Tag: Bruce Springsteen

Back in 1982 the original intention was to record Nebraska with the full E Street band, but in the end Springsteen reverted to his simple demos that he felt better conveyed the spirit of the album. These versions have finally been released, in an Expanded edition that also includes other tracks from the time such as early versions of “Born in the USA”.

Various E-Street band members have given contradictory memories of the tapes, and earlier this year Springsteen himself denied their existence in an interview. In a short space of time this was corrected and now, only months after the stupendous Tracks II was released we have this fascinating alternate take on a great album.

New Zealand Net Radio plays a song from our irregularly updated #albumoftheweek every hour from 9am to 12pm. Listen in @tunein at http://tun.in/sfAtE or on the web player.

Our journey through Bruce Springsteen’s mammoth Tracks II box set continues. The Music Den‘s excellent review inspired me to move onto disk 3, the soundtrack for a planned ‘spiritual Western’ recorded around 2005. This is a beautiful collection of songs and instrumental pieces inspired by a character (or Bruce’s) struggle with faith and spirituality. According to Pitchfork:

“This was a really unusual collection of songs,” Springsteen said in press materials. “You could recognize details and maybe a character or two. But for the most part, I just wrote atmospheric music that I thought would fit.”

New Zealand Net Radio plays a song from our irregularly updated #albumoftheweek every hour from 9am to 12pm. Listen in @tunein at http://tun.in/sfAtE or on the web player.

Bruce Springsteen, like many artists wasn’t just sitting around watching Netflix during the Covid era. He had the idea of going back through some unreleased material and polishing it up for release as a sequel to his Tracks of 1998, an understated effort by comparison. It is an indication of his greatness that he had at least seven unreleased albums sitting in the vault that had been put aside. Now here they are in all their glory along with great sleeve notes and a documentary telling the story from The Boss himself. We’re going to focus on the second record, the so-called Streets of Philadelphia sessions, an album recorded in 1994 and put aside “that pairs downtrodden tales of distance and doubt with drum loops and dreamy synths that occasionally border on trip-hop” according to Pitchfork‘s excellent review.

New Zealand Net Radio plays a song from our irregularly updated #albumoftheweek every hour from 9am to 12pm. Listen in @tunein at http://tun.in/sfAtE or on the web player.