Speaker 1: And what an artist to share some music with us.
Speaker 1: I'm not just talking about the music we're about to hear,
Speaker 1: but the man I'm about to welcome and introduce Randal
Speaker 1: Abrams with Randall's one song, Randal, We're doing Bruce Springsteen today.
Speaker 1: Every day is a good day in my mind to
Speaker 1: listen to Bruce Springsteen. But you picked him today? Tell
Speaker 1: us why?
Speaker 2: Good afternoon, Thanks so much, John, I hope you're well.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 2: So, the reason is that today is the release of
Speaker 2: Tracks two The Lost Albums, which is a box set
Speaker 2: compilation by The Boss. The first Tracks box It was
Speaker 2: released in nineteen ninety eight, and these are unreleased songs
Speaker 2: that he left off albums through Artie's career. The period
Speaker 2: that is being tracked now is a slightly different one
Speaker 2: to the first to the first period, and also the
Speaker 2: compilation is quite different because in the case of Tracks one,
Speaker 2: they were just you know, there'd be a song picked
Speaker 2: from the eighties and another one left off a seventies album.
Speaker 2: But in the case of Tracks two, it's actually quite
Speaker 2: chronological for want of a better word, It's actually made
Speaker 2: up of lost albums, which include garage sessions that he
Speaker 2: did in Los Angeles in nineteen eighty three between Nebraska
Speaker 2: and Born in the USA. Streets of Philadelphia sessions. You'll
Speaker 2: know the song Streets of Philadelphia from the movie Philadelphia.
Speaker 2: It went on to win an Academy Award. But in fact,
Speaker 2: using kind of drum loops and a lot of electronic music,
Speaker 2: he made a full album which he never released. Then
Speaker 2: there's an album called Somewhere North, which is somewhere North
Speaker 2: of Nashville, which is a country inspired album, another album
Speaker 2: called Twilight Hours, and another album called Perfect World. So
Speaker 2: there are in fact full almost he says. In some
Speaker 2: of the cases they were actually prepared as albums and
Speaker 2: he just simply didn't release them. And in the case
Speaker 2: of the other albums, as it were on this box set,
Speaker 2: they were kind of he carefully curated the songs from
Speaker 2: a from a similar period and then put them together
Speaker 2: as a whole listening experience rather than as just separate tracks.
Speaker 1: So, I mean, for Springsteen fans, it's an absolute treasure trove.
Speaker 2: Is quite believable.
Speaker 1: So out of that delievable, yeah, do you carry on?
Speaker 2: And I think the other thing John to remember is
Speaker 2: it's it is quite expensive. So there is a compilation
Speaker 2: a two CD compilation was kind of a I won't
Speaker 2: say best of, but you know, tracks chosen from the
Speaker 2: from the nine albums. But the nine albums do come
Speaker 2: with a massive booklet, either on vinyl or on CD,
Speaker 2: which you're not going to get on the streaming services.
Speaker 2: And obviously if you're if you're a Springsteen fan or
Speaker 2: a completist, you're going to want that book because it's
Speaker 2: going to provide a context to these recordings.
Speaker 1: Let's hear then the song you've chosen out of this richness,
Speaker 1: which is a richness within the massive a catalog of
Speaker 1: Bruce Springsteen's remarkable work in his career. It's called County Fair.
Speaker 3: Very when summer comes around stretch of banner across.
Speaker 2: From main Street in town and field.
Speaker 4: So leving in here.
Speaker 3: Wilf carlsso to Reville.
Speaker 4: You can see what's going about.
Speaker 3: The soldiers field getting ready, brother caw down for confer Dear,
Speaker 3: everybody in town will be there.
Speaker 4: So here we're going down. There be little.
Speaker 1: Girl along blonde hair.
Speaker 4: From when near daddy. One other stuff bears maybe down
Speaker 4: at the town he Fair. Now you'll be hanging time.
Speaker 3: Let me get the top and that the roller coasters,
Speaker 3: hurredy drop ray. Now you wasn't he even scared with
Speaker 3: a baby?
Speaker 4: Not the sound I'm boarded on the married Round it
Speaker 4: down with the cown he.
Speaker 3: Be County Fair, County Fair. Everybody in town.
Speaker 5: Have not feel lost tracks that have now been found.
Speaker 5: That's one of them. County Fair by Bruce Springsteen. We're
Speaker 5: chatting about it with Randall, Abrams Randall? Why why would
Speaker 5: songs not make it onto our albums? Would it be
Speaker 5: that at the moment they don't like them as much
Speaker 5: as they like some others in the format. Certainly in
Speaker 5: those years meant you couldn't unless you did a double album,
Speaker 5: you know, use everything. Songs perhaps too similar to others,
Speaker 5: even if you know the difference on an album, they
Speaker 5: maybe start losing their distinctiveness.
Speaker 1: But how do you understand this?
Speaker 2: So a lot of things, John. Firstly, this song was
Speaker 2: released on The Essential Bruce Springsteen in two thousand and three,
Speaker 2: but of course it lacked the context of these sessions
Speaker 2: that he did in eighty three between Nebraska and Born
Speaker 2: in the USA. So a lot of things. So a
Speaker 2: lot of Born in the USA, which is a very
Speaker 2: eighty studio production with the e Street Band, actually grew
Speaker 2: out of the Nebraska sessions. Right Born in the USA,
Speaker 2: for example, was part of Nebraska, which was just recorded
Speaker 2: with Springsteen and an acoustic guitar. But then the song
Speaker 2: kind of transitions and makes its way into this, as
Speaker 2: I say, very produced setting, and Springsteen is very methodical
Speaker 2: about how he wants to record to sound. So in fact,
Speaker 2: a lot of the tracks that ended up on Nebraska
Speaker 2: were recorded with the EA Street Band and then discarded.
Speaker 2: And I think he has that sensibility of, you know,
Speaker 2: he can all must record one song in three different contexts,
Speaker 2: and then two's the one that he's going to use.
Speaker 2: And on the other hand, you know, he said, just
Speaker 2: because of circumstance and records that you know, were about
Speaker 2: to be released, some something else may have been sholved.
Speaker 2: It's not a case that is that it's not up
Speaker 2: to standard. It's just a case that, in terms of
Speaker 2: how much he produces, he would think twice and so
Speaker 2: and I'd rather release that. Then he starts working on
Speaker 2: another project and everything that he may have, you know,
Speaker 2: in the on the shelf, gets overtaken by a whole
Speaker 2: different part of his artistry.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I imagine having had embarrassment of musical riches. Absolutely, absolutely,
Speaker 1: Randal Abrams, thank you sharing Randal's one song and speaking
Speaker 1: of musical riches, Randal has plenty, plenty more. He's also
Speaker 1: just got started these back with us at the same
Speaker 1: time next Friday with Randal's One Song