Don't look back (Bruce Springsteen) (LP 3894 - 3898)

Bruce Springsteen  Tracks (4CD, Columbia Records, 1998) ****  

Bruce Springsteen   The Essential Bruce Springsteen (3CD, Columbia Records, 2003) ****  

Bruce Springsteen  Chapter and Verse (CD, Columbia Records, 2016) *****  

Bruce Springsteen  Born To Run 2003 Vol 1 (CD, Covermount Uncut, 2003) ***  

Bruce Springsteen  Born To Run 2003 Vol 2 (CD, Covermount Uncut, 2003) *** 

Genre: Folk-rock, Rock 

Places I remember: Marbecks Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Don't Look Back (Tracks)

Gear costume: Linda Let Me Be The One (Tracks); From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come) (Essential)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: Another BIG box set - Tracks has a whopping 66 mostly never previously released songs. These are songs that he decided didn't fit the albums he was working on so he shelved them. There are also a number of single B-sides, as well as demos and alternate versions of already-released material. 

It's a lot to get through and in truth I often find myself agreeing with his decisions. There are plenty of gems as well though - apart from the two I've highlighted above - try also Bishop Danced, Thundercrack, Give the Girl a Kiss, Roulette and his version of a terrific song he gave to Southside Johnny - Hearts of Stone. 

The Essential Bruce Springsteen is a three-disc set. The first two discs are the big hits/songs from throughout his career up to 2003. It's handy having them all in one extended format. Disc three is why I bought it though - a bonus CD of 12 songs that are like those on Tracks - unreleased, live or hard to find songs from film soundtracks.

Even though it doesn't present a coherent picture (as Tracks and Chapter and Verse do) there are some real gems among the twelve. From Small Things, Missing and Trapped are three. 

Even better is the Chapter and Verse compilation that was designed to accompany his autobiography Born to Run (that's also a must have). His early bands (The Castiles, Steel Mill, The Bruce Springsteen Band) are represented before a cherry-picked selection of the important songs along the way. It's made even more meaningful because Bruce selected the songs to show his development as a person as well as a musician and songwriter. It's a brilliant collection!

The two volumes from Uncut magazine have a variety of cover versions. Some great ones too from Badly Drawn Boy (Thunder Road), The Band (Atlantic City), Link Wray (Fire) on Volume 1 and Heather Nova (a smoldering version of I'm On Fire), and The Hollies (4th of July, Asbury Park) on Volume 2.

Where do they all belong? Woh - that took a while! I play each of my collection's albums as I write posts on this blog and many of the Bruce Springsteen albums have 2, 3 or 4 albums each so it's a massive body of work.