Today, Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings released Bruce Springsteen: The Album Collection Vol. 1 1973-1984, a boxed set comprised of remastered editions of the first seven albums recorded and released by Bruce Springsteen for Columbia Records between 1973 and 1984. All of the albums are newly remastered (five for the first time ever on CD) and all seven are making their remastered debut on vinyl. The seven albums are recreations of their original packaging and the set is accompanied by a 60-page book featuring rarely-seen photos, memorabilia and original press clippings from Springsteen’s first decade as a recording artist. Acclaimed engineer Bob Ludwig, working with Springsteen and longtime engineer Toby Scott, has remastered these albums, all newly transferred from the original analogue masters using the Plangent Process playback system.
With the story behind Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska set to be explored by the feature film Deliver Me From Nowhere, Nebraska ’82: Expanded Edition gathers revelatory unheard material from this prolific period including the fabled Electric Nebraska sessions with the E Street Band and solo home and studio recordings, joined by a 2025 remaster of the original album, plus a new performance film of all ten Nebraska songs played in sequence. Springsteen’s 1982 acoustic masterwork is augmented by 17 contemporary recordings (15 previously unreleased) that were part of the groundswell of inspiration that shaped Nebraska and share its haunting themes. Together, they expand our understanding of how this seminal album came to be and reflect the breadth of Springsteen’s creative intentions at a pivotal moment in his artistic development.
As measured by cultural impact and mass popularity, Bruce Springsteen’s 1984-85 World Tour was the apex. Considering its stunning scale, playing multi-night stadium stands, it’s easy to forget that 1984 was a rebirth of sorts, the start of a new era as much as a continuation of what came before it. On the biggest tour of his career, Springsteen was rebuilding the engine while the plane was flying.
Nebraska, the massively influential 1982 album from Bruce Springsteen, is the VMP Essentials Record of the Month for October 2022. Celebrating the record's 40th anniversary, our edition is half-speed mastered by Barry Grint at Alchemy Mastering at AIR and pressed on exclusive Black Smoke vinyl, with an art print by Justin A. McHugh.
There is an adage in the record business that a recording artist's demos of new songs often come off better than the more polished versions later worked up in a studio. But Bruce Springsteen was the first person to act on that theory, when he opted to release the demo versions of his latest songs, recorded with only acoustic or electric guitar, harmonica, and vocals, as his sixth album, Nebraska…