Under-nourished, but you can't discredit what is here.

I am of two minds about Bruce's "Greatest His," as I usally am about any artist I am a die hard fan of when it comes time to release a "hits" compilation. They never give you everything they should and often miss some personal favorites. This is a fact of life. But when you look at compilations from other artists of Springsteen's caliber and duration (25 years and 11 or so albums, at this point) like Billy Joel, John Mellencamp, Aerosmith, The Stones, etc (the former 3 share the same record label with Bruce), even if they miss some stuff, you can't accuse them of being skimpy. Even though all these artists - and many more - have over the years released various incarnations of hits albums, the first efforts were at least career spanning and true to their title in a technical and otherwise fashion. But those behind this Springsteen release have delivered a single disc of material that ignores his first two albums and is skimpy on material from all the others.



This is something of an atrocity seeing as how much Bruce means to so many. If you are a die hard fan, the head-slapping omissions are enough to drive you crazy with disbelief. How can any Bruce "hits" album leave out "Spirit In the Night," "Jungleland," "Rosalita," "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out," "The Promissed Land," "Out In the Street," "Cadillac Ranch," "I'm On Fire," "Cover Me," "Tunnel of Love" and "Lucky Town?" No matter what you think of "Pink Cadillac," it was a single, a hit and homeless (at least until '99's "Tracks," but you'd think someone would have thought to include it here since this collection seems to exist if for no other reason than to be hit-heavy). And how about some live or rare tracks ("Red Headed Woman," "Fire," "Becasue the Night..."). And that's just the stuff that people would know from the radio and, from a technical asspect, are "hit" enough to deserve a place here.



If you really want to get into what true fans would put on here there may not be enough room on even 3 cds, but most would agree "Growin' Up," "Kitty's Back," "Backstreets," "Prove It All Night," "Darkness On the Edge of Town," "Adam Raised A Cain," and "Racing In the Streets" should be on any Boss compilation among the others mentioned. Had they gone the extra mile and made this collection 2 discs, they may have been alble to represent all of these titles here, or close, and make a lot of people happy. Wouldn't that be great?!?!? (They had a second chance at this with '03's "Essential...," and although that is a far better effort - at least it gives us 2 discs of hits, it still has some head-slapping exclusions.)



To be accurate this set should be titled "Chart Hits" or "Accurately Sequenced Singles Collection." Anything with the word "greatest" pertaining to Sprtingsteen's large song catelog should include all the aforementioned songs. Or at least far more titles than are represented here.



The flip side to this argument, however (though it is not one that I personaly support as either a fan or consumer), is the technical aspect of aranging this album. The sad truth is Bruce's actual chart hits are limited. Even though his true fans love all the songs I mentioned, and many more, the casual listeners, for whom this collection was obviously intended, have never even heard of them (even if they have at some point heard them on the radio). This cd seems to be largely geared towards that crowd.



And I'll confess, I was about 16 when this album was released and I bought it without knowing much more than these songs from the Boss (although I still knew plenty were not represented, even as a non-die hard fan, I remeber hearing more Bruce than this on the radio). It did the job for awhile. And I credit it somewhat with making me seek out individual Bruce albums, thereby discovering so much more than I ever though I could in Springsteen's music.



I also understand that, when around people who are not as familiar with Bruce - because he is an artist that you either relate to something in his voice or lyrics right off the bat or he has to grow on you, this is a perfect album to play. Most will know - and like - every song. Again, that doesn't make me happy to say - I want as many people as possible to hear all the great songs they are missing out on - but it is an unfortunate truism. Not everyone is a huge Springsteen fan.



And finally, to the album's credit, it has a few new songs, and they are actually pretty good. Also included is "Murder Incorporated," a shelved cut from "Born In the USA," but one Bruce often plays live and has been requested by fans for a long time. It's nice to finaly have it included on an album, especially one on which it will get the attention it deserves.(Wouldn't it be nice if that same consideration was given to at least some of the other rejected titles I mentioned?)



Of the new tracks, all of which range from slow, albiet one very romantic ("Secret Garden") to moderately paced variations on familiar themes ("This Hard Land" - which has a great last verse and a quality about it that grows on you), "Blood Brothers" is the most fetching, if only bacause it is so obviously a metephor for a reunited and reinvigorated E Street Band. It's nice hear the love and respect they still have for one another paid tribute to; and it's great to hear some new tunes with the whole team involved as opposed to the rotating cast of different musicians Bruce had been using for the previous decade(this reunion would apex with two major highlights: their wonderous reunion tour and Bruce's best album in almost a decade, "The Rising" - which was followed by it's own equally wonderous tour). Just for getting the boys back together this CD gets mad props.



I rarely listen to this instead of actual albums or my own compilations; and if you have to go the greatest hits route with Springsteen '03s "Essenial..." is a much better bet, although it still misses some major stuff. Are these greatest hit compilations merely a marketing ploy to give us taste of something and get us hooked so we pony-up for the full albums albums? Probably. But its no ploy if it gets people into Springsteen enough to branch out into other albums the way I did. That is a gift that far exceeds any one greatest hits album's worth.

Could Have Been Better

There is nothing wrong with the material on here. It's good but there is so much missing. I know with a single disc it is hard to hit all the high points of an artist like The Boss. My complaint is there is too much "Born In The USA" (which I consider one of Bruces weakest records even though it was his commercial high point). There is only one track from "Darkness on the Edge of Town" which is arguably his greatest album ever. Also only one track from his masterpiece "Nebraska". But 5 tracks from "BITUSA! Plus 3 previously unreleased songs to close out the album. Nothing wrong with these three songs but why not include "Promised Land", "Cadillac Ranch" and "One Step Up" instead. As I said there is nothing really wrong with the music on here it is just a little post 1984 heavy.

Very good

While some of Bruce's best songs are not on this album, e.g. Cover Me, Going Down, this is still a terrific group of songs. I highly recommend it, but also get Born in the USA as well to complete your collection.