Published on Apr 7, 2002
To paraphrase another review, this release is a bit
disappointing.
Is the music bad? No. Far from it.
Is the packaging bad? Nope. Comes with lyrics, some comments,
good pictures.
The disappointment comes when you step back and look at the
purpose of the release. It’s a collection of some of the “best”
tracks on the four-disc set he released called, well,
Tracks.
Tracks is a huge amount of music, from a huge amount of time
– choosing just 18 songs from it is not easy, and it’s probably not
a good review to criticize the actual choices.
But, that’s what I’m going to do. The choices focus much more on
the shorter, radio friendly selections – which isn’t a bad thing,
except that several of the more interesting and risk-taking pieces
were left off; namely, most of the tracks on the first disc. That’s
not to say that the choices are bad; they just aren’t very
risk-taking.
We get some very good insights into the process of song-writing
– the demo of “Growin’ Up” is a bit stripped down, and the version
of “Born In The USA” on this album is from the early days of the
song, probably when it was still slated for the
Nebraska album. “Seaside Bar Song” is vaguely familiar
sounding, and sounds like it’s from the same era that produced
feel-good classics like “Rosalita.” “I Wanna Be With You” shows
just how carefully Springsteen guarded his music; this song could
have easily shot to the top of the charts — it’s got a simple
chorus, good lyrics, and a great rhythm. Why this was never
released is one of the great mysteries.
“Lion’s Den” sounds like Phil Spector-ish wall-of-sound with
biblically infused lyrics, all layered on top of a relentless
up-and-down beat. It fits nicely in the middle, particularly
between “My Love Will Not Let You Down,” a song I really don’t care
for, and “Pink Cadillac.”
One thing bugs me about this album. It’s supposed to be a
companion to
Tracks, for all the fans that really don’t feel like
investing four to five hours immersing themselves in the Boss. But,
for some reason, one of the most requested songs of Springsteen’s –
“The Fever” — was only included in this sampler platter. I felt
like a schmuck buying this CD, but I did anyway — and I think that
the three new tracks, “The Fever,” “The Promise,” and “Trouble
River” are worth the nine dollars I paid for it. “The Fever,” in
particular, is a fairly long track, clocking in at seven and a half
minutes, despite being very sparse lyrically — it’s a slow, long,
love song. I wouldn’t change a thing about it.
All in all, this is a good disc to buy if you liked
Born In The USA more than
The Wild, The Innocent And The E Street Shuffle. It features
much more compact music than the boxed set does. But if you find
yourself wanting more creative, reaching musical landscapes, I
would suggest picking up
Tracks instead.