Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Faithless’ (ALBUM REVIEW)

The cover of Bruce Springsteen’s album, “Faithless.”

(Note: This is the third post in a series in which I am reviewing the seven albums in Bruce Springsteen’s “Tracks II: The Lost Albums” boxed set, separately. The set will come out on June 27.)

Faithless is something you don’t see every day: A soundtrack for a film that never got made.

I don’t mean that it never got released. It never got made in the first place.

In the liner notes to Tracks II: The Lost Albums, Springsteen does not divulge details about the film except to call it “a spiritual Western film that was preparing to be made around 2004.” He says he wrote the music over a two-week period and, in the words of critic Erik Flannigan, “worked with musical textures and themes that matched the setting and mood of the overall story more so than specific scenes.” That’s all he could do, since there were no scenes to watch.

Springsteen also says, “I sat with the music for a long time, so, not exactly knowing where the project was going, I decided to release it as a record.”

He plays most of the instruments himself, with some support by co-producer Ron Aniello on bass and other instruments; and E Street Band backing vocalists Patti Scialfa, Soozie Tyrell, Lisa Lowell, Michelle Moore, Curtis King Jr. and Ada Dyer. On one track, “Where You Goin’, Where You From,” he also enlists his sons Sam and Evan as backing vocalists.

Though you wouldn’t have guessed it from the low-key, meditative title track, which was released in May as a single, this is an earthy and frequently lively album, with strands of folk, blues, country and gospel figuring in different tracks, to different degrees. It’s not surprising that the next music he officially released after recording this was his We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions album.

Bruce Springsteen’s “Tracks II: The Lost Albums” will be released on June 27.

“All God’s Children” is one highlight. It has a stomping beat, and Springsteen spits out lines that sound like they could have been taken from an ancient work song — e.g., “Some get raised up and some fall down/Lost in the rags and the bones and the blood of the ground” — in a gruff growl.

We come to Tracks II: The Lost Albums hoping to hear sides of Springsteen we’ve never heard before. And this track gives us that. “Good Eye,” from Working on a Dream, hinted in this direction. But “All God’s Children” is looser, wilder and more satisfying.

“God Sent You” and “Let Me Ride” are also very good: Gospel-influenced songs with somber, stately verses and uplifting choruses.

“Where You’re Going, Where You’re From” sometimes has the feel of a children’s song — which probably explains why Springsteen had his children sing on it — but the lyrics can be quite grim. “Devil’s in my head, devil’s in my head/He ain’t leaving till we’re both dead,” Springsteen sings.

Three short, purely instrumental tracks — “The Desert,” “A Prayer by the River” and “The Western Sea” — might have served some purpose if the movie ever got made. But without that … it’s hard to imagine anyone but the most ardent Springsteen fan listening to them more than once.

“My Master’s Hand (Theme)” is something else entirely. The album also includes “My Master’s Hand” as a song. But here the lead vocals are missing, and Springsteen’s own ethereal backing vocals are pushed to the forefront, and the effect is quite majestic.

“Many of these records were done on a whim,” Springsteen says of the Tracks II albums, in the liner notes. That seems to be the case with Faithless; it’s certainly not a project he labored long and hard over. But if you take out the three brief instrumental tracks, Springsteen achieves a pretty good hit and miss ratio with the rest of it, generating a handful of first-rate songs.

That then, of course, he didn’t return to. Until now.

The songs on Faithless are:

“The Desert” (instrumental)
“Where You Goin’, Where You From”
“Faithless”
“All God’s Children”
“A Prayer by the River” (instrumental)
“God Sent You”
“Goin’ to California”
“The Western Sea” (instrumental)
“My Master’s Hand”
“Let Me Ride”
“My Master’s Hand (Theme)”

For more information, visit lostalbums.net.

HERE is my review of the boxed set’s first album, “LA Garage Sessions ’83.”

HERE is my review of the boxed set’s second album, “Streets of Philadelphia Sessions.”

HERE is my review of the boxed set’s fourth album, “Somewhere North of Nashville.”

HERE is my review of the boxed set’s fifth album, “Inyo.”

HERE is my review of the boxed set’s sixth album, “Twilight Hours.”

HERE is my review of the boxed set’s seventh album, “Perfect World.”