Like when U2 was Ten-Tracked, we’re going to do a bunch of Springsteen albums at once. These are mostly albums that haven’t changed too much and have just been tweaked around the edges.
‘Born To Run’ hasn’t been 10-Tracked because it’s everything an album should be….8 tracks, around 40 minutes. Perfect.
Likewise, ‘Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ’, ‘The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle’ and ‘Nebraska’ don’t need 10-Tracking because their running time is perfect. Though it would have been nice to put ‘The Fever’ on ‘The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle.’
Darkness On The Edge Of Town
Not a huge change here because it’s one of Springsteen’s very best albums. But I love ‘The Promise’ and it would have been a perfect fit for the album. It replaces ‘Streets Of Fire’ here which is the weakest track on the album. ‘The Promise’ is a natural opener for Side Two and it flows so perfectly into ‘The Promised Land.’ Though I’m not sure if I love or hate two songs with such similar titles sitting right next to each other in the track listing.
Side One
Badlands
Adam Raised A Cain
Something In The Night
Candy’s Room
Racing In The Street
Side Two
The Promise
The Promised Land
Factory
Prove It All Night
Darkness On The Edge Of Town
Tunnel Of Love
10-Tracking this album isn’t going to make it great. Despite it being popular amongst fans, I just never connected with this album and never will. But I like this 10-Tracked version better. The crap has been trimmed off and it’s front loaded to hell, which is the standard approach when the material isn’t all that good. I would never love it but I’d prefer this version. For sure.
Side One
Ain’t Got You
Tougher Than The Rest
Brilliant Disguise
One Step Up
Valentine’s Day
Side Two
Tunnel Of Love
Walk Like A Man
Spare Parts
Cautious Man
Two Faces
The Ghost Of Tom Joad
One of my favourite Springsteen albums. But as much as I love this album there is no denying that’s it is too long and that one of it’s best tracks (‘Brothers Under The Bridge’) was left off…seemingly for no reason at all. This 10-Tracked version probably takes a very good album and, maybe, makes it great.
Side One
The Ghost Of Tom Joad
Straight Time
Highway 29
Youngstown
Across The River
Side Two
Brothers Under The Bridge
Sinaloa Cowboys
The Line
Galveston Bay
The New Timer
Devils & Dust
Nothing would make this album great but this 10-tracked version is an improvement. This version is front loaded to make it easier to listen to, well, it makes the first part of it easier to listen to anyway. I quite like this Side One. Overall it’s a more consistent album too because we’ve cut out most of the tracks that don’t fit the Nebraska/Tom Joad sound, leaving only the more sparse, acoustic songs.
Side One
Devils & Dust
Reno
Black Cowboys
Leah
Matamoras Banks
Side Two
Long Time Comin’
Jesus Was An Only Child
The Hitter
Silver Palomino
All I’m Thinkin’ About
Magic
This is a really good album as is. The 10-Tracked version improves it just by making it that bit tighter by cutting the excess tracks that aren’t quite up to scratch. Similiarly with ‘The Ghost Of Tom Joad’, this 10-Tracked version takes a very good album and gets it much closer to being great.
Side One
Radio Nowhere
Livin’ In The Future
I’ll Work For Your Love
Gypsy Biker
Girls In Their Summer Clothes
Side Two
Magic
Last To Die
Long Walk Home
Devil’s Arcade
Terry’s Song
Working On A Dream
Now this album is too far gone down the road to Shitsville to be saved merely by 10-Tracking it. But it’s improved, no doubt. Most of the utter shit on this album got the cut, though it would have been great to lose ‘Kingdom Of Days’ too. ‘The Wrestler’ is included despite the fact it was written for the soundtrack of the movie. It was included as a bonus track on some versions of this album and it was pretty clear that the ‘bonus track’ was the best thing on the album. The 10-Tracked version is front loaded to all hell and it’s improved…which is the best we can hope for here.
And yes, we’d obviously do something about the fucking god-awful cover.
Side One
Outlaw Pete
My Lucky Day
Life Itself
Working On A Dream
The Wrestler
Side Two
What Love Can Do
Kingdom Of Days
Tomorrow Never Knows
Good Eye
The Last Carnival