Springsteen's 'Tracks II' sounds exhausting and expensive – and I can't wait!

I remember when Bruce Springsteen’s first “Tracks” came out in 1998 I found it a little daunting. Four CDs? Sixty-six songs? But as a spry young lad of 30, I knew I’d be up to the challenge of wading through the whole of the collection, parsing out the wheat from the chaff, and even — yes, I did this — make a homemade cassette tape of my favorite “Tracks” tracks. (Then my wife and I started to have kids and I never had time to make another mixtape again, but that’s another story.)

But now “Tracks II” is coming out, and it’s got 83 songs (that’s 17 more than 66, for everyone keeping track at home), laid out in seven separate unreleased albums. And they’re mostly not from that insanely productive spurt of creativity that lasted basically from 1970 through 1987, meaning they’re probably not of the “Thundercrack,” “Loose Ends” and “Frankie” variety — think more “Goin’ Cali,” or that unused song from the Harry Potter movie. (Note: I didn’t realize when I first wrote this, but that one’s actually on there! Along with the first single, "Rain in the River," which I'd classify as "good, and growing on me.")

Frankly, though, the idea of trying to wade into all of that new music at once is downright exhausting. As a dude in my mid-50s I have a lot of distractions I didn’t have in 1998, like the status of my 401-K, and my sciatica. Plus, if I want to listen to it on some sort of traditional media, I’ll have to shell out $299 for the CDs or $350 for vinyl (which I would prefer since most of my old CDs are sitting unused in my basement, waiting to become coasters). Fortunately I do have Spotify as an option, but if it makes any difference, I feel guilty about it.

[Note: The physical boxed sets do include a book no one will read, so there's that.]

So, not my favorite Bruce eras … Super-expensive … Dauntingly long … I’m going to skip it, right? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

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No, the fact of the matter is, you’re looking at someone who placed “Wrecking Ball” in his list of Top 10 Springsteen albums and who owns the picture disc of “Lucky Town.” I'm of the opinion that Bruce has put out great work during every stage of his career — and even if some of his outtakes haven’t been among his best work (“Mr. Outside,” anybody? Oh, who am I kidding, that song is adorable), others have been pure genius (Hello, “None But the Brave”). 

In short, if Bruce is putting it out there, I’m diving in. Even if some of the drum loops, country combos, or “orchestra-driven, mid-century noir” (whatever that is) that we’ve been promised on “Tracks II” doesn’t wind up agreeing with me, I trust that Bruce’s vision will leave me always intrigued and, at least at times, delighted — and that he would refrain from releasing anything REALLY awful.

So at the end of the day, any reservations I might have aren't going to stop me from immersing myself in this collection with as much fervor as a man of my advanced age can muster. I may just have to take a week off work to do it. 

But what really matters is what YOU think! Take the poll below and let us know if “Tracks II” is lighting your Bruce fire. And finally, I’ll say this: If Bruce’s “Perfect World” doesn’t wind up being a cover of this song by Huey Lewis & The News, that’s a HUGE missed opportunity.