Tracks: 66 Songs (an' still not enough)

I can't think of a single release in the fall of 1998 that got me as excited as this one. Imagine it: a big Springsteen fan like myself having 66 "new" tracks dumped on my lap (after dumping a hefty 80 dollars down for it). Admittedly, the tracks weren't "new, new", but since I hadn't heard them before, it was quite the trip.

The four disks travel in a chronological order, following Bruce's career from "Greetings from Asbury Park," all the way through "Ghost of Tom Joad". The first five tracks on disk 1 are all alternate tracks from the former album, which was a little disappointing; however, the songs are still enjoyable to listen to. The rest of the album has his seventies material, of which, I must admit, the best stuff made it onto the albums. Some standouts from Disk 1 include "Iceman", which recalled DOTEOT perfectly, I could tell which album that came from. The live "Rendezvous" was fantastic and rousing, as was the studio "Don't Look Back".

Disk 2 opens with a Riverish "Restless Nights" and is almost all River outtakes. It is, as far as I'm concerned, the best CD of the bunch, which isn't surprising, since despite the fact that BITUSA outsold The River, the latter album was much more artistically loose and experimental. "Loose Ends", "Living On The Edge of The World" and "Wages of Sin" are all standout tracks, and I wish they'd made it to the real albums. The accoustic "Born in the U.S.A." is haunting, and felt very Nebraska, conveying it's message much better than the bombast of the BITUSA album track.

On Disk 3, which was all Born In The U.S.A. era material, with some of the latter tracks from Tunnel of Love, you could tell he listened to a lot of fifties rockabilly. Even so, though, but they were all pure Bruce. The disk rocks hard, but the songs aren't as strong as Disk 2, although some tracks such as "Pink Cadillac", "My Love Will Not Let You Down", "Brothers Under The Bridge" and "Janey Don't You Lose Heart" stand with the best of his material. The TOL material drags the disk down, though, and you can feel that his interest in his songwriting style was waning, as he looked to reintroduce his songs in a different vein.

Disk 4 is generally better than Disk 1, but not as good as 2 or 3. As with his 90s studio albums, the outtakes lack the adventure and vitality of his other work, and it shows on the album. Diving into more formulaic rock, as Human Touch did, the songs are decent, but not great. It's unfortunate that he chose not to include the orignal, rocking versions of songs from Tom Joad, because from what I've heard, they were fantastic, and would have made the album a lot better. The "Ghost of Tom Joad" clone "Brothers Under the Bridge", while not a great song, is a nice one, and tells a sad story, that should have been on the album.

All told, the Tracks boxed set left me wishing for more. More Bruuuuuuce!!! There were some songs that I would have liked to have had on the album, such as the originally recorded versions of "Murder Incorporated", and some of the accoustic songs off of BITUSA, but how selfish can I really get?

If you're a BIG Boss fan, this set is for you. If you're simply a Bruce Springsteen fan, you might want to check out 18 Tracks, which had 15 of the better songs off of this set, plus 3 tracks that weren't. If you're not a Springsteen fan at all, it's doubtful that you'd be interested in the set at all. When all was said and done, once I listened to this set enough, the songs contained therein were as canon as the ones on the actual albums. Well worth getting, as I said, if you're a big fan.