Be careful though - the Tracks version of Johnny Bye Bye is NOT the same as what was on the 45 (it utilizes a drum machine instead of the live drums found on the 45, plus it has a count-in). Also, Stand On It is a longer, unedited version which has an extra verse and comes to a full end rather than fading out. The single edit is only available either on the Ruthless People Soundtrack or one of the UK CD singles for 57 Channels.
BITUSA as an album was definitely enhanced for me once I started hearing all the outtakes. I do tend to lump the moody songs like Shut Out The Light and County Fair in with Nebraska, even though they were recorded later. (But they fit that album's mood better.) Hopefully a comprehensive box includes the full versions of songs edited down for the album.... Glory Days with the extra verse and the long version of I'm Goin' Down for starters. Also that 8-minute title track is pretty epic....
Apparently. A friend of mine played me the remastered Darkness on vinyl. Maybe I don't have great ears...to me, it was an improvement, but only a minor one. Subtle differences. Not nearly enough that would prompt me to shell out that kind of $. But to each his own.
Wages of Sin is on Tracks D2. It was also "released" as a video on his website from the only live performance in Turku, Finland on May 8, 2013. I was unbelievably fortunate enough to have been there... That went immediately into my Top 10 after hearing the fully finished track. Garry's bass playing is tremendous...
That first box set was more about the quality of the albums themselves than any rarity. That said, the last three (The River, Nebraska, and BITUSA) are all substantial upgrades over the originals, which had very little bottom end (River and BITUSA) or were pressed on noisy vinyl (Nebraska). I didn't notice any real improvement in the first four aside from quiet vinyl. BTR is still a muddy mix..... I've been told there are vinyl copies out there that sound amazing, but I've never heard one. Anyway, it was like $70 total for the box set so that's $10 a record. Pretty reasonable price. I paid about $5 apiece for my originals but I could probably sell them in the Classifieds for double that now.
^ have to slightly disagree as i was also fortunate enough to see (and capture the audio of ) the one full band performance of The Promise of the tour. That was a 30+ year dream come true...
The issue is that there are a number of additional outtakes. Protection, Unsatisfied Heart, The Klansman, Follow That Dream, Sugarland to name a few. Then there are the "electric Nebraska" recordings. The Born In The USA outtakes disc(s) will require much more than a recycling of what Springsteen issued via Tracks and Essential.
A definite yes vote on the 12" mixes! For me anyway it was part of the fun, collecting the multiple 12" singles Bruce was cranking out at the time. Some cheesy, some quite good (I enjoyed the "Cover Me" remixes).
I wonder if Springsteen will reissue the 12" singles. They seem like something he would like to distance himself from, particularly if he produces a large-scale box set designed in part to promote credibility.
Thanks dee. I do appreciate it. A bit of a full plate right now. I should have been moved by now (going from Vermont to Santa Fe NM) but was sidetracked by a cancer diagnosis. Halfway through radiation about now (it should all be just fine! Not worried.) Then loading, like a physical game of Tetris, all my crap into a uhaul and pointing it westward. Should be wrapped up by July. Have about 50 boxes of CDs alone. Half that amount full of books, much heavier than CDs though. And in Steve Hoffman Forum fashion, never once did I ask myself if I needed all this stuff! I guess I could sell it, because I do have debts no honest man can pay, but nah! And now that I've successfully made the segue, back to Bruce!
Yes, I understand his reasoning and I respect the fact that he's the artist, they're his songs, and he can do whatever he pleases with those tracks. I just don't agree with it. As a lifelong fan of Springsteen's bootlegged output, I was immediately disappointed to hear newly recorded lead vocals over tracks like Spanish Eyes, One Way Street, Gotta Get That Feeling, Fire and Rendezvous because, in all five of those cases, the bootlegs attest to the fact that perfectly serviceable vintage lead vocal tracks exist for those songs. If new lead vocals have to be recorded, I wish there were greater transparency in the presentation of those tracks - both in terms of the liner notes (specifically indicating what was added and when) and also in terms of the marketing of those sets. The Promise, in particular, featured a label on the package boasting "21 unreleased tracks from the Darkness sessions." In my mind, that's false advertising. A more accurate label may have read "mostly newly reimagined tracks initially conceived during the Darkness sessions." It's a distinction without a difference for most but it's an important one to me. If he's unwilling to release the unfettered vintage tracks (scratch vocals, bluffed lyrics, bum notes and all) on the box sets, perhaps he could consider an alternate approach. Skip those tracks on the box set and instead release an album of all new recordings of old unused tracks like Stevie Nicks' 24 Karat Gold or (for at least part of the album) Van Halen's A Different Kind of Truth.
I agree with this. When I get to tracks like "Little things my baby does" or "White town" I lunge for the forward button. It ends up sounding like something from Working on a dream (yuk), not something from darkness or the river. I still listen to my boots much more than the official stuff, for this reason.
One could legitimately argue that, if you take the best 10-12 tracks that were outtakes/originally unreleased from this time period, you could construct his finest album. If I recall correctly, Rolling Stone mentioned in its notes section at the time that Murder, Inc. was planned for 1985, but I'm guessing the success of BITUSA killed it (pun not intended). It also mentioned the outtake "A Gun In Every Home", which I've heard mentioned nowhere else since. Maybe Bruce didn't want to piss off the NRA.....nah.
