NEW YORK (AP) — Bruce Springsteen's new project, “Tracks II: The Lost Albums,” is entirely about that age-old question: What if?
The box set, out June 27, comprises seven albums encompassing the period between 1983 and 2018, all but one he prepared to release in its time but ultimately shelved. Now that he's decided to drop them simultaneously, they offer a fascinating alternative story of his musical life.
Building on its predecessor “Tracks,” 1998's four-disc, 66-song collection of unreleased material, there are 83 songs here. While some slipped out on other projects — “My Hometown” and “Secret Garden” among them — the vast majority hadn't been heard publicly. This is all fully completed material, not half-baked or half-finished outtakes. It's not unusual for artists to leave songs — or even full-lengths — on the cutting-room floor, but multiple entire albums? Springsteen explains that he's taken care releasing albums, looking to build a narrative arc for his career, and believes this approach has served him well.
Perhaps as a result, the most interesting work on “Tracks II” comes when he stretches out and explores pathways not in his wheelhouse: countrypolitan Bruce, border-town Bruce, Burt Bacharach-inspired Bruce and a set of synthesizer-based songs modeled after his Oscar-winning “Streets of Philadelphia.” Oddly, the one disc of strays cobbled together that feels most like an E Street Band record is the least compelling.
Since these are seven distinct albums, it's worth evaluating them that way.
“LA Garage Sessions '83” captures Springsteen working virtually alone at a home in the Hollywood Hills. It was squarely in between his “Nebraska” and “Born in the USA” albums, and he seems torn between those two approaches. There are character studies here, and more lighthearted fare like “Little Girl Like You,” with a single man yearning to settle down. The most striking cut is “The Klansman,” about a boy and his racist father, yet it cries out for more development. Ultimately, Springsteen chose the right albums to release at the time.
The song “Streets of Philadelphia” was a genuine departure musically, and Springsteen decided to make an album in the same vein, with synthesizers and drum loops the dominant elements. If released in the early 1990s, this would have been the most contemporary-sounding disc of his career, with atmospherics that occasionally recall U2. Springsteen pulled it at the last minute, reasoning that the stories of doomed relationships — sample lyric: “We loved each other like a disease” — was too much like “Tunnel of Love.”
At the same time he recorded “The Ghost of Tom Joad” in 1995, Springsteen also convened a country band steered by pedal steel player Marty Rifkin. Their work was terrific, led by the one-two punch of “Repo Man” and the Johnny Rivers cover, “Poor Side of Town.” The title cut to a disc he calls “Somewhere North of Nashville” escaped into the public some two decades later. Since the somber “Joad” won a Grammy, who are we to second-guess his choice of what to put out? “Nashville,” though, is a rollicking good time.
“Inyo” is similar to “Joad” and “Devils & Dust,” mostly acoustic-based narratives, here many of them stories of the Southwest. Springsteen even appropriately brings in mariachi bands for “Adelita” and “The Lost Charro.” Soozie Tyrell's violin is notable, particularly on the majestic “When I Build My Beautiful House.” We're guessing that Springsteen may have considered “Inyo” one album too many in the same style, but it's still strong work.
At one point Springsteen considered making “Western Stars,” his salute to early 1970s California songwriting, a double album. When he didn't, the songs on “Twilight Hours” were left behind. Here Bacharach is the primary influence, and this almost feels like Elvis Costello's collaboration with Burt, only without him (and is the lyric “God give me strength” a hat-tip to that project?). The crooning Bruce of “Sunday Love” is spellbinding, maybe the box's best song. “Lonely Town” sits at the intersection of Bacharach and Roy Orbison, while “Dinner at Eight” is a lovely sum-up. “Twilight Hours” may startle Springsteen fans — and impress them, too.
The workmanlike songs on “Faithless” were written on commission in two weeks, the soundtrack to a movie that was never made. It's a good bet it would have been a moody Western.
When Springsteen duels with Tom Morello on the song “Another Thin Line,” you realize how little you've heard his electric guitar on “Tracks II.” The album “Perfect World” is the one here made up of leftovers from different periods, with the greatest E Street Band participation. Here's the deal, though: Most good E Street Band material has already been released. The best left behind for this disc is “You Lifted Me Up,” with minimalist lyrics and a vocal collaboration with Patti Scialfa and Steve Van Zandt.
The box gives Springsteen completists plenty to mull over, and you can question whether these “lost discs” would get more attention released separately instead of together. If it's too much, he's releasing a 20-song set of its highlights.
David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.
For more AP reviews of recent music releases, visit https://apnews.com/hub/music-reviews.
FILE - Bruce Springsteen speaks to the audience during a concert with the E Street Band at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany, on June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)
FILE - Bruce Springsteen performs at a campaign rally supporting Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, Oct. 28, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
FILE - Bruce Springsteen speaks to the audience during a concert with the E Street Band at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany, on June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)
U.S. President Donald Trump wants to own Greenland. He has repeatedly said the United States must take control of the strategically located and mineral-rich island, which is a semiautonomous region that's part of NATO ally Denmark.
Officials from Denmark, Greenland and the United States met Thursday in Washington and will meet again next week to discuss a renewed push by the White House, which is considering a range of options, including using military force, to acquire the island.
Trump said Friday he is going to do “something on Greenland, whether they like it or not.”
If it's not done “the easy way, we're going to do it the hard way," he said without elaborating what that could entail. In an interview Thursday, he told The New York Times that he wants to own Greenland because “ownership gives you things and elements that you can’t get from just signing a document.”
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an American takeover of Greenland would mark the end of NATO, and Greenlanders say they don't want to become part of the U.S.
This is a look at some of the ways the U.S. could take control of Greenland and the potential challenges.
Trump and his officials have indicated they want to control Greenland to enhance American security and explore business and mining deals. But Imran Bayoumi, an associate director at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, said the sudden focus on Greenland is also the result of decades of neglect by several U.S. presidents towards Washington's position in the Arctic.
The current fixation is partly down to “the realization we need to increase our presence in the Arctic, and we don’t yet have the right strategy or vision to do so,” he said.
If the U.S. took control of Greenland by force, it would plunge NATO into a crisis, possibly an existential one.
While Greenland is the largest island in the world, it has a population of around 57,000 and doesn't have its own military. Defense is provided by Denmark, whose military is dwarfed by that of the U.S.
It's unclear how the remaining members of NATO would respond if the U.S. decided to forcibly take control of the island or if they would come to Denmark's aid.
“If the United States chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops,” Frederiksen has said.
Trump said he needs control of the island to guarantee American security, citing the threat from Russian and Chinese ships in the region, but “it's not true” said Lin Mortensgaard, an expert on the international politics of the Arctic at the Danish Institute for International Studies, or DIIS.
While there are probably Russian submarines — as there are across the Arctic region — there are no surface vessels, Mortensgaard said. China has research vessels in the Central Arctic Ocean, and while the Chinese and Russian militaries have done joint military exercises in the Arctic, they have taken place closer to Alaska, she said.
Bayoumi, of the Atlantic Council, said he doubted Trump would take control of Greenland by force because it’s unpopular with both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, and would likely “fundamentally alter” U.S. relationships with allies worldwide.
The U.S. already has access to Greenland under a 1951 defense agreement, and Denmark and Greenland would be “quite happy” to accommodate a beefed up American military presence, Mortensgaard said.
For that reason, “blowing up the NATO alliance” for something Trump has already, doesn’t make sense, said Ulrik Pram Gad, an expert on Greenland at DIIS.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a select group of U.S. lawmakers this week that it was the Republican administration’s intention to eventually purchase Greenland, as opposed to using military force. Danish and Greenlandic officials have previously said the island isn't for sale.
It's not clear how much buying the island could cost, or if the U.S. would be buying it from Denmark or Greenland.
Washington also could boost its military presence in Greenland “through cooperation and diplomacy,” without taking it over, Bayoumi said.
One option could be for the U.S. to get a veto over security decisions made by the Greenlandic government, as it has in islands in the Pacific Ocean, Gad said.
Palau, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands have a Compact of Free Association, or COFA, with the U.S.
That would give Washington the right to operate military bases and make decisions about the islands’ security in exchange for U.S. security guarantees and around $7 billion of yearly economic assistance, according to the Congressional Research Service.
It's not clear how much that would improve upon Washington's current security strategy. The U.S. already operates the remote Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, and can bring as many troops as it wants under existing agreements.
Greenlandic politician Aaja Chemnitz told The Associated Press that Greenlanders want more rights, including independence, but don't want to become part of the U.S.
Gad suggested influence operations to persuade Greenlanders to join the U.S. would likely fail. He said that is because the community on the island is small and the language is “inaccessible.”
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen summoned the top U.S. official in Denmark in August to complain that “foreign actors” were seeking to influence the country’s future. Danish media reported that at least three people with connections to Trump carried out covert influence operations in Greenland.
Even if the U.S. managed to take control of Greenland, it would likely come with a large bill, Gad said. That’s because Greenlanders currently have Danish citizenship and access to the Danish welfare system, including free health care and schooling.
To match that, “Trump would have to build a welfare state for Greenlanders that he doesn’t want for his own citizens,” Gad said.
Since 1945, the American military presence in Greenland has decreased from thousands of soldiers over 17 bases and installations to 200 at the remote Pituffik Space Base in the northwest of the island, Rasmussen said last year. The base supports missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance operations for the U.S. and NATO.
U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance told Fox News on Thursday that Denmark has neglected its missile defense obligations in Greenland, but Mortensgaard said that it makes “little sense to criticize Denmark,” because the main reason why the U.S. operates the Pituffik base in the north of the island is to provide early detection of missiles.
The best outcome for Denmark would be to update the defense agreement, which allows the U.S. to have a military presence on the island and have Trump sign it with a “gold-plated signature,” Gad said.
But he suggested that's unlikely because Greenland is “handy” to the U.S president.
When Trump wants to change the news agenda — including distracting from domestic political problems — “he can just say the word ‘Greenland' and this starts all over again," Gad said.
CORRECT THE ORDER OF SPEAKERS, FILE - Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, right, and Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, left, speak on April 27, 2025, in Marienborg, Denmark. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)
FILE - Danish military forces participate in an exercise with hundreds of troops from several European NATO members in the Arctic Ocean in Nuuk, Greenland, Sept. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)
President Donald Trump listens as he was speaking with reporters while in flight on Air Force One, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, as returning to Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen arrives for a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Tuesday, Jan.6, 2026. (Yoan Valat, Pool photo via AP)
FILE - A plane carrying Donald Trump Jr. lands in Nuuk, Greenland, Jan. 7, 2025. (Emil Stach/Ritzau Scanpix via AP, file)
