Bruce Springsteen "Tracks II: The lost albums" : A review

Bruce Springsteen has published a new album which contains in turn 7 albums: 83 unreleased songs (74 of them unheard) recorded throughout his whole career but never selected as main material. 

He does things differently, that's why we call him The Boss. Bruce hasn't wait till death to have his never-before-heard songs published in digital platforms and available in stores, he's said: "I want to know what do they think. I want this experience to be shared".

Personally, I've found the album too long. I understand it's done from joy and the lack of pressure for selling. I also understand it is a treasure for the fans. Well, I surely am a fan and I've created an ultimate album for people who, like me, don't really feel like listening to all the material and would prefer to enjoy something new, but shorter. Something picked out of it with sensibility and effort. Go ahead and recreate the playlist on Spotify.

My "Tracks II: The lost albums" selection

1. Follow that dream

2. My hometown

3. One love

4. One beautiful morning

5. Faithless

6. Tiger Rose

7. Under a big sky

8. Silver mountain

9. Stand on it

10. I'll stand by you

11. Idiot's delight

12. Blind man

"Follow that dream" and "My hometown" aren't unreleased songs, they're exceptions. "Follow that dream" is a Bruce cover of the Elvis song, modified and reimagined, while the track "My hometown" we have here is actually the demo of it. It was one of the singles of the album Born in the USA and it's just a beautiful and raw draft full of detail and emotion. They both are pure Bruce Springsteen material.

"One love" is a rockish cool-American 80's pop song and my personal favourite. It has great influence from the indie style of the 70's. It makes me think of the movie "Desert hearts" by Donna Deitch (1983) and that it would have been amazing as part of its soundtrack. "One beautiful morning" is typical pop-rock and then we have the ballad "Faithless". "Faithless" is, along with "Follow that dream" and "My hometown", pure Bruce essence and objectively the best song of this publication. 

"Tiger Rose" and "Stand on it" are the rockabilly we didn't know Bruce had in him. At least, not from his own project. Me not being that much into the "Streets of Philadelphia" profile in his work, I'd had loved to have seen more of this Bruce throughout the years. A real rebel, an overjoyed man simply singing his heart out. Just excellent! These tracks along with "Idiot's delight" create an authentic and totally new concept of the singer, which I'd had just melt for being it based on roots and American culture rawness.

Then we have "Under a big sky" a country-pop whose harmonica touch gets to surround us just as "The river" does. "Silver mountain" and "Blind man" are very good pop songs, the first one more country, the second one a beautiful mid-tempo.

A nice surprise to end! "I'll stand by you" was written for "Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone" soundtrack but finally didn't make it. It has influences from the romantic 90's pop.

Andrea Cabrera