Springsteen: Tracks II

The most exciting day for any day is the day when the next album leaks. This is a tradition that goes back more than 30 years, and today -- 6 days before the official release of Bruce's "Tracks II" -- is the day. Sure, it's mp3 files this time, and I'll be purchasing the full thing, but these are still the days. In this case, the release is a monster -- seven full albums of material, comprising 83 tracks that were originally recorded between 1983 and 2018. Most of the 83 tracks have never been released before in any form, and only 2 ("County Fair" and "I'll Stand By You Always") have been previously released in the form they appear on here.

"Tracks II" is divided in to 7 distinct albums. "LA Garage Sessions '83," "Streets of Philadelphia Sessions," "Faithless," "Somewhere North of Nashville," "Inyo," "Twilight Hours," and "Perfect World." 

Much of the material on "LA Garage Sessions '83" is familiar to long-time fans via a well-known bootleg called "The Lost Masters." These are the same recordings, mostly, but the sound quality is massively better here, to the extent that I had a bit of a "holy shit" reaction to it. The lead-off track is one of Bruce's best known covers, his reclamation of "Follow That Dream" from a lousy Elvis movie. While Springsteen has covered many Elvis songs on stage and a few more on official recordings, to me this one is at the top of the list. In this, he turned a jaunty romp in to a mission statement. Six of the songs on "LA Garage Sessions '83" have been played live in concert, the most of any of the albums. A personal highlight for me is "The Klansman," a standout track from "The Lost Masters" that finally is allowed the light of day here.

Several of the following albums dispel the myth that Bruce somehow "took the '90's off."

"Streets of Philadelphia Sessions" -- without "Streets of Philadelphia," in this setting, and also without "Missing," another movie title track that was presumed to have originated from these sessions -- is the closest here to a fully realized album. Bruce shelved it, but it feels fully sequenced (excepting the two missing songs) and would have made for an interesting release in 1995. It's not "hip-hop," as it's often been described, but did dabble in drum loops. The sequence of "Maybe I Don't Know You" and "Something in the Well" is unsettling and very effective, both songs showing off a character who seems more than a little paranoid.

"Faithless" comprises tracks recorded for a movie that was never released. I get that Bruce was going for a gospel feel for the movie songs here, but most of these don't work for me. The songs that feature the "E Street Choir" of Patti Scialfa, Soozie Tyrell, Lisa Lowell, Curtis King and Ada Dyer are the best selections here; "God Sent You" and "Let Me Ride" in particular stand out.

"Somewhere North of Nashville" is the big find here for me. The title track was inserted, in stripped down form, at the last minute to the "Western Stars" album. While it's fine there and that's a great album, it's better here. This whole album is a romp with the same players who helped Bruce make "The Ghost of Tom Joad," even being recorded at the same time. This was hardly the only time Bruce had multiple recording projects going on simultaneously, but the contrast between the two albums could hardly be greater. This album includes re-recordings of a pair of songs that were E Street Band b-sides ("Stand on It" and "Janey Don't You Lose Heart") and also resurrects another of Springsteen's 1983 recordings ("Delivery Man"). There are 3 tracks celebrating somewhat unusual jobs in their titles (the others being "Repo Man" and "Detail Man" -- a song known because Bruce played it at John Fogerty's 50th birthday party), each one silly in its way; a surprising and gentle cover of Johnny Rivers's "Poor Side of Town," and possibly my favorite previously unknown song of the entire set: "Under a Big Sky," a beautiful little love song. Pedal steel guitar player Marty Rifkin, drummer Gary Mallaber and bassist Garry Tallent form the backbone of the crack band on this set, and they are all magnificent. The late Danny Federici and Charlie Giordano are featured on keyboards.

How might things have been different had Bruce released "Somewhere North of Nashville" is addition to, or at least alongside, "The Ghost of Tom Joad," and toured behind it with these players? We'll never know, of course, but I find it to be an interesting conjecture,

"Inyo" has been lauded by many for its exploration of southwestern themes in music, in particular a few tracks that feature full mariachi -- or, in the case of "Adelita," two mariachis. But to me, when the mariachi or orchestra (as in "The Last Charro") aren't present, the songs tend to drag. For reasons I haven't yet understood, it reminds me a bit of Woody Guthrie's "Ballads of Sacco and Vanzetti"; an interesting idea that's ultimately too studied to succeed. The closer, "When I Build My Beautiful House," is a hidden gem, an aspirational song in the spirit of "Across the Border," with a lyrical crossover ("where pain and memory have been stilled").

"Twilight Hours" is a sort of companion piece to "Western Stars," though this time with a distinct Burt Bacharach / Hal David feel. The title track and "High Sierra" are particularly effective, though they have the misfortune on this set of bracketing the truly awful (and previously released) "I'll Stand By You Always." Several tracks feature more familiar associates, most notably Max Weinberg on drums.

The final set, "Perfect World," is a hodge-podge of stray tracks, beginning with 3 that Bruce wrote with Joe Grushecky and that they have played together in the past. Bruce had previously played the new version of "Idiot's Delight" on his radio show on Sirius/XM. For me, after listening through several of the more experimental sides, the mix of rockers felt refreshing to close out the set.

And now I gotta get back to listening.