BJ is once again joined by Brian Sword from The Double Stop podcast for the second episode in an ongoing series they're calling "Gettin' Bossy." On episode #64 of the podcast the pair discussed Bruce Springsteen's 1982 album Nebraska and for this episode they decided to tackle the new Springsteen box set called The Ties That Bind: The River Collection.
In October of 1979 Bruce Springsteen delivered a completed album to his record label to be called The Ties That Bind but he changed his mind before the record could be released. A year later a 20 song double album called The River finally came out. During this period Bruce and the E Street band reportedly worked on as many as 90 songs and many of these outtakes are also included in the new box set.
BJ and Brian decided to imagine an alternate reality where the original The Ties That Bind album had been released in 1979 and working within this reality each constructed his own album from the remaining songs, those that eventually made it onto The River and those that did not, to create what could have been Bruce Springsteen's sixth album and follow-up to The Ties That Bind. In other words what if instead of waiting and releasing The River in 1980 Bruce had released two separate records, one in 1979 and one in 1980 or 1981.
Spoiler alert: if you'd rather listen to the episode to learn which songs each chose for his album then stop reading here.
Brian's lost Bruce Springsteen album from 1980/1981:
NIGHT FIRE
1. THE MAN WHO GOT AWAY
2. RESTLESS NIGHTS
3. STRAY BULLET
4. JACKSON CAGE
5. MEET ME IN THE CITY
1. NIGHT FIRE
2. INDEPENDENCE DAY
3. I WANNA BE WITH YOU
4. ROULETTE
5. PARADISE BY THE "C"
BJ's lost Bruce Springsteen album from 1980/1981:
ROULETTE
1. TAKE 'EM AS THEY COME
2. JACKSON CAGE
3. TWO HEARTS
4. NIGHT FIRE
5. INDEPENDENCE DAY
1. ROULETTE
2. DOLLHOUSE
3. WHITETOWN
4. OUT IN THE STREET
5. WRECK ON THE HIGHWAY
