"Tracks" is a four-disc box set by American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released in 1998. It features 66 songs, the majority of which are previously unreleased tracks from various recording sessions throughout his career, including demos, B-sides, and alternate versions of songs. The collection highlights Springsteen’s prolific songwriting and his deep catalog of material that had not been made available to the public at the time.
The project began in February 1998 when Springsteen and his chief engineer, Toby Scott, began going through a vast archive of unreleased songs. By that time, Springsteen had amassed over 350 unreleased tracks, including material written for albums like Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River, and Born in the U.S.A., many of which were recorded but never released. Scott had been compiling and cataloging these tracks since 1985, helping Springsteen organize them into a database to make future releases more feasible.
Despite initial plans to release the songs in their rough-mix form, it was decided to properly remix the tracks from the original multi-track tapes. This process started in June, but by then the timeline for completing the project had become tight, with a deadline for the final master tapes set for September 10. Over the next few months, a team of engineers, including Scott, Chuck Plotkin, and Bob Clearmountain, worked around the clock to remix, master, and finalize the tracklist. They worked out of multiple studios, with engineers handling different eras of Springsteen’s material.
During the mixing process, Springsteen was hands-on, often listening to mixes late in the afternoon and providing input for revisions. A common adjustment made during the remixes was to make Springsteen's vocals drier and more intimate, compared to the reverb-heavy mixes of earlier recordings.
Initially, a much larger list of songs—128 in total—was considered for the box set, which would have required six CDs to accommodate all the material. However, Springsteen ultimately decided to trim the list down to 66 songs spread across four discs. As the final mixes were completed, they were transferred to a digital workstation, sequenced, and sent for mastering. The project was completed on time and released as planned.
Tracks provides a comprehensive overview of Springsteen's unreleased material, though there are notable omissions. Certain early demos from 1972, such as Arabian Nights and Ballad of the Self-Loading Pistol, were excluded due to legal disputes with a European label. Additionally, songs from the Electric Nebraska sessions and an unreleased 1994 album also did not make the cut.
This box set is a treasure trove for Springsteen fans, offering a deeper look into the creative process behind some of his most iconic songs, as well as shedding light on tracks that might have otherwise remained in the vaults.
