Bruce Reveals His ‘Blind Spot’
As previously reported, the Box Of The Year comes June 27 when Tracks II: The Lost Albums will contain seven complete never-before-heard Springsteen albums in one massive package. One of the albums is the highly anticipated 10-track Streets Of Philadelphia Sessions. One of its songs, “Blind Spot,” has been revealed (listen below). According to his camp, this album “found Springsteen exploring an interest in the rhythms of mid-1990s contemporary music, and particularly West Coast hip-hop. Initially pouring over CDs of drum samples at his home in Los Angeles, Springsteen began making his own loops with engineer Toby Scott — which formed a rhythmic base he’d build on with keyboards and synthesizers. Both a revelation and departure in his home recording, Springsteen is the primary instrumentalist throughout most of Streets of Philadelphia Sessions—with some assists from his 1992-1993 touring band as well as Patti Scialfa, Soozie Tyrell and Lisa Lowell.”
“Blind Spot” explores the doubt and betrayal some relationships fall prey to. According to the artist, “that was just the theme that I locked in on at that moment. I don’t really know why. Patti and I, we were having a great time in California. But sometimes if you lock into one song you like, then you follow that thread. I had ‘Blind Spot,’ and I followed that thread through the rest of the record.”
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It was to be released in ’95. (His title track from the Tom Hanks Philadelphia movie won Bruce an Oscar in ’94.) But fate intervened. It had been seven years since he last worked with the boys in the E Street Band. It was time. As Bruce recently remembered, “well, maybe [it was] time to just do something with the band, or remind the fans of the band or that part of my work life. So that’s where we went. But I always really liked Streets of Philadelphia Sessions...during the Broadway show, I thought of putting it out [as a stand-alone release]. I always put them away, but I don’t throw them away.”