SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Imagine if your favorite artist suddenly dropped not one, not two, not three, but seven new albums all at once. That is what Bruce Springsteen did this week when he let loose tracks to "The Lost Albums," a box set of never-before-released music that he recorded over the course of nearly three decades.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "RAIN IN THE RIVER")
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: (Singing) Down at the water, I held my Marie.
DETROW: The collection explores many of The Boss' different eras, with music spanning from 1983 to 2018. And here to talk with us about a few standout moments from these "Lost Albums" is music journalist Caryn Rose. Thanks for joining us.
CARYN ROSE: Thanks for having me.
DETROW: This is not the first time that Springsteen has put out unreleased material from his vault, but this was pretty different from the last time, right?
ROSE: This is astronomically different. It's records. It's not just, here's a loosely chronologically organized selection of songs that never got released or got recorded but didn't make the records. Most people have not heard this stuff before.
DETROW: When I heard that this was coming, I was a little skeptical because often when somebody puts out, this was never released before, you hear it and you think perhaps there was a reason why, or it's not quite finished. But these are all distinct albums from distinct eras.
ROSE: I had always heard that he had done some kind of gospel record, and I didn't realize it was mostly an instrumental for - and it was meant as this track to a movie that had never gotten made. But this was the first time where it's like, OK, yes, it exists. This is the form that it exists in. Here it is, finished. You can listen to it now.
(SOUNDBITE OF BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN'S "A PRAYER BY THE RIVER")
DETROW: Tell us about some of the other surprises 'cause you mentioned there's that and there's also a country album.
ROSE: The country record is the one that has the most - the broadest appeal.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BLACK MOUNTAIN BALLAD")
SPRINGSTEEN: (Singing) There's a highway over yonder, lit by a moon...
ROSE: This was their stress relief from recording "The Ghost of Tom Joad" during the day.
DETROW: And that would have been - what? - the early, mid-'90s? That was his solo folk album.
ROSE: Yes, that was his solo folk album in 1995. He was working on this in '95. And with the same musicians, they would just let loose.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BLACK MOUNTAIN BALLAD")
SPRINGSTEEN: (Singing) We would never know.
DETROW: I keep gravitating towards that country record as well. What's another one that surprised you or you just enjoyed listening to?
ROSE: I'm going to have to give you two here because it's really hard for me to choose. There's "Inyo," which is a record that is, again, more folky, more acoustic, but it's really got its roots in the Southwest, in Southern California. There's two mariachi bands on there.
(SOUNDBITE OF BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN SONG, "CIUDAD JUAREZ")
ROSE: It's really just kind of amazing the way that he immersed himself in the culture, in the stories and in the music. And then there's "Twilight Hours," which is - like, Bruce is a crooner. It's really all about his vocals, which, for a guy that really likes to hide behind his guitar when he talks, is kind of amazing to consider.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TWILIGHT HOURS")
SPRINGSTEEN: (Singing) As the darkness gives way to the light of another long and lonely day.
DETROW: This is an artist who has been performing long enough that I started listening to as a teenager, and now I'm old enough to actually be in the middle-aged male cartoonish demographic that he was always kind of talked about at, you know, and he's still going. So there is a big sample size to begin with for Bruce Springsteen of many, many years of content. What do you think this adds to your appreciation of his range or his influence or his style?
ROSE: What's really interesting about Bruce is that he has always been a really diligent editor of his own work, probably to his detriment. None of these records would have hurt his legacy. The existence of them now - I think all it really does is expand on that and just show how much he was always working, even when it may have seemed from the outside he wasn't. I, as a fan, never really thought, oh, where's Bruce Springsteen? Where's the next record? - 'cause we trusted that he was going to give us something when he was ready to give it to us.
DETROW: That is music journalist Caryn Rose. Thanks so much for joining us.
ROSE: Thanks for having me.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TIGER ROSE")
SPRINGSTEEN: (Singing) Why, why... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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