Already being hailed by some as the Holy Grail of box sets,
\nBruce Springsteen’s recent four-disc box set
\nTracks<\/i> comes with the kind of outsized expectations the Boss
\nhas been grappling with since Gerald Ford was in the White
\nHouse.<\/p>\n
Notoriously stingy with his own output over the course of his
\n26-year recording career, here Springsteen for the first time
\nassembles a collection of what he affectionately refers to in the
\nliner notes as “the ones that got away.” To understand what that
\nreally means, you have to consider that each of his 11 studio
\nalbums has been carefully crafted around specific themes and even
\nimages. Songs that in a less focused (some would substitute the
\nword “neurotic”) artist’s hands would likely have ended up as
\nmilestones in his recording career instead ended up on the cutting
\nroom floor, because they just didn’t quite fit with the overall
\neffect he was looking for from that particular set of 10 or 12 (or,
\nin the case of the double LP
\nThe River<\/i>, 20) songs.<\/p>\n
What you end up with here, then, is a large block of work that
\nindeed consists for the most part of distinctly individual tracks
\nas opposed to Springsteen’s normal thematic progressions. There are
\nnaturally bits and pieces of the styles and themes of each of his
\nvarious musical personas represented here (the motor-mouthed street
\nrat, the bombastic romantic hero, the gritty working-man’s rocker,
\nthe introspective explorer of intimacy, and the troubadour of the
\ndowntrodden). But overall, the songs stand or fall on their
\nown.<\/p>\n
As you might expect in an album with nearly four hours of music
\nthat’s never been allowed to see the light of day (bootlegs
\nnotwithstanding), there are a few things present that confirm
\nSpringsteen’s original judgment of their relative merit. But the
\ntotal effect is a remarkable overview of a lengthy and musically
\ndiverse career, and individual moments on this set rank with the
\nbest of his recorded output.<\/p>\n
Disc One kicks off with the somnolent voice of renowned Columbia
\ntalent hound John Hammond introducing Springsteen’s very first
\nofficial recording, his original four-song acoustic audition tape
\nfrom May 1972. The tracks are lean and raw, revealing a young,
\nuntested talent pouring his heart into the microphone, but they do
\nprovide a clear picture of the ferociously ambitious approach to
\nsongwriting that won the kid a contract.<\/p>\n
The rest of the initial disk covers outtakes from Springsteen’s
\nfirst four albums. The clear highlights are “Zero And Blind Terry”
\nand “Thundercrack,” two sprawling, melodramatic narratives that
\ncompare well, even if they don’t quite match up to, the classic
\nSpringsteen mini-operas “Backstreets” and “Jungleland.” Here, as
\nthroughout these early songs, Clarence Clemons’ burning sax work
\nand the dueling keyboards of Danny Federici and David Sancious
\n(soon replaced by Roy Bittan) provide vital texture and continuity
\nto the radically shifting tempos Springsteen employs.<\/p>\n
One of the joys of this set for the Springsteen-phile is seeing
\nhow he latches on to ideas and phrases and keeps playing with them
\nuntil he finds the context that will give them maximum impact.
\n“Seaside Bar Song,” an energetic 1973 cut that suffers under the
\nweight of a cheesy organ line, nonetheless presages the urgent
\ndrive and much of the thematic content of 1975’s immortal “Born To
\nRun” (not to mention introducing the phrase “the highway is alive
\ntonight,” employed to great effect 20 years later in “The Ghost Of
\nTom Joad”).<\/p>\n
Disc two provides another body of evidence demonstrating just
\nhow prolific Springsteen truly is — virtually an entire album that
\ngot away. The guts of this disc are an LP’s worth of songs written
\nand recorded in the prodigious spurt of productivity that led up to
\n1980’s double album
\nThe River<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Here you can find several of the set’s high points, as
\nSpringsteen fuses the breathless rock and roll passion of “Born To
\nRun” with the urgent desperation of “Darkness On The Edge Of Town”
\nand comes up with the blistering, harrowing “Roulette.” This smart
\nbomb of a song was written concurrent with the Three Mile Island
\nincident and Springsteen’s participation in the No Nukes concerts,
\nbut its paranoia-laced narrative extends to the very heart of
\nworking-class suburban alienation (Chris Carter, are you
\nlistening?).<\/p>\n
Less dark but no less driving rockers include the furious
\n“Dollhouse,” the rollicking power-pop anthem “Where The Bands Are”
\nand the ringing, growling, irresistible “I Wanna Be With You,”
\nwhich coulda\/shoulda been a Top Ten single. All feature the E
\nStreet Band (the only bar band ever to play stadiums — and deserve
\nto) blasting away as hard and loud and dead on the money as they
\never have, particularly the crack rhythm section of Garry Tallent
\n(bass) and Max Weinberg (drums).<\/p>\n
Hints are here as to the quieter, darker direction Springsteen
\nwas heading as the ’70s closed out, though. In the downbeat “A Good
\nMan Is Hard To Find,” he specifically previews “the meanness in
\nthis world” that would loom oppressively over the entirety of
\n1982’s acoustic
\nNebraska<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Three gripping outtakes from the latter album are also included,
\nmost notably the long-lost original acoustic rendition of “Born In
\nThe USA.” Here, backed only by a spookily reverbed acoustic guitar
\nand sung in the shaky, desperate tones Springsteen originally had
\nin mind, the lyric’s power is magnified tenfold. You can’t rock out
\nto this version, to be sure, but there’s also no mistaking (or
\ntwisting) its meaning.<\/p>\n
Disc three again features virtually an entire unreleased album,
\nthis time 13 outtakes from the sessions that led to the 12-track
\nBorn In The USA<\/i> album. The chief problem with this, the
\nweakest of the four discs, lies in the fact that the global
\nmega-hit
\nBorn In The USA<\/i> is actually one of the lesser albums in
\nSpringsteen’s exceptional catalogue. Thus, outtakes from it like
\nthe rollicking, anthemic “Brothers Under The Bridges (’83)” mostly
\nserve to remind you that its replacement — in this case, the
\nsimilarly-themed but musically and lyrically superior “No
\nSurrender” — was the better choice.<\/p>\n
Still, there’s plenty to admire: Springsteen’s
\nuncharacteristically expansive guitar solo on “My Love Will Not Let
\nYou Down,” the fat, sweet horn arrangement that propels “Lion’s
\nDen,” the infectious melody of “Rockaway The Days,” and the easy,
\nconfident lyricism of quite possibly the best country-folk tune of
\nhis career, “This Hard Land” (a 1995 re-recording of which appeared
\non
\nGreatest Hits<\/i>).<\/p>\n
The
\nTunnel Of Love<\/i>-era songs that close out disc three reflect
\nthe corner Springsteen turned in the mid-’80s toward the more
\nmature, introspective work he’s produced since. The largely
\nacoustic songs revolve around love and family, the muted
\ninstrumentation focusing even more attention on the strong
\nemotional notes he hits in the lyrics. “The Wish” in particular
\nshines, peeling away the layers of affection spoken and unspoken
\nbetween Springsteen and his mother, his number one fan and the
\npurchaser in the first verse of his first guitar. It’s another very
\nstrong number that just wouldn’t have fit thematically on the album
\nhe released during the period when it was recorded.<\/p>\n
Disc four opens with Springsteen rocking out
\nHuman Touch<\/i>-style on a couple of 1990 numbers that show off
\nhis under-appreciated guitar playing but don’t go anywhere special
\nlyrically. As he has increasingly done in his later work, he saves
\nhis best ideas for the quieter songs that follow.<\/p>\n
“Gave It A Name,” written in ’92 but re-recorded by Springsteen
\njust this August, adds power to its message about facing up to
\nguilt with a spare arrangement and his coiled, intense delivery.
\n“Sad Eyes” is a revelation, with Springsteen’s falsetto vocal on
\nthe chorus propelling this delicate love song onto a whole new
\nplane of soulfulness (throw this one onto the adult contemporary
\ncharts and my bet is it would find a very happy home…). “Loose
\nChange,” another of the real sleepers here, offers a deceptively
\nsimple, moving narrative story-song capturing the quiet despair
\nthat envelops the lonely as life wears on toward middle age.<\/p>\n
Towards the end Springsteen casually tosses off three more gems.
\nFirst is “Happy,” a surprisingly (and correctly) restrained song
\nthat marks the completion of the emotional journey taken by the
\nrestless, wild-eyed romantic street kid who started out this set to
\nthe mature, confident and whole husband and father who closes it.
\nSecond is his deliriously passionate gospel ballad (and
\nGreatest Hits<\/i> outtake) “Back In Your Arms.”<\/p>\n
Third, and closing out the set, is the 1995
\nThe Ghost Of Tom Joad<\/i> outtake “Brothers Under The Bridge,”
\nin which the similarly titled 1983 tune is transformed from a “boys
\npartying on the highway” rocker into a riveting acoustic portrait
\nof homeless veterans carving out the tiniest of existences under a
\nbridge in the desert. How it was beaten out by that album’s
\ninexplicably lightweight closer (“My Best Was Never Good Enough”),
\nonly the Boss himself could possibly explain.<\/p>\n
In the end,
\nTracks<\/i> unfolds like the soundtrack to a career, touching on
\nevery phase Springsteen’s traveled through, revealing new
\ninformation about how his creative process works, while reviewing
\nfrom a new angle the steady evolution of his stylistic and thematic
\napproaches. But — as its author surely intended — it does even
\nmore than that. If anyone still needed proof that 1999 Rock and
\nRoll Hall of Fame inductee Springsteen is one of the great ones,
\nhere it is: taken as a whole, this sprawling 66-song set of
\nquote-unquote leftovers blows the doors off just about anything
\nelse on the shelves today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":24864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5832],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-36069","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-bruce-springsteen","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36069"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}