ON THE TRACKS 3.0 - GREATEST HITS

PHILADELPHIA TO BLOOD BROTHERS (+ GREATEST HITS)

Various Producers (refer to individual songs)
Various Recording Engineers (refer to individual songs) 

PART 1 – PHILADELPHIA TO BLOOD BROTHERS SESSIONS OVERVIEW

Springsteen completed the 1992-3 Human Touch-Lucky Town Tour in June 1993. The Philadelphia-Blood Brothers Sessions span a 19-month period, from July 1993 to January 1995. Although Springsteen recorded somewhere between one and two albums worth of new material during this 19-month period, he never issued any of the recordings coherently on an album. The scattered nature of the releases, couple with the fact that many of the songs remain unheard and/or unknown, make this period somewhat of a mystery, even today.

In early 1993 director Jonathan Demme approached Springsteen about writing a song for his work-in-progress film “Philadelphia”. Springsteen was non-committal to the project but told Demme he would try and come up with something appropriate for the film. Following the conclusion of the HT-LT Tour in June 1993 Springsteen retreated to his home studio and came up with “Streets of Philadelphia”. In the autumn of 1993 several other new songs were written and recorded – precise details of these have never come to light. In January 1994 Springsteen confirmed to German magazine “Bravo” that he was writing new songs for a new album that he hoped to have out by the end of 1994. This album was never released – although the songs were written and recorded.

In March 1994 Springsteen had recorded 3 or 4 new songs (details unknown) utilizing a 3-man backup band consisting of 1992-3 Tour members Roy Bittan (keyboards), Tommy Simms (bass) and Zach Alford (drums). In late 1993 and again in mid 1994 Springsteen and Joe Grushecky got together for songwriting sessions which yield several songs, which in turn led to Springsteen agreeing to produce Grushecky’s next album. The core of Grushecky’s “American Babylon” LP sessions took place during Sept-Oct 1994 and the album was completed and in the can by Nov 1994. However due to contractual delays the “American Babylon” LP (which contains 2 of their 1993-4 songwriting collaborations) was not released for until Oct 1995.

During Oct-Dec 1994 Springsteen recorded 7 or 8 new songs utilizing a 3-man backup band consisting of 1992-3 Tour band members Shane Fontayne (guitar), Tommy Simms (bass) and Zach Alford (drums). None of this material has yet leaked out. Fontayne has mentioned the sessions in interviews and noted the working title of the album was “Waiting On The End Of The World”. However these sessions seem to have given way to a surprise decision to re-convene the E Street Band in conjunction with a related decision to release a Greatest Hits anthology during the early months of 1995.

In January 1995 Springsteen assembled the entire E Street Band (+ alumnae Little Steven) together in New York for about 10 days of studio sessions. Although Springsteen had utilized individual band members in the studio since 1987, this was seemingly the first time the E Street Band had worked together in the studio since March 1984 (a point Nils Lofgren has since confirmed in interview). It is believed that most of the new compositions recorded at this “reunion” session had already been recorded at sessions with non-E Street Band musicians during 1994. 

 PART 2 – PHILADELPHIA TO BLOOD BROTHERS SESSIONS DETAILS

Note: Written in mid 1993 and first registered at the US Copyright office on Aug 27. 1993. First issued on Dec 30, 1993 as part of the ‘Philadelphia’ Soundtrack CD, then issued as a single in Feb 1994. However this is a song with a complex recording and release history. All recordings were co-produced by Springsteen and Chuck Plotkin. V1a was recorded during Aug 1993 at Thrill Hill West (Bruce’s California home studio) and features only Springsteen – on vocals, guitar, bass, synthesizer and drum machine. V1b, the “hit” version that appeared on the album soundtrack and the single, is the exact same as V1a except that there are added background vocals by Tommy Simms. To complicate matters the V1b version was issued in slightly shorter running time lengths on some versions of the single in some countries (done by shortening either the intro or outro). V1c is a significantly edited version of V1b that was released on the ‘Greatest Hits’ album. V1d is the version used for the commercial released video – it is the same base recording as V1b except that it features an alternate (“live”) Springsteen vocal. V1e was released as a promotion-only single in the UK and Austria and this is allegedly yet another slightly different mix of V1b. V1f is the audio released as part of a black & white video shot in early 1994 at CBS TV Soundstage studios in New York and originally broadcast on the UK TV show ‘Top Of The Pops’. It is alleged this is yet another slight, but unique, mix variation. V2 is a different recording of the song made in Oct 1993, apparently at A&M Studios in Los Angeles. It features Bruce on lead vocal, instrumentation provided by Springsteen and jazz virtuoso Ornette Coleman, bass and background vocals by Tommy Simms and additional background vocals by Little Jimmy Scott. V2 was allegedly scheduled to be the officially released version up to early Dec 1993, when it was nixed at the last second, even after the song’s video (which featured Little Jimmy extensively) was shot. The video had to be re-shot. A brief snippet of V2 (including the tell-tale vocals of Little Jimmy Scott) is actually heard about halfway through the movie (but it’s V1b that is heard in the opening sequence of the movie)

Note: Written by Curtis Mayfield. Recorded by Bruce during Sept or Oct 1993 at Thrill Hill West (Bruce’s Los Angeles home studio). Co-produced by Springsteen and Tommy Simms. This features Bruce on lead vocals and guitars and Tommy Simms on bass, keyboards, percussion and background vocals. First released in Feb 1994 on the Curtis Mayfield tribute album.

Note: co-written by Springsteen and Joe Grushecky in Los Angeles in late 1993, with Springsteen providing most of the music and Grushecky most of the lyrics. This was the first of what has turned out to be numerous Springsteen-Grushecky collaborations to date. The song was first issued by Grushecky on his American Babylon LP in Oct 1995. A Springsteen studio vocal rendition has yet to surface.

Note: co-written by Springsteen and Joe Grushecky in mid 1994, with Springsteen providing most of the music and Grushecky most of the lyrics. The song was first issued by Grushecky on his American Babylon LP in Oct 1995. A Springsteen studio vocal rendition has yet to surface.

Note: Recorded in the autumn of 1994 at THRILL HILL WEST (Springsteen’s Los Angeles home studio). Produced by Springsteen (no co-producer) and recorded by Toby Scott. Bruce handles all vocals and instruments. Springsteen didn’t write “Missing” with a film in mind – he played the recording for actor/director Sean Penn in late 1994 and Penn asked if he could use it in a film he was directing, which turned out to be the Nov 1995 movie “The Crossing Guard”. First issued on the movie soundtrack in Nov 1995 and then as a Springsteen single in some countries in early 1996. V1a and V1b are slightly different mixes of the same recording.

Note: Recorded sometime during 1994. Song was re-recorded in early 2002 with the E Street Band and that version was issued on The Rising album.

Note: This song and its sound recording were first registered with the US Copyright Office in spring 1995. However the title of this Springsteen composition had leaked out in late 1994 and it is believed the recording emanates from sometime in the fall of 1994.

Note: This song and its sound recording were first registered with the US Copyright Office in spring 1995. However the title of this Springsteen composition had leaked out in late 1994 and it is believed the recording emanates from sometime in the fall of 1994.

Note: This song and its sound recording were first registered with the US Copyright Office in spring 1995. However the title of this Springsteen composition had leaked out in late 1994 and it is believed the recording emanates from sometime in the fall of 1994.

Note: Recorded in Jan 1995 at The Hit Factory, New York City. V1 is a combination of two brief snippets shown in the video. V2 is a complete, alternate take. V3 is recording “take #1”. V4a is the original single that was also issued on “Greatest Hits’ album. V4b features strings (courtesy David Kahn) added to V4a and released on the official Sony ‘Blood Brothers’ EP, as well as a single b-side in some countries. V4c, known as “the Jerry McGuire Remix”, was produced by New York City radio station Z100 (with permission from Springsteen/Sony) as part of a spring 1997 listener contest promotion exclusive to that station. The V4c version features dialog excerpts from the movie added on top of the instrumental sections of the regular commercial version of the song. There are also additional, brief radio station plug spots before and after the song that are heard on this promo-only “contest giveaway” cd.

Note: Recorded in Jan 1995 at The Hit Factory, New York City. Session player Frank Pagano guests on percussion instruments. V1 is a brief snippet shown in the video. V2a and V2b are slightly different mixes of the official video take. V3 and V4 are different recordings, both of them officially issued. Many consider V4 superior to V3.

Note: Recorded in Jan 1995 at The Hit Factory, New York City. V1 is longer but not quite finished. V2 is the complete, officially issued take.

Note: Song written in 1987 by Tim McConnell (aka Tim Scott). Recorded by Springsteen in Jan 1995 at The Hit Factory, New York City. V1 is a brief snippet of a different recorded take, as heard in the video. V2 is the complete, officially issued take.

Note: Recorded in Jan 1995 at The Hit Factory, New York City. V1 is a brief snippet shown in the video. V2 is an incomplete alternate take. V3b (recorded on Jan 12th) is the officially issued recording. V3a is the same basic recording as V3b but with the keyboard deleted and a different, more passionate vocal by Springsteen. Many consider V3a to be the superior version.

Note: Recorded in Jan 1995 at The Hit Factory, New York City. Frank Pagano guests on percussion instruments. V1 is a brief snippet shown in the video. V2 and V3 are two different recordings, though very similar. Neither is as good as the original 1982 BITUSA studio session version that is available on TRACKS.

Note: Recorded in Jan 1995 at The Hit Factory, New York City with the E Street Band. An earlier version was recorded in 1994 featuring Shane Fontayne and other members of the 1992-3 Touring band.

PART 3 – GREATEST HITS SESSIONS OVERVIEW

“Bruce Springsteen: Greatest Hits” was released on February 28, 1995. Please refer to the individual sessions from which these recordings emanate for further details. Those items marked with an asterisk * are recordings that were officially unreleased prior to their appearance on Greatest Hits. Please note that the version of “Human Touch” found on Greatest Hits is an edited/shortened version of the album track that was previously only available as a promotional item issued to radio stations.

Page updated June 13, 2007