DANNY CLINCH
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
The 83 songs on Bruce Springsteen’s upcoming boxed set, Tracks II: The Lost Albums, may have, in some cases, been more “misplaced” than lost. Quite a few of them have surfaced in some form, over the years.
It remains to be seen how similar these versions will be to the versions we already know. But while we are waiting — the boxed set comes out on June 27 — I thought I would take a look at the versions of these songs that already can be heard. Here is an annotated list of all the songs in the boxed set, with YouTube videos whenever possible.
Notes:
1. I have stuck to songs recorded by Springsteen or other artists, or songs that have been performed in concert. I have not included studio bootlegs.
2. The website brucebase.wikidot.com was an invaluable resource in putting this post together.
3. For each album, I have included the descriptions of them that can be found at the end of this promotional video.
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LA Garage Sessions ’83
Description:
“The symbiotic writing and home-recording process Springsteen employed on Nebraska would extend and grow with his temporary relocation to Southern California in late 1982.”
1. “Follow That Dream”
This inspirational ballad borrows its title and some of its lyrics from the perky 1962 Elvis Presley hit (listen below), co-written by Fred Wise and Ben Weisman, but is a very different song. Springsteen performed it mostly in 1981 and 1984, and occasionally since then as well.
2. “Don’t Back Down on Our Love”
Possibly an alternative version of “Don’t Back Down” (also included on this album). But maybe an entirely different song.
3. “Little Girl Like You”
4. “Johnny Bye Bye”
Springsteen borrowed some lines from Chuck Berry’s song “Bye Bye Johnny,” and Berry has received co-writing credit for that. The song was officially released as the B-side of “I’m on Fire” in 1985, and a different version also appeared on the 1998 boxed set Tracks.
5. “Sugarland”
Played twice in concert in 1984. Here is one of those performances.
6. “Seven Tears”
7. “Fugitive’s Dream”
8. “Black Mountain Ballad”
9. “Jim Deer”
10. “County Fair”
Released on the Essential Bruce Springsteen compilation in 2003, and performed once in concert that year, and once in 2005.
11. “My Hometown”
Presumably an alternate version of one of Springsteen’s signature songs.
12. “One Love”
13. “Don’t Back Down”
Recorded by Italian singer-songwriter Graziano Romani and released on his 2001 album Soul Crusader: The Songs of Bruce Springsteen.
14. “Richfield Whistle”
15. “The Klansman”
16. “Unsatisfied Heart”
17. “Shut Out the Light”
Released as the B-side to “Born in the USA” in 1984. Also on Tracks (1998), and the soundtrack of the 1998 documentary “Vietnam, Long Time Coming.” Performed 35 times in concert.
18. “Fugitive’s Dream (Ballad)”
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Streets of Philadelphia Sessions
Description:
“After a year spent touring his 1992 albums Human Touch and Lucky Town, Bruce Springsteen began writing and recording new material in the fall of 1993 at his home in New Jersey. One of the first songs to emerge from those sessions sounded distinct from his recent work and would take Springsteen’s music all the way to the Oscars: ‘Streets of Philadelphia.’ ”
1. “Blind Spot”
2. “Maybe I Don’t Know You”
3. “Something in the Well”
4. “Waiting on the End of the World”
5. “The Little Things”
A couple of possibilities. Springsteen did perform a song with a title like this at his 1995-97 solo shows (with just two performances since then):
Less probably, it could be “The Little Things (My Baby Does),” a Darkness on the Edge of Town outtake that was released on the 2010 album The Promise. It was still unreleased at the time of these sessions, of course, so Springsteen could have returned to it.
6. “We Fell Down”
7. “One Beautiful Morning”
8. “Between Heaven and Earth”
9. “Secret Garden”
First released on the Greatest Hits anthology in 1995. Also performed at six concerts, and on “Late Show With David Letterman.”
10. “The Farewell Party”
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Faithless
Description:
“A moving meditation on purpose, belief, and acceptance, Faithless strikes a stirring, spiritual note on The Lost Albums. It echoes tone and locations found in other work on the box, particularly Inyo, but with a marked focus befitting its origin.
” ‘It was music commissioned for a film that for one reason or another hasn’t been made up to now,’ Springsteen explains. ‘That’s the music business for you. But I sat with the music for a long time, so, not exactly knowing where the project was going, I decided to release it as a record.’ ”
1. “The Desert (Instrumental)”
2. “Where You Goin’, Where You From”
3. “Faithless”
4. “All God’s Children”
5. “A Prayer by the River (Instrumental)”
6. “God Sent You”
7. “Goin’ to California”
8. “The Western Sea (Instrumental)”
9. “My Master’s Hand”
10. “Let Me Ride”
11. My Master’s Hand (Theme)”
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Somewhere North of Nashville
Description:
“Bruce Springsteen closed out 1994 thinking he’d finished a new album. Streets of Philadelphia Sessions had expanded the contemporary sound of his Oscar-winning single of the same name, including songs cut with Tommy Sims, Zack Alford and Shane Fontayne from the 1992-93 touring band.
“But just days into the new year of 1995, Springsteen took an unexpected U-turn and called the E Street Band to New York City to record material for his forthcoming Greatest Hits CD. Barely a week had passed when on January 9, the group — which had not fully reassembled since the 1988 Human Rights Now! tour — found themselves together again in a studio for the first time in ten years.”
1. “Repo Man”
2. “Tiger Rose”
Recorded by Sonny Burgess in 1996 and performed by Burgess with Springsteen at the post-9/11 Alliance of Neighbors benefits at The Count Basie Theatre (now The Count Basie Center for the Arts) in Red Bank on Oct. 18 and 19, 2001.
3. “Poor Side of Town”
4. “Delivery Man”
5. “Under a Big Sky”
6. “Detail Man”
Performed by Springsteen in John Fogerty’s living room in 1995, at a party celebrating Fogerty’s 50th birthday. A video was shared by John Stamos, who was there, to social media, in 2020.
7. “Silver Mountain”
8. “Janey Don’t You Lose Heart”
Released as the B-side to “I’m Goin’ Down” in 1985, then on Tracks in 1998. Performed 28 times in concert.
9. “You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone”
10. “Stand on It”
Released as the B-side to “Glory Days” in 1985 and then on Tracks in 1998. Performed in concert 42 times.
11. “Blue Highway”
12. “Somewhere North of Nashville”
Released on Western Stars in 2019, though possibly a different song, or a significantly different version of the same song.
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Inyo
Description:
“Borders that divide and legacies born of separation are themes Bruce Springsteen has explored in some of his most cinematic songwriting. Perhaps the first border was the Hudson River between New Jersey and New York, the latter full of wonder, opportunity, and, on occasion, danger when one must ‘make it through the tunnel’ for a ‘meeting with a man on the other side,’ as he sings in 1975 ‘Meeting Across the River.’ ”
1. “Inyo”
2. “Indian Town”
3. “Adelita”
4. “The Aztec Dance”
5. “The Lost Charro”
6. “Our Lady of Monroe”
7. “El Jardinero (Upon the Death of Ramona)”
8. “One False Move”
9. “Ciudad Juarez”
10. “When I Build My Beautiful House”
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Twilight Hours
Description:
“Though he didn’t perform any proper concerts, Bruce Springsteen had a highly productive 2010.
“To the public, the year’s primary output took the form of The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story box set and accompanying film. The double album featured 22 previously unreleased songs circa 1977-78 that were finished in Springsteen’s Stone Hill studio in New Jersey between January and July 2010. At the same time and through the spring of 2011, he also recorded demos of songs that would comprise his critically acclaimed 2019 album Western Stars.”
1. “Sunday Love”
2. “Late in the Evening”
3. “Two of Us”
4. “Lonely Town”
5. “September Kisses”
6. “Twilight Hours”
7. “I’ll Stand by You”
Released on the Blinded by the Light soundtrack album in 2019.
8. “High Sierra”
9. “Sunliner”
10. “Another You”
11. “Dinner at Eight”
12. “Follow the Sun”
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Perfect World
Description:
“The Lost Albums includes standalone, finished projects (Streets of Philadelphia Sessions), distinct bodies of work (LA Garage Sessions ’83, Faithless), and what were once intertwined companions to other works (Somewhere North of Nashville, Twilight Hours, Inyo). Perfect World is a little different. ‘That’s the one thing on this that wasn’t initially conceived as an album, but it was something I put together,’ says Springsteen.”
1. “I’m Not Sleeping”
Co-written with Joe Grushecky, and recorded by Joe Grushecky & the Houserockers on their 1997 album Coming Home. Performed in concert with Grushecky eight times.
2. “Idiot’s Delight”
Co-written with Joe Grushecky, and recorded by Joe Grushecky & the Houserockers on their 1997 album Coming Home. Performed in concert 13 times (mostly at solo shows but also with Grushecky, and with The E Street Band).
3. “Another Thin Line”
Co-written with Joe Grushecky, and recorded by Joe Grushecky & the Houserockers on their 2009 album East Carson Street. Performed in concert 11 times (with Grushecky, and with The E Street Band).
4. “The Great Depression”
5. “Blind Man”
6. “Rain in the River”
Released earlier this month as the lead single for Tracks II: The Lost Albums.
7. “If I Could Only Be Your Lover”
8. “Cutting Knife”
9. “You Lifted Me Up”
10. “Perfect World”
Recorded by John Mellencamp on his 2023 album Orpheus Descending.
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