Notebook Dump: Tracks II: The Lost Albums

I spent about a month doing a crash course in the seven records that make up Tracks II: The Lost Albums in order to write an extensive piece about it for NPR Music. But in service to you, my newsletter subscribers, I thought I'd offer a notebook dump and some additional thoughts that were more appropriate for a more specialized audience.

I know some people were wondering about what this release would do to the Vulture list ranking and reviewing every one of Bruce Springsteen's officially released songs, and I am happy to report that Vulture is no longer updating these lists. I was relieved that I did not have to try to add 75-ish new songs (and update the listings for already existing entries) with The Lost Albums. The lists (I also wrote one for U2) were not built for a scenario in which they increase by 30% with one update!

Most unreleased records are provided to journalists via sound files accessed via a web interface, which in the case of box sets is often not organized in the same order as the finished product. This was my solution to that:

I do want to be transparent that I have not yet ordered the box set because of the price point. I know I've had the luxury of being able to listen to high-quality digital files and I had access to the liner notes, and Bruce Springsteen is not the only artist I am interested in listening to, so I'm not an average consumer. But I've had to get some long-overdue house maintenance done this summer and right now, that's where my money needed to go. I very much want the book of liner notes, so I'm sure I'll get it eventually, but given that it's not a limited release, it has to wait.

I will also note that I have not yet read any of the in-depth interviews or anyone else's reviews because I have one more piece to write (about the 2-CD reader's digest version) for my column over at Salon. So if you read some of the comments below and think "But Bruce explained that" – these are early notes without the benefit of any input except the liner notes.

With that, I offer you a notebook dump from my extensive notes on this record, including inside jokes, ridiculous trivia, and side quests! I hope you find it interesting or at least amusing.

early general notes / intro sketches

In 1998, Bruce Springsteen released Tracks, a four-CD set of studio outtakes, demos, rarities and b-sides. The collection opens with the voice of none other than John Hammond -- the Columbia A&R rep who signed Springsteen, but also? Who signed Bob Dylan -- announcing, “Bruce Springsteen, Columbia pop audition, job number 79682, ‘Mary, Queen of Arkansas,’ take one.” They could have edited that part out, but they deliberately chose to leave it in situ, a nod to the diehards: we’re going into the vault, it seemed they were saying, and we’re taking you with us. 

At the time, no one knew whether this was meant as a tombstone for the E Street Band or if this was a hint of a future direction. It always feels a little embarrassing as a fan to be excited about old music that was never released vs brand new music that was just birthed, but Springsteen fans had been waiting for some of these songs to surface on records for decades. The first song from Tracks that I listened to (in my office, waiting for my office-mate to go to lunch) was “Thundercrack,” a whimsical Jersey Shore fairytale that Springsteen admitted had been written to blow audiences away. He’d stopped playing it live in 1974, and so if you were, like me, 10 years old when that happened, you never got a chance to hear it, except on bootleg records, then tapes, then CDs. You were holding a studio version of “Thundercrack” in your hand. You were listening to it through your speakers. It seemed – it was! – magic.

Tracks also included similar elusive chunks of magic, like “Seaside Bar Song,” or “So Young and In Love” or “Man At The Top” or “Brothers Under the Bridge ‘83,” not to be mistaken for “Brothers Under the Bridge.”

What most fans probably want is seven discs of BITUSA outtakes. My experience with Springsteen's larger fanbase does not lead me to believe that they'll be open to an entire record that features two mariachi bands, no matter how incredibly well done it is. They do not want a soundtrack from a gospel-themed western. They do not want Bruce Springsteen wearing a sportscoat and a pink carnation and crooning without a guitar in hand. That's why I believe a better approach to this project would have been to release them as individual records and let fans choose what interests them.

On the other hand, it is 2025 and everything is streaming and so fans will be able to do that, but we know – we have the data on it – that fans buy LPs even though they don’t own turntables because it’s a form of memorabilia collecting as opposed to the only way you can hear the music that’s in the grooves. I suspect this is less accurate for the demographic a lot of Bruce's fans are in. This took long enough to come out that I hope someone somewhere looked at some data?

It would be amazing if he ever decided to, say, perform the material from Twilight Hours, but that seems doubtful given that the release of Western Stars – another lush, orchestral project that can’t be duplicated with just the mighty powers of the E Street Band – was accompanied by firm statements that there would be no tour because it would be impossible to reproduce the sound live. Do I want to see Bruce Springsteen onstage with a mariachi band? HELL YES. Would that really chap some people’s hides right about now? Absolutely, but that would be an added bonus. 

Streets of Philadelphia Sessions

“maybe i don’t know you:” last night we took a drive past the house we used to live - you started crying - wow he does this a lot

OH GOD HE RELEASED IT’S THE LITTLE THINGS THAT COUNT
IT’S NOT BETTER IN THE STUDIO
IT’S WORSE

I dislike “Secret Garden” because it is soulless. It is bland. There is no power or emotion in the vocal delivery and all of that is antithetical to Bruce Springsteen’s music. I can understand him wanting to try it as an exercise but it is the least Bruce Springsteen of Bruce Springsteen’s entire repertoire. 

“The Farewell Party” is a little cliched – it does, however, explain the design aesthetic of all of Bruce’s merchandise over the past 30 years

Somewhere North of Nashville Sessions

“I wrote all these country songs at the same time I wrote GOTJ. Those sessions completely overlap each other… very similar to BITUSA and Nebraska” SO WHY DID WE NOT GET THAT

Sonny Burgess recorded “Tiger Rose." He played it at the Alliance of Neighbors benefit in 2001 (10/18). Garry Tallent was the musical director for the entire evening and he was on the bill with the alliance singers, patti, garry and max. Garry Tallent produced the Sonny Burgess record. He recorded it in 1996. 

Listen to Bruce saying, “The Sun Records rhythm section!” at the end of the song. He was so excited to play with them.

• DANNY FEDERICI IS ON MANY OF THESE
• He likes “Detail Man” because of the vocals and because it’s about booty calls
• there is no harmonica credit for any of these and you need it for detail man
• this is the best collection so far!! 
• POOR SIDE OF TOWN IS A JOHNNY RIVERS SONG!!!!! I am taking this as a personal triumph 
• THIS IS A SUPERIOR INTERPRETATION OF JANEY DON’T YOU  LOSE HEART
• Stone Hill Studios is where they recorded Letters to You. It’s the space in the garage that got converted. Thrill Hill is the studio in the HOUSE
• Stand On It is, again, like Detail Man, he likes the soul shouter vocals – but we deserve to listen to it because Danny is on it and he is amazing. Roy is more precise, Danny was always all soul & spirit & feel

I like this version of "Somewhere North of Nashville." It’s grittier. Western Stars was supposed to be the Jimmy Webb album, I get it, it was great, HE COULD PLAY THIS LIVE, he could have played any of the Western Stars songs in different arrangements, the whole “i could never go on tour with the instrumentation and arrangements” thing was bs

Inyo

• “Adelita” contains excerpts from The Mexican Corrido: A Feminist Analysis written by Maria Herrera-Sobek. WE LOVE TO SEE IT
• This record is really crazy, some people (the "it was like he made us eat our spinach at the 2003 xmas shows because he had a gospel choir open" people) are going to be very mad about it. 
• I wish he had just released them! just release them digitally! we could have been enjoying all of this music for the past 30 years. they could have grown, evolved, been part of an E Street setlist, become fan favorites. now we have it all dumped on us at once
• WILL ANY OF THIS STUFF GET INTO THE ‘NEW’ SET
• Mariachi Band 1 and Mariachi Band 2!! Two Mariachi Bands! DO A LINDA RONSTADT
• One False Move = Straight Time. How much of this is “there but for the grace of god” etc
• THIS IS A MILLION TIMES BETTER THAN OTSS. It’s still a stretch - but he did so much WORK on this 

I want to know more about the character of Our Lady of Monroe, who doesn’t really seem to fit into this batch of songs. it’s another person running from something or running towards a thing they aren’t sure what it is

(I spent entirely too much time digging up the inspiration for this story. It is based on a true story but it happened in Marlboro Township which is in rural Monmouth County, and you can read about it here.)

He is not the first person to be fascinated with how Los Angeles gets its water (that isn’t a political statement)

Twilight Hours

• Sunday Love is AMBITIOUS. it is CHALLENGING. it’s not the kind of thing he usually does!
• unlike Secret Garden he has to work to smooth this out 
• “Piss smell ‘neath the pavilions as we kiss” AYFKM
• Late in the evening: "Along the way there’s a small café /That we once called ours, where we spent the hours" – it just SOARS. 
• I’ll Stand by You is actually a very good song but it doesn’t fit with the rest of them 

Perfect World

Bruce Springsteen is probably the only artist in the world for whom the presence of not one but two home studios is actually not a good thing. It means he can record at any time but it also means he’ll rely on people like his producer or similar to record instead of calling in other musicians. I'm sure they’re fine but you cannot convince me that there aren’t better musicians within a 20 mile radius. studio guys sound like studio guys. It's their job to execute cleanly and without any personality.

This is really the most unnecessary of the seven records. if i had to put these songs into the Vulture list they would have been below American Land. they’re fine! but his catalog isn’t richer by having these out there. “it’s a record I pieced together from work I had held for this project.”

The songs with band members appearing are always better. “Blind Man” becomes exponentially more interesting when you hear the organ creeping in, thanks to Charlie Giordano. 

LA GARAGE SESSIONS ‘83

the credits tell a story:

• Produced by Bruce Springsteen with Ron Aniello
• Recorded by Mike Batlan
• Mixed by Mike Batlan except “My Hometown” by Rob Lebret

Brucebase says: Follow That Dream - Studio logs say "Follow That Dream" was recorded January 29–30 and February 7–8 and 17, 1983 at Springsteen's home studio in the Hollywood Hills. 'Lost Masters' liner notes say the above tracks were all recorded January 30, which suggests more takes remain in the vaults. An early Tracks six-CD sample set from June 1998 indicates that "Follow That Dream" was considered for Tracks, but ultimately rejected.

“Springsteen has mentioned that at one point in early 1983 he gave consideration to releasing the best of these above-mentioned Los Angeles home studio recordings as a thematic follow-up to the Nebraska album. This album concept is not known to have ever been given a working title because Springsteen quickly abandoned the concept. 

This is the one everyone wants! 

Years ago, I drove down Elvis Presley Boulevard early one Saturday morning on my way to visit Graceland, listening to "Johnny Bye Bye." It was the version from the first Tracks, which came from the b-side of BITUSA’s “I’m On Fire.” The b-side is smoother, rounder, more like what could’ve come out of a session at Sun Studios. It’s a finished song, and while this is a grimly accurate telling of the end of the legend, it neatly excises the anguish. 

This version is superior. it’s a dirge. it’s supposed to be a dirge. “a whole lotta trouble Running through his veins” is one of Bruce's most concise lines. It's a careful word choice which says everything in Elvis, What Happened

• HOW IS SUGARLAND NOT ON THE CD. HOW. It’s another one that was slated for the first Tracks! 

Brucebase says, "An early Tracks six-CD sample set from June 1998 indicates that "Sugarland" was considered for Tracks, but ultimately rejected"

It’s version #4, labelled “Sugarland - V4 country” on LM (which has 7, 6 of which are in circulation)

If the purpose of this exercise is to pull the best songs from this release and not “the best songs that haven’t already been released in some form,” then absolutely it is County Fair and Sugarland. However, I’m going to disqualify “My Hometown” because when the record a song is on has sold 30 million copies worldwide, I’m comfortable in my assertion that everyone has heard it and doesn’t need me to tell them about it. That is not the case with the next two songs. “Unsatisfied Heart” has a cult-like status about it but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s that great. It just has a cult status. 

If only there had been multiple BITUSA anniversaries that would have been great occasions to just open up the vaults and let all of this stuff out. It's one of the biggest selling records in the world and people want to understand how we got from Nebraska to Bruce’s ass on a record cover. Just let them have it! Instead we now have this and I’m going to have figure this all out 

Sometimes you can say “if a song was actually as great as its reputation, it would have been released already” and that is absolutely not the case with Bruce Springsteen

FAITHLESS

I LOVE this but it is also a puff of smoke. It doesn’t stand alone as a great soundtrack. He is very good at writing songs for movies and I don’t hate it but I also don’t think it should have been part of this, I can’t wait to watch the play counts on Spotify. 

He’s not writing Streets of Philadelphia or even I’ll Stand By You. People would have bought this because there are people who will buy anything that has Bruce Springsteen’s name on it. I would have bought it. But it isn’t solid enough, for this to have been released standalone it would have needed a couple of other songs.

BONUS SIDE QUESTS

Bruce & the number seven: Seven in numerology: “Seven days of the week, seven continents, seven colors of the rainbow, seven days of creation, countless elements in human civilization”

All The Men: