This month, I had the chance to watch a live TV show at the studio where it was being broadcast. The show in question was "Just The Two Of Us" or J2US as it is known over here. The original format of the show was conceived in the UK by the BBC. Sadly, I have never watched the original, it began after I had moved back to Greece from the UK and I don't know what kind of music was featured in it. You see this show, is about music. From what I have understood, celebrities are paired with vocal coaches who are usually singers themselves and they are given songs to perform. They are then judged by a committee comprised of four showbiz celebrities.
I do not listen to that particular kind of Greek music that is featured in the show (although on that particular night two golden oldies were featured which were among my favourites) but I had received invitations from work and I thought that it would be an interesting and unique experience. A coach picked us up from a specific location to take us to the studio which is located in one of the venues used for the 2004 Olympic Games (I had watched table tennis matches there back in the day), and returned us to where we were picked up from after the end of the show.
I have often been accused that some of my favourite Bruce Springsteen songs are from the original "Tracks" CD set. "These are outtakes" they told me, "they're not from a 'proper' album". "How can they be your favourite songs?". Well there is a reason for that. When Springsteen consigned some of his songs to the vault it wasn't because they weren't good enough. It was just that they didn't fit into the particular album he was preparing at the time. More of these songs resurfaced on the deluxe box set editions of older albums that were re-released ("The Promise - The Darkness On The Edge Of Town Story" and "The Ties That Bind - The River Collection") however in the case of "Tracks II" we're talking about whole albums that went missing.
You will probably wonder why I'm reviewing this now almost a year after it has been released. Well, it was a very expensive box set. Very expensive. There's certainly no comparison with the original "Tracks" nor with the larger "Darkness" and "River" box sets. (We're still waiting for the "Born In The U.S.A." one by the way. Just sayin'). I couldn't buy it when it came out. I had to go to Milano to see Bruce live remember?
I did get a taste of what was in there when I managed to get the "Lost And Found - Selections From The Lost Albums" 2CD set. And I very much liked what I heard. Finally I managed to get the whole set in December, using my credit card to pay in installments. Which means I'm still paying for it. And during the Christmas holidays I found the time to sit down and listen to it. And one of the reasons I'm writing this review is that I didn't expect to like it so much. I would listen to two albums every day and it was like "Wow! A new Bruce Springsteen album!". And then "Wow! Another new Bruce Springsteen album!". Bliss!
So, let's start at the beginning: "LA Garage Sessions '83". This is classic 80's Bruce and several of the songs are clearly in demo form. There are several songs we were already familiar with, some from b-sides ("Johnny Bye Bye", "Shut Out The Light"), some from concerts and bootlegs ("Follow That Dream") and there's even an alternate version of "My Hometown" thrown in for good measure.
Next up is "Streets Of Philadelphia Sessions". That was the one I was mostly looking forward to. There was always talk about that "lost electronic album" from the 90's where Bruce plays synthesizers and uses drum loops. Now I have been accused (by the same people, mind you) that "I listen to that electronic stuff a lot". It's true. I like synth-pop and during the 90's I was into dance music. So I was intrigued that Bruce had the same influences and filled a whole album with them. As he mentioned on the book that is inside the box set he bought CD's full of drum tracks (maybe some that I own as well from Simon Harris's "Beats Breaks And Scratches" series? Who knows?). In the same book he goes on to say that they used these drum loops but later replaced them and played them themselves. They did keep a couple though and one of them is in the version of "Secret Garden" that's featured here. And as an added bonus, "Waiting On The End Of The World" is another song on this album, a track that previously I could only find on a YouTube video featuring an image of a Rolling Stone issue with Bruce on the cover.
The next album in the set is "Faithless", a soundtrack to a film that was never made. That was the one I expected to like the least. I thought that it wouldn't work without having seen the film. But, there is no film, is there?. That fact alone makes this conversation irrelevant. As expected, there are a few instrumentals, but the title track is my favourite.
"Somewhere North Of Nashville", the next album is a country album that Bruce was working on simultaneously with "Ghost Of Tom Joad". I was surprised to find here alternate versions of my two favourite b-sides "Stand On It" and "Janey Don't You Lose Heart".
"Inyo" on the other hand, is Bruce's "Mexican" album if you can call it that. The songs tell stories that take place around te Mexican border which immediately bring "The Ghost Of Tom Joad" to mind.
The penultimate album "Twilight Hours" is the companion to "Western Stars" with more Burt Bacharach and less Glen Campbell this time Now this is one album I really didn't expect to like. I wouldn't want to listen to Bruce playing the "crooner", I thought. But, surprise, surprise, it's one of my favourite albums on the set. Maybe I'm getting old... Anyway, "Sunday Love" is simply brilliant and "I'll Stand By You" which was originally written for the first Harry Potter movie but was later featured in the "Blinded By The Light" film is also included here.
Finally "Perfect World" wasn't a "lost album" per se, but something that was put together by Bruce collecting tracks from the vault with several of them being quite recent. This could have easily been an E Street band album and "You Lifted Me Up" is one of my favourite songs of the whole box set.
All in all, "Tracks II - The Lost Albums" made my Christmas holiday much brighter and I still wonder why Bruce wouldn't released these albums one by one every couple of years. It would have been cheaper for the fans. Aah, but I can't complain... I finally BOUGHT IT! (And Bruce promises there are more tracks in the vault)
There really is only one place to celebrate St Patrick's Day in Athens. And that's the James Joyce Irish Pub. Each year on March 17 people gather not just inside but also outside the pub drinking Guinness and they are given a special Guinness hat as a gift.
They even sell Guinness outside the pub and last year someone was also selling souvlaki there.
In the past I was able to get inside and even order a cottage pie to drink with my Guinness.
In the last two years when I have started going there again, having now set my foot on Ireland for the first time to see Bruce Springsteen in 2024, there was a band playing a gig outside. Last year it was After The Race, this year it was Two Smokin' Barrels.
Both bands played a selection of Irish favorites and some rock standards while this year, Two Smokin' Barrels even played a 90's Techno medley in a rock arrangement of course.
On Monday, October 20 2025 the Greek Official Premiere of the "Springsteen - Deliver Me From Nowhere" took place at Danaos Cinema in Athens. Members of "No Surrender", the Greek Springsteen Community were invited. The trouble was I was working until 9pm that evening and I could not be at the cinema in time for the movie. However, the premiere was more than just a showing of the movie. After the movie Greek artists would be playing Springsteen songs, mainly from "Nebraska". As expected, I arrived just after the movie had ended, but before the music had started.
Despite not seeing the movie, it was a fun night and I saw friends that I hadn't seen in years while our MC was entertaining us with stories from the tours we had attended.
I would see the movie 12 days later, on Saturday, November 1 at Village Cinemas Mall. It was a good thing that I did not delay this any further, since that was the last week it was shown in cinemas. Meanwhile, I was reading reviews and articles from the States on the internet which claimed the film was a flop. Well, no surprise, there. You can't make a movie about "Nebraska", Bruce's most "difficult" album and expect it to be a blockbuster! Who's going to be interested in it apart from us, the hardcore fans? If, instead of "Nebraska", the film was telling the story of the making of "Born In The USA" and its subsequent tour, it would be a box office smash equal perhaps to "Bohemian Rhapsody"!
I liked the movie even though the scriptwriter took some liberties with what really happened. That is to be expected, though from Hollywood movies as we have already seen in "Bohemian Rhapsody". All in all it was an enjoyable Saturday night, despite the fact that I'm not a fan of multiplex cinemas.
