A COUPLE UPDATES TO THE BELOW STORIES.....
Bruce Springsteen's long-awaited Tracks 2: The Lost Albums will be released on June 27th.
The seven CD or nine LP set includes 83 tracks and covers from 1983 to 2018. It comes with a 100-page cloth-bound, hardcover book featuring rare archival photos, liner notes on each lost album from essayist Erik Flannigan and a personal introduction on the project from Springsteen.
And just like how the original Tracks spawned a best of collection called 18 Tracks, Tracks 2 has a companion set, Lost and Found: Selections from The Lost Albums, also due out on June 27th that features 20 highlights from the collection.
Springsteen says, “The Lost Albums were full records, some of them even to the point of being mixed and not released. 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.”
He also revealed that he finished off all of these albums during the pandemic. There's a trailer of Springsteen talking about the package on YouTube.
The first track shared from the collection is "Rain in the River" off the Perfect World album. Check it out on YouTube.
Here are the seven albums in the set. Head to Springsteen's store for the full track listing.
- LA Garage Sessions ’83
- Streets of Philadelphia Sessions
- Faithless
- Somewhere North of Nashville
- Inyo
- Twilight Hours
- Perfect World
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We have confirmed that Bruce Springsteen will announce today the release date for Tracks 2: The Lost Albums, a seven-CD set that spans the years 1983 to 2018. Tracks was released in 1998 followed by the scaled down 18 Tracks in 1999.
In 2022 he told Rolling Stone, “I have a box set of five unreleased albums that are basically post-1988. People have always wondered … People look at my work in the Nineties, and they go, ‘The Nineties wasn’t a great decade for Bruce. He was kind of doing this, and he wasn’t in the E Street Band …’ I actually made a lot of music during that period of time. I actually made albums. For one reason or another, the timing wasn’t right or whatever, I didn’t put them out.”
Springsteen's last archival release to contain unreleased songs was 2016's Chapter and Verse. His last album of new material was the covers project Only the Strong Survive in 2022.
In other Springsteen news, he has made Forbes’ World’s Celebrity Billionaires list with $1.2-billion. Other musicians on the list include Rihanna $1.4; Taylor Swift $1.6; and Jay-Z $2.5.
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Bruce Springsteen is mourning the loss of another childhood friend, and this one was the inspiration for his 1985 hit "Glory Days."
Joe DePugh, who Springsteen played Little League baseball with in Freehold, New Jersey, died at the age of 75 from cancer last week.
Springsteen released a statement, saying, "Just a moment to mark the passing of Freehold native and ballplayer Joe DePugh. He was a good friend when I needed one. 'He could throw that speedball by you, make you look like a fool'….Glory Days, my friend."
The inspiration for the song came about in 1973 when Springsteen and DePugh ran into each other at the Headliner bar in Neptune City, New Jersey.
“I was tickled pink I would even get into the song," said DePugh in 2011. "I certainly wasn’t going to complain about what he decided to write about. It’s about living in the past and letting go, especially for jocks, to get out of that and live in the present. That certainly wasn’t the first time I was accused of that.”
DePugh used to joke that he and his teammates used to call Springsteen "Sadie" because "he hardly ever played."
In 2020, Springsteen was inspired to write his album Letter to You following the death of another friend, his former bandmate George Theiss.
Check out Bruce's original post about it here from his official Instagram page.
IN OTHER SPRINGSTEEN NEWS.....
Older artists aren't generally into social media "teases" like their younger counterparts. However...Bruce Springsteen just posted something that smells an awful lot like he's teasing something big. The image shows a mostly blank recording studio track sheet with the name "Thrill Hill Recording" at the top. It has the date April 3 written on it, as well as a note that reads, “WHAT WAS LOST HAS NOW BEEN FOUND.” Also, the name SPRINGSTEEN is stamped at the bottom of the sheet in all caps. So...what, exactly, is The Boss saying? Thrill Hill Recording is the legal name of the recording company Bruce established in 1982. Also, Springsteen said last year that a number of special releases were planned for 2025 that “will include a look back at [his] storied recording career, featuring never-before-heard material.” Add those facts to the "April 3" date, and it seems we could be getting some big news from the Springsteen camp as early as tomorrow.
Check out Bruce's post about the above here from his official Instagram page.