loving “Rain In The River.” “You Lifted Me Up” is another great barrel-house rocker. While at times it plays more like a disc from Tracks, to me it’s a nice addition to the Springsteen collection, better than say, Wrecking Ball.

That’s our thoughts on each album/disc. The good news here is that while Bruce was working on this box during the pandemic, he also had time to finish Tracks III.  I guess there was silver lining to all that downtime. Tracks III will be stray tunes from the beginning of his career all the way to now. For most artists this collection of albums would mark a great career – there’s certainly more meat on the bones here than say, David Lee Roth’s box and I liked that one – and yet Springsteen didn’t even release this stuff when it was finished. He already had a pretty amazing body of work and this box does nothing but burnish that legend.

Springsteen may be the most important rock star America has ever produced. This is a strong portrait of the path not taken. It’s worth a listen for every Springsteen fan or fan of rock n roll. To have taken so many stylish twists and turns and pull it off is pretty amazing.

Crank this one up loud and please… let’s get through 4th of July with all 10 fingers… And remember, for your pets, it’s not a celebration, it’s Armageddon.

Cheers!