Bruce Springsteen -- "Lion's Den"

Bruce Springsteen writes a lot of songs, which results in a lot of outtakes from his regular albums. I've read that as many as 80 songs may have been recorded during the Born in the U.S.A. sessions.

In addition to the dozen that made the final cut, 15 more tunes from the sessions were included on the Tracks compilation box set (some songs had first seen the light of day as B-sides to singles). An additional outtake, "Murder Incorporated," was included on 1995's Greatest Hits.

I used Born in the U.S.A. as a guide in not only determining how long this album should be but also in deciding what tracks should be placed where. I was surprised at the quality of all the leftover songs. It seemed to me that any one of them could have made the album.

SIDE A
1. My Love Will Not Let You Down

2. Rockaway the Days

3. TV Movie

4. Car Wash

5. Brothers Under the Bridges

6. This Hard Land

SIDE B

1. Lion's Den

2. Cynthia
3. Murder Incorporated

4. Man at the Top
5. Johnny Bye-Bye

6. Frankie

In my first attempt, I excluded the five songs that appeared as B-sides to Born in the U.S.A. singles. But I ended up a few minutes too short. So I went back and included "Johnny Bye-Bye."

Of the resulting 12 tracks, "My Love Will Not Let You Down" seemed to be the most obvious album opener. And I closed the album with the seven-minute-plus "Frankie." I like how the shortest song on the album precedes the longest.

I should note that I am not a huge Springsteen fan. As a Southern Californian, I've never quite understood the New Jersey-New York-Philadelphia Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce fan obsession. But I like a lot of his music, I just don't think he's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Listening to these outtakes I was impressed that there were certainly no clunkers.

If this album had been released, it could have seen daylight in 1986 and been issued instead of the Live 1975-85 compilation album. Would it have been popular? In the mid-'80s Springsteen was so popular that he could probably have got a platinum album with a bunch of children's nursery rhymes. But like I stated above, these are all quality songs and this collection would have been a worthy follow-up to Born in the U.S.A.

I chose the title Lion's Den from the track I used to open the second side, and it kind of reflected Springsteen's sudden surge in worldwide fame after Born in the U.S.A. was released.

As stated above, all of these songs can be found on the Tracks compilation that came out in 1998, except for "Murder Incorporated," which is available on Greatest Hits from 1995.

I'm not thrilled with this cover. Found the photo online and simply added titles and some claw marks to go with the title. Looks a bit amateurish, but I got tired of working on it so this is what it is. :P