Image TBA

Description
Bruce Springsteen will reissue remastered versions of five albums as a new box set, The Album Collection, Vol. 2, 1987 - 1996, out May 18th via Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings.

The collection includes four studio albums – Tunnel of Love, Human Touch, Lucky Town and The Ghost of Tom Joad – plus Springsteen's 1993 MTV Plugged concert special. It also boasts a special 12-inch of Springsteen's 1988 live EP, Chimes of Freedom, and the first-ever vinyl release of his 1996 EP, Blood Brothers.

Springsteen's longtime engineer Bob Ludwig helmed the remastering, transferring the audio from the original analogue master tapes. Both Tunnel of Love and Human Touch have been turned into double-LPs to further maximize audio quality.

The records in the The Album Collection, Vol. 2 will arrive in recreations of their original packaging. The set will also come with a 60-page book packed with rare photos, memorabilia and press clippings from the era.

Tracklist
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Links TBA

We're awaiting confirmation that there will actually be a CD configuration of this box, which will be linked in the post above.

A vinyl edition is up for pre-order already:



Amazon USA
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BLJDYVK/?tag=imwan-20

Amazon Canada
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07BLJDYVK/?tag=imwanca-20

Amazon UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07BLJDYVK/?tag=imwan-21

I clearly have all of these, including the EPs, but I'd bite for significant improved quality and a full set that comes with ZERO VINYL. I just don't need the vinyl and would hate to be forced to get some of the vinyl for things like the EPs or something else. I'm completely okay with there being a full vinyl set being out there as long as they also provide the full CD set.

I agree with you Walter

There will be an all CD option.

Don't know if the EPs will be included.

This is great news as I've been waiting for a remastered Tunnel of Love and the first box sounded magnificent.

From Backstreets.com:

For even more from the era, a concurrent digital-only release will tie up some loose ends, gathering B-sides and live tracks from '90s singles that had yet to be made available on digital platforms to date (recall the numerous live tracks from Joad singles, etc.) Further details will be forthcoming.

I shall not partake in digital only.

No need to, as there will be cds. I was hoping that the remaster series would go beyond the first set, at least one further, for an improved Tunnel of Love. Glad to see it happening. Odd that it took so long, but not McCartney long though...

I was referring to the rarities that will be download only.

I'm in for a CD edition. It'd be nice if they threw in a bonus disc of rarities, but I imagine I have them all already, either as CD singles or an various comps/soundtracks.

I am curious how the sales #'s on this will compare to "The Glory Years" aka Volume 1?

Me too Jimbo...intrigued, but I likely have most of them if not all of them. I always really liked "30 Days Out", which wasn't all that common. It's nothing amazing, but it's decent for a b-side.

I think that I have all of those b-sides and other things as well. It would be nice to have all of them on an official compilation though, as opposed to my homemade one.

There are a lot of cool b-sides from this era, especially from the "Tom Joad" singles.

What's particularly glaring is that this somehow fails to include "Streets Of Philadelphia", one of his biggest singles from this era.

"30 Days Out" is notable because--and correct me if I'm wrong--it's the only Springsteen composition to show up on a B-side, but never later collected on a comp. (That was a the case a few years ago. Maybe things have changed.)

You could be right. For a moment, I was thinking "The Big Payback" too, but it ended up on one of those 3.0 versions of "The Essential".

The vinyl aspect will likely screw up a CD release IMO. Why is the Live 1975-85 album not included in this set? Probably because including five more vinyl LPs in a vinyl box would have really inflated the price point. Totally ridiculous that the MTV Plugged is included (which makes this not a studio only collection) and the iconic Live 1975-85 set is skipped. And no Sony, not buying the concept that the Live 1975-85 set is actually "Bruce Springsteen & the E-Street Band" which disqualifies it from inclusion in a Bruce Springsteen album collection.

I don’t think it will. Vol.1 was vinyl announcement at first followed by CDs. Eventually, the CDs were also released as individual titles.

I should have been more clear. If live albums are to be included in these "album collection" boxsets, and they clearly are because of the inclusion of the Plugged live album, then the Live 1975-85 set is a glaring omission from the "album collection, vol 2" box. Why would it have been omitted? Probably because throwing five more slabs of vinyl into a vinyl box set would have likely tacked on another $100+ and the record company guesses that makes it too costly for a large percentage of fans. So it will likely get a separate release. Meanwhile, I'm guessing fans of the CD format would prefer to see it included in the CD version of Vol 2 and have no issue paying the extra $30 it would cost to get the 3 extra CDs....but that doesn't make the vinyl version of Vol 2 equivalent to the CD version of Vol 2 so Live 1975-85 probably is omitted from both. After all, there is no way they can make the CD buyers look like they get something extra over the vinyl buyers. After all, it has become the #1 priority to destroy the CD format with complete shit mastering so they can sell millennials wildly overpriced vinyl. See current Vol 1 prices on Amazon. $46 for CD. $171 for vinyl. What do you think Sony wants to sell you?

Of course this is all a guess on my part. It would be wonderful if a CD version is announced and the CD version does include Live 1975-85. But that would actually make sense so I'll just assume it won't happen. I basically don't believe the entire "record company business" can do anything right at this point.

Live 75-85 vs. Plugged:
Live 75-85, besides involvinging a substantial number of discs and a thick booklet, was a retrospective release that summarized concert recordings from the time period covered by the first "album collection" boxset. If included in one of these boxes, it would be a fine capstone for box 1, IMO.
Plugged was a release of a (then) contemparanious concert recording that showcased Springsteen's new E St-less identity. It is integral to the years covered in Box 2, IMO.

It also seems reasonable to me to repackage the contents of 75-85 with the Chimes EP and more to make a new live E St. retrospective for the Super Deluxe era. In '86 3 CDs was truly a huge release but in today's environment it's small potatoes. For a re-issue of 75-85 to have the same impact as the original release, it would have to be 10+ discs. In '88 the Chimes EP basically was an update for 75-85 owners (LP side 11), rounding out representation of the (Max Weinberg) E St touring era. (Officially unissued recordings exist of the 73/74 E St tours, before Weinberg took the drum seat.)

Meanwhile, over at Nugs.net, Springsteen's crew are releasing stunning 75-85 whole shows on a regular basis. Great for fans, but further eroding the desirability of an as-is 75-85 box re-issue. Indeed, most of the Chimes EP is from the Stockholm 7/3/88 show that was recently released through the Nugs.net program.
http://live.brucespringsteen.net/default.aspx

I totally agree that Live 1975-85 should have been included in volume one. At the time of release, I had just figured they were only going to put studio releases in this series of collections. Now that Plugged is being included in Volume 2, the absence of the Live 1975-85 set is a really glaring omission. Live 1975-85 is an iconic collection that topped the charts and sold over 4 million copies in the US alone. Plugged was really nothing more than a fart in the wind in the history of Bruce Springsteen.

I suspect most Bruce fans already have the 75-85 box.

The previous CD Album Collection meticulously recreated the original album packaging in mini-LP form. I suspect this one will too. To do that with 75-85 would be a lot of work and likely increase the price.

Don't get me wrong, I wish they would.