New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Bruce Springsteen's latest preview of "Tracks II: The Lost Albums" arrives today with "Adelita," an ode to Mexico's female "soldaderas" - who played a major role in the country's fight for independence. Inspired to explore themes of this nature in the 1990s, during a series of motorcycle trips across the Southwest, Springsteen's years in California saw him diving into both the history of the region (including "La Adelita," the "corrido" that serves as this song's namesake) and its contemporary events. "There was constant border reporting in the Los Angeles Times, so it was a big part of your life," he remembered. The results appear for the first time on "Tracks II" as "Inyo" - a previously-unheard, ten-song thematic collection set throughout the border states of California and
Texas (plus one detour to New Jersey).
"'Inyo' was a record I wrote in California during long drives along the California aqueduct, up through Inyo County on my way to Yosemite or Death Valley," recalled Springsteen. "I was enjoying that kind of writing so much. [On 'The
Ghost Of Tom Joad' tour] I would go home to the hotel room at night and continue to write in that style because I thought I was going to follow up 'The
Ghost of Tom Joad' with a similar record, but I didn't. That's where 'Inyo' came from. It's one of my favorites."
While primarily tracked as a solo record, "Inyo" does notably find Springsteen collaborating with mariachi musicians throughout — as heard on "Adelita." These musicians include Luis Villalobos, Alberto Villalobos,
Angel Ramos, Humberto Manuel Flores Gutierrez,
David Glukh,
Jorge Espinosa and
Miguel Ponce. Thematically, several songs on the record examine the Mexican diaspora, how border crossing between Mexico and the U.S. has affected generations and the cultural losses endured as a result. It's a musical thread that Springsteen first began to examine by covering Ry Cooder's "Across the Borderline" on his 1988 Tunnel of Love Express tour. Listen to "Adelita":
"The Lost Albums" will feature seven previously-unheard
Bruce Springsteen records in full: "Inyo" as well as "
Perfect World" (listen to "Rain in the River"), "Streets of Philadelphia Sessions" (listen to "Blind Spot"), "
Faithless" (listen to the title track), "Somewhere North of Nashville" (listen to "Repo Man"), "Twilight Hours" and "LA Garage Sessions '83." The set will arrive in limited-edition nine LP, seven CD and digital formats — including distinctive packaging for each previously-unreleased record, with a 100-page cloth-bound, hardcover book featuring rare archival photos, liner notes on each lost album from essayist Erik Flannigan and a personal introduction on the project from Springsteen himself.
Tracks II: The Lost Albums:
LA Garage Sessions '83:
1. Follow That Dream
2. Don't Back Down On Our Love
3.
Little Girl Like You
4. Johnny Bye Bye
5. Sugarland
6.
Seven Tears
7. Fugitive's Dream
8.
Black Mountain Ballad
9. Jim Deer
10. County Fair
11. My Hometown
12. One Love
13. Don't Back Down
14. Richfield Whistle
15. The Klansman
16. Unsatisfied Heart
17. Shut Out The Light
18. Fugitive's
Dream (Ballad)
Streets of Philadelphia Sessions:
1.
Blind Spot
2. Maybe I Don't Know You
3. Something In The Well
4. Waiting On The End Of The World
5. The
Little Things
6. We Fell Down
7. One Beautiful Morning
8. Between
Heaven and Earth
9. Secret Garden
10. The Farewell Party
Faithless:
1. The Desert (Instrumental)
2. Where You Goin', Where You From
3. Faithless
4. All God's Children
5. A Prayer By The River (Instrumental)
6. God Sent You
7. Goin' To California
8. The Western Sea (Instrumental)
9. My Master's Hand
10. Let Me Ride
11. My Master's Hand (Theme)
Somewhere North of Nashville:
1. Repo Man
2. Tiger Rose
3. Poor Side of Town
4. Delivery Man
5. Under A Big Sky
6. Detail Man
7.
Silver Mountain
8. Janey Don't You Lose Heart
9. You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone
10. Stand On It
11. Blue Highway
12. Somewhere North of Nashville
Inyo:
1. Inyo
2. Indian Town
3. Adelita
4. The Aztec Dance
5. The Lost Charro
6. Our Lady of Monroe
7. El Jardinero (Upon the Death of Ramona)
8. One False Move
9. Ciudad Juarez
10. When I Build My Beautiful House
Twilight Hours:
1. Sunday Love
2. Late in the Evening
3. Two of Us
4. Lonely Town
5.
September Kisses
6. Twilight Hours
7. I'll Stand By You
8. High Sierra
9. Sunliner
10. Another You
11. Dinner at Eight
12. Follow The Sun
Perfect World
1. I'm Not Sleeping
2. Idiot's Delight
3. Another Thin Line
4. The Great Depression
5.
Blind Man
6. Rain In The River
7. If I Could Only Be Your Lover
8. Cutting Knife
9. You Lifted Me Up
10. Perfect World
