The cover of the book that comes with “Tracks II: The Lost Albums.”
Bruce Springsteen’s epic Tracks II: The Lost Albums boxed set comes out today. I’ve already reviewed its seven albums separately (links are below) but would like to add some final thoughts, and let you know my 25 favorite songs from it.
Is it worth your time? Well, let me ask you, did you like Tracks, Springsteen’s four-CD, 1998 predecessor?
If you relished the opportunity to immerse yourself in a mountain of Springsteen songs (some good, some definitely subpar), and if you have come to regard some of those songs as … maybe not your all-time Springsteen favorites, but songs that you are very fond of, anyway … Tracks II is for you.
If you couldn’t get beyond the fact that Tracks was not a masterpiece on the level of Born to Run or Darkness on the Edge of Town, and listened to it just once and never returned to it … you can safely ignore Tracks II.
If you have never heard Tracks … what are you reading this article for? Start there.
Anyway, I’m glad Springsteen put together Tracks II. I do not have the expensive physical product, and have no plans to buy it. I will continue to listen to its songs as I listen to virtually all other recorded music in 2025: online.
It is daunting, of course, to have all this new material — Tracks II has 83 songs, dating from 1983 to 2018 — to digest. So let me suggest that you start with these 25 songs, which are my current favorites from it.
They are below, in the order that they appear on the boxed set, as YouTube videos, and in a Spotify playlist. But first, here are links to my seven album reviews:
LA Garage Sessions ’83
Streets of Philadelphia Sessions
Faithless
Somewhere North of Nashville
Inyo
Twilight Hours
Perfect World
Here are the songs:
“Follow That Dream,” LA Garage Sessions ’83
“Don’t Back Down on Our Love,”LA Garage Sessions ’83
“Little Girl Like You,” LA Garage Sessions ’83
“One Love,” LA Garage Sessions ’83
“Shut Out the Light,” LA Garage Sessions ’83
“Waiting on the End of the World,” Streets of Philadelphia Sessions
“We Fell Down,” Streets of Philadelphia Sessions
“One Beautiful Morning,” Streets of Philadelphia Sessions
“Between Heaven and Earth,” Streets of Philadelphia Sessions
“All God’s Children,” Faithless
“God Sent You,” Faithless
“My Master’s Hand (Theme),” Faithless
“Repo Man,” Somewhere North of Nashville
“Detail Man,” Somewhere North of Nashville
“Stand On It,” Somewhere North of Nashville”
“Janey Don’t You Lose Heart,” Somewhere North of Nashville
“Our Lady of Monroe,” Inyo
“When I Build My Beautiful House,” Inyo
“Sunday Love,” Twilight Hours
“Late in the Evening,” Twilight Hours
“Follow the Sun,” Twilight Hours
“Idiot’s Delight,” Perfect World
“Another Thin Line,” Perfect World
“The Great Depression,” Perfect World
“If I Could Only Be Your Lover,” Perfect World
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And, one more thing: My one-song-per-album picks are:
“Don’t Back Down on Our Love” (LA Garage Sessions ’83)
“Between Heaven and Earth” (Streets of Philadelphia Sessions)
“All God’s Children” (Faithless)
“Janey Don’t You Lose Heart” (Somewhere North of Nashville)
“When I Build My Beautiful House”(Inyo)
“Sunday Love” (Twilight Hours)
“The Great Depression” (Perfect World)
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