Bruce Springsteen - Greatest Hits 320cbr (Big Papi) 1995 American Rock

Bruce Springsteen is one of the hardest artists to anthologize, since his music went through so many changes over the years. He started out as a Dylan - esque folk singer, then reemerged as a pop superstar, and finally a soft rock staple (thanks to the hit "Streets Of Philadelphia" from the move "Philadelphia"). "Bruce Springsteen - Greatest Hits" is an 18 track collection of his career up to 1995, and tries to give a brief overview of each stage of his career. It succeeds to a point, since it does leave a lot out, and makes a good starting point for beggining Springsteen fans.

Unfortunately, his early years (1975-80) are represented by only three tracks. "Born To Run" is an obvious opening track, and it still remains one of the greatest rock songs ever written. I can honestly admit that I never really enjoyed "Thunder Road" but I do think "Badlands" is an excellent song. However, I was extremely disappointed that thye did not include my favorite song from this era, "Rosalita". This omission is almost unforgivable and I almost deducted an entire star for this omission.

His pop years get the most representation. This is probably my favorite Springsteen era, since it includes all of my favorites: "Hungry Heart", "Dancing In The Dark" (the song with the video with Courtney Cox) and "Glory Days" rank as my all time favorite Springsteen songs. I also really like "Brilliant Disguise". There are some other big hits that should be here (namely the top ten hits from "Born In U.S.A." left off as well as "Tunnel Of Love"), but I'll get to those later.

His later years are covered well. "Streets Of Philadelphia" is a great song, and I like "Human Touch" as well. The three new songs with the E Street Band, however, I didn't really get into, with the exception of "Secret Garden", which became a top twenty hit two years after this album came out.

As I said, this collection is far from perfect. There are many hits left off, including "Rosalita", "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out", "Fade Away", "Cover Me", "I'm In Fire", "I'm Goin' Down", "War", "Tunnel Of Love", and "One Step Up". Here's my idea for "The Best Of Bruce Springsteen":

1.Born To Run
2.Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
3.Badlands
4.The River
5.Hungry Heart
6.Atlantic City
7.Fade Away
8.Dancing In The Dark
9.Cover Me
10.Born In The U.S.A.
11.I'm On Fire
12.Glory Days
13.I'm Goin' Down
14.My Hometwon
15.War
16.Brilliant Disguise
17.Tunnel Of Love
18.One Step Up
19.Human Touch
20.Better Days
21.Streets Of Philadelphia
22.Secret Garden

I do understand that some of these tracks will have to be edited to fit onto one cd, but that's fine with me, since it will be the definitve Springsteen collection. Until then, however, this collection will do just fine.