WHEN BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN BECAME THE BOSS (1974 - 1988) / EVERYTHING ELSE







EVERYTHING ELSE: EXTRA STUFF AND LIVE ALBUMS



What you are about to read is just for the diehards. It is worthy of reading, of course (what else could I say?), for there are tons of song to be found here, and many of them as good or even better than those on the already reviewed records.

Be that as it may, this is to increase your mark.



Bruce Springsteen has always been a very prolific songwriter. Because of that, dozens and dozens of songs have been left behind after not making the cut of an album, and not due to their lack of quality, mind you, in many of the cases, but because they did not fit the specific narrative of the album in question and things like that. Some of them have become B sides of some single, and many other have officially resurface, many years later, thanks to reissues of important records which are filled with extra stuff, or to enormous compilatios. And as mentioned, some others are still waiting inside whatever vault they may be in.

That's why it's no wonder this chapter (despite being the least important one, in principle) is much longer than any of the orevious ones, and has many more songs than all of them combined.



A smiling Springsteen on stage during the late seventies




Let's go with all the extra stuff he has created during those fourteen previous years (but released long after), and with the live albums that have been released after 1988 but document live performances from this era.





EP'S



In 1987, a couple of live Ep's were released, but only in Japan, if I'm not mistaken. They were called LIVE COLLECTION I and II, respectively. The latter (with the additional title of Born To Run) featured five songs which were already included on Live 1975-85, but the former was more interesting, having two songs which were not on that live album: INCIDENT ON 57TH STREET and FOR YOU. Both had been B sides to some of the editions of the singles released off said record. The first one, a song from Springsteen's sophomore effort, had been on War's single, and the second, taken from Bruce's debut, on Fire's. This Ep was produced by Landau and Plotkin. I guess the other one shares production team with Live 1975-85, for it has only stuff that already was on that record.






Live Collection I / 1987




Live Collection II / 1987




The third Ep, also a live one, released during this era (first of August 1988), was the already mentioned Chimes Of Freedom. On it, besides that glorious and already discussed live version of Tougher Than The Rest,we do find a slower one of Born To Run, BE TRUE (a song Bruce played a lot during that tour and whose original version had been a B side to some of the singles off The River, back in 1981), and a cover of the BOB DYLAN's song the Ep was named after. That song was played in that famous Berlin show and, apparently, the crowd understood this number as a call to the falling of the GDR. This specific version is from a few days prior.

Be True was recorded on the 28th of March in Detroit (Joe Louis Arena), Chimes Of Freedom on the third of July same year, at the Olympiastadion in Stockholm, and Born To Run (same as Tougher Than The Rest) on the 27th of April in LA (Memorial Sports Arena). I have never paid too much attention to this artifact, beyond the Tougher Than The Rest version, because I have never been too fond of Be True (or Born To Run either, as a matter of fact) although the Born To Run version is nice and the Bob Dylan song looks good too. I did not know it.

The usual producing team of Springsteen, Landau and Plotkin worked its magic once again in that department.







GREATEST HITS



Springsteen's first compilation album took a long time to arrive (27th of February 1995, through Columbia) and my opinion is that it left a lot to be desired. I do not think you can summarize an almost twenty five years long career with just thirteen songs, let alone if that career belongs to someone who had already released a good ten studio albums up to that point. The outcome was a very typical and short selection of songs, some of them edited, that forgot completely about Bruce's first two albums. Weird. The only reedeming quality was the apparition of some new or unreleased on a Springsteen album tracks (Streets Of Philadelphia), mostly because some of them brought the E Street Band back to life, even if only for this reason and as one-off.

Out of those, let's say, new songs, the only one to be meaningful here (because it was created during this era) is the aforementioned Murder Incorporated, so we are not talking about something new, but about something still unreleased. If I am correct, and as I said when I reviewed Born In The USA, this is the original track although with a new mix; but I'm still in doubt here. Good song, a rocking one, but everyone else seems to be more excited about it than I am. This song is like a metaphor (there was an actual criminal organizaton of the same name in the thirties), I think, and so is the gun that is talked about. It's all about the few opportunities that some areas of american society have. The video was shot by Jonathan Demme, and the shooting meant playing this same song as many as six times in front of a small and very selected audience which did not know what was to be presented with. Murder Incorporated served the purpose of lighting the spark of the reunion of Bruce's band, and the audience was so focused on watching the E Street Band back together, that the actual meaning of the song went unnoticed. When Springsteen toured in support of The Ghost Of Tom Joad, before said reunion, made sure to give this song a treatment in which its message was understood.




Greatest Hits / 1995




The critic wasn't very enthusiastic about this release, and it even commented how convenient releasing it just one day before the Academy Awards ceremony was, given that Philadelphia had five nominations.

As for the production, it depends on each track and when they were released. That's why the usual names are all over.







From now on, what we can mostly find, is a run of huge retrospective collections, devoted or not to a specific album, on which we can find songs created between 1974 and 1988 that had not seen the light of day yet. Let's see.





TRACKS



Tracks / 1998




The first of them all, TRACKS, is the biggest (if we stick with the audio format) and, most likely, the most interesting one, for it has a lot of unreleased stuff. It's also the one I've listened to the most so far, because it was a much cherished christmas present only a meagre month and a half after its release date (10th of November 1998, Columbia). I've spent a lot of years listening to its contents, at least from time to time, and not only because of the songs that belong to this era.

It is home to sixty six songs, no less. Some of them had been released as B sides, some others were already known due to Springsteen's playing them live over the years, a few had already surfaced on unofficial releases, and many saw the light of day thanks to this box set. There are also a few demos, live numbers and alternative versions. In any case, this selection was still small, for it was said that, by 1998, the amount of recorded but still unreleased Springsteen stuff was around three quarters of his total recorded material at the time; there were more than three hundred and fifty which remained unreleased. There was a compelling selection process and a lot of work as well, in order to fill in some gaps, erase mistakes and improve the original takes. Out of those sixty six songs on Tracks, forty three belong to these fourteen year period which is the subject matter. The production differs, depending on the songs and their creation.

These are, more or less in chronological order (instead of how they are found on the discs), those songs. Beside the link, the album whose sessions each song belongs to is stated.



LINDA LET ME BE THE ONE - Born To Run. A boring slow number. Forgettable, although it is said it almost made the final cut for Born To Run. The protagonist is EDDIE, another one of those thugs portrayed by Bruce in the past, and his relationship with LINDA. The story includes a tad comical final twist, and the lyrics share a few lines with Spare Parts. Did Springsteen suddenly remember Linda some years later?

SO YOUNG AND IN LOVE - Born To Run. I believe this is the oldest song of them all (still in 1974). Little else, other than that. It is festive and in the vein of Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out, although much worse.

RENDEZVOUS - LIVE / 31-12-1980, NASSAU COLISEUM, UNIONDALE, NEW YORK - Good live take of a song whose original version will be discussed later.

GIVE THE GIRL A KISS - Darkness On The Edge Of Town. It's kind of weird that this song is not from the Born To Run sessions, for it sounds like another version (music-wise) of Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out. Not bad, it is lively. Is that Clemons singing at the end? I'd say he is. He is, indeed, and the horns are from the time this compulation was released. During one interview, Bruce admitted that he did not even remember ever writing this song.

ICEMAN - Darkness On The Edge Of Town. Quite beautiful, only with vocals and piano during a good deal of the song, although I could live without the occasional backing vocals. Despite its mood, the story is more optimistic and shares some traits with Thunder Road or Badlands (and at least one line with the latter). The protagonist doesn't want to surrender to the hand he's been dealt due to the economic recession. Hence the metaphor concerning the old trade of delivering ice: what is it going to be when the only thing you know and are good at disappears? Springsteen did not remember this song either.

HEARTS OF STONE - Darkness On The Edge Of Town. Unlike what happens with the songs from The River, the outtakes from Darkness On The Edge Of Town are overall much worse than the ones on the actual record. This song is a good example. Slow and sad. The horns were added in 1997. The first (horns-less) version was gave away by Bruce to his good friend SOUTHSIDE JOHNNY. In fact, he not only donated the song, but also its actual recording, to the extent that this guy's version (produced by Van Zandt, by the way, for a namesake album by this singer released in 1978) is Bruce's, but with him on vocals. I couldn't have noticed, to be honest, because at the beginning of the Tracks version there is what I'd say it is Clemons' sax, and that is absent in the other one (and it has nothing to do with the later apparition of the horns). That to begin with. But who cares? The lyrics show the narrator saying goodbye to a former partner who doesn't seem to be over that break up. I don't know if they have just broken up or that happened time before the woman is lonely and, according to the text, has aged), but what the protagonist has to do is toughen his heart up (if we consider the song's title) to move on, despite how painful saying that it's over might be.



Can you spare a dime, mister?




DON'T LOOK BACK - Darkness On The Edge Of Town. This song could very well be an exception to the rule I explained in the previous song, for it's quite good. It reminds me a little bit of one of Bruce's oldest classics, Growin' Up, but with guitars all around. He played it live back in the day, and it almost made it onto Darkness, but it didn't, eventually, given that is about a usual subject of the day which had already been dealt with in songs like Thunder Road or Born To Run.

BRING ON THE NIGHT - The River. This is where this compilation's really good stuff begins. It could have outplaced some songs on The River, just like some others on here. Short and intense, so you can feel the anxiety the text depicts, of the shy and introverted protagonist's need of catching the eye of some girl called Mary (again). That is similar of what we'd see in Dancing In The Dark. It also shares its theme (and some lines) with another song which will come later. Brilliant.

RESTLESS NIGHTS - The River. One of the very best. I will not say the same thing every time it happens, for it does happen often, but this song outclasses most of those on The River, even the ones I really enjoy. There are two great, back-to-back, organ and guitar solos (there's another organ one at the end) and I even like the backing vocals. The refrain is glorious too, but I don't know what to make of the lyrics. Maybe what could have been for some couple, but never was.

ROULETTE - The River. What I just said about the previous one applies here as well, although this one is quite potent, more in the vein of Darkness On The Edge Of Town. Here's another refrain for the ages. Due to some strange reason, it became a B side, many years later, to One Step Up and Tougher Than The Rest, although with a different mix. This is about a radioactive leak which took place at the end of March, 1979, at a nuclear power plant in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, called THREE MILE, and how said leak and the malpractice of the authorities made the surrounding population panic. And all this from the standpoint of a paranoid neighbour who runs away from his home. I think this was the first song to be finished for The River, although it was discarded.

DOLLHOUSE - The River. Another great outtake. Tallent's great bass guitar lines are a constant on this collection, and this song is no exception. Very entertaining song, and the lyrics tell about a toxic relationship with manipulative woman who wishes to be in total control.

WHERE THE BANDS ARE - The River. And another one to remember. Once again, this is about the need of connection, and also of fun, and it's a bona fide tribute to life in a rock band and everything the whole band had decided to devote itself. And it also shares some almost identical lines with another own song: Jackson Cage, in this case, despite they both have nothing in common concerning their subject.

LOOSE ENDS - The River. What a belter about a couple which was supposed to fly high but ends up crumbling, as many others. There is also some toxic feel to it, because both parties want the other to take the final step, and when no one does, they both suffer. This line is very explanatory: How can something so bad, darling, come from something that was so good? I don't know. The lyrics and the verses are wonderful, but the refrain is simply musical bliss. Great solo by Clemons, by the way. Monumental. It was going to be part of the The Ties That Bind album (its last song, in fact), before said record became The River, but I think this version here is a tad different.

LIVING ON THE EDGE OF THE WORLD - The River. Not as brilliant as the previous outtakes from The River, but good anyway. I don't know why, but it feels like a song by The Ramones somehow. The harmonica is great. The subject is the same already seen in Open All Night, with more shared lines (Deliver me from nowhere, one more time), although this one is older: the protagonist drives by night to pick his girlfriend up after work. Part of the lyrics in State Trooper is repeated here too, and also in another later Tracks song, although the music is different. Perhaps, Open All Night was the final outcome of the idea that was born here, at least when it comes to the lyrics.

TAKE 'EM AS THEY COME - The River. Guitars and more guitars in another hard hitter that, inexplicably, did not make the album's cut. As some other times, the text is much darker than the music could imply (Loose Ends, just reviewed, or something like Hungry Heart), and it tells what it could pass as a retale of the BONNIE & CLYDE story. Someone who is always on a constant watch (maybe a criminal) and willing to draw first blood just in case, and his relationship with the woman he travels with.



Amsterdam, I guess




BE TRUE - The River. B side to Fade Away (Sherry Darling and Cadillac Ranch too), as already told. It's got its moments but it's quite expendable, although I have to admit that it grows on you a little. Who knows what I'll be thinking in a few months? Like Loose Ends, it was meant to be on The Ties That Bind. That record will be discussed in no time, but this version is a little bit different though. The other song it shares text with (or a great deal of it), as it has become customary, will be soon unveiled, and the lyrics are about one girl who demands high standards from all the men she dates, based on stuff she watches in movies; when it's time for the narrator to be in that position, he lets the girl know she has to play her part too (You be true to me, and I'll be true to you).

RICKY WANTS A MAN OF HER OWN - The River. Not the best song on here, but not bad either, and I like it better than songs such as Ramrod, I'm A Rocker or Crush On You. RICKY is a teenager who has already moved on concerning her time as a child, and the narrator, who seems to be her older brother (or at least he plays that role), depicts the situation while being sympathetic to both the girl and her parents.

I WANNA BE WITH YOU - The River. Similar to the previous song, but better. It's fun and good-natured, although the protagonist is a wimp somehow, and his obseion for the girl he has a crush on leads him to forget about everything else in life.

MARY LOU - The River. Again, far from being the best The River outtake, but better than a few songs on it. Quite forgettable anyway. This is Be True's the first incarnation (lyrics-wise, at least), like I just said. Light songs the both of them, but different regarding their music.

STOLEN CAR - ALTERNATIVE VERSION - The River. I honestly wasn't expecting something like this. The dark and tolerable song on The River had a tad longer previous version (it was to be on The Ties That Bind) which outclasses it by a long shot, to the extreme that this earlier version is simply wonderful. There were critics who even said that replacing this version for the one which eventually made the cut had been an act of self-sabotage by Springsteen, and I could not agree more. The overall mood is a little bit more optimistic, although still very sad, as the lyrics read (that part about the letters the narrator had written in the past is just amazing). This other vision of the same song, due to its having some sections which are not on the final one, is known by the scholars like the Son you may kiss the bride version, for the protagonist thinks about his wedding day while driving. In this version, the feeling you have is that the protagonist has already vanished, as if he was his own ghost, instead of that fear of dissapearing of the other one. A very moving song, and if those who may read this doubt my words, they just have to listen to it while driving at night.

BORN IN THE USA - DEMO VERSION - Nebraska. This is a song very difficult to envision some other way, but this is one of the steps it took to become what it eventually was. This take not only serves its purpose as a document, but it's quite good on its own as well.

A GOOD MAN IT'S HARD TO FIND (PITTSBURGH) - Born In The USA. Nice, but bland, and given the time it was written in, and how all the work devoted to this album blended with Nebraska's, it reminds me much more of the latter record, mostly at the beginning. It could have been beter had it remained that way, with no more instrumentation. The song was named after a book by FLANNERY O'CONNOR (the Pittsburgh thing is Springsteen's), whose work influenced Bruce a lot during the time he wrote songs for these two records, and the lyrics are about the pain of a widow whose husband had gone missing in action while in Vietnam.

WAGES OF SIN - Born In The USA. This song may not be easy listening at first, but the fact that it hasn't been on any of the albums from this era and it's been flying under the radar of greater audiences ever since its creation feels beyond comprehension to me. Exactly what I think about Loose Ends. This is among the five best songs on this compilation and a fine piece of art. It doesn't sound like the rest of the stuff on Born In The USA, that's true, although the synth that can be listened to at the end puts it close to songs like Downbound Train or I'm On Fire. I don't care. A song this good cannot be hidden. The voice, the distant percussion and, above all, the measured and elegant interplay between guitar and piano. We don't know what it is that the narrator has done to his couple for the lady to punish him with her silence, and to the point he begins to recall childhood's traumas, but this song is just immortal.



With Patti




JOHNNY BYE-BYE - Born In The USA. Short oddity with lines borrowed from a CHUCK BERRY song named BYE BYE JOHNNY, which this musician wrote as a sequel to its very well known JOHNNY B GOODE. This one is cool, and it became a B side to I'm On Fire. More about this track in another version which is on a later compilation.

SHUT OUT THE LIGHT - Born In The USA. Boring at first, but it is definitely a grower. There's some gospel music flair to this B side to Born In The USA. There's a lot more to discuss about this song and the reason why it was paired with that other number on the same single, but I'd like to make clear that my knowledge about this doesn't reach that far, and most of the things I explain here come from doing some researching about the subject, once again. Born In The USA comes from a previous song called Vietnam, as already mentioned, and it's about the lack of social recognition towards Vietnam veterans, while Shut Out The Light, which also stems from that same song, tells about the ravages of the post-traumatic stress on one of those veterans (JOHNSON LINEIR). The A side is loud and the B one is the other way around. This pairing is no coincidence.

CYNTHIA - Born In The USA. The keys play a predominant role, and that makes this song a light pop rock one, more than anything else, but it's quite entertaining. Proof of Bruce's ability to do good at different genres, as he's done with all those songs recorded with a drum machine and that proliferated in the nineties. In this specific case, Springsteen makes clear his undisguised admiration for Roy Orbison, with his own take on Orbison's OH, PRETTY WOMAN. I can understand him and also the comparison, given both lyrics, but while Bruce's song is fun, although miles away from being top tier Springsteen, Orbison's is a snore fest of the highest orders.

MY LOVE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN - Born In The USA. One of the best songs on Tracks and also one to be played live quite often. I'm not into keyboards, but I like them here, and they sound as small bells which replicate the main riff and Bruce's voice during the chorus. The subject has already appeared in songs like Bring On The Night, Dancing In The Dark and others: desire for acceptance, etc. Landau himself wanted it on Born In The USA, but perhaps its spot was already taken by its much more famous counterpart.

THIS HARD LAND - Born In The USA. It looks good at first, but just like A Good Man Is Hard To Find (Pittsburgh), would have been a better thing had it stuck to the acoustic format. A little bit boring. There is a later version of this song which saw the light of day on the greatest hits compilation from 1995.

FRANKIE - Born In The USA. It has a melody tailor-made to be whistled (if you know how), and a few good moments, but I do not care about it very much and it drags a little bit. It was written soon after Born To Run, to be included on a record which wasn't meant to be (due to the lawsuit I explained earlier), and it fact was the first post Born To Run song to have a live debut. It was kept unused until Bruce recovered it for this Born In The USA sessions, and it shares at least one line with Drive All Night. A love song for the title's lady, I guess.

TV MOVIE - Born In The USA. It reminds me of one song to be reviewed soon, and overall it's good as a rock & roll oldie, but I find the omnipresent piano excessive. The narrator dreams he dies and they make a movie about his life.

STAND ON IT - ALTERNATIVE VERSION - Born In The USA. This one is in the vein of TV Movie, but the old school rock & roll stuff was already covered by it. Fun and retro, but that's it. The originl version was a B side to Glory Days (STAND ON IT), but I am in doubt concerning the differences between them (the one on Tracks is longer though), and there's also a later version, more country, which features a pedal steel guitar (STAND ON IT - PEDAL STEEL VERSION). This song became a hit for country singer MEL MCDANIEL, and Bruce's original version appeared on the soundtrack to the movie RUTHLESS PEOPLE (1986), by DAVID ZUCKER. It was inspired on an autobiography of the same name, from 1973, about the life of pilot STROKER ACE. The motto here means doing in real life what that person did while racing: speed up and move forward.



His natural habitat




LION'S DEN - Born In The USA. Soul music, I guess. Clemons is the main man here, and the refrain is nice, but that's all that there is. The horns are from 1998, if I am correct. The protagonist is someone who is willing to face any challenge with a smile on his face.

CAR WASH - Born In The USA. Quite lively and funny, and the story is told from the point of view of a woman who does what she can to make ends meet. She compares her job at the car wash with a prison sentence, while she dreams of being successful as a singer and saying goodbye to her current life.

ROCKAWAY THE DAYS - Born In The USA. In my opinion, this idea and its joyful atmosphere could have been taken advantage of much better. It's long and uninteresting. The lyrics are definitely not that joyful, for they tell about an ex convict, BILLY, with violent tendencies and a substance-abuse problem, and his demise in a car crash.

BROTHERS UNDER THE BRIDGES '83 - Born In The USA. The verses, when the song is not bloated with embellishments, are ok. In fact, they even remind me of No Surrender a little bit (same with the song's ending), but the whole thing is boring. Not to be mistaken with a 1995 song which is called BROTHERS UNDER THE BRIDGE and has, in principle, nothing to do with this one. The subject is the anxiety experienced by some youngster when he watches the older boys doing things he can't do yet, like drinking and so on, and they usually do it gathered under the bridges (hence the name). But what the protagonist truly desires is being old enough to drive.

MAN AT THE TOP - Born In The USA. This is one of those song's you get fond of from the get go. Very good track. I even like that middle section in which the whole thing takes a turn to something more soul-like, I think, with the sax and the backing vocals (also at the end). This is about ambition and being at the top and the toll it takes.

PINK CADILLAC - Born In The USA. Another good one. It's danceable and fun, and Weinberg punishes his kit relentlessly. Clemons is another highlight too. B side to Dancing In The Dark, back in  the day, and also Spare Parts a few years later. As for the lyrics, there's more than meets the eye, for it seems like that car is actually a vagina. Springsteen has never acknowledged this metaphor explicitly, if I'm not mistaken, but it doesn't matter. He said, when debuting this song live (July 1984), that it had to be more than just an apple what EVE offered to ADAM.

JANEY DON'T YOU LOSE HEART - Born In The USA. B side to I'm Goin' Down but, wasn't it for the synth and its more modern flair, it would have been more at home on The River. Not very good, to be honest. I think this is about the narrator's empathy for JANEY, who's going through a rough patch.

TWO FOR THE ROAD - Tunnel Of Love. The best thing about it? It is quite short. It has some details, but even Bruce's singing, no matter how weird this is, feels overly sweet here. Another B side, to Tunnel Of Love this time, and it seems to be a song about love, more than friendship, inspired on the 1967 movie of the same name, directed by STANLEY DONEN and starred by AUDREY HEPBURN and ALBERT FINNEY.

WHEN YOU NEED ME - Tunnel Of Love. Similar to Two For The Road. You can tell it belongs to the Tunnel Of Love sessions, but I'm glad it was left out. There's some harmonica, unlike the slower numbers on that record, but that's not enough to save it. Apparently, this was one of the first songs Springsteen wrote for Tunnel Of Love, when the problems of his first marriage were not that obvious, and that's why the lyrics are bland and full of cliches; your average declaration of love, instead another story about doubts, sorrow and ruined relationships which swarm that album.

THE WISH - Tunnel Of Love. It wasn't something I was eager to listen to until a few months ago, beyond having some ground to review the song decently. But I like it a lot now, despite not being an amazing track, music-wise, because it is an autobiographical tribute by Bruce to ADELE, his mum, who passed away in 2024 after spending almost a decade subdued by something as atrocius and unfair as Alzheimer's. Springsteen couldn't know about this when he wrote the song, but its inclusion in the Springsteen On Broadway repertoire, many years later, and while Adele was still alive, was no coincidence. Moving.

THE HONEYMOONERS - Tunnel Of Love. More of the same, but a tad better. The absence of additional instrumentation (until the end, when there's some synth) and some harmonica playing give this song some Nebraska vibe which is more appealing. It's about a wedding and everything it entails, but from the grrom's standpoint.

LUCKY MAN - Tunnel Of Love. This track became a B side to Brilliant Disguise, but it feels like out of place when it comes to the entire feel of Tunnel Of Love. It might pass as a slower version of Spare Parts, and you are left waiting for the rest of musicians to join, so they can play a similar tune, but it never happens. It's good anyway. The story is atypical too, for it's about one guy who makes a living out of driving and seems to be content that way, with no ties of any kind.



With the great Debbie Harry!




As you can see, most of the songs are outtakes from The River, and the best ones are among them too, although the enormous labour of those years between that album and Born In The USA left great songs too. Not all of them are praiseworthy, but a great deal of them are. As I said, there are as many as sixty six songs on this collection, and some of the remaining ones are very good too (the most recent tracks, mostly), but they are from a different era.

Also, and as a commercial gimmick more than anything else, a single version of this box set called 18 TRACKS was released in 1999; it featured eighteen songs on just one disc, maybe those which might be more appealing for a broader audience. As an expected (and also embarrasing) marketing trick, there were three songs among those eighteen that were not present on Tracks, so you could spend your hard-earned money on both items. The three of them belong to different moments of Springsteen's career, because the only one that was created during this era, was re-recorded on the occasion of this compilation. I'll talk about the original one in no time. Out of the fifteen remaining ones, ten belong to this era.



18 Tracks / 1999





THE ESSENTIAL BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN



The Essential Bruce Springsteen / 2003




THE ESSENTIAL BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN is a huge compilation album which includes some of Bruce's most recurring hits (in this regard is something much more reasonable than that one from 1995), a couple of live tracks and some oddities, It was reissued in 2015 with a different set list which fitted all the new stuff that had been released since the first edition. It was on the 11th of November 2003 (Columbia) when it was first released, spanning the entire discography of the artist until THE RISING (2002). In 2003 there was a special edition which came with a third disc with rare and unreleased stuff, and there were six songs on that disc which belonged to this era. It was remarkable FROM SMALL THINGS (BIG THINGS ONE DAY COME), a great outtake from The River about a very special female, which Springsteen donated to a singer named DAVE EDMUNDS. THE BIG PAYBACK, a short song which had become a B side to Open All Night (both tracks are very similar) was very good as well. The first of these two songs is the one I meant when I reviewed TV Movie, when I said this one reminded me of another song I was to talk about soon. But From Small Things is much better. On the other hand, The Big Payback is the song number seventeenth I mentioned when I spoke about that famed Nebraska tape, and is about one guy who gets fed up of his horrific job and decides to devote himself to crime. Very Nebraska-like.

Bruce's live version of TRAPPED, by JIMMY CLIFF, which Springsteen helped to make popular and whose lyrics (protest song, I think) changed a little bit, is also very good. This live version had also appeared on the very famous charity record WE ARE THE WORLD, from 1985. NONE BUT THE BRAVE is a slow number belonging to the Born In The USA sessions, and it has its appeal. It's about pretty much the same subject Bobby Jean deals with (although from the point of view of an ex boy fiend, instead of a friend, I'd dare say), and maybe that's why it did not make the final cut. This is the second version of this song, for the first one was recorded before Born In The USA, and this one has a different vocal track which looks more recent, and a slight change in the lyrics which, according to the scholars, could hint at the fateful September eleventh.

The least striking somgs are HELD UP WITHOUT A GUN and COUNTY FAIR. The former is not bad, but this is a live version. The original one was a B side to Hungry Heart and it will be reviewed soon. The latter is another outtake from Born In The USA, and I think is just uninspiring and dull. It's about a perfect day at some town's fair, and if you listen closely, you can listen to some crickets, which were recorded by chance and later used on purpose, what gives this song a summer flair.

As on previous compilations, the producers depend on the song.












BORN TO RUN 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION



Born To Run, thirty years later / 2005




On the fifteenth of November, 2005, Columbia commemorated the thirty anniversary of the album which was supposed to be, in principle, Springsteen's last with them, with the release of a box which actually does not include unreleased studio stuff. It does have several other things.

A remastered version of the original album, to begin with, being the disc a CD-sized replica of the original vinyl. The good stuff comes next, with the one hour and a half award winning documentary called WINGS FOR WHEELS, which narrates the recording of the album and has some footage from interviews and a live show from 1973 in LA. I do not remember whether I watched it in its entirey back in the day or not. It's been a long time. If it won a Grammy award, it shouldn't be a fluke, right?

But the best thing here, in my opinion, was the world's inital contact, on DVD, with an unreleased live show from 1975, in London. Said show was released on CD the next year, as another live album by Bruce. The production of both audi and video formats was taken care of by The Boss, Landau, Wings For Wheels director, THOM ZIMNY, and a certain BARBARA CARR. More about the CD now.

And there was also a booklet full of pictures.



Hammersmith Odeon, London '75 / 2006



HAMMERSMITH ODEON, LONDON '75, was released in 2006, as a double disc affair, becoming Bruce's fourth live album. This concert took place on the 18th of November 1975, and it marked the very first time Bruce Springsteen played England, as part of a small tour which brought him to Europe for the first time. Bruce himself admits being anxious before and after the show, due to his self-doubt about his whole performing act. That's why he has much better memories from the second date at the same place (six days after, due to an enormous tickets demand), as an overall better performance.

As expected, the repertoire is comprised of songs from Bruce's first three records (and some covers), from the time when Born To Run was just another song, at least for the time being, and not the mega-anthem it would soon become, destined to be played at the end of his shows. This was also the time in which Springsteen did Thunder Road just on piano and vocals, just like it can be listened to on Live 1975-85 (this version is almost as good as that one). Some of the songs he played on that very day are on said live album, but out of those that don't, LOST IN THE FLOOD and FOR YOU's live versions  need to be remarked. They were both on Bruce's first record, and you can also find She's The One and  Jungleland.



















THUNDER ROAD - LIVE / VIDEO





THE PROMISE: THE DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN STORY



The Promise: The Making Of Darkness On The Edge Of Town / 2010




The previous boxset, and Tracks above all, were something remarkable concerning their size and contents, but not as much as what is coming next. On the sixteenth of November (is it me or Springsteen has a penchant for releasing stuff in November? Maybe it is just a trick, keeping the christmas days in mind), 2010, an enormous reissue of Darkness On The Edge Of Town was released. Besides the usual remaster of the original album, this box included two live shows, the documentary THE PROMISE: THE MAKING OF DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN (a film about the record's creation, also by Thom Zimny) and a humongous book with tons of fun and trivia facts. This boxset won Springsteen another Grammy in 2012.



The box on the inside




One of the three discs (DVD or Bluray) with audiovisual stuff  has, besides some extra live footage, a very special document (that's why all the songs are linked here): on the thirteenth of December 2009, Bruce and the E Street Band played Darkness On The Edge Of Town in its entirety, at the Paramount Theatre in Asbury Park, New Jersey (pretty much at home), without any crowd, in order to tape this performance and include it among the tons of extra stuff on this box.
















The third and last DVD or Bluray features an entire show recorded in Houston on the eighth of December, 1978. I haven't seen the documentary, or this show either, but I guess it has to be glorious, because the guys were on fire during this tour and the concerts were beginning to become something really long.

But the most important thing here (as if it wasn't enough) is another double album filled with unreleased outtakes from those sessions. That album was titled THE PROMISE (production by Springsteen and Landau), and it was also released on its own.



The Promise / 2010




This compilation features twenty-one tracks (plus a hidden track) recorded between 1977 and 1978, although one of them (SAVE MY LOVE) was completely re-recorded by The Boss and his band on the occasion, just like some other things were added here and there during that same 2010 (this motivated the involvement of some other guest musicians, besides the seven original ones). I guess it can be said this record meant the musical farewell, at least inside a studio and with Bruce Springsteen, of Clarence Clemons, who would pass away the following year. He takes part in Save My Love, which I will not review, for neither I like it, nor strictly belongs to the era I'm dealing with. I don't think there's an old studio version, and this current one was used as a decoy for both box and album, and it even had a video shot for it.



RACING IN THE STREET '78 - It takes some time and effort to get used to this second and later version, after so many years of listening to such a wonderful song like the one on the album, but you manage to. It is rockier, the drums sound amazing (as on the entire record), the way of singing is different (and so is the text), and the car is not a 1969 Chevrolet, but a 1932 Ford. What I truly dislike is the later addition (in 2010) of the violin of some DAVID LINDLEY. I just do not get it. The involvement of a full time violinist (the also singer SOOZIE TYRELL) in the E Street Band, since a lot of years ago, but mostly since 2002, is one of the things I don't like about Bruce's recent past and current affairs. Not because of her, of course, but I don't like or need someone playing the fiddle in this band, and providing it with an unwelcome country sound. Apparently, the guys played this version a few times after the release of this album, although with the lyrics we all know. One of them took place in Asbury Park (The Carousel), on the seventh of December 2010, being this show Clemons' last one with the E Street Band. He died the next June.


GOTTA GET THAT FEELING - Nothing to do with the overall sound of Darkness On The Edge Of Town. A very boring romance song which has to be among the worst songs to be reviewed from this era. Bruce's vocals were added in 2010, together with the horns and Clemons' solo.

OUTSIDE LOOKING IN - Things get better here and this short tune, although different, is fun. Springsteen's vocal pattern is cool, and so is his singing. Nothing to write home about, but it feels good after the previous song. The protagonist is tired of trying to make whatever he is that he has with a lady work.

SOMEDAY (WE'LL BE TOGETHER) - I have to admit it: after a first listen, and thanks mostly  to Scialfa and Tyrell's added vocal parts (which make Springsteen impossible to identify) during the refrain, I did not know what to think. Not only it has nothing to do with Darkness as a record, but also bears no resemblance to Bruce Springsteen as an artist at all. In fact, after a few minutes trying to find out what that refrain reminded me of, BLONDIE's ATOMIC came to mind, no matter how nonsensical that comparison may sound. Mostly forgettable, although it has some appeal with a few more listens, something I deemed unthinkable after the first. Those women's vocals are not the only thing new here, for it seems that the original track (SOMEDAY, TONIGHT) did not even have vocals at all and it was a tad faster, which leaves this song as something closer to a new track than to an old outtake. The lyrics written for the occasion were, once again, about love.

ONE WAY STREET - Here we go again with another song you just want to stay away from. This is not the kind of stuff I listen to Springsteen for. As boring as it gets. The vocals are from 2010 and this is about a relationship which is not meant to be.

BECAUSE THE NIGHT - Studio version of the famed song that Bruce and Patti Smith wrote together and that the latter helped popularize. This song is good enough to stand on its own, but this version is nowhere as vibrant as its live counterparts, and there is no guitar solo. As expected, this track deals with the bond between  the night and relationships.

WRONG SIDE OF THE STREET - Good song, and much better than most of those on here, although it sounds more similar to the The River album. Bruce's vocals are current and this number was originally named ENGLISH SONG, although it has also been known as ENDLESS NIGHT. This is about a couple in which both parties belong to different worlds.

THE BROKENHEARTED - This track leaves me with a broken head, more than a broken hear. As mediocre as Gotta Get That Feeling and One Way Street, and with trumpets to boot. It is like listening to a worse and more forgettable version of I Wanna Marry You. As if this wasn't enough, Bruce mixes his young voice with current add-ons. It feels like a tribute to Roy Orbison in a mariachi fashion, in which a repentant protagonist licks his girlfriend's boots asking for forgiveness. We all know Bruce Springsteen as the rock musician; that's what he is mostly known for. But we are all aware of his lighter side too, which has led him to write what we could call pop rock songs (and I don't even mean those with a drum machine), and that's ok, for everyone has its own influences. Many of those songs are, in fact, very good. But this is not the case. This is horrible.

RENDEZVOUS - Studio version of the song reviewed on Tracks. I had never paid too much attention to it, but it is listenable. It was written before Bruce's songwriting took a turn for the dark stuff, and that's why this song doesn't sound like Darkness On The Edge Of Town. The melody is ok, but the music is too light, and so it was left off the record, a trait and a fate are shared with most of the songs on this compilation. Love, couples and more of the same once again. Another trait shared with the rest of the bunch. The live version on Tracks is much better.

CANDY'S BOY - An early incarnation of Candy's Room, with which it shares many lines, despite being almost completely different. Pretty much mediocre at best on its own, it has no place to hide in when compared against one of Springsteen's best songs. As in some other songs here, it seems like Bruce were trying to forget about his own musical self, because he is hardly recognizable some times. What I think it is an organ solo, is just atrocious (meaning that is horrible for my taste; I'm not talking about the proficiency of musicians, songwriters, etc). I read that the singer copied some of this song's lines and pasted them in another one which was known back then as The fast song, a depiction that fits the final song much better. I'm glad he did. The lyrics are similar, but some differences hint at Candy dealing with someone she shouldn't have gotten upset.



Downbound train?




AIN'T GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU - Danceable and party-like song, but with no resemblance to the music this artist is usually know for. Sort of an hybrid between Sherry Darling and Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out, but much worse than both. That piano is boring. The protagonist wonders how his girl still wants to be with him, for she is always reproaching everything, and the lyrics feature a joke about Jimmy Iovine, Bruce's sound engineer, and a T-shirty, that the singer had come up with in the past.

FIRE - It pains me to listen to this studio version, which features current vocals, but lacks those pauses that created that wonderful atmosphere when played live. Barely nothing to do with the live version on Live 1975-85, which I have always loved. The subject is similar to that of I'm Going Down. Boring.

SPANISH EYES - Another slow number. Springsteen has written tons of great slow songs, but he chose to place here some of his worst. Far from being Factory or Something In The Night, two songs from this period too. This track is mostly horrible, and the only thing that saves it from complete oblivion is that the first two lines and some other parts of its lyrics would later resurface in I'm On Fire, a song which luckily enough has nothing to do with this romantic atrocity. The vocals are from 2010.

IT'S A SHAME - The second disc gains some height with this song, which is not top tier suff by any means, but it rocks and has its moments. The best thing here is the main riff. You listen to it and are left wondering where you have listened to it before. You did listen to it before, and to Springsteen himself, because after a few seconds you realize that said main riff is Prove It All Night's melody, something that enhances the value of the song. Jon Landau plays drums here, and the bass player is not Tallent, but BOB CHIRMSIDE, Bruce's then road manager. The voice and the trumpets are current, and so is the title, I think, for this number was simply known as JON'S JAM. The lyrics deal with the same subject already seen in Ain't Good Enough For You.

COME ON (LET'S GO TONIGHT) - The same happens with this song, but not as subtly, for this is Factory with a different set of lyrics. Not as wonderful as the song on Darkness, and the fiddle player I talked about before appears here again, but it's good. The lyrics share some lines with Out In The Street and Johnny Bye-Bye, and as for the latter, the events told in Come On also take place on the day Elvis Presley died. The message is interesting, for it deals with the brevity of success, with how said death affected Bruce, and Elvis' fans (who did not have other option but his music, as an escape from their mundane lifes), and with the mysticism of death. Some of this traits permeated Factory somehow, but this song covers more ground, despite not being on par, music-wise, with its younger sister.



He's always kept good company




TALK TO ME - I could say about Talk To Me something similar to what I said about Ain't Good Enough For You, although the former is a tad better and it lacks that boring piano. But it is also forgettable at best. It reminds me of Born To Run's lighter moments, but more because of the atmosphere than the actual music. I think those vocals are not from the late seventies, once again. At first sight this is another simple and romantic tune, until you realize that the protagonist is borderlining on stalking. Just like what happened to Hearts Of Stone, this song was completely (both songwriting and recording) donated for that same Southside Johnny record. The horns are taken care of by the ASBURY DUKES, Johnny's backing band (although I don't know if those horns were recorded back then or in 2010), and Van Zandt can be listened to in both songs, for they are pretty much the same track.

THE LITTLE THINGS (MY BABY DOES) - Better than the previous one (not something to be given credit for though), but quite below Springsteen's most mundane level. More adoration for a woman in another song with current vocals (with current I mean from 2010, of course) in which Bruce's shots at falsetto singing do not help the song's cause.

BREAKAWAY - Way too many slow, melancholic or romantic songs on here. I said it before and I'll say it again: you could fill two or three records with Springsteen's slow songs from these fourteen years which gravitate from good to legendary. Those on this album are not among them. I was about to say something similar to what I've already said about some other songs, but this one is a little bit better, thanks to some guitar licks which remind me of those in Something In The Night. The female vocals (Springsteen's is current, I think) and the horns do not help, but I wasn't expecting them to, to be honest. At least this track is not about love, and the lyrics are quite dark in fact. As already listened to in Reason To Believe, there are several stories, although they are starred by some recurring characters from Bruce's lyrics. It's all about the those characters' lack of hope, and it shares a few lines with Badlands.

THE PROMISE - This is the song whose re-recorded version appeared as a new song on 18 Tracks. Concerning this version here there's something I must admit: as a slow number, very much in the vein of Racing In The Street (just to name one), is the exception to the rule I mentioned in Breakaway. This track is good, although I still don't understand that string arrangement (I don't know whether it is current or it was always that way) which can be listened in the song's second half, because those strings make me have second thoughts about what I just said. The lyrics are very good, and the scholars consider this song Springsteen's ultimate tale about betrayal. It seems to be, or could be, somehow related to Thunder Road (words that are used in the lyrics too), as if the protagonist had achieved that song's goal, only to betray himself and his loved ones time after, when he fails to fulfill a promise due to a money affair. He tries to live with his guilt afterwards. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know. But those strings have no room here, that's for sure.

CITY OF NIGHT - I do not know how to depict this song. It doesn't sound like Bruce Springsteen, and yet it reminds me of some stuff of his here and there, maybe because of the way he sings. Far from rocking Springsteen, but very nice. It has a soothing effect and it could be a wise choice to go to bed with it. As its title says, the night is the first thing that comes to mind when listening to it, and the narrator tells about his ride in a taxi to pick his girl up, no worries whatsoever, no rush either, and all happiness. The vocals are current only in some sections. This track was also known as TAXI CAB (CITY AT NIGHT) back in its day, and shares a line with All That Heaven Will Allow. There is one trivia fact concerning the music though, because Federici's organ is only listened here, in this version, meaning that it was either recorded in the past, and was left out of the mix, or is current. And if the latter applies, that means the work in this song began years before The Promise's release, because Federici died in 2008. This track includes, after a few seconds, another song titled THE WAY, which is the hidden song I mentioned earlier. This one is quite good too, and it feels similar to City Of Night. It's relax time again. Apparently, Bruce did not pay attention to this song for decades, because he did not like it, but given that his fans did and it had already been forgotten on Tracks, he decided to put it here, where it makes more sense, although as hidden as it is. Truth is, it is much better than most songs on this compilation. You can also take advantage from it to say a better goodbye to Clemons, with a last sax solo of his, given that The Way is the last song on a record which at least ends on a higher note. The text is still romantic, although it gets weirder and more obsessive at the end, and it does share a line with The River.



The critics said that the title track, The Promise, could have been the only one song capable of contributing something to the final set list on Darkness On The Edge Of Town. If who said that meant that the record as a whole, did not sound similar to the songs on the final album, they were more than right in my opinion. Apart from that, The Promise as an album is far away, quality-wise, from being a serious match to the monument Darkness ended up being. When Bruce could not enter a studio, after Born To Run, due to that lawsuit with Appel, he devoted himself to write many songs, but only ten of them made the final cut on Darkness. What is striking is the fact that many of them, like most of those on The Promise, were so different from those ten. I was expecting something else, to be honest, for this record, be it as a retrospective, or an alternative to Darkness On The Edge Of Town, is quite disappointing, and only if I am way too kind, I can save half of its set list from oblivion. Perhaps it could have been a very good idea to advertise this album as something different from Darkness; a collection of lighter songs Bruce wrote back then before deciding that his next record was going to be another different thing. It is funny, for The River is a worse record than Darkness, but the extra stuff from its sessions is vastly better than the one from Darkness.





THE TIES THAT BIND: THE RIVER COLLECTION



The Ties That Bind: The River Collection / 2015




Something very similar to Darkness On The Edge Of Town's happened when it was time to reissue The River, big time, at the end of 2015 (fourth of December). Columbia released another huge box set called THE TIES THAT BIND: THE RIVER COLLECTION, which included a remastered version of the original album, and many more things. THE TIES THAT BIND, to begin with, another documentary film courtesy of Thom Zimny, once again. How cool is that Springsteen tells some tales about the music that he adorns with acoustic performances, while everything gets mixed up with some footage. There's also another live show, this time in Tampa, Florida (fifth of November, 1980), but this one is not complete here (the remaining songs were posted on Bruce's web on the Christmas Eve of 2015, so the fans could download them for free). There's also more audiovisual stuff, and another one of those heavy books could not be absent either.

But the most interesting part of this whole is the audio stuff which is available, other than the original record, after which we do find The Ties That Bind, that single album that Bruce wanted to release in 1979, before having second thoughts about it and releasing a different and bigger version of said record which would become The River itself. There are ten songs here, and all of them but three are also on The River.



THE TIES THAT BIND - The vocal track is not the same as the one in the final version, for some slight chances during the refrain can be notices, and there's even a scream by Bruce during Clarence's sax solo which I think is only here. The rest? It's the same, I guess. As for the lyrics, I could not tell whether there are some differences between the texts on this album and The River's.

CINDY - Springsteen pulls one bomb out of his sleeve that I honestly wasn't expecting at all.. When I say bomb I mean the surprising quality of this track, because, music-wise, this is a very calm and short number with some lullaby flair to it (also thanks to what I believe is a glockenspiel). The middle section in which Weinberg joins and there's a glorious guitar lick as well, is another strong point too. But there's much more, mostly because of its creepy lyrics. And this is something remarkable, given the scarce one hundred and forty seconds of this song's running time. The narrator looks like your average exemplary boyfriend (or perhaps suitor), someone who goes above and beyond the call of duty for his dear Cindy to be happy. But Cindy seems to avoid him at every chance. So far, so good. But subsequent lines (that even get her parents involved) happen to imply that maybe what we are witnessing is a stalker at work,  more than anything else. That's why poor Cindy doesn't want to have anything to do with him. But the protagonist will not be deterred. And just like in the good movies, Springsteen leaves you scratching your head at what you just have experienced, without providing you with any clues about the ending. The conclusion is yours to reach. I love it.

HUNGRY HEART - Same as in The Ties That Bind, but even more difficult to notice. It's my understanding that this is not The River's final version, and I dare say the mix is different, but if I'm correct, they both are almost identical.

STOLEN CAR - I believe this is the exact same wonderful version already reviewed on Tracks.

BE TRUE - This take (mostly at the end of the song) is a tad different from that on Tracks.

THE RIVER - The mix is different too, but you can't almost tell, until you reach the ending, which is shorter here and lacks the backing vocals found on its more famous sister.

YOU CAN LOOK (BUT YOU BETTER NOT TOUCH) - This song is quite different. I did not like it at first, but I love it now. It is not as good as the one on The River, but it's very good anyway. It's kind of rockabilly, you know, and during the tour in support of Tunnel Of Love, Bruce came up with a similar arrangement to play it

THE PRICE YOU PAY - This version is longer than The River's, and some parts of the lyrics are different too. for they were later changed for the double album version, as I said.

I WANNA MARRY YOU - The music is the same, given what I read, although the mix and the vocals are not; when it comes to the final version, I mean.

LOOSE ENDS - Apparently, not the exact same song as that one on Tracks.



Funnily enough this album, the way it is, implies a very smooth listen, despite the inclusion of a couple of more forgettable songs like I Wanna Marry You or Be True. I could do some changes to have a total of ten that I would enjoy better, but it feels like there's no need to. This album is short (only thirty five minutes long, give or take) and it flies by.



Not that he ever left




And there's another CD full of outtakes from the The River sessions. Some of them had already surfaced on Tracks and the 2003 compilation, and some other haven't been released yet, but there's still some stuff to be reviewed. I'll mostly ignore From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come), which was discussed when I talked about The Essential Bruce Springsteen, and all the songs already on Tracks: Roulette, Restless Nights, Where The Bands Are, Dollhouse, Living On The Edge Of The World, Take 'Em As They Come, Ricky Wants A Man Of Her Own, I Wanna Be With You and Mary Lou.


MEET ME IN THE CITY - This song (together with PARTY LIGHTS) was chosen to start the collection's advertising. Not a bad one, but perhaps it would have been better off without the sax solo and some backing vocals. The main keyboard line is a little too much for my taste. I was thinking that Springsteen's vocals struck me more as those of someone older than he was in the early eighties, when I happen to read that he was forced to record some new vocal tracks for some of these outtakes, just like he had to do on The Promise. There's also some extra additions, for I guess there were incomplete parts or in nedd of something else. This trait doesn't help the song either and, if I have to be honest, was I told that this is Springsteen's brand new single from his latest record, I don't think I'd be willing to give it more than a couple of listens. The subject here seems to be someone who conducts a radio show while being in prison, but I'm sure there is much more than meets the eye and it's all a big  metaphor, like so many times before.

THE MAN WHO GOT AWAY - This is when the good stuff begins, with a much better and more entertaining song than the previous one. In my opinion there's too much predominance of the keyboards sometimes (one of those moments gets to live rent-free in your head), but at the same time it feels like every time that happens, the guitar players waste no time in restoring order. This is about some guy who, just when we thought he was just a moviegoer ready to watch a gangster film, we realize that some words he uses are ways to refer to the police, and he's the one who is being chased.

LITTLE WHITE LIES - Not bad. As for the music, this is shorter and darker than The Man Who Got Away, and the keyboards make sure they are listened to, although I have to give credit to the fact that this is no problem at all. This song had, at first, the same set of lyrics Be True has (something which also linked it to Mary Lou) and it was called WHITE LIES (DON'T DO IT TO ME), but I don't know the reason why, and it all seems to make more sense (lyrics and name) with the text of this version. BILLY, the protagonist, recalls a relationship which got colder and colder with time and, in this regard, this is similar to Stolen Car or Brilliant Disguise. On the other hand, the white lies subject and using them to avoid facing that something is not working, brings back what was seen in Loose Ends.

THE TIME THAT NEVER WAS - The drum intro might make you think that you are about to listen a rock song, but no way. This is a slow in number (more in vein with what was listened to on The Promise) which just goes unnoticed, but that has brought BONNIE RAITT to mind, mostly because of Bruce's singing and some vocal tricks. It's kind of weird that this lady has taken so long to show up around here, for it's my belief that Bruce and her share a few things, and that he even opened for her when he was beginning. Exactly, in 1974, and that wasn't the only time they played together. This is a song that has stayed in the dark until the release of this collection, for nothing about it has ever been bootlegged. It's all about unfulfilled dreams: the protagonist realizes what those things he misses, but will not come true, did not even come true when he was living the moment whose memory is revisiting in the present.



She sure looks familiar but I still
don't know who she is




NIGHTFIRE - This song operates the other way around, considering what I wrote about the previous one. The nice piano intro leads you to think this another ballad or something, when what we have is a song which may be far from being a joyful one, but also hits harder than expected, with a good riff and a guitar solo (followed by a sax one). Bruce's vocals are weird, for they are current, but at the same time sound very high-pitched. I don't know, but the track is worthy, and the lyrics tell about a girl (a hooker, perhaps) who is running the risk of living like there was no tomorrow.

WHITETOWN - Nothing to write home about when it comes to the music, for this is another boring,  romantic tune, with added vocals. Bruce doesn't help either, because his singing is halfway between falsetto and again, high-pitched. The funny thing is that the lyrics are not about what one could expect at first, but we get close to Glory Days territory instead: memories from better days.

CHAIN LIGHTNING - Springsteen at his most loutish, with a riff which makes me think of State Trooper's almost immediately, although with Weinberg's incessant drumming, tons of cool gang shouts, and even a final solo by Clemons, all of it to accentuate how thuggish this song is. As I have read around, Pink Cadillac is another song that also comes to mind when you listen to this one. I'm talking about the music. As for the lyrics, this is about youth and vitality.

PARTY LIGHTS - Good enough concerning its music, and lively too. It tells about some woman whose life has gone by too fast, because she got married and became a parent too soon, and now she misses what she could not enjoy in the past as much as she would have wanted to. Her youth, all in all. The narrator seems to be her partner, but not the same person she had married, most likely. As already explained, this is the story that inspired Point Blank, and both songs share some lines. The title also appears in Spare Parts, another song this one could have a lot to do with.

PARADISE BY THE C - Studio version of the very festive song to be found on Live 1975-85. Very good song. I love the guitar solo, which comes when this song seems to get serious for a little while. Quite fun. It had no name until that live album was released and the song was called this way, despite having been a very usual live staple in years prior. As I said, this is Springsteen's only self-penned instrumental.

STRAY BULLET - Another slow number, led by an intriguing piano and the occasional saxophone apparition, but very good this time. Truly good, in fact, besides being the very first song from this collection that I listened to, due to some coincidence I do not remember now. When everything seems to be over, that piano comes back for one last instrumental bit in which is also featured Springsteen on guitar. The protagonist mourns his dead girlfriend, due to a stray bullet, although he doesn't know why the bullets were fired.

MR. OUTSIDE - Short acoustic number which sounds as if it was a demo (it might be one) and not a finished product. In this regard, it reminds me of those demos from Springsteen's first two records which were on Tracks, although this song is nowhere as good as those were. An oddity, more than anything else. I couldn't explain the lyrics, to be honest. Maybe this is about someone who thinks highly of themselves.











These nine above listed songs were already reviewed on Tracks. If there's some difference between these versions and those on Tracks, because of their mix or whateve, I just can't notice them.


HELD UP WITHOUT A GUN - B side to Hungry Heart. Most likely, Bruce's shortest recorded song ever (at least to my knowledge, lasting only seventy-five seconds), and it was on the brink of making The River's final cut. So close it was that I have even seen pictures where it is listed on the third side of what it seems to be a provisional backcover three. Music-wise it is really similar to You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch), and maybe that's the reason why it did not make it onto the album. In fact, I think that second song was born from this one, when Bruce mixed a reggae-like arrangement he had for that song, with this one's. It is inspired on the oil shock of 1979, but it's not about it, but about venting some bitterness Springsteen still harbored after his lawsuit with Appel.

FROM SMALL THINGS (BIG THINGS ONE DAY COME) - I guess this is just the same take already seen on The Essential Bruce Springsteen.



Springsteen and the E Street Band got out on the road by the beginning of 2016, having in mind, among other things, playing The River in full. Not a simple feat, you know, considering the advanced age of the band's members by then, and that regardless of what else they could play, there were already twenty songs to be played. Credit where credit is due. As for the record itself, all this extra stuff reinforces what I have said before: The River could have been an extraordinay album had it had just ten songs (not those ten originally on The Ties That Bind, of course), but even having twenty-five or more, it could have been much better than what it actually ended up being, given how good most of the songs which were left out are. To each their own, I guess.

If I'm not mistaken, all those songs must have been produced by Springsteen, Landau and Van Zandt, who are the ones who were in charge of The River in that department. 





THE LEGENDARY 1979 NO NUKES CONCERT



The Legendary 1979 No Nukes Concerts / 2021




The live album known as THE LEGENDARY 1979 NO NUKES CONCERTS (produced byBruce Springsteen), was released at the end of 2021 (nineteenth of November, Columbia), and documents two nights of the E Street Band (21st and 22nd of September, 1979) at the legendary Madison Square Garden, in New York, on the occasion of a series of performances arranged by MUSE (MUSICIANS UNITED FOR SAFE ENERGY).

The setlist is very well known and quite usual for that moment in Bruce's career, and even more if we think that this record is even short when it comes to Springsteen's then usual live marathons, so I guess those performances were shorter due to more artists being on the bill, and the overall context being what it was. I've dome some researching and Bruce's setlist on both nights was this album's, and, barring for the last four songs, said setlist is comprised of his most usually played songs back then.

There's Prove It All Night, at last on one of his live records, to open the show, although devoid of that guitar intro he usually used during those days in which this song was a new thing. In any case, you can identify that melody I talked about in the video I posted when I reviewed this song, at the end of the song, when Bruce extends the final section. The guys also played Sherry Darling and The River (the latter for the very first time, I think, in one of these two dates), one year before the The River album was even released. It is striking how The River gets no reaction from the crowd whatsoever, because people did not know it yet. The final version changed this one's lyrics a little bit. And apart from some other usual numbers which were also played, the very famous JACKSON BROWNE and TOM PETTY, plus one female singer I do not know, named ROSEMARY BUTLER, jojned forces with The Boss to sing STAY.

There's a third disc too, which has the same setlist, but on video, which gives an extra value to the product. An official live album from what is likely to be the best tour of this band, according to the scholars, is always welcome.



















TRACKS II: THE LOST ALBUMS



Tracks II, another monumental complement to
Springsteen's discography




Some months ago, Bruce became news once again, because of the release (27th of June, 2025, through Columbia) of TRACKS II (THE LOST ALBUMS), another gigantic boxset with as many as seven albums of unreleased stuff. The first one, LA GARAGE SESSIONS '83, belongs to this era, and it has eighteen songs recorded in 1983, between the Nebraska and the Born In The USA sessions.

I already introduced this when I began to talk about Born In The USA and tried to elaborate a decent timeline of the enormouse creative process of said record and Nebraska's, for both albums are somehow mixed up with one another. This is what I said back then:

*There's more. Some songs recorded amidst this gigantic process, at the beginning of 1983, at Bruce's place in LA, will be talked about later. The already mentioned Batlan and Springsteen managed to equip said house with an eight-track studio, in which they recorded Nebraska-like demos, only with a drum machine. Just like the Nebraska songs, the singer did not consider them suitable to be played by the whole band, and that fact led him to think about releasing another acoustic record, before he dismissed that thought. As I said, more on this later on.

This set of songs has been produced by Springsteen and RON ANIELLO.



FOLLOW THAT DREAM - This is a very personal cover of a song written by some guys named FRED WISE and BEN WEISMAN, and made popular by Elvis Presley in the early sixties, also thanks to a movie of the same name. Apparently, this is one of Springsteen's favourite songs, and he had been playing it live his own way (it's a good thing that he did it that way) and with a different set of lyrics, in the early eighties. Not bad, although it is a little bit sad. The drums are not supposed to be proper drums, but at least they do not sound as in those songs he usually played in the nineties, in which you could tell it was a drum machine you were listening to. The same can be said about the rest of this album in this concern. The lyrics are about not giving up, basically.

DON'T BACK DOWN ON OUR LOVE - A funny one, very Open All Night-like or something similar, only conceived to be played with more musicians. This is roadhouse music, something I guess goes very much hand in hand with american culture. The narrator misses a relationship from the past.

LITTLE GIRL LIKE YOU - This has to be one of Bruce's shortest songs ever, and there is no need for it to be longer, really. It's not bad, but listening to him singing something like this for a couple of minutes longer would have runied what little appeal the track has. What I've read about this song, and which I find much more remarkable than the actual music (as I said, nothing Springsteen will be best remembered for), has to do with its lyrics and the alleged sexism (probably unintentional) hidden in Thunder Road's. I mentioned this at the time. It all has little to do with this song, actually. Only indirectly. I'll explain myself: as unlikely as it seems nowadays, knowing Bruce's political tendencies, he was singled out in 1982 by the NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR WOMEN, as someone who addressed women in a few song with the sentence Little girl (Fire was another one of those song which were not particularly enjoyed by this organization). Keeping this in mind, and regardless of how stupid the lyrics are, having included this song on Born In The Usa would have meant sparking unwelcomed publicity.

JOHNNY BYE-BYE - This is another, sadder (more in the vein of Nebraska) and earlier (I believe) version of the Chuck Berry song that Bruce rearranged and that was already found on the first volume of Tracks. I did not say it before, but I will now: the lyrics mention how someone on the radio gave the news of Elvis' demise, and the message is that fame can be dangerous. Very beautiful song, and it shares a few lines with Come On (Let's Go Tonight), seen on The Promise.

SUGARLAND - Very good too. I love Springsteen's singing here, and how nostalgic, but at the same time optimistic, the overall thing is. It reminds me, save for some differences, of another song of his, but I'm not sure which one. I'd say it is Man At The Top, reviewed on the first Tracks compilation. Yes, it has to be that one. The protagonist seems to be a farmer who is fed up of his own life.



He just can't help it




SEVEN TEARS - Another short (not even two minues long) and good track, very similar to Little Girl Like You, but much better. I believe Springsteen to be capable of writing good songs while in his sleep. More specifically, songs which suggest scenarios which can resemble that of Downbound Train, whose first lines are almost the same as those here. It's also true that the rest of the song distances itself from that one, in this department, for it tells about someone who had it all, lost it, and experiences some remorse when remembering it. As a penance, he gets one tattoo for each of the seven years of happiness he threw away.

FUGITIVE'S DREAM - Where did this wonder come from? The synth provides this song with a cinematic atmosphere, and the track itself is dark, mesmerizing and, I daresay, quite unusual within Springsteen's universe. The bass guitar seems to challenge the guitar and it sounds great. The lyrics are very good too; they tell the story of someone who has started from scratch in a new place, and when he feels he is finally makins dome sense out of his life, he receives the visit of a stranger who mentions him something he did in the past. Film noir, once again. This is brilliant, but this story goes on.

BLACK MOUNTAIN BALLAD - This song slows down a little the so far good run of mostly great songs, although it is not bad either. It reminds me of the overall feel of Tunnel Of Love, as if this number was Walk Like A Man's first incarnation (music-wise). Its last line would soon find its place in the lyrics of Downbound Train. As for the message, this is pretty much Don't Back Down On Our Love, for a great deal of the lyrics are shared by both songs. Another fine example of Bruce's recycling in this regard.

JIM DEER - More Springsteen from the early eighties, with just guitar, harmonica and nothing else. Very Nebraska-like, as expected, although more similar to the songs in that album's livelier and more luminous half. The lyrics are a different story though, for they have a lot in common with Johnny 99's. This is a variation of another own song called JAMES LINCOLN DEERE (or Dear, depending on where you read), but this story doesn't end here either. Great song.

COUNTY FAIR - I think this is the exact same track which was reviewed on The Essential Bruce Springsteen. A tad boring.

MY HOMETOWN - Springsteen leaves aside the synth which would make this song immortal the following year, to focus almost exclusively on the acoustic guitar. Some other instrument I can't identify replicates that famous synth line and Bruce sings as if he was out of breath. Apart from that, the song is identical to the one on Born In The Usa. Ok, is completely different, but my point is that is just another version of a song which can be easily identified when listening to this prevous incarnation. The lyrics are the same in both songs, I think. Acceptable as a document, and little else.

ONE LOVE - A strange song. On one side, you can notice some traits which belong to the songs created during this stage of Bruce's career (Nebraska's included, for the main riff reminds me once again of that one in Open All Night, for example), but on the other, the carefree mood of the song and the presence of more instruments make me think of something even danceable. It's not bad. Kind of addictive. This track talks about something already seen before: two are better than one.

DON'T BACK DOWN - More of the same explained in One Love, but only better and with less emphasis on the danceable aspect. The refrain is not very good though. It might be a variation of Don't Back Down On Our Love, although the lyrics seem to melt the subject of the previous song with some resistance in the face of adversity.



Anybody said something?




RICHFIELD WHISTLE - The album's longest song (almost seven minutes long) and the only one which can be considered a long one, actually. This is the same story already told in Jim Deer, but with extended lyrics and a different ending. I like the music in the other one better, but this one is ok too. As for the story to be told, I just hope to be right about this overview: Springsteen had a song which was previous to these two (James Lincoln Deere), still in a demo stage, in which (opposite to what was seen in Johnny 99, where the main character kills someone while on a drinking binge) the protagonist commits murder in cold blood and in an unnecessary and cruel fashion, to end up in Richfield's prison (I see my wife and kid through double pained Richfield glass). Another tale of someone who is at peace with themselves and society at large, but succumbs to the temptation of easy money. In Jim Deer the story is similar, but the ending is not as dramatic, even if the narrator and his accomplice fuck it all up in a somehow comical way and they go to the same prison for a while. And already in this third installment, the account focuses on a main character who makes a mistake, is discovered by his boss and fired from his job, and who, after an argument with his wife, storms out with the intention of robbing a store (it needs to be known that in all three songs, the protagonist is an ex convict). He regrets the idea before doing something wrong and makes amends with his woman, while the usual whistle of the nearby prison (as the title goes) reminds him of what could happen to him if he trespasses against the rules. Great story, isn't it?

THE KLANSMAN - Not bad at all! This is another track in which the dimension of the story at hand outplays by far the short length of the song used to tell it. As a kid, the protagonist and his family, are visited by a friendly member of the despicable KU KLUX KLAN. We don't know whether his dad was already a member of this terrorist organization too, or he got convinced of becoming one after they all attended one meeting, as the lyrics also tell, but the young boy explains how his dad tells him about this dream he has regarding the klan and the future of the country, and how he will understand it one day, when he's old enough to Wear the robe. Springsteen doesn't clarify which path this young kid followed, or if what he wishes to show is the pride of a boy concerning his dad, or his shame while remembering the episode as an adult. The occasional synth helps increasing the tension halfway through the song, and the rest is mostly acoustic guitar and a drum machine. Very good song.

UNSATISFIED HEART - This is pretty much the same story told in Fugitive's Dream, with some differences in the lyrics and a great refrain the other song lacks of (Can you live with an unsatisfied heart?). This one is lighter, a little bit epic (it features more instrumentation than expected, maybe too much, and even backing vocals), and merrier than the very dark previous song, although I do not think merry is a fitting description for a song like this one. Very good, although not as good as Fugitive's Dream.

SHUT OUT THE LIGHT - This was seen on Tracks, but this version is longer. Other than that, I think both songs are the same.

FUGITIVE'S DREAM (BALLAD) - Last song about Joe's story, already referenced in Fugitive's Dream and Unsatisfied Heart. Just like it happens with Jim Deer and Richfield Whistle (plus the previous demo which is not on this album), we are talking about different songs dealing with the same story, being this last one the least remarkable of the three regarding its music, although it's not bad (too many backing vocals though). There is this hypothetical bond with the main character in Downbound Train, to begin with, or at least these tales begin in a similar way: the narrator explains his own place in the world, the hand that he's been dealt, like implying he's someone with no roots and completely out of place. There's also some speculation concerning the relationship of this story with some later songs, like Brilliant Disguise, for example. But let's review what really matters. Apparently, it seems like these three songs are different stages of the same tale (lyrics-wise, I insist), and the darker text in this one probably evolved into Fugitive's Dream, and from that one to Unsatisfied Heart. Some guy arrives at a place which is not his own and settles down over there, creating a family as well, until one day along comes someone who happens to know something awkward about Joe's past. Joe gives shelter to this stranger, in exchange for everything he knows to remain a secret. In Ballad, Bruce makes us think that Joe is going to terminate that lingering threat, until he changes his mind. The narrator reflects upon his own existence, while wandering the streets, something that could imply he has eventually run away from his family and the main problem. In Fugitive's Dream, Joe does not think about any extreme solutions, but he realizes how his determination gets weaker and weaker and he chooses to run away, only to repent himself later, for he has this recurring dream which torments him, and which is very similar to the one that tortures the Joe in Downbound Train. Unsatisfied Heart is pretty much the same, only with Joe explicitly admitting how he succumbs to the weight of that guilt from his past and flees. The lyrics include that aforementioned refrain, as if focusing on Joe' dilemma.



I'm not going to purchase these songs in a physical format, most likely, as I'd like to in principle, and it annoys me for, unlike what I have experienced with The Promise, this record is much better than I was expecting. The problem is that in order to buy this stuff, I have to buy the entire box and it is way too expensive, and even more so when compared to the price of the rest of the artifacts reviewed here (not to mention that of the first Tracks volume, whose cost back in the day would amount to sixty current euros at most) which I deem much more interesting, and I'm not willing to invest money on it. As much as this first record is worth the effort and has turned out to be a pleasant surprise, the rest of the albums (despite including some good songs I have already listened to) focus on eras and styles of this singer I'm not very interested in. It would be a good thing to release all seven records one by one, separately, but that doesn't seem likely, given that, just like what happened with the first Tracks box set and 18 Tracks, a single album has been released as a companion piece to Tracks II (LOST AND FOUND: SELECTIONS FROM THE LOST ALBUMS, released on the very same day), and it includes twenty songs which summarize the contents of the box. Only three are from LA Garage Sessions: Follow That Dream, Seven Tears and Unsatisfied Heart.





NEBRASKA '82: EXPANDED EDITION



Nebraska '82 / 2025




Last October (on the seventeenth) Columbia reissued Nebraska big time, with no less than four discs and another one with audiovisual stuff. The first disc contains the outtakes (you know already: Child Bride, which would later become Working On The Highway, Losin' Kind, and more), the second is devoted (at last) to Electric Nebraska, the third features Springsteen recently (I can't find the exact dat, although this might have taken place during last April) performing Nebraska live in full, and the fourth one is a remastered version of the original album. The Bluray (directed by Thom Zimny, once again) includes that same live performance found on the third audio disc, but on video, and there's also a comprehensive booklet brimming with pictures (many of them never seen before, I guess), explanations (the font is definitley too small and in red) and so on.


As for the current stuff, which is that performance at the Count Basie theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey (it has recently changed its name to Count Basie Center For The Arts or Hackensack Meridian Health Theatre), I'll make an exception and I'll talk about it too, even if it doesn't belong to the era I am reviewing. Only to praise Springsteen, for I must admit this is a really worthy of credit performance. It's been forty-plus years since Nebraska was released, when Bruce was thirty-three; he was seventy-six when he completed this recording, so you can say his age is taking its toll on his singing, as expected, and you can tell mostly at the beginning (Atlantic City, for example); but once he gets deeper into the album and you are trapped by the whole atmosphere, you just forget about it. And I think Springsteen does a great job, also with the help of two musicians who play all songs but State Trooper. They are LARRY CAMPBELL, who plays twelve-string guitar, tambourine and even electric guitar in Reason To Believe, and CHARLIE GIORDANO, with an instrument called celesta and some synths. It needs to be remembered that Bruce never toured in support of Nebraska, and these songs were not played live until the Born In The USA tour, so something like this was long due, according to the singer himself, for this was the first thing he thought about when everything was given green light in order to release this reissue. Springsteen has admitted, after playing these songs, that he could feel their weight on him. He says that he has written several other albums with specific storylines, but that there's something special about these songs which make them magical.

I'll leave here some links to more documentary stuff (also by Zimmy, most likely) which I deem interesting, mostly because is not on this reissue (at least on the CD version, although I think is not on the vinyl one either), which is weird.








One of the pics on Nebraska '82




Let's go now with those two discs of unreleased stuff which are also part of this great reissue:



The outtakes disc comes first, and it has nine tracks which I think are all previously unreleased (leaving bootlegs, etc, aside) but two. Springsteen plays acoustic guitar and harmonica, but also mandolin, glockenspiel and some percussion and synth. According to the credits on this reissue, not all of them were recorded at Colts Neck. The Power Station studios in Nueva York show up again.


BORN IN THE USA is the same version found on Tracks, where it was said this was just a demo, something which I think can be said about the entire disc. Very good version.

LOSIN' KIND was already mentioned within the Nebraska review; it was the only song, out of those seventeen on that famous tape, that had not been released yet. Until now. According to the credits, Mike Batlan did not take part in the recording of all those tracks, and Losin' Kind was one of them. It was recorded by some TOBY SCOTT, helped by another gentleman by the name of JEFF HENDRICKSON. It's a nice and quiet song, bound to grow on you after several listens, and which features some solo guitar lines on the acoustic. It has some resemblance to Highway Patrolman, and its first line is pretty much the same, only with a different name (FRANK DAVIS). That Frank might as well be JOE ROBERTS's (the person who narrates the story of that other Nebraska song) troubling brother, for Losin' Kind's Frank happens to be someone who begins to date someone he gets to know by chance, and who is probably a hooker, and ends up killing a person unintentionally during a robbery. Soon after, they both have to face the law after a car crash, but the song seems unfinished in that regard. I like it a lot.

DOWNBOUND TRAIN disappointed me when I listened to it for the first time, given the scale of the final version to appear on Born In The USA, but it has turned out to be a grower too. This first version is even shorter than Born In The USA's, and lacks the latter's impact, but the rockabilly tone has its charm, once you get over the shock that listening to this song performed this way entails. It's entertaining.

CHILD BRIDE reminds me of Highway Patrolman, once more, and even more so than Losin' Kind does. And yet, I even consider both of them to be superior to the former. As explained, this song evolved until it became Working On The Highway, but as expected, this first incarnation is completely different. Barring the lyrics, which are more or less the same as in the final song, plus some additional lines at the end that make it a longer song. Working On The Highway, despite its festive tone, is about corruption of minors, no less, and Child Bride makes it perfectly clear, when it assures that the girl is way too young, something that wasn't quite clear in the final version. Great song.

PINK CADILLAC is very likeable. It's the same thing as the version on Tracks, but completely bare; in fact, there are times, mostly at the beginning, when Bruce's strumming is difficult to hear if compared with his voice's volume.

THE BIG PAYBACK is also great, although it's been reviewed before. This is the song that became a B side to the Open All Night single.

WORKING ON THE HIGHWAY is also here on an acoustic format. Child Bride has already evolved here to the same thing that can be listened, played by the entire band, on Born In The USA, although the lyrics are not the same yet. In this earlier version, the protagonist doesn't have to face his bitter end, and once the lady's dad refuses to let her go, he swears he'll do whatever is needed to convince him.

ON THE PROWL is another short and rocking number in the vein of Open All Night, Johnny 99 or The Big Payback, although it feels more restrained from time to time, music-wise. But not when it comes to Springsteen's singing, which feels the other way around, bent on equalling his voice's pitch to how willing is the protagonist to find the girl he's got a crush on.

GUN IN EVERY HOME closes this disc and it is another brief and quiet number, more similar to that Nebraska's half in which you could find Nebraska itself, Used Cars, My Father's House or the aforementioned Highway Patrolman. It is beautiful, but you blink and it's gone. The text is weird though. If I'm not mistaken, the narrator has a dream after which, thinking that he is doing the right thing, he relocates to a suburb; but while he has to admit that his neighbourhood has everything he needs, he also realizes that that also includes owning a gun, something that makes him to have second thoughts about whether he has done the right thing or what to do next. This song, and the previous two, were also recorded by the Scott & Hendrickson team, just like Losin' Kind.



Well, as you can see, this short album (little longer than half an hour) has no waste. It is great, not only as a document for completists, or as an oddity, but for itself.



Springsteen's more difficult times; but special at the same time




Next is what I believe to be the biggest decoy of this collection for many: another short (even shorter than the previous one) album which gathers those sessions known as Electric Nebraska. These songs were produced, one more time, by Springsteen, Landau and Van Zandt, and in the recording (again at The Power Station), Scott and Hendrickson played their part as well. Every song but one (Downbound Train), were taped during the same session, on the 27th of April, 1982, while the remaining one was recorded the next third of May. Clarence Clemons' absence in both sessions is remarkable, although maybe not that much if we keep in mind that not only was Bruce the only one who took part in the recording of Nebraska, but also that this set of songs is not suitable for a saxophone to join them.


NEBRASKA makes clear, in my opinion, the reason behind Springsteen's frustration while trying to convey these tracks to a full band atmosphere. A song like this one can't do wrong no matter what, but this version, even if it is quite similar to the original one, is devoided of a great deal of its drama and restlessness when played this way. It's not bad, in any case. Roy Bittan is nowhere to be seen either.

ATLANTIC CITY is completely the opposite. The original version is enormous, and this is too, as if it had been conceived this way from the get go. Van Zandt's backing vocals can be heard clearly, but Bittan is missing again. And so is Federici this time, but this is spectacular anyway.

MANSION ON THE HILL begins more or less like Nebraska's version did, and the remaining instruments join little by little, with Federici's organ being a stand out addition. I could say something similar to what I said about Nebraska itself, but this song fares better than the title track in this format.

JOHNNY 99 is, as everyone was expecting, quite lively and rocking, although if I have to be completely honest, I would have cut Bittan's piano down a little (now is Federici who is missing). Little complaining anyway, and apart from that, is quite similar to the original.

DOWNBOUND TRAIN sounds the same as the acoustic version on the previous disc, but this one works better, with a rampant Springsteen who uses a very high pitch. I could live without that bloody piano, once again, but at least is not that overwhelming here. No Federici again.

OPEN ALL NIGHT is pretty similar to its great companion piece on Nebraska, and in fact I believe that original version already featured some electric guitar, but this electric version rocks harder, of course, thanks to all the additional instrumentation. This is just rock & roll in its most primal form, with just Weinberg and Tallent, besides Springsteen, listed in the credits. Guitar, bass and drums, and that's it. Great.

BORN IN THE USA is very good too. At the beginning you get the feeling that the guitar riff is going to nail that of the synth we all know from the final version, but this is a different beast. You can tell this is Born In The USA, without a doubt, and yet it's not the same thing, as if the song had gotten rid of some kind of burden, for, as much as I have never grown tired of this track, I must admit that the absence of synths strips it from that sometimes over the top Born In The USA sound and its connection to the eighties. And that's a good thing too. Only the three above mentioned musicians of the previous song take part in this track, which indicates that this is just a basic approach to the song.

REASON TO BELIEVE has always meant a soft spot for me, and this electric version only increases that feeling. Truth is, this is the same song, but more optimistic somehow when played this way. The harmonica and some trademark screams by Springsteen contribute to that sensation. And this song's refrain has to be simply immune to anything; it can't be damaged. Outstanding.



And this is over. Only Nebraska feels a little bit subpar within this electric ensemble, which is easy to picture, for a song like that is difficult to move out from its comfort zone. Other than that, you could feel these extras are not enough after all these years of wait, because the last two discs combined only run for a little more than just an hour. But it is what it is. I've read something about one song called DANGER ZONE, which belongs to this era and is not featured here, but apparently it is related to Child Bride and Working On The Highway, so perhaps we are talking about a vert primitive idea or version of the latter. Who knows if there's something else still lurking in the shadows, but it is also true that it would have been weird to not taking advantage of this occasion to show the world everything which was created during those years and still remained unreleased.

Let's not forget that this collection includes the remastered version of the original album, the book and the more recent stuff already discussed.





To this day, only Born In The USA and Tunnel Of Love have not been reissued in such a sumptuous way as the other four studio albums from these years have. I do not think there is much else to be known about the latter, for I believe only nineteen songs, roughly, were recorded for it and some of the extra ones were already featured on Tracks. But that's not the case with Born In The USA. The strange thing is that the summer of 2024 marked the 40th anniversay of its release, and it's kind of weird that nothing of the sort was done back then. It is also true that there is no special reason for Nebraska to be reissued in 2025, other than the movie's premiere. We'll see.



Deliver me from nowhere




To finish off, let's talk about those times when Bruce collaborated, one way or another, with several other artists or on some collective record during these fourteen years. This is only a really quick recap of all this, just for the sake of information and completeness. I am not familiar with most of this stuff and, to be honest, I did not know anything about the vast majority of these songs. Next, I list those works and some other oddities too.



The My Hometown single, released in 1985, includes as a B side a live performance (twelve of December, 1975, in Long Island, New York) of the carol SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN. It had already been part of a children compilation from 1981 named IN HARMONY, and there is no studio version, as far as I know. It's been a very popular radio staple at christmas time, and also in Bruce's repertoire during that last stretch of the year.




As we all know, in 1985 Bruce contributed his vocals to the famed WE ARE THE WORLD song, found on the charity album USA For Africa which was already mentioned when I wrote about Trapped's live version. I do know this song remains as an indelible memory from the eighties, but I wish it wasn't that indelible. 




On this Wikipedia link you can read about Springsteen's contributions to other artists' records (which go beyond the year of 1988). He even sang (uncredited though) in one song of an album by THE DICTATORS, no less. This is new for me.




More stuff. In 1987 (the album wasn't released until 1990, I think), he took part on a live album which paid tribute to HARRY CHAPIN, with the song REMEMBER WHEN THE MUSIC.




In that same year he also collaborated on another charity record (for the Special Olympics) titled A VERY SPECIAL CHRISTMAS, with MERRY CHRISTMAS BABY, another live carol which I do not know when or where was recorded.



And last, but not least, in 1988 he contributed two songs to a tribute album to both Woody Guthrie and LEADBELLY called FOLKWAYS: A VISION SHARED. Those tracks are I AIN'T GOT NO HOME and VIGILANTE MAN, and both are Guthrie's.





A guitar hero completely aware
of his limitations




And here ends my vision of the most glorious and creative years in the entirety of Bruce Springsteen's career; those who saw him go from having a very humble and almost anonymous status, to reaching the biggest international stardom (let's say that happened after Born In The USA), to the point that he is among the thirty best selling musical artists of all time, if I'm not mistaken.

That era was quite something, no doubt, and I guess that almost everyone agrees on the fact that the american singer has never achieved something both that successful and great (and that is understandable). These are classic records in their own right we are talking about, and they have been for decades now. And they also coincided with a Springsteen at the very peak of his physical powers (he wasn't even forty yet during the Tunnel Of Love tour, which was the latest time of this era), whose shows ran for longer than four hours sometimes.


There are many good things in his post Tunnel Of Love career as well. That goes without saying. As I said, I have barely paid any attention to any of the music he has created after Magic, released in 2007 (there are six more studio records after that one until today), and that one included, there are another seven albums after Tunnel Of Love. With all those records released after Tunnel, up until Magic, I could make a very decent compilation filled with songs I deem more than good, even leaving the outtakes aside (there several amazing ones on Tracks). And all this considering that I haven't even listened to all of those records. From that moment (Magic) on, the decline of his artistic quality is evident (as far as I am concerned, of course), in spite of his regrouping the E Street Band many years ago. IN fact, all those kind of weird years of his career, during which he chose to disband the E Street Band to record and tour with different musicians, are even better that what came next. But to each their own.


They say that form is temporary and class is permanent, and Springsteen remains fit at seventy six; and selling out arenas, or almost, wherever he goes. And if he still sells those many records is not only because of nostalgia or the completionist ambition of many diehard fans, but also because many people still love what he does. He was never lacking in charisma, in any case. And speaking of the devil, I must admit that I had never been interested in finding out where his very well known and charismatic (THE BOSS) nickname came from. I thought it was the fans who had come up with it, once his fame began to grow bigger and bigger, and also taking his role as the ever perfectionist leader into account. The latter could be accurate somehow, but apparently that was the E Streeters' idea, already from the seventies, and that is something Bruce has never been very much fond of.




As another funny anecdote, the past seventh of September, and during the 2025 US Open final in New York, he was seen with his daughter Jessica while he watched CARLOS ALCARAZ winning the title at the expense of Italy's JANNICK SINNER.


He likes tennis




So far, so good. These events are filled with celebrities. But the thing is that another one of those celebrities approached him to say hi. That person was Courteney Cox, his dancing partner in Dancing In The Dark. I'm sure they have run into each other many times before, but it's kind of funny how everything comes full circle sometimes.



You can't start a fire without a spark




I could never see him play live during that era, and it took me a long time to attend one of his shows, but I have been at two of them already in this century. The first one took place in Gijón, at ESTADIO EL MOLINÓN (15th of May, 2003). As for the cons, I have to say that the setlist was mostly centered around The Rising (2002), the record Bruce was touring in support of. That is an album people usually adore, but that I don't consider that good. He played like ten songs off it. Too many, and even more so if we consider the repertoire he could have used. At least he played the best songs from that record (truth is, he played almost every song). There was also a version of Dancing In The Dark that, as I already explained, did not do it for me. It featured a special guest who, if memory serves, was Jon Landau. Concerning the pros, I must admit that a fifty-something Springsteen was on fire and completely devoted to the occasion. He ran, he jumped and he threw himself to the floor. And I could see the whole thing from a relatively close spot.

The second time happened to be in Madrid, at the SANTIAGO BERNABÉU stadium, on the 17th of July, 2008, with Bruce touring to support Magic. The venue was much more special, but also quite bigger, and I had to witness everything from quite afar, from the most distant stands. But I remember a much better show than the previous one. Magic is a more accomplished album than The Rising, and Springsteen also left it pretty much on the back burner on that very day (he played like four songs only), if compared with what he had done with The Rising five years earlier, so there was plenty of time for more classic tunes (some of them unexpected ones) and I could listen to the guys playing The River, a song that in my opinion should never be left out of his setlists, and Jungleland.



Patti and him with Jessica, the horsewoman




I'm glad that I have written all this. I think Springsteen deserves it, and this is my own personal way of saying thanks for all the happines his music has provided me with. And much more to come, I'm sure. And also, this has led me to dig deeper into some records, remember certain songs, and pay more attention to some of them that, despite not being new at all, they were for me until a few months ago. This has been fun too, and it has helped to increase my own interest in Springsteen as well. Not that I had stopped liking him, for I have already said it always was the other way around, but considering how little I care for his current music and the fact that I do not like certain things he currently does or says because I find them contradictory, it all felt as if I had distanced myself a little from someone who has always been there. It doesn't feel that way anymore, and I'm eager to watch the movie so I can write about it.

*As I said before, I have already watched it.


There is another side of the Bruce Springsteen's universe that I'd like to remark here and that I wasn't aware of until I did some research, in order to know more stuff: it is, indeed, a whole entire universe. It is amazing how several songs have their own family tree and they are somehow related to many others, and how Bruce has been capable of creating so many songs and ideas that weren't used back then, and shelving all of them so they can be dusted off in the future. He has been vert creative and methodical on all fronts. On one hand, the ramifications of some songs are worthy of mention, and on the other, it is so cool to know that among hundreds of songs, there are dozens and dozens of them that did not make the cut considering any of his studio records, and that have been made public much later in time, and yet are even better than many of them whcih did make that cut.

But nothing like his twisted ability to conceal true miseries and more or less repulsive characters in songs you would never think they were about those issues. Another proof, and an ultimate one this time, that at least in Springsteen's case, his lyrics matter much more than one could ever imagine.



When I started writing this series of entries, I mentioned that the idea of writing about Bruce Springsteen dawned on me while I was listening to his music. It was Independence Day what I was listening to at that very moment. And just in case someone is wondering which my favourite record of his might be, I have to say that I could not pass without Darkness On The Edge Of Town if I had to choose just one of them.

Anyone reading this blog on a more or less regular basis, knows that my knowledge is limited and flawed, and that it is much bigger once any given entry is finished, given to all the research I do in order to write. That's why I must thank the help of something that comes so much in handy as Wikipedia, several sources related to the artist himself, and also one amazing blog devoted to him called E STREET SHUFFLE. There you can read real studies about almost every song (this is the source where I took what I linked about My Father's House from). And much more. The rough side about it is that the casual reader will notice my clumsiness when it comes to depicting some things concerning which I did not have that extra help. But it is what it is.

And I'd like to dedicate all this to ROBERTO ANTÓN and PACO REYES, two of my best friends ever and by far the ones I was the closest to during those days in which Springsteen's music, of whom they were (and I hope they still are) big fans, was almost everything. Roberto and I attended together  that second show I already mentioned. All the times I have remember them while writing this are countless. They might never reach this far to read this, but it doesn't matter.


I just hope every link is correct, for this time they are too many for me to check them all. It's been a pleasure. I'll see you soon!


Thanks Bruce Springsteen, and thanks to you for reaching this far.






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