Bruce Springsteen Live CD – The Lost Masters Compilation - 19 CD SET

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NOTES:

The Lost Masters: Introduction

In the spring of 1996, word quickly spread of a 19-CD set called "The Lost Masters" consisting of studio outtakes, home demos, and rehearsal sessions from Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band from the years 1977-1983. In addition to the 19 discs, two "Best of" sets would also be released and would include bonus tracks not found elsewhere in the set. The discs were to be released individually in groups of five or so and the first five surfaced in early summer.

The CDs can basically be broken down into 5 segments: Darkness outtakes (2 CDs), River outtakes (2 CDs), home demos (4 CDs), rehearsal sessions (5 CDs),
and Hollywood Hills garage tapes (3 CDs).

Rounding out the set are the complete Nebraska sessions,
Born in the USA outtakes, and "Big Expendables,
" which consists of studio outtakes from The River, home demos, and rehearsal sessions.

Obviously, personal opinion differs, but the Darkness outtakes,
the Nebraska session, and the Born in the USA full band outtakes seemed to top most people's lists of the best of the series. These four discs offered, for the most part, the best sound quality, and, in the case of the Nebraska disc, the most revealing look at said album.

The Darkness outtakes discs contained the best sound quality of any grouping of the Lost Masters. Although only 2 songs on these discs were previously uncirculated, the alternate takes of several songs more than makes up for it. Prove It All Night with the lyrics from Something in the Night sheds new light on both songs. Other songs with alternate lyrics include Adam Raised a Cain, Badlands, and Racing in the Street. However, the gems of these discs might be The Promise and Frankie in sound quality never before heard.

The River outtakes, while containing outstanding sound quality for the most part, were marred by multiple takes of the same song. It also seemed like these discs offered up the fewest previously-uncirculated songs, although, it must be said, the Definitive River Outtakes Volumes 1 and 2 would have been hard to surpass.

The home demos are difficult to judge. Almost all the material on these discs was previously uncirculated, and these discs shed a huge amount of light on the way Bruce Springsteen creates his songs. However, multiple takes on songs and the blandness of most songs make these difficult to listen to repeatedly.

The rehearsal session discs received the most critical reviews. These discs featured Bruce and the Band rehearsing the same song ad nauseam and in less-than-stellar sound quality, making it very difficult to listen to some of these discs even once; eight consecutive run-throughs of Held Up Without a Gun and Two Hearts with very little noticeable difference, due to the sound quality, can be enough for almost anybody. The real gems to turn up in these discs were Chevrolet Deluxe, originally "released" on the River Refinery tapes, although this version is very different than the home demo; Living on the Edge, a very rocking number in the vein of Buddy Holly; Wreck on the Highway in a country arrangement; and Stolen Car, as it goes through the transition from the Son You May Kiss the Bride version to the eventual released version. Volume 14 could be the most revealing rehearsal disc as it features four previously uncirculated songs.

Although consistenting mostly of rehearsal takes, Volume 4 cannot be grouped entirely with those discs, as it includes a home demo of Roulette as well as the supposed first take of the song with the band in the studio. The highlight of this disc, and highlight of the whole set for me, is Protection, a song Donna Summer recorded with some guitar work from Bruce himself. Bruce's version of Protection is faster and more forceful than Summer's, and the sound here is of official release quality.

The Hollywood Hills Garage Tapes were interesting, annoying, and repetitive, sometimes all on the same disc. Again, the repetitiveness of several songs, most notably Don't Back Down, which begins Volume 18 with eight different versions,
brings down several of these discs. In addition, while it is interesting to hear Bruce fool around with a synthesizer and a drum machine, four consecutive versions of My Hometown can be quite enough; it has also been pointed out that the same drum beat is used on several songs. On the other hand, previously uncirculated songs such as The Klansman, Seven Tears, Unsatisfied Heart, and Richfield Whistle show a transition from the Nebraska material to the more band-friendly Born in the USA. Another gem is the complete take of Shut Out the Light with an additional verse discussing drug abuse by the protagonist.

Volume 1, however, was the gem of this set for many people.
The long-awaited original acoustic version of Born in the USA
can finally be heard, and the true meaning of the song cannot be ignored in an arrangement somewhat similar to the solo acoustic tour version, albeit a bit faster. One has to wonder how differently the song would have been received had this version been released. Downbound Train was another song supposedly recorded for Nebraska, and, it must be said, was done a favor when Bruce and the E Street Band later recorded it for Born in the USA. Child Bride is essentially Working on the Highway but slowed down tremendously, and some say that Child Bride is better than it's album counterpart; a friend said that if the entrepreneurs behind the Lost Masters were ever tried, they could play Child Bride back to back with Working on the Highway and they would be acquitted. Another interesting note is the song Losin' Kind about a couple who commit a crime before crashing their car in the snow, essentially the same song as Highway 29, released almost 14 years later on The Ghost of Tom Joad album.

Volume 19 is a companion-piece to Volume 1 in some fashion,
as it is a collection of Born in the USA outtakes. Although only three songs from this CD had never circulated previously, the sound quality surpasses all previously circulated versions of these songs. TV Movie quickly became a favorite for many people, and some people speculated on Bruce doing an album of rockbilly material; TV Movie, Pink Cadillac, Stand On It, County Fair, and Little Girl could almost be side 2 of such an album.

The source of the tapes that became the Lost Masters has been debated in several circles but without reaching a definitive answer. While several tape collectors high on the food chain reportedly had these tapes for a couple of years, those collectors only had copies and their original source was the one who made the Lost Masters possible. One doesn't have to go too far back in Bruce history to find two very plausible suspects.

The biggest disappointment of the Lost Masters series was the absence of the legendary Electric Nebraska tapes, full band arrangements of the songs Bruce "recorded" in January of 1982.
Those tapes exist somewhere, and, if we're good, hopefully they will one day surface.