Greatest Hits (1995)


1. Born to Run 2. Thunder Road 3. Badlands 4. Hungry Heart 5. The River 6. Atlantic City 7. Dancing in the Dark 8. Born in the U.S.A. 9. My Hometown 10.Glory Days 11.Brilliant Disguise 12.Human Touch 13.Better Days 14.Streets of Philadelphia 15.Secret Garden 16.Murder Incorporated 17.Blood Brothers 18.This Hard Land

 

When you think about it, Bruce Springsteen never really had that many "hits". There was Hungry Heart, Brilliant Disguise and practically the entire Born in the U.S.A. album. So a compilation seems a bit suspect. When you look at the songs here, you have to agree that this is about the closest you can get to a one disc representation of the career of Bruce Springsteen. Wisely, three out of the seven top ten hits from Born in the U.S.A. are left off. Otherwise this album would have been weighted down too much from that one album.

His first two albums are not represented, but that's really not a surprise to anyone, and let's face it, they would be way out of place here. What is here, is not one or two "bonus" songs, but five bonus songs. Of course, not all five were "unreleased", but you really couldn't get these songs anywhere else, so it's a treat to have them here. He had managed to score big with The Streets of Philadelphia from the movie "Philadelphia" and Secret Touch from the film "Jerry Maguire". Both of these movies were only a year or so old when this album came out, so it's safe to call them "new". Equally as impressive are the songs Murder Incorporated and Blood Brothers. The main highlightt of these two songshe was that he had gotten the E Street Band back together. Was it temporary? No one was sure at the time, but these songs sounded like the Bruce of old, so it was a great addition. Then you had the previously unreleased This Hard Land, an older song that, for reasons unbeknownst to me is included here. It's great, sure. But why this song? It would later appear in a slightly different version on the box set Tracks, so it may seem a bit unnecessary.

He would put out "another" greatest hits package several years later, which was a two disc set plus a bonus of unreleased material. It's a little better, but this one has plenty of bang for the buck.

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