A treasure trove of earlier unreleased Bruce Springsteen songs is set to be unleashed, including his first “rap” track, now available for listening. “Tracks II: The Lost Albums” consists of 83 never-before-heard songs, featuring albums that were finished but never made it to the public.
The unveiling also brings the release of “Rain In The River,” recorded in 2018. However, most of the box set material hails from the 1990s, with “Blind Spot” coming from the same period when Springsteen found inspiration in West Coast rap.
One of the “lost albums” in Tracks II is the famed Streets Of Philadelphia Sessions, also recognized as the “loops record”. This project originated in 1993 when Springsteen was approached by filmmaker Jonathan Demme to create the theme song for the film Philadelphia. The result was “Streets Of Philadelphia,” a venture into electronic pop.
READ MORE: Weston-super-Mare: A Town at a Crossroads
READ MORE: Plans for 175 Homes near Somerset ‘Gigafactory’ Scrapped Due to Time Constraints
Springsteen handled the majority of instruments and drum machine programming for this track, which achieved immense success, topping the charts and earning the Best Original Song Oscar and the Song Of The Year Grammy.
Motivated by this triumph, Springsteen embarked on a new record in Los Angeles. “Blind Spot,” now revealed, although not strongly reminiscent of West Coast rap from the ’90s, shares similarities with the trip-hop genre and the experimental explorations of influential artists like Madonna from that era.
Initially due for release in spring 1995, the album was eventually scrapped as Springsteen decided to reunite his E Street Band after nearly a decade, leaving the record unreleased until now.
Recounting the creation of “Blind Spot,” Springsteen mentioned that it delved into themes of betrayal in relationships, stating: “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.”
Springsteen revealed that he considered releasing the Streets Of Philadelphia Sessions during his Broadway show and expressed his tendency to stash away such projects, never completely discarding them.