Essential Bruce Springsteen CD

Initial pressings included a limited edition bonus disc featuring previously unreleased studios and live performances.
Personnel includes: Bruce Springsteen (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, mandolin, harmonica, recorder, bass); Patti Scialfa (vocals, guitar); Nils Lofgren (guitar, slide guitar, dobro, banjo, background vocals); Steve Van Zandt (guitar, mandolin, background vocals); Danny Frederici (accordion, piano, organ, Farfisa organ, glockenspiel, background vocals); Clarence Clemons (saxophone, percussion, background vocals); Garry Tallent (tuba, bass, background vocals); Roy Bittan (piano, Fender Rhodes piano, pump organ, keyboards, synthesizer, glockenspiel, background vocals); David Sancious (piano, electric piano, organ, Clavinet); Max Weinberg (drums, background vocals); Soozie Tyrell (background vocals).
Producers includes: Bruce Springsteen, Mike Appel, Jon Landau, Chuck Plotkin, Steve Van Zandt.
Recorded between 1973 & 2002.
Personnel: Bruce Springsteen (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, harmonica, recorder, hand claps, background vocals); Patti Scialfa (vocals, guitar); Nils Lofgren (guitar, slide guitar, dobro, banjo, background vocals); Steven Van Zandt (guitar, mandolin, background vocals); Suki Lahav (violin); Jane Scarpantoni, Jere Flint (cello); Danny Federici (accordion, piano, organ, Farfisa, glockenspiel, background vocals); Clarence Clemons (saxophone, hand claps, percussion, background vocals); Jerry Vivino (tenor saxophone); Edward Manion (baritone saxophone); Michael Spengler, Mark Pender (trumpet); Richie Rosenberg (trombone); Garry Tallent (tuba, background vocals); David Sancious (piano, electric piano, Clavinet, organ); Roy Bittan (piano, Fender Rhodes piano, pump organ, Mellotron, keyboards, synthesizer, Kurzwell synthesizer, glockenspiel, background vocals); Harold Wheeler (piano); Gary Mallaber, Jeff Porcaro (drums, percussion); Max Weinberg (drums, background vocals); Richard Blackwell (congas, percussion); Mike Appel, Soozie Tyrell (background vocals).
Audio Remasterer: Bob Ludwig.
Liner Note Author: Bruce Springsteen.
Photographers: Tim White; Frank Stefanko; Eric Meola; Neal Preston; Danny Clinch.
In the liner notes to his volume of Columbia's Essential series, Bruce Springsteen immediately lays out the problem with hits collections: "In any body of work there are obvious high points. The rest depends on who's doing the listening. Where you were, when it was, who you were with when a particular song or album cut the deepest." All artists have this problem, but Springsteen has it more than most, since he not only has a deep and varied body of work, but he has a passionate, dedicated fan base. Within that following, there are listeners who prefer his big-hearted, sprawling early work, those who love the cinematic grandeur of Born to Run, those who love his stark, intimate acoustic ballads, and those who adore his pile-driving rockers. He's had hits in all of these styles, and he's had concert and album rock radio staples in all those styles -- all of these tunes for his basic canon, the "obvious high points" -- but he's such a strong songwriter and record-maker that this leaves behind songs that many other artists would be thrilled to call their best work, whether it's the epic street poetry of "It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City" or the old-time rock & roll throwaway of "Pink Cadillac." Neither of those tunes are on the double-disc, 30-track Essential Bruce Springsteen, but any two-disc set can't hold all of Springsteen's great songs. It can only offer a representative sampling, which means there will be lots of terrific tracks and fan favorites absent -- Springsteen admits this, citing "Growin' Up," "Racing in the Street," "Backstreets," and "My City of Ruins" as MIA, while others could make just as convincing an argument for "My Hometown," "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out," "Fade Away," "I'm on Fire," "Prove It All Night," "Adam Raised a Cain," andEntertainment Weekly (11/21/03, p.86) - "...The collectible [third] CD...is [even] more rewarding than the '98 outtakes box, TRACKS....disc 3 is as engaging a ride as any through Springsteen's '80s peaks, '90s valleys, and current rebirth." - Rating: A-
Q (1/04, p.148) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[I]ncontestably the heart of a mighty legacy."
Uncut (1/04, p.124) - 4 stars out of 5 - "When he gets quiet, gets home after crowded nights and faces solitary dawns, he's an extraordinary artist with a spooky, magical gift."s
Mojo (Publisher) (12/03, p.128) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[T]his is as good a Springsteen 'best of' as you're likely to get."