Search - Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band :: Greatest Hits

Far superior to the US Wal-Mart version

Paul Allaer | Cincinnati | 06/02/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In January of this year, Bruce issued a greatest hits release exclusively through Wal-Mart, which gathered criticism mostly for the wrong reasons (more on that later). Now comes the European version of that release.



"Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band's Greatest Hits" (18 tracks; 78 min.) immediately corrects one mistake from the US release, in that it has the actual full band on the album's art cover (the Wal-Mart inexplicably had only Bruce on it). As to the music on here, it is fabulous, no question, not a bad song to be found. In contrast to the Wal-Mart release, this takes full advantage of the full capacity of a CD at 78 min. This release contains all of the 12 songs of the US Wal-Mart release and then adds 6 songs: "Blinded By the Light", "The River", "I'm On Fire", "Long Walk Home" and 2 tracks from the 1975-1985 live box "Because the Night" and "Fire". Keeping in mind that this release is geared towards the casual Bruce fan, these additions make a lot of sense frankly. This release still skips tracks from the Bruce "solo" years in the late 80s and early 90s, but that's a choice the consumer can make.



The criticism of the US release via Wal-Mart was misplaced in my mind (after its release Bruce has disavowed this album, which is even more troubling, like he didn't know what he was agreeing to?). The Wal-Mart release was just a poor compilation, period. This has now been upgraded in a major way. BOTTOM LINE: if you are a casual fan looking for Bruce's greatest hits, you will be well-served by this generous offering of Bruce's greatest hits, assuming you can overlook his solo stuff, which should not be a major issue in my mind."