The Lost Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band Albums You’ve Never Heard: Backing Gary U.S. Bonds Between Nebraska and Born in the U.S.A.

The B-Side: With Springsteen’s Tracks II box set out now, it’s time to revisit two overlooked albums —lost songs, the full E Street Band, and no credit on the cover

Welcome to my new Thursday column, “The B-Side”. Some weeks it might be a funny list or a sketch or a McSweeney’s reject like I post on Mondays. But most of the time it’ll be a written piece, and an essay on the things I’m thinking about.

This week in honor of America’s birthday, I present a gift to myself of not having to work too hard. With the release of Tracks II, a box set of “secret” unreleased Bruce Springsteen albums, I’m reposting a deep dive I did a few years ago on two other “secret” albums The Boss released in the ‘80s that only hardcore fans know about.

“Secret albums” are those rare records from the full lineup of a famous band either backing another musician they happen to be a fan of, or an album in a completely different style recorded under a different name. The idea being that this is work that only a group’s most obsessive fans would likely even know about.

I think the reason I love these albums is that it’s just fun to listen to a group of great musicians cut loose…