Released November 10, 1998 Producer Various | Length 254:58 Release date 10 November 1998 Recorded 1972-1998 | |
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Similar Darkness on the Edge of T, Lucky Town, The Essential Bruce Spr, Greatest Hits, The Promise | ||
Tracks is a four-disc box set by Bruce Springsteen, released in 1998 containing 66 songs. This box set mostly consists of never-before-released songs recorded during the sessions for his many albums, but also includes a number of single B-sides, as well as demos and alternate versions of already-released material.
Contents
Sad eyes bruce springsteen
History
The project began in early 1998, when Springsteen and his chief recording engineer, Toby Scott, began going through his massive collection of unreleased songs. Springsteen had been known as a very prolific songwriter (Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River, and Born in the U.S.A. each had more than 50 songs written for them), and by 1998 the number of unreleased songs was up to more than 350- 3/4 of all his recorded material.
Although the idea of simply releasing the rough demos of the songs was kicked around, Springsteen eventually decided to mix them properly. Springsteen, Scott, and three sets of engineers spent most of 1998 going through his massive song library, mixing songs and picking out the best of the unreleased material. Sometimes, a song would need extra parts added on, such as in the case of "Thundercrack", a song dating back to 1973. Springsteen called in then-former bandmates Danny Federici and Clarence Clemons, along with original drummer Vini Lopez to fill in the missing pieces.
By July, 100 songs (six CD's worth) had been selected as the songs for the boxset, and it was being prepared for commercial release. However, Springsteen eventually decided to cut the number to 66, leaving a total of 4 CDs. The project was completed in mid-September 1998, and was released two months later.
Even though the original intention was to cover material from all aspects of Bruce's career, acoustic demos from 1972 (such as "Arabian Nights", "Jazz Musician", "Ballad Of The Self-Loading Pistol", and "Visitation At Fort Horn") were not available for release, due to ongoing court proceedings surrounding the songs (concerning the attempted release of these songs by a different, European based label in 1993). Songs from the "Electric Nebraska" sessions, as well as songs from an unreleased 1994 album, were also missing.
The songs came from varying backgrounds:
The box set was a minor success, peaking at #27 on the Billboard 200 album chart. It has been certified platinum in the U.S. and gold in Canada.
Since its release, 44 of the songs on the set have been played live at least once, with "My Love Will Not Let You Down" receiving the most attention at over 100 plays.
The box set was later condensed into an album called 18 Tracks, with 3 songs ("Trouble River", "The Fever", and "The Promise") not on the 4-CD box set.
Track listing
All tracks written by Bruce Springsteen, except where noted.
Songs
1Mary Queen of Arkansas4:29
2It’s Hard to Be a Saint in the City2:55
3Growin’ Up2:41