By: Josh Kitchen / April 1, 2025
Updated April 2
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UPDATE: This morning, Springsteen confirmed that he is indeed releasing Tracks 2: The Lost Albums. The set will feature seven "lost" albums spanning from 1983 to 2018, and we will get more info on April 3. Springsteen released a teaser on his socials, linking to lostalbums.net where you can sign up to receive the news when it hits. The teaser, includes a new track reminiscent of the Wrecking Ball track "Easy Money," with some banjo in it. Keen-eyes on Backstreets.com have also found a Japanese pre-order for what looks like a single or double disc version of the larger set called Lost and Found. The pre-order also has the list of disc names in the set:
L.A. GARAGE SESSIONS 1983
STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA SESSIONS
FAITHLESS
SOMEWHERE NORTH OF NASHVILLE
INYO
TWILIGHT HOURS
PERFECT WORLD
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Today, on April 1, April Fool's Day, a day dedicated to LYING, Bruce Springsteen has greeted his fans - good little Spring-Nut and Spring-Ball boys and girls, from their slumbers with a teaser for something coming this Thursday, April 3. The official Bruce Springsteen social media pages posted this teaser at 9:00 EST this morning, on a Thrill Hill Recording track sheet with the date of April 3, and a cryptic message that reads, "What Was Lost Has Now Been Found."
It's a cute preview for something that has been on Springsteen fans minds for almost 20 years - the legendary "Tracks 2" box set, and I can assure you that this is not an April Fool's joke. In 1998, Springsteen dropped Tracks, which spanned four discs and made up a collection of unreleased songs from the previous thirty years of his career. Since then, he's made good on scratching the itch Tracks caused and released a lot more unreleased music on box sets for re-releases of Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River, and various other hits packages and random releases. Tracks and the outtake releases that followed have been an excellent glimpse into Springsteen's creative process, several of the songs he left on the cutting room floor could have been huge hits for other artists, and some were! "Fire" and "Because The Night" were major hits for The Pointer Sisters and Patti Smith, and if you can believe it, there are apparently dozens if not hundreds of other unreleased gems that for one reason or another, Springsteen has chosen not to put out.
That is, until now! Tracks 2 has been rumored to make up full albums that Springsteen shelved, some even suggesting it has a title, "The Lost Albums," and that it would primarily make up albums from the late 80's and 90's, and with today's preview, it seems like that is what we're getting - with a whole lot more. And to top the original Tracks at four discs, this one is rumored to be seven. Over on the Springsteen forum, Backstreets, which this writer may or may not be a serial poster on, the rumors have seriously been heating up and reached a crescendo yesterday with notable Springsteen insiders like Stan Goldstein, and Hal Schwartz and Flynn McLean of the None But The Brave Podcast telling fans that something big was about to be released.
And now today, on Springsteen's posts, the preview message is overlayed on some handwritten lyrics to a 1983 Born in the U.S.A outtake called "Delivery Man" which has been circulating for years. It's about a delivery truck driver transporting chickens where he crashes, leading to a chicken bloodbath. It sure seems like we are in for a treat, and we could be getting tracks that date back to the early days of his career.
Check out some tracks I hope are on the box set below:
A Darkness outtake I can't get enough of:
A song that was a hit for Donna Summer, which to this day shocks me Bruce gave away!
A wildly layered Born in the U.S.A. outtake that evolved into "Janey Don't You Lose Heart" from Tracks
Maybe the best song he gave away, to Gary U.S. Bonds. You can clearly already hear Bruce's backup vocals here, with all of E Street playing on it as well:
An amazing Nebraska outtake:
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