We are about to get so many previously unheard Bruce Springsteen songs. A couple of weeks ago, Springsteen announced the massive new box set Tracks II: The Lost Albums. It'll include 83 songs that have never been released, divided up into albums that Springsteen essentially finished but then declined to release. Along with the announcement, Springsteen shared "Rain In The River," which he recorded in 2018. But most of the box set comes from the '90s, including "Blind Spot," the song that Springsteen released today. This one comes from the early-'90s moment that Springsteen was inspired by West Coast rap, and if that doesn't interest you, I don't know what will.
The second of the "lost albums" included on Tracks II is Streets Of Philadelphia Sessions, the "loops record" that's long been mythic among Springsteen fans. In 1993, director Jonathan Demme asked Springsteen to record a theme song for his movie Philadelphia, and Springsteen made "Streets Of Philadelphia," a downbeat experiment in moody, electronic '90s pop. Springsteen played all the instruments on the song, and he programmed its drum machine. The song was a huge success, reaching the top 10 and winning the Best Original Song Oscar and the Song Of The Year Grammy. Inspired, Springsteen set up shop in Los Angeles and went to work on an album that was set to work in dialog with the pop music of the mid-'90s, especially the West Coast rap that Springsteen loved.
Springsteen played most of the instruments on Streets Of Philadelphia Sessions, though he got help from wife Patti Scialfa and musicians Soozie Tyrell and Lisa Lowell, as well as his early-'90s touring band. Springsteen also made his own drum loops with engineer Toby Scott, which is fun. I don't think the newly shared "Blind Spot" sounds much like the West Coast rap of the '90s, but its haunted keyboards and loping breakbeat have plenty in common with that era's trip-hop, and with the trip-hop experiments that big stars like Madonna were making around the same time. I think it's really cool! Springsteen finished the album, and it was supposed to come out in spring 1995. But Springsteen cancelled that plan, instead deciding to reconvene his E Street Band for the first time in nearly a decade. The record went unreleased until today.
"Blind Spot" is a tortured songs about people in relationships betraying each other. Here's what Spingsteen says about it:
That was just the theme that I locked in on at that moment. I don’t really know why. Patti and I, we were having a great time in California. But sometimes if you lock into one song you like, then you follow that thread. I had "Blind Spot," and I followed that thread through the rest of the record...
I said, "Well, maybe it’s time to just do something with the band, or remind the fans of the band or that part of my work life." So that’s where we went. But I always really liked Streets of Philadelphia Sessions... During the Broadway show, I thought of putting it out [as a standalone release]. I always put them away, but I don’t throw them away.
Hear "Blind Spot" below.
Tracks II: The Lost Albums is out 6/27 on Sony Music.
