The Essential Bruce Springsteen [Bonus Tracks]

The Essential Bruce Springsteen [Bonus Tracks]

by Bruce Springsteen
The Essential Bruce Springsteen [Bonus Tracks]

The Essential Bruce Springsteen [Bonus Tracks]

by Bruce Springsteen
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Overview

In the liner notes to his volume of Columbia's Essential series, Bruce Springsteen immediately lays out the problem with hits collections: "In any body of work there are obvious high points. The rest depends on who's doing the listening. Where you were, when it was, who you were with when a particular song or album cut the deepest." All artists have this problem, but Springsteen has it more than most, since he not only has a deep and varied body of work, but he has a passionate, dedicated fan base. Within that following, there are listeners who prefer his big-hearted, sprawling early work, those who love the cinematic grandeur of Born to Run, those who love his stark, intimate acoustic ballads, and those who adore his pile-driving rockers. He's had hits in all of these styles, and he's had concert and album rock radio staples in all those styles -- all of these tunes for his basic canon, the "obvious high points" -- but he's such a strong songwriter and record-maker that this leaves behind songs that many other artists would be thrilled to call their best work, whether it's the epic street poetry of "It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City" or the old-time rock & roll throwaway of "Pink Cadillac." Neither of those tunes are on the double-disc, 30-track Essential Bruce Springsteen, but any two-disc set can't hold all of Springsteen's great songs. It can only offer a representative sampling, which means there will be lots of terrific tracks and fan favorites absent -- Springsteen admits this, citing "Growin' Up," "Racing in the Street," "Backstreets," and "My City of Ruins" as MIA, while others could make just as convincing an argument for "My Hometown," "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out," "Fade Away," "I'm on Fire," "Prove It All Night," "Adam Raised a Cain," and the list goes on. The strength of The Essential is that you never notice these songs are missing. Unlike the previous Bruce compilation, the misguided, haphazardly selected Greatest Hits, The Essential contains all the big songs -- not just the obvious hits of "Hungry Heart," "Born to Run," "Born in the U.S.A.," and "Glory Days," but selections from his first two albums that were ignored completely the previous time out -- and it also contains just the right amount of latter-day material from the acclaimed The Rising, plus "American Skin (41 Shots)" and "Land of Hope and Dreams," two songs previously only available on Live in New York City. It adds up to an ideal introduction to Springsteen's music, capturing all sides of his musical output while being a hell of a good listen. While the two main discs are for neophytes and casual fans, the third "bonus" disc is for the hardcore -- the kind of fans who will argue about the song selection on the previous two discs, and would be more interested in unreleased material than hits. This third disc is a clearing-house for items that should have made it to his previous rarities collection, Tracks, but didn't. This includes previously unreleased cuts, B-sides, contributions to soundtracks and benefit albums, covers, and an alternate, "country-blues" acoustic version of "Countin' on a Miracle" from The Rising. The disc follows a roughly chronological sequence and basically divides into early-'80s material and mid-'90s material. The '80s material has the edge due to the variety and strength of the material: the rampaging rocker "From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)," a song Bruce gave to Dave Edmunds and has never released before now; the spare, tough "The Big Payback," a B-side; the searching "None but the Brave," cut during the Born in the U.S.A. sessions; the evocative "County Fair," cut after Nebraska; a cover of Jimmy Cliff's "Trapped," cut on the River tour; a wonderfully raucous live "Held Up Without a Gun," a variation on "You Can Look but You Better Not Touch" with topical lyrics previously released as a B-side. These are fantastic performances, and while there are also very good cuts of a more recent vintage -- such as the Joe Grushecky collaboration "Code of Silence," his title song from Tim Robbins' Dead Man Walking, and a fun version of "Viva Las Vegas" -- these '80s songs are the heart of the collection. It's an unexpected gift to have them officially released as a bonus disc to a hits collection, and for the hardcore, it's worth buying two discs of songs you already have just get these rarities. And it helps make The Essential Bruce Springsteen really live up to its title. [A 2015 CD release added a second disc with seven bonus tracks.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date: 10/16/2015
Label: Legacy / Sony Music
UPC: 0888751417328
Rank: 29000

Tracks

Disc 1

  1. Growin' Up
  2. Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
  3. 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
  4. Thunder Road
  5. Born to Run
  6. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
  7. Badlands
  8. The Promised Land
  9. Prove It All Night
  10. The River
  11. Hungry Heart
  12. The Ties That Bind
  13. Out in the Street
  14. Atlantic City
  15. Johnny 99
  16. Glory Days
  17. Born in the U.S.A.
  18. Dancing in the Dark

Disc 2

  1. Tougher Than the Rest
  2. Brilliant Disguise
  3. One Step Up
  4. Human Touch [Single Edit]
  5. Better Days
  6. If I Should Fall Behind
  7. Streets of Philadelphia
  8. Murder Incorporated
  9. The Ghost of Tom Joad
  10. The Rising
  11. Lonesome Day
  12. Devils & Dust
  13. Long Time Comin'
  14. Radio Nowhere
  15. Working on a Dream
  16. My Lucky Day
  17. The Wrestler
  18. We Take Care of Our Own
  19. Hunter of Invisible Game

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Bruce Springsteen   Primary Artist,Bass,Banjo,Drums,Loops,Organ,Piano,Guitar,Vocals,Mandolin,Recorder,Harmonica,Keyboards,Percussion,Synthesizer,Glockenspiel,Handclapping,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric),Vocals (Background)
Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band   Primary Artist
Clarence Clemons   Guest Artist,Saxophone,Percussion,Sax (Tenor),Handclapping,Vocals (Background)
Steven Van Zandt   Guest Artist,Guitar,Vocals,Mandolin,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric),Vocals (Background)
Nils Lofgren   Guest Artist,Vocals (Background),Banjo,Dobro,Guitar,Slide Guitar,Guitar (Electric)
Soozie Tyrell   Violin,Vocals,Vocals (Background)
David Sancious   Organ,Piano,Clavinet,Keyboards,Piano (Electric)
Jeff Porcaro   Drums,Percussion
Wayne Andre   Trombone
Howard Kaylan   Vocals (Background)
Ron Aniello   Bass,Drums,Loops,Piano,Guitar,Keyboards,Vocals (Background)
Roy Bittan   Organ,Piano,Crumar,Korg M1,Keyboards,Mellotron,Pump Organ,Synthesizer,Glockenspiel,Fender Rhodes,Vocals (Background),Kurzweil Synthesizer
Mike Appel   Vocals (Background)
Brendan O'Brien   Bass
Jerry Vivino   Sax (Tenor)
Bob Glaub   Bass
Lisa Lowell   Vocals (Background)
The E Street Band   Vocals
Jere Flint   Cello
Vincent Lopez   Drums,Vocals (Background)
Garry Tallent   Bass,Tuba,Guitar (Bass),Vocals (Background)
David Sanborn   Sax (Baritone)
Patti Scialfa   Guitar,Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Larry LeMaster   Cello
Vincent "Loper" Lopez   Drums,Vocals (Background)
Jane Scarpantoni   Cello
Marty Rifkin   Dobro,Pedal Steel,Guitar (Steel)
Randy Brecker   Trumpet,Flugelhorn
Max Weinberg   Drums,Percussion,Vocals (Background)
Richard Blackwell   Congas,Percussion
The Nashville String Machine   Strings
Michael Brecker   Sax (Tenor)
Christopher Pulgram   Violin
Charae Krueger   Cello
Lachlan McBane   Viola
Vini Lopez   Drums,Vocals (Background)
Atlanta Strings   Strings
Tania Maxwell   Viola
Tiffany Andrews   Choir/Chorus
Steve Jordan   Drums
Gary Mallabar   Drums,Percussion
Ed Manion   Sax (Baritone)
New York Chamber Consort   Strings
Mike Spengler   Trumpet
Thomas Witte   Horn,Guitar Synth (Horns)
Harold Wheeler   Piano
William Pu   Violin
Sheela Iyengar   Violin
Tom Morello   Guitar
Susan Welty   Horn,Guitar Synth (Horns)
Mark Pender   Trumpet
Gary Mallaber   Drums,Percussion
Justin Bruns   Violin
Olga Shpitko   Violin
Daniel Laufer   Celli,Cello
John Meisner   Violin
Ed Horst   Conductor
Randy Jackson   Bass
Amy Chang   Viola
Danny Federici   Organ,Piano,Accordion,Keyboards,Glockenspiel,Farfisa Organ,Vox Continental,Vocals (Background)
Jim Hanson   Bass
Karen Freer   Cello
Kenn Wagner   Violin
Ernest "Boom" Carter   Drums
Suki Lahav   Violin,Vocals (Background)
Jay Christy   Violin
The Nashville Strings   Strings
Richie "LaBamba" Rosenberg   Trombone

Technical Credits

Andy Abrams   Assistant Engineer
David Sancious   Group Member
Ryan Freeland   Assistant Engineer
Mark "Spike" Stent   Mixing Engineer
Jon Landau   Producer,Executive Producer
Ron Aniello   Engineer,Producer
Rob Jacobs   Engineer
Jim Cretecos   Producer
Mike Reese   Mastering Engineer
Mike Appel   Producer
Mike Batlin   Engineer
Thom Panunzio   Assistant Engineer
Tim Leitner   Engineer
Brendan O'Brien   Producer,Mixing Engineer
Brian Lee   Mastering Engineer,Remastering Engineer
Matt Serrecchio   Assistant Engineer
Bruce Springsteen   Editing,Arranger,Composer,Engineer,Lyricist,Producer,Liner Notes,Group Member
Bernie Grundman   Mastering Engineer
Bob Clearmountain   Mixing Engineer
Bob Ludwig   Remastering,Mastering Engineer,Remastering Engineer
Ken Perry   Mastering Engineer
Billy Bowers   Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Kevin Mills   Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Billy Straus   Assistant Engineer
Chris Bellman   Mastering Engineer
Joe Grushecky   Composer
The E Street Band   Group
Jack Ashkinazy   Mixing Engineer,Mastering Engineer
Chuck Plotkin   Producer,Mixing Engineer
Clif Norrell   Engineer
Carl Glanville   Assistant Engineer
Doc Pomus   Composer
Garry Tallent   Group Member
Jeff Hendrickson   Assistant Engineer
Greg Calbi   Mastering Engineer
Dennis King   Mastering Engineer
Patti Scialfa   Harmony,Arranger
Steven Van Zandt   Arranger,Producer,Assistant Producer
Corky Stasiak   Assistant Engineer
Clarence Clemons   Group Member
David Thoener   Assistant Engineer
Roy Bittan   Producer
Louis Lahav   Engineer
Mark McKenna   Mixing Engineer
Jimmy Cliff   Composer
Nick DiDia   Engineer
Jimmy Iovine   Engineer,Mixing Engineer
Danny Clinch   Photography
Angie Arcuri   Assistant Engineer
Ross Petersen   Engineer
Fusako Chubachi   Design
Neal Preston   Photography
Eric Meola   Photography
Laurie Flannery   Editing
Jay Militscher   Assistant Engineer
Frank Stefanko   Photography
Pete Keppler   Assistant Engineer
Tim White   Photography
Tony Duino Black   Assistant Engineer
Carol Nelson   A&R
Sandy Park   Contractor
Rob Lebret   Engineer
Mort Shuman   Composer
Toby Scott   Engineer,Mixing Engineer
Derek Karlquist   Assistant Engineer
Tom Syrowski   Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Rick Kwan   Assistant Engineer
Tom "Panda" Ryan   Engineer
Sergio Ruelas Jr.   Assistant Engineer
Heidi Cron   Assistant Engineer
Squeek Stone   Engineer
Zachary Russo   Producer
John Davenport   Assistant Engineer
Steve Marcussen   Mastering Engineer
MC Ewen   A&R
Nico X. German   Assistant Engineer
Roger Talkov   Engineer
Karl Egsieker   Assistant Engineer
Neil Dorfsman   Engineer
Brandon Duncan   Assistant Engineer
Bruce Lampcov   Assistant Engineer
Glenn Pittman   Assistant Engineer
Danny Federici   Group Member
Matty Green   Assistant Engineer
Tom Tapley   Assistant Engineer
Zoe Yanakas   Assistant Engineer
Darren Tablan   Assistant Engineer
Paul Lamalfa   Assistant Engineer
Ricky Delena   Assistant Engineer
Dave Collins   Mastering Engineer
David Bett   Art Direction
Christopher Austopchuk   Art Direction
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