2024 Best Of Bruce Springsteen CD Comes With No Rare Tracks

Feature Photo: Ben Houdijk / Shutterstock.com

Bruce Springsteen fans will be greeted with a new Bruce Springsteen release on April 19, 2024. But dont get lost in your high hopes just yet. No, it’s not a new studio album, it’s the latest Bruce Springsteen Greatest Hits Package called The Best Of Bruce Springsteen. This will be Bruce Springsteen’s sixth greatest hits collection that Columbia Records has released. It’s the first in eight years since Chapter and Verse came out in 2016. Interestingly, this Greatest Hits package comes out from an artist who, in the first twenty years of his career, never released a “greatest hits” package until Greatest Hits was released in 1995.
In the past, all of Bruce Springsteen’s hit collections usually included unreleased tracks. This was done so that those collections would not only serve the casual fans who just wanted the hits but also the die-hard fans who would buy the compilations for the unreleased tracks. Some of the compilations were extremely generous with unreleased tracks, such as the Bruce Springsteen Essential Collection, released as a three-CD Limited run that served up an entire disk of unreleased Springsteen recordings, some of which were fantastic. Can you say “None But The Brave?”
So what goodies can Bruce Springsteen die-hard fans expect to find on his newest package? Will there be unreleased tracks from his past three or four latest studio releases? Some special unreleased live material? Maybe, one or two of his collaborations with other well-known artists that have never been released? There has got to be something special to make me go out and buy songs like “Born To Run” and “Born In The U.S.A.” all over again.
After previewing the song list on the new The Best Of Bruce Springsteen, I was shocked and, of course, incredibly disappointed to find that the album has not one unreleased or rare track on it. It makes no sense to me. However, I am looking at this all from the eyes of a Springsteen fan who purchased every bootleg that was released on vinyl in the 70s and 80s and then, of course, all those wonderful Italian bootleg Great Dane CDs that came out in the 1990s. I brought every official compilation and hits package, box set, CD single, and more, just for the stuff that I didn’t already own. It’s called being a collector or at least a big fan.
Cleary Columbia Records is not aiming for this release to reach fans like me. Maybe it’s because fans like me are in their 60s and 70s. Maybe it’s because fans like me are starting to leave this Earth. Of course, that raises another question: “To what music fans are they aiming to sell this record?” If they are aiming for a younger audience, well, then good luck. The younger audience doesn’t buy music; they stream it. Yes, there are a certain group of young people that buy vinyl, but I’m not sure that particular segment of young fans are big Springsteen fans. I could be wrong. I mean, what do I know? I dont have any statistics; all I know as a teacher when I ask young people if they like Bruce Sprinsgteen, they usually answer, “who?” They say the same thing about Mick Jagger. Yes, I know it’s sad, but times change.
Ultimately, Bruce Springsteen owes us nothing because he has given us so much over the years. He is one of the most influential musical artists of all time and maybe the greatest live performer ever. Yet, I can’t help but be disappointed that a new Springsteen album is being released, and I have already heard every song on the album a few hundred or even perhaps thousands of times each. I guess I will just have to hope that a single is released with a rare B-side. Wait do they even release singles anymore?
The Best Of Bruce Springsteen album is being released in CD and Vinyl versions with a gorgeous cover taken from the 1975 Born To Run photo shoot taken by Eric Meola.

Best of Bruce Springsteen Track Listing – CD and Vinyl Edition

“Growin’ Up” – Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. (1973) – 3:05
“Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)” – The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle (1973) – 7:04
“Born to Run” – Born to Run (1975) – 4:30
“Thunder Road” – Born to Run – 4:49
“Badlands” – Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) – 4:01
“Hungry Heart” – The River (1980) – 3:19
“Atlantic City” – Nebraska (1982) – 3:57
“Dancing in the Dark” – Born in the U.S.A. (1984) – 4:01
“Born in the U.S.A.” – Born in the U.S.A. – 4:41
“Brilliant Disguise” – Tunnel of Love (1987) – 4:15
“Human Touch (Edit)” – Human Touch (1992) – 5:10
“Streets of Philadelphia” – Philadelphia Official Soundtrack (1994) – 4:14
“The Ghost of Tom Joad” – The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995) – 4:21
“Secret Garden” – Greatest Hits (1995) – 4:27
“The Rising” – The Rising (2002) – 4:47
“Girls in Their Summer Clothes” – Magic (2007) – 4:19
“Hello Sunshine” – Western Stars (2019) – 3:55
“Letter to You” – Letter to You (2020) – 4:55

Best of Bruce Springsteen Track Listing – Download Edition

“Growin’ Up” – Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. (1973) – 3:05
“Spirit in the Night” – Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. – 5:00
“Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)” – The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle (1973) – 7:04
“4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)” – The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle – 5:36
“Born to Run” – Born to Run (1975) – 4:30
“Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” – Born to Run – 3:11
“Thunder Road” – Born to Run – 4:49
“Badlands” – Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) – 4:01
“Prove It All Night” – Darkness on the Edge of Town – 3:57
“The River” – The River (1980) – 4:59
“Hungry Heart” – The River – 3:19
“Atlantic City” – Nebraska (1982) – 3:57
“Glory Days” – Born in the U.S.A. (1984) – 4:15
“Dancing in the Dark” – Born in the U.S.A. – 4:01
“Born in the U.S.A.” – Born in the U.S.A. – 4:41
“Brilliant Disguise” – Tunnel of Love (1987) – 4:15
“Tougher Than the Rest” – Tunnel of Love – 4:35
“Human Touch” – Human Touch (1992) – 6:30
“If I Should Fall Behind” – Lucky Town (1992) – 2:57
“Living Proof” – Lucky Town – 4:45
“Streets of Philadelphia” – Philadelphia Official Soundtrack (1994) – 4:14
“The Ghost of Tom Joad” – The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995) – 4:21
“Secret Garden” – Greatest Hits (1995) – 4:27
“The Rising” – The Rising (2002) – 4:47
“Long Time Comin'” – Devils & Dust (2005) – 4:14
“Girls in Their Summer Clothes” – Magic (2007) – 4:19
“The Wrestler” – Working on a Dream (2009) – 3:49
“We Take Care of Our Own” – Wrecking Ball (2012) – 3:54
“Hello Sunshine” – Western Stars (2019) – 3:55
“Ghosts” – Letter to You (2020) – 5:55
“Letter to You” – Letter to You – 4:55