Bruce Springsteen is preparing to unveil a treasure trove of music never before available to the general public. Seven “lost” albums—a massive collection of 83 songs, 74 of which were never formally released in the past—will finally be heard by listeners this June. These recordings, made between 1983 and 2018, are included in a project entitled Tracks II: The Lost Albums, which is a milestone for the celebrated New Jersey artist and his fans alike.
The concept for the project began to materialize during the Covid-19 pandemic’s downtime. Having the time to reflect and rehash past work, Springsteen spent his time working through recordings put on hold across the decades. “I’ve played this music to myself and often close friends for years now,” he revealed in a press release. “I’m glad you’ll get a chance to finally hear them. I hope you enjoy them.”
What makes Tracks II unique is that it’s not merely a gathering of incomplete demos or rough outlines—it features intact, fully formed albums. “Full records, some of them even to the point of being mixed and not released,” Springsteen explained. These aren’t mere leftovers; they’re intact works that, for one reason or another, never got into the spotlight until this time.
The collection provides listeners with a unique glimpse into Springsteen’s artistic development over more than three decades. One of the gems is LA Garage Sessions 83, an album that connects the sparse, minimalist sound of Nebraska to the more muscular, anthemic style of Born in the USA. This album specifically provides fans with a look at the inner creative transformation taking place at a pivotal point in his career.
Another highlight of the collection is Streets of Philadelphia Sessions, which takes the style of the Oscar-winning song Springsteen penned for Jonathan Demme’s 1993 film Philadelphia and expands upon it. The album delves into a more experimental arena, with the addition of drum loops, synthesizers, and influences borrowed from hip-hop—features that were still fairly new to him back then. Although innovative, Springsteen then retreated from this path, worried that it would be too disassociated from his base. That caused him to shift his focus toward more acoustic-based storytelling with the 1995 release of The Ghost of Tom Joad.
Each album of the seven that is featured in Tracks II offers a distinct creative moment. There’s one album, Faithless, that was written as a movie soundtrack that never materialized. There’s Somewhere North of Nashville, soaked in pedal steel and country sounds. Twilight Hours has a darker, film noir sound palette. Then there’s Inyo, which according to one press release is a set of “richly woven border tales”—a description that sparks a clear image of place- and character-driven storytelling.
Springsteen also spoke about the influence of technology on the creation of these unreleased recordings. As home recording technology improved over the decades, he was able to experiment in ways that were once beyond his reach. “The development of home recording technology enabled me to venture into a broad range of different musical directions,” he said. This freedom obviously contributed to the wide variety of styles explored in Tracks II.
In a teaser trailer announcing the project, Springsteen answered a long-held impression by both fans and critics—that he hit a creative plateau in the 1990s. He took issue with that notion, asserting, “Really I was working the whole time.” The advent of Tracks II lends considerable weight to that assertion. It’s not that he hadn’t been producing; it’s just that he hadn’t shared everything with anyone at the time.
As an advance, the track Rain in the River, from one of the missing albums known as Perfect World, is already out. The complete collection comes on 27 June and will be released in several formats, including a physical release that comes with a 100-page book full of unseen archive photographs and extensive liner notes on each album. For those who like their experience edited, a 20-song sampler culled from throughout the seven albums will also be released.
Tracks II is a follow-up to the original Tracks set, released in 1998 and comprising B-sides, demos, and outtakes. But this one goes even deeper, not only filling in gaps in his discography but rewriting portions of it.
Springsteen, who is now 75, continues to be an active presence in music. He’s returning to the UK for a third summer in a row, with performances lined up in Manchester and Liverpool. His last studio album of new material was Only the Strong Survive, which came out in 2022. And this month, on Record Store Day (12 April), Springsteen fans have another reason to rejoice: he’s collaborating with The Killers to release Encore at the Garden, a live EP capturing his impromptu gig with the Vegas band at Madison Square Garden in 2022.
Tracks II: The Lost Albums is both new and dedicated fans’ deep look into the working life of one of America’s most enduring artists, rather than a compilation of previously unreleased material. These albums are vital, moving, and fully alive; they are more than merely artifacts of history. They can now finally be listened to by the entire world.