Latest news with #StreetsofPhiladelphiaSessions
Irish Examiner
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Tom Dunne: Bruce Springsteen gives us an early Christmas gift
July may seem a little early to be wishing you a Happy Christmas, but if you're Springsteen fan I can't think of what else to say. The Boss got you something amazing this year and just couldn't wait 'til December to give it to you. And you won't be asking for a gift receipt either. It's timely too in the run up to July 4, Independence Day and all that. I can't remember a time when celebrating that great nation's big day has seemed more fraught with difficulty. But this gift from Bruce helps enormously. The problem with the antics of the current US administration is that America is not just the biggest military power in history - although it certainly is that, and seeing the 'world's cop' suddenly seeking back-handers is hard to take – but it is also, to many, a kind of Utopia. It has been, for centuries, a place to escape to, a refuge, a romantic ideal. It is the ultimate destination for, well, us tired, poor, huddled masses. Great writers have evoked that – Steinbeck, O'Connor, Faulkner – but few have brought it into our lives, with such power as Bruce. And now here are seven more entire volumes. Not individual, previously unheard tracks, but entire unreleased projects, spanning the years 1983 to 2019 and presented with stunning sleeve notes and Bruce's insights. If it was a Christmas gift, you'd be taking January off. Amongst its highlights... Streets of Philadelphia Sessions Springsteen was in a critical and commercial lull in the early 1990s when the song he wrote for the film Philadelphia won an Oscar for Best Song. Buoyed by this he resolved to write songs using the same template, namely drum loops and synths. The result was what has been described as 'scenes from a mid-life crisis.' It is probably one of the strongest albums in the seven-album set, so why was it not put out as it was fully mixed and scheduled for a mid 1995 release? Bruce says that he had just released three albums in a row about romantic relationships and felt a fourth was just too much. Instead, the record company went with a Greatest Hits package which was significant in both positioning him in the mid 90s and reconciling him with the E Street Band. An early version of Secret Garden which featured on that hits album is included here. Faithless The most intriguing of the seven albums as it was 'commissioned' for a film that was never released. It does beg the question, who commissions Bruce Springsteen and doesn't release the film? Surely if you have a Bruce soundtrack you'd just commission a new film? Springsteen wrote these in the early 2000s when on a trip to Florida to visit his daughter and his children feature on one track. Is it throwaway? No, of course not. God Sent You is as beautiful a love song as you will hear this year. The film was to be a 'spiritual Western'. Is it too late to make it now? Bruce Springsteen, Tracks II: The Lost Albums. Somewhere North of Nashville This album was made simultaneously with The Ghost of Tom Joad. That material was quite down so in the afternoons they would kick back and have fun. The title track later appeared on the superb 2019 release Western Stars. There is a countrified version of Born in the USA, a gorgeous cover of Johnny Rivers' Poor Side of Town and the always sublime B side, Janey, Don't You Lose Heart. At a pivotal time in his career – his first acoustic album since Nebraska – this was seen as too light-hearted to be released. Oh, to have something as light-hearted and unreleased in my back catalogue. After that there are too many highlights to list but one, a companion piece Twilight Hours, to the Western Stars album on which he celebrated the song writing of Jimmy Webb, Burt Bacharach and Hal David, will be, to many, worth the price of admission alone. Regarding that price, the vinyl box set is €320, delivery included. That's, ahem, €29 per slice of vinyl, he said as if explaining the purchase to his wife, or €45 per lost album. But that doesn't take into account Erik Flannigan's insightful and wonderful notes, contained in a hardback book! A small price to pay, no one has ever argued, for an item described in one paper as 'surely the greatest box set of all time'. I will be in my man shed until further notice.
Economist
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Economist
The six best 'lost' albums
NO BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN fan should feel short-changed. Since he released his debut album in 1973, the Boss (pictured top) has put out another 20 studio albums, 78 singles and 121 live albums. On June 27th his hordes of fans—some 20m listen to his music every month on Spotify—will get access to a new trove of work. 'Tracks II: The Lost Albums' collates unheard recordings from a 35-year period into seven albums. Mr Springsteen may be trying to make a profit from the music he still owns (he sold the rights to his studio albums to Sony for a reported $500m in 2021). Yet there is treasure here: in the dark electronica of 'Streets of Philadelphia Sessions', the sophisticated retro-pop of 'Twilight Hours' and the country stylings of 'Somewhere North of Nashville'. Here is a selection of great lost (but rediscovered) albums whose roster they join.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Bruce Springsteen Shares Unreleased ‘Blind Spot' From ‘Tracks II: The Lost Albums'
Bruce Springsteen has shared his unreleased song 'Blind Spot,' the 'thematic center' of his Streets of Philadelphia Sessions, one of the seven LPs that have been unearthed for the upcoming Tracks II: The Lost Albums. Informally known as the 'Drum Loop' album and inspired by contemporary music like hip-hop at the time, Streets of Philadelphia Sessions was recorded in the mid-Nineties at Springsteen's Los Angeles home, with Springsteen serving as the primary instrumentalist with some help from his touring band at the time. More from Rolling Stone How Craig Finn Made the Seventies L.A. Record of His Dreams Bruce Springsteen Announces 'Tracks II: The Lost Albums' Box Set Bruce Springsteen's High School Buddy Immortalized in 'Glory Days' Dead at 75 'Blind Spot,' like much of the Streets of Philadelphia Sessions, focuses on doubt and betrayal in a relationship. 'That was just the theme that I locked in on at that moment,' Springsteen said in a statement of the song. 'I don't really know why. Patti and I, we were having a great time in California. But sometimes if you lock into one song you like, then you follow that thread. I had 'Blind Spot,' and I followed that thread through the rest of the record.' Although Streets of Philadelphia Sessions were completed and mixed for a spring 1995 release, Springsteen opted to shelve the album and instead reunite with the E Street Band. 'I said, 'Well, maybe it's time to just do something with the band, or remind the fans of the band, or that part of my work life,'' Springsteen added. 'So that's where we went. But I always really liked 'Streets of Philadelphia Sessions'…during the Broadway show, I thought of putting it out [as a standalone release]. I always put them away, but I don't throw them away.' Tracks II, due out June 27, begins with L.A. Garage Sessions '83, which Springsteen recorded in the interim between Nebraska and Born in the U.S.A. The box set also features Somewhere North of Nashville — from that aforementioned E Street reunion in May 1995 — and Inyo, a collection of songs from the road while promoting The Ghost of Tim Joad between 1995 and 1997. Perfect World spotlights several songs he wrote with longtime collaborator Joe Grushecky, the songs on Faithless were recorded in 2005 and 2006 for a film that has yet to be made, and Twilight Hours was created at the same time as Western Stars in 2018 and is essentially a companion album. 'The Lost Albums were full records, some of them even to the point of being mixed and not released,' Springsteen previously said in a statement. 'I've played this music to myself and often close friends for years now. I'm glad you'll get a chance to finally hear them. I hope you enjoy them.' Best of Rolling Stone The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Bruce Springsteen's Mythic Lost Albums Compiled in New Box Set: Listen to 'Rain in the River'
All products featured on Pitchfork are independently selected by Pitchfork editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, Condé Nast may earn an affiliate commission. Bruce Springsteen, photo by Danny Clinch For decades, Bruce Springsteen fans have whispered of a suite of albums that the Boss recorded in full—particularly in the 1990s—but never released. That collection was known as Tracks II, and today, it became a reality. On June 27, seven albums of never-before-heard Springsteen music will be collected in a box set, spanning from 1983 to 2018. In a trailer, Springsteen describes going into his vault during the pandemic and polishing off these albums, in part to put to bed the narrative of his 'lost '90s.' Below, watch that trailer and listen to a new song, 'Rain in the River,' from the Perfect World collection. Plus, check out the box set's full tracklist. Among the seven albums are LA Garage Sessions '83—a bridge between Nebraska and Born in the U.S.A.—the 1993 Streets of Philadelphia Sessions, the abandoned movie soundtrack Faithless, an E Street Band–assisted country album called Somewhere North of Nashville, and the Western Stars preface Twilight Hours. Inyo is described as a set of cinematic border tales, while Perfect World is 'the one thing on this that wasn't initially conceived as an album,' says Springsteen. The complete set includes 74 songs that have never been heard, and a further eight new versions of songs that otherwise found the light of day. $350.00, Rough Trade Tracks II: The Lost Albums: LA Garage Sessions '83: 01 Follow That Dream 02 Don't Back Down On Our Love 03 Little Girl Like You 04 Johnny Bye Bye 05 Sugarland 06 Seven Tears 07 Fugitive's Dream 08 Black Mountain Ballad 09 Jim Deer 10 County Fair 11 My Hometown 12 One Love 13 Don't Back Down 14 Richfield Whistle 15 The Klansman 16 Unsatisfied Heart 17 Shut Out The Light 18 Fugitive's Dream (Ballad) Streets of Philadelphia Sessions: 01 Blind Spot 02 Maybe I Don't Know You 03 Something in the Well 04 Waiting on the End of the World 05 The Little Things 06 We Fell Down 07 One Beautiful Morning 08 Between Heaven and Earth 09 Secret Garden 10 The Farewell Party Faithless: 01 The Desert (Instrumental) 02 Where You Goin', Where You From 03 Faithless 04 All God's Children 05 A Prayer by the River (Instrumental) 06 God Sent You 07 Goin' to California 08 The Western Sea (Instrumental) 09 My Master's Hand 10 Let Me Ride 11 My Master's Hand (Theme) Somewhere North of Nashville 01 Repo Man 02 Tiger Rose 03 Poor Side of Town 04 Delivery Man 05 Under a Big Sky 06 Detail Man 07 Silver Mountain 08 Janey Don't You Lose Heart 09 You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone 10 Stand on It 11 Blue Highway 12 Somewhere North of Nashville Inyo: 01 Inyo 02 Indian Town 03 Adelita 04 The Aztec Dance 05 The Lost Charro 06 Our Lady of Monroe 07 El Jardinero (Upon the Death of Ramona) 08 One False Move 09 Ciudad Juarez 10 When I Build My Beautiful House Twilight Hours: 01 Sunday Love 02 Late in the Evening 03 Two of Us 04 Lonely Town 05 September Kisses 06 Twilight Hours 07 I'll Stand by You 08 High Sierra 09 Sunliner 10 Another You 11 Dinner at Eight 12 Follow the Sun Perfect World: 01 I'm Not Sleeping 02 Idiot's Delight 03 Another Thin Line 04 The Great Depression 05 Blind Man 06 Rain in the River 07 If I Could Only Be Your Lover 08 Cutting Knife 09 You Lifted Me Up 10 Perfect World Originally Appeared on Pitchfork
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Bruce Springsteen Nods To '90s Hip-Hop On ‘Blind Spot'
Bruce Springsteen experiments with loops, synthesizers and the rhythms of mid-1990s hip-hop on 'Blind Spot,' the second song to emerge from his long-awaited collection of unreleased music, Tracks II: The Lost Albums. The song is found on Streets of Philadelphia Sessions, one of seven unheard, complete albums contained on the set, which arrives June 27 from Columbia. The Boss is said to have 'pored over' CDs of drum samples at his Los Angeles home during an era that also yielded 'Streets of Philadelphia,' the Oscar-winning song from the 1993 Tom Hanks/Denzel Washington-starring film Philadelphia. Eventually, he started making his own loops with the assistance of engineer Toby Scott, onto which he'd add synths. Throughout Streets of Philadelphia Sessions, Springsteen plays almost all of the music, beyond a handful of contributions from 1992-93 touring band members Patti Scialfa, Soozie Tyrell and Lisa Lowell. More from Spin: Nas, Wu-Tang Members Releasing New Albums With Mass Appeal Eddie Vedder To Premiere EB Research Doc At Tribeca Fest John Mayer, Kings Of Leon Top Pilgrimage Festival Bill 'That was just the theme that I locked in on at that moment,' Springsteen says of 'Blind Spot.' 'I don't really know why. Patti and I, we were having a great time in California. But sometimes if you lock into one song you like, then you follow that thread. I had 'Blind Spot,' and I followed that thread through the rest of the record.' Although long rumored, Springsteen reps now confirm that these sessions were indeed finished, mixed and planned to be released in the spring of 1995, but the album was shelved when the Boss opted to reunite with the E Street Band instead after a seven-year break. 'I said, well, maybe it's time to just do something with the band, or remind the fans of the band or that part of my work life,' he recalls. 'So, that's where we went. But I always really liked Streets of Philadelphia Sessions. During the Broadway show, I thought of putting it out [as a standalone release]. I always put them away, but I don't throw them away.' Beyond Streets of Philadelphia Sessions, Tracks II is divided into LA Garage Sessions '83, Faithless, Somewhere North of Nashville, Inyo, Twilight Hours and Perfect World. Faithless is akin to a soundtrack for a film that was never made, Somewhere North of Nashville features 'country combos with pedal steel,' Inyo includes 'richly woven border tales' and Twilight Hours is 'orchestra-driven, mid-century noir.' As for Perfect World, it is said to possess an 'arena-ready E Street flavor.' Beyond a 16-show European tour this summer with the E Street Band, Springsteen remains closely involved with the biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere, in which he will be portrayed by The Bear star Jeremy Allen White. The movie chronicles the making of the 1982 album Nebraska and portions of it have been filmed on location at the Jersey Shore. To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.
