Search - Bruce Springsteen :: Tracks 1973-1998

****1/2

Docendo Discimus | Vita scholae | 06/26/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Not a career retrospective, Bruce Springsteen's "Tracks" gathers four discs worth of unreleased songs, B-sides, and alternate takes.

It does miss out on a few great songs, like the superb rock n' roll gem "From Small Things" (which is now finally available on the "Essential Bruce Springsteen" collection), and the grinding, bluesy folk of "If I Was The Priest" (which isn't).



But that's a minor complaint, because this big, handsomely packaged and well annotated set is a real treasure trove. Bruce Springsteen has always been famous for leaving great songs off his records simply because they didn't fit in with the overall mood or the theme of the record, and the quality of much of this material is amazing.



The songs are logically sequenced, beginning with a few early acoustic demos of songs which would appear on Springsteen's debut album, and ending with outtakes from "Human Touch" and "Lucky Town".

The first 2 1/2 discs are the best, but there is a lot of excellent material on all four CDs, ranging from acoustic folk-rock to tremendously gritty electric rock songs like "Give The Girl A Kiss" and the rough and emotional "Hearts Of Stone".

Other highlights include the driving hard rock of "Where The Bands Are" and "Rendezvous", the original version of "This Hard Land", and of course the classic "Pink Cadillac". And numerous other songs, many of which will be completely unknown to most listeners.



Springsteen may not be the blinding visionary that Bob Dylan is, but "Tracks" is almost as essential for Springsteen fans as Bob Dylan's renowned "Bootleg" series is for Dylan-philes. It is certainly hard to imagine another rock composer who could put out four CDs worth of outtakes and B-sides, let alone four discs which would maintain this level of quality.

This is not the place to start your Springsteen collection, of course, but it's a great stop to make along the way once you are hooked."