Bruce Springsteen’s archival box set Tracks II: The Lost Albums got its release on Friday, June 27. As previously reported, the expansive collection features seven full previously unreleased albums featuring 83 tracks recorded from 1983 through 2018.
Videos by American Songwriter
Coinciding with the box set’s arrival, an interview between Springsteen and Jim Rotolo, a host on SiriusXM’s E Street Radio, premiered on the channel. During the conversation, Bruce also revealed some details about a follow-up to Tracks II that he’s put together.
“There’s a Tracks III that’s finished,” Springsteen reported. “[S]o that basically clears out the vault with very few exceptions.”
He continued, “Tracks III is a little bit more like the original [1998] Tracks [box set] in that it’s a collection of things going all the way back to [his 1973 debut album] Greetings [from Asbury Park, N.J.] and all the way up to … not that long ago. So that’s … mixed and ready to go at some point, you know. So hopefully in the not-too-distant future, there will be a Tracks III.”
Bruce Springsteen Shares Interesting Details About the ‘Perfect World’ Album
The seven “lost albums” featured on Tracks II are titled LA Garage Sessions ’83, Streets of Philadelphia Sessions, Faithless, Somewhere North of Nashville, Inyo, Twilight Hours, and Perfect World.
Perfect World, the last album in the box set, differs from the other six records in that it features songs recorded at various times. During the interview, Springsteen shared some interesting tidbits about the album, which he said he put together with the intention of creating a collection of rocking tunes for fans.
Perfect World includes three songs that Bruce co-wrote with his old pal Joe Grushecky—“I’m Not Sleeping,” “Idiot’s Delight,” and “Another Thin Line.”
As Springsteen noted, “Joe would send me some lyrics and I’d write music to them.” Bruce also revealed that Tom Morello played on “Another Thin Line.”
In addition, he shared that one of the Perfect World tracks “is an outtake from [his 2012 studio album] Wrecking Ball, ‘If I Could Only Be Your Lover.’”
Bruce pointed out that that song “was very close to getting on Wrecking Ball, but we had a bunch of … other songs. … I really liked that song. It’s one of my favorites.”
Bruce Springsteen Reveals One of His Favorite Songs from ‘Tracks II’
Rotolo also asked Springsteen if any one song on the box set “just kind of floored you.” The Boss singled out a track from Twilight Hours, which is a collection of tunes inspired by the lush work of Burt Bacharach.
“I like ‘High Sierra’ a lot,” Springsteen said. “You know, that’s one of my favorites just because it’s influenced by [the 1947 noir film] Out of the Past, which is one of my favorite movies, and it continues the theme that I write about often, which is somebody haunted by their past and that past catching up to them. So that’s one of my favorites out of the box set.”
More About ‘Tracks II: The Lost Albums’
Tracks II is available now as a nine-LP or seven-CD package, and via digital formats.
Physical versions of the box set include a 100-page cloth-bound, hardcover book featuring archival photos, liner notes by essayist Erik Flannigan, and an introduction penned by Springsteen.
A Tracks II companion album, titled Lost and Found: Selections from The Lost Albums, also was released June 27. The collection, which features 20 songs from the box set, is available on CD and as a two-LP set.
Bruce Springsteen’s Upcoming Tour Plans
Springsteen and the E Street Band currently are winding down their 2025 European tour. Three concerts remain on the trek, scheduled for June 27 in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, and on June 30 and July 3 in Milan, Italy.
(Photo by Danny Clinch)
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.