Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska. Great fucking album. You know it, and you probably love it. In 1982, Springsteen went off to record an LP of bleak, minimal acoustic songs that he recorded on his four-track in his bedroom. Springsteen recorded all those songs with his full E Street Band, but he ultimately decided that the acoustic versions were better, so that's what came out. Nebraska was the throat-clearing before Springsteen and his band got together for the imperial pop blockbuster Born In The USA two years later. Nebraska has long been the preferred Springsteen album for rock-critic dorks like me. Later this year, we'll all get to see Jeremy Allen White play Springsteen in Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, the new major motion picture about the making of Nebraska. Now, Springsteen is getting ready to release a new Nebraska box set, which includes the mythic electric version of the record.
Bruce Springsteen is really clearing out the vaults these days. In June, he released his box set Tracks II: The Lost Albums, featuring seven entire LPs that he completed and then discarded at different points over the years. A few weeks ago, he celebrated the 50th anniversary of Born To Run by releasing his outtake "Lonely Night In The Park." A few months ago, Springsteen confirmed that the long-rumored electric version of Nebraska does, in fact, exist. He didn't think it was real, but then he found the tapes. Now, he's getting ready to release it.
The upcoming four-disc box set Nebraska '82 includes the fabled electric version of Nebraska, in which Springsteen is backed up by E Street Band members Max Weinberg, Garry Tallent, Danny Federici, Roy Bittan and Stevie Van Zandt. It's also got a remastered version of the original album, a disc of previously unreleased Nebraska outtakes, and a new Thom Zimny-directed concert film in which Springsteen plays Nebraska in sequence for the first time ever at New Jersey's Count Basie Theatre. In a press release, Springsteen says, "I think in playing these songs again to be filmed, their weight impressed upon me. I’ve written a lot of other narrative records, but there's just something about that batch of songs on Nebraska that holds some sort of magic."
Along with the box set announcement, Springsteen has shared one of the songs from the disc of outtakes -- a previously unreleased early version of "Born In The USA," the iconic smash that served as the title track for his world-conquering album. Springsteen recorded this version of the track in April 1982, with only Max Weinberg and Garry Tallent backing him up. It's raw and urgent and extremely different from the version of the song that you know. This take on "Born In The USA" probably wouldn't have been an era-defining smash, but it also wouldn't have Ronald Reagan perceiving it as a patriotic anthem. It fucking rules. Springsteen says, "We threw out the keyboards and played basically as a three-piece,. It was kinda like punk rockabilly. We were trying to bring Nebraska into the electric world."
The Nebraska '92 box set comes out a week before the Nebraska movie Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere. The movie is the big news, I suppose, but I'll be very surprised if it's anywhere near as good as this box set. We have been waiting for this one. It looks incredible. Below, check out the '82 version of "Born In The USA," a box-set trailer, and the tracklist.
TRACKLIST:
CD1 (Nebraska Outtakes):
01 "Born In The USA"
02 "Losin’ Kind"
03 "Downbound Train"
04 "Child Bride"
05 "Pink Cadillac"
06 "The Big Payback"
07 "Working On The Highway"
08 "On The Prowl"
09 "Gun In Every Home"
CD2 (Electric Nebraska):
01 "Nebraska"
02 "Atlantic City"
03 "Mansion On The Hill"
04 "Johnny 99"
05 "Downbound Train"
06 "Open All Night"
07 "Born In The USA"
08 "Reason To Believe"
CD3 (Nebraska, Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank, NJ):
01 "Nebraska"
02 "Atlantic City"
03 "Mansion On The Hill"
04 "Johnny 99"
05 "Highway Patrolman"
06 "State Trooper"
07 "Used Cars"
08 "Open All Night"
09 "My Father’s House"
10 "Reason To Believe"
CD4 (2025 Remaster):
01 "Nebraska"
02 "Atlantic City"
03 "Mansion On The Hill"
04 "Johnny 99"
05 "Highway Patrolman"
06 "State Trooper"
07 "Used Cars"
08 "Open All Night"
09 "My Father’s House"
10 "Reason To Believe"
CD5 (Nebraska, Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank, NJ Blu-Ray):
01 "Nebraska"
02 "Atlantic City"
03 "Mansion On The Hill"
04 "Johnny 99"
05 "Highway Patrolman"
06 "State Trooper"
07 "Used Cars"
08 "Open All Night"
09 "My Father’s House"
10 "Reason To Believe"
The Nebraska '82 box set is out 10/17 on Sony.
