A very strong collection (The Essential Bruce Springsteen - Bruce Springsteen)

Member Name: Wezzo

Product:	The Essential Bruce Springsteen - Bruce Springsteen
Date:	25/07/07 (39 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Covers more than the earlier "Greatest Hits"; generally good choices; songs generally excellent

Disadvantages: Some unfortunate omissions

"The Essential Bruce Springsteen" is not the first time a Springsteen compilation has been attempted - "Bruce Springsteen Greatest Hits" had a go five years prior - but with two discs and thirty tracks, this is certainly the more complete effort.

The collection spans Bruce's career up to 2002's "The Rising", and includes tracks from every full-length album he had recorded up to that point - a fact which compares favourably with "Greatest Hits"'s complete omission of anything from his first two albums. The tracks are ordered chronologically.

-- Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ --

We kick off with the first track from his first album, "Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ"'s "Blinded by the Light". Covered by Manfred Mann and turned into something of a prof rock song, Springsteen's original is more folk-rock, with the influence of Bob Dylan clearly evident in the fast-paced, detailed lyrics ("Some brimstone baritone anti-cyclone rolling stone preacher from the east / He says: 'Dethrone the dictaphone, hit it in its funny bone, that's where they expect it least' "). It's a great track, and a must for any Springsteen compilation.

"For You" follows, also from his first album. Similar in tone to "Blinded by the Light", it's one of the first album's stronger tracks with a decently catchy chorus. "Spirit In The Night" is the final track from that album included here; it's another worthy inclusion and is a rather memorable track.

All this is well and good, but there are a couple of notable omissions. "Growin' Up", one of the definitive early Springsteen songs (and home to the classic Springsteen line "I swear I found the key to the universe in the engine of an old parked car") is not here - rather unfortunate. Less concerning, but still a bit disappointing, is the overlooking of "It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City", which I would probably have included over "Spirit in the Night".

Still, three songs from the album is better than the zero "Greatest Hits" managed, so bonus points on that front.

-- The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle --

Two tracks from his second album are present: "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" and "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)". Penchant for parentheses in the titles aside, these two choices are pretty good - "Rosalita" in particular is a must: it's a raucous, seven-minute-long live favourite about a father of a girl (Rosalita) who disapproves of her dating a man in a rock 'n' roll band that rates among Springsteen's funniest and funkiest to date.

"The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle" is an album that works best when heard as a whole, so I won't contest the decisions here - the two tracks included are probably the two that work best as standalones.

-- Born to Run --

Picking tracks from "Born to Run" was never going to be an easy task - frankly, I think the entire album deserves to be featured on an "Essential" disc. The compilers make a reasonable enough call though, including the three best-known tracks from the album: "Thunder Road", "Born to Run" and "Jungleland".

"Thunder Road" is an almost cinematic ("The screen door slams / Mary's dress waves") tale of hope, of getting out of "this place". It absolutely deserves its place here - it was actually called the greatest song of all-time by the WXPN Philadephia radio station.

It's "Born to Run", however, that is my vote for the all-time greatest rock song. Powerful yet fragile, frantic, dangerous, emotional and sonically gorgeous. Not including this song in the set would have been criminal.. thankfully, they did include it.

The nine-and-a-half minute epic "Jungleland" is another "definitely worthy" inclusion. It runs the gamut from ballad to jazz to R'n'B to rock and back again, and is home to a stunning Clarence Clemons sax solo. A very important part of the Springsteen canon.

Personally, as I say, I feel the whole album is worthy of inclusion here; but on an objective scale I think they got things just about right. Maybe "Backstreets" warrants a place on this collection too, but there's only so much space..

-- Darkness on the Edge of Town --

Three tracks from this album are included here: "Badlands", "The Promised Land" and title track "Darkness on the Edge of Town". "Badlands" and "The Promised Land" are key milestones in the Springsteen canon and are definitely woth including here; two upbeat rockers that replace the overwhelming optimism of "Born to Run" with a rather more cynical view on life, but are no less successful because of it. They are probably the two tracks from the album I would most expect to be included.

"Darkness on the Edge of Town" is a slower, more epic ballad-type song. A very powerful track, it's a worthy inclusion. I would probably have included catchy single "Prove It All Night" or original, dark and slow-builder "Candy's Room" instead but "Darkness..." was also a good choice.

-- The River --

At twenty tracks long, it must have been tough to pick which tracks to include here. In the end, they played it safe and just included the classic title track and the hit single "Hungry Heart". While both rate among my Springsteen favourites - "The River" is beautiful and "Hungry Heart" has a fabulous chorus, you can't help but feel two tracks does the album justice.

Where's the representation of the epic ballads - "Point Blank", "Drive All Night"? Where are the funny, light-hearted songs - "Sherry Darling", "Crush On You"? And while "Hungry Heart" is upbeat, it's more pop than rock - we're missing the full-scale rock-outs of "Out in the Street" and "Two Hearts". Obviously they couldn't cover everything, but two tracks is remarkably stingy - still, at least this means Springsteen novices will be more inclined to pick up the full double-album.

-- Nebraska --

Springsteen's first acoustic album, "Nebraska" is another that, like "The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle" works best as a whole, but the two choices here are solid tracks that work just as well by themselves. The catchiest cut on the album, "Atlantic City", is unsuprisingly included, as is title track "Nebraska". Easily the two most downbeat tracks on this compilation, they round out disc 1 with a wonderfully dark tone.

-- Born In The USA --

"Born In The USA" was Springsteen's best-selling album, and was the album that elevated him to true superstar status. It was also home to eight(!) top-10 singles in the US, so it's a little disappointing to discover only three are present here - the title track, plus "Glory Days" and "Dancing in the Dark".

All three are catchy, upbeat tunes - though as most know by now, the upbeat exterior of "Born in the USA" masks darker political sentiment that might be immediately obvious. They're good choices for this compilation - all are well-known and were huge hits - but I can't help but wish a couple more of the singles from the album were included - "No Surrender", maybe, or the menacing "I'm On Fire".

-- Tunnel of Love --

Another comparatively acoustic album, "Tunnel of Love" gets two tracks worth of representation here - the title track and "Brilliant Disguise". While these two tracks are great, moody pieces, the exclusion of "Tougher than the Rest" - one of Springsteen's all-time greatest tracks - is a real disappointment. "One Step Up" and "When You're Alone" would also have been worthy of consideration, though it's no surprise they were passed over for two better-known hits.

-- Human Touch --

"Human Touch" is probably Springsteen's worst album - and thankfully that fact is reflected here; the only song from this album is the middling title track. Personally I'd argue "Roll of the Dice" merited inclusion more, but most of the albumpales in comparison to what else is on offer on this "Essential" collection so the decision to only include one track from the album was a good one.

-- Lucky Town --

"Lucky Town" was released at the same time as "Human Touch" but it's by far the superior album. Two tracks from it are present here - the superb, catchy, chant-like title track "Lucky Town", and the rocker "Living Proof". I'd have traded the latter for what is perhaps the most overwhelmingly optimistic track in the Springsteen canon, "Better Days", which you can't help but tap your foot to.

-- The Ghost of Tom Joad --

A fairly good acoustic album, once again the title track (a nice, calm, melancholy song) is included here, but nothing else. "Youngstown" might have warranted inclusion, but it's a fairly forgettable album that didn't really warrant more than one track being included here.

-- The Rising --

Springsteen's first album with the E Street Band in 18 years, the post-9/11 "The Rising" rates among his very best albums, and three of its tracks are included in this collection. Title track "The Rising" is an upbeat, optimistic chant of a song with some great backing vocals and is another that this collection wouldn't be compete without; "Lonesome Day", the album's lead single, is similarly a highlight, with a wonderfully catchy beat and a typically Springsteen "down but not out" lyric.

The inclusion of "Mary's Place" is more questionable. It's a fun enough song, another of the upbeat highlights from "The Rising", but is inferior to the similar-in-tone "Waitin' On A Sunny Day" in almost every sense, begging the question of why it was chosen over the latter. Indeed, "Waitin'.." rates among my all-time favourite Springsteen tunes, so it's another unfortunate omission. The darker, ballad side of "The Rising" is also overlooked - "Empty Sky" and "Into the Fire" in particular are worthy contenders for a position here.

-- Others --

Springsteen's theme to the Tom Hanks movie "Philadelphia", "Streets of Philadelphia", is also included here. Never included on a Springsteen studio album, it's a lovely song and deserves its place here.

There are also a couple of live tracks - "American Skin (41 Shots)" and "Land of Hope and Dreams" both of which are fun enough but serve no real purpose other than attracting long-time Springsteen fans to purchase the set. To make this truly the "Essential" Springsteen, they should have replaced them with a couple more studio tracks.

--

Taken as a whole, "The Essential Bruce Springsteen" is a superb two-disc set of almost unanimously fantastic songs, but I'm reluctant to give it five stars as the choices, while improving on the single-disc "Greatest Hits", still miss out some of his key career landmarks. Nonetheless, this is a very good starting point for anyone interested in delving into the Bruce catalogue.

The 2CD set is packaged in a jewel case and includes a lyrics/pictures booklet. It can be found online for between £5-10.

Summary: Not quite "Essential" but a solid starting point