Published on Apr 28, 2005
After the botched
Greatest Hits album, Bruce Springsteen fans had to wonder if
their man was ever going to be graced with a decent best-of
collection. And while some might argue his two official live albums
with the E Street Band —
Live 1975-85 and
Live In New York City — function as pretty fair assemblages
of his best work played in its most effective environment,
traditionalists like me still tend to think an artist of
Springsteen’s caliber deserves a best-of done right.
In that respect,
The Essential Bruce Springsteen is a most welcome addition.
Instead of trying to shoehorn the man’s best work onto a single
disc,
Essential wisely allots two discs and throws in a third
bonus disc of rarities and unreleased cuts.
The two best-of discs are well-executed in almost every respect.
The sequencing is chronological — almost mandatory when dealing
with an artist who has evolved as much as musically Springsteen has
over time — and the song choices are almost uniformly excellent.
In contrast to
Greatest Hits, which cut straight to “Born To Run,”
Essential includes no less than five tracks from
Springsteen’s first two discs, including the truly essential
“Rosalita (Come Out Tonight).”
Better yet, it augments chart hits like “Hungry Heart,” “Dancing
In The Dark,” “Tunnel Of Love” and “Streets Of Philadelphia” with
important album tracks such as “Jungleland,” “The Promised Land,”
“Nebraska” and “Living Proof.” As always, fans could — as
Springsteen himself ruefully acknowledges in his amusing liner
notes — second-guess any number of picks here. Why “For You”
instead of “Growin’ Up”? How can you include “Human Touch” and
“Mary’s Place” when you couldn’t find room for “Racing In The
Streets” or “Backstreets”? Etc., etc.
The bottom line is, discs one and two do capture most of
Springsteen’s best work and faithfully represent each of his
albums. In that respect, they constitute the best collection of his
studio work issued to date.
The bonus disc is more problematic, and the main issue seems to
be one of timing. A rarities disc is usually a great idea for an
artist as prolific and neurotic about his output as Springsteen has
historically been. Thing is, by the time this album came out, he’d
already opened up the vaults and issued
Tracks. So what we’re left with for this “essential”
collection’s bonus disc is a bunch of songs that didn’t make it
onto a four-disc rarities box set!
And they are a truly oddball bunch. Arguably the highlight is
the first track “From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come),” a
rollicking story-song Springsteen cut for
The River but ended up giving to Dave Edmunds instead.
Second on my chart would be the
River-era E Street Band’s smoldering, explosive live version
of Jimmy Cliff’s “Trapped,” a cut fans have heard many times but
which has never made it onto an official recording until now. Third
would have to be The Boss’s romp through the Elvis classic “Viva
Las Vegas,” which is a hoot and a half, not to mention a wink and a
nod to one of his greatest influences.
The remainder of the bonus disc consists mainly of a mix of
interesting experiments and slightly moldy leftovers. Among the
experiments are two tracks cut for films, the eerie, loop-heavy
“Missing” and the frankly bizarre “Lift Me Up,” which Springsteen
sings entirely in a falsetto that renders his voice almost
unrecognizable. The leftovers are cuts from the vault that didn’t
even make it onto
Tracks, and for good reason. “None But The Brave,” “The Big
Payback” and “County Fair” are pale shadows of the albums they were
recorded for (
Born In The USA and
Nebraska).
And this is where the “essential” label betrays this album. It’s
pretty hard to argue that songs not good enough to make the cut for
Tracks are more essential than “Backstreets.” Be that as it
may,
The Essential Bruce Springsteen does feature on discs one
and two the most complete existing collection of the man’s best
work. If you keep your expectations for the bonus disc low, you’ll
be fine.