Electric Nebraska may release ‘one day’ as Bruce Springsteen’s drummer remains optimistic

An official release of Electric Nebraska, the original versions of songs recorded by Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, may see the light of day.

Longtime drummer Max Weinberg hopes the sessions make it to the public as they “kick ass,” he said of the album in a recent interview. Fans on the r/BruceSpringsteen subreddit are equally as hopeful of receiving an official release of the recordings. Electric Nebraska was originally slated for release in 1982, but was shelved after Springsteen opted for Nebraska to be a solo effort. Songs from Born in the U.S.A. were also recorded with The E Street Band, including Weinberg and Steven Van Zandt. Weinberg has since said he hopes the Electric Nebraska tapes release, and Springsteen fans appeared to hope so too.

He told The Times: “There’s been this myth that they weren’t well played, but we played the hell out of them. I know the songs were recorded, the tracks are there, so I hope one day Electric Nebraska does make the light of day.” Fans remain hopeful following the announcement of Tracks II: The Lost Tapes, which features seven albums’ worth of material from Springsteen’s archive.

Springsteen previously wrote of the period and said he “wanted the blood in these songs to feel destined” and opted for the “opposite of rock music” for the final cut of Nebraska. “The songs were the opposite of the rock music I’d been writing,” he recalled in his 2016 memoir, Born To Run.

He added: “They were restrained, still on the surface, with a world of moral ambiguity and unease below. The tension running through the music’s core was the thin line between stability and that moment when the things that connect you to your world, your job, your family, your friends, the love and grace in your heart, fail you. I wanted to the music to feel like a waking dream and to move like poetry. I wanted the blood in these songs to feel destined and fateful.”

A post on Reddit saw listeners of The Boss hopeful of new material from the legendary Electric Nebraska sessions. One user suggested: “Considering that he sold the music rights to Sony, I would assume that it’ll be released sooner or later, assuming those recordings were included in the sale. Sony won’t be as precious about Bruce’s ‘artistic intentions’ and will eventually release anything that will sell.”

Another agreed, adding: “Agree. I imagine Springsteen has control over the stuff while he’s still alive, which is why it took so many years for Tracks II to be announced.” A third wrote: “I’m sure they’re going to rush to release everything they can in the next five to ten years. His fan base, though plenty of younger people, is ageing just as he is.”

Some users have suggested an ideal release time has opened up for Electric Nebraska, with Springsteen’s turbulent time in the 1980s set to be featured in the feature biopic, Deliver Me From Nowhere.

One user wrote: “It’s only natural they’d release Electric Nebraska just in time for Deliver Me From Nowhere… wouldn’t they?” Another added: “This is my guess too, I’m predicting a double disc reissue with the original and electric versions included.”

A third fan suggested Electric Nebraska could be released whenever Sony feels like releasing it, as it does not need a larger project to support the publishing. They wrote: “Nah, I don’t think they’d tie it to that. There’s so much fan interest, I have to think it would be its own thing.”