Bruce Springsteen – LA Garage Sessions ’83 Review

Abandoned sessions are an inevitability of any prolific artist. For Bruce Springsteen, it was just another stop-off on the road to better projects. Born in the U.S.A. was just a year away. Nebraska precedes the LA Garage Sessions ‘83, one of seven albums featured on Tracks II: The Lost Albums. This link between the stripped-back bedroom acoustics and the anthemic rock and roll, which criticised the country he loved, is a lo-fi treat. Springsteen was fighting with those fundamental urges to both believe in his beloved country, but also to highlight the horrors of it in the modern day. Those discomforts are still prevailing, and it means LA Garage Sessions ‘83 is still tinged with a haunting relevancy. A constant theme through all these Tracks II: The Lost Albums entries is the “what-if” scenario. Avoid that pitfall. Accept the surprise beauty of these lo-fi, relaxed efforts.  

Springsteen is not chasing the trail towards Born in the U.S.A. here; he could not sound further away from the rock and roll antics of that white hot album. But there is still a political sentiment at heart. Closer to Pete Seeger than protest rock, LA Garage Sessions ‘83 is a set of songs hoping to inspire a new energy, an ambition in the hearts of its listeners. Follow That Dream is an incredible start, a slow tempo talking to from The Boss who asks people to do as the title says. Don’t Back Down on Our Love is a rocking classic, an adaptation of those musical influences from Springsteen’s early days. A flicker of Elvis Presley, a kick of Gene Vincent. Their impact on Springsteen as a bona fide rock great can still be heard today, but he sounds comfortable in adapting to the sounds of his youth. It appears throughout LA Garage Sessions ‘83.  

Presley appears a handful of times through this album, Johnny Bye Bye most clearly of all. The effect of The King’s death on Springsteen sounds as traumatising as it was for Bob Dylan. A documentation of Springsteen’s visit to Memphis, the visit to Graceland, and that empty spot in the heart, an Elvis encounter shaped hole. There are some little instrumental flickers which bring the soul and heart of the song to the forefront. Black Mountain Ballad is a perfect mix. An emotional throughline from the lyrics, with some calming brass, building around the straightforward acoustic guitar, brings out the best in Springsteen. It is a thankfully consistent sound for LA Garage Sessions ‘83. Flashes of this country artist or that folk performer can be found on the harmonica-heavy Jim Deer, a chance for Springsteen to, however briefly, revive the turning tides of the early 1960s.  

LA Garage Sessions ‘83 is an outstanding missing link between Nebraska and Born in the U.S.A. LA Garage Sessions ‘83 could not be clearer in tying the two all-time great albums together. This is where Springsteen found the nerve to continue, to find the same Cash-like focus on vagabonds and fugitives. They are not criminals; they are rebels against an unjust system. But it is also blisteringly clear why Springsteen pulled this one from release. County Fair shares the thrills of communal Americana spirit, something which Born in the U.S.A. argued was no longer prevalent. It never returned. LA Garage Sessions ‘83 features a tinge of optimism from Springsteen, which would evaporate in the years to come. A wildly different My Hometown cements this change in tone. We are better off hearing the popular version of his Born in the U.S.A. album closer, but there is plenty to love about the acoustic drive on this early version.  

That raspier version of My Hometown has Springsteen associated more with the Nebraska sound than what the future held for The Boss. You can hear the protest brewing within songs like Don’t Back Down. Springsteen did not seem to be aware of the tone his LA Garage Sessions ‘83 was taking. Trail songs, adventure through the streets of a forgotten part of the States, where friends are made on the road, as is the case for Richfield Whistle. The cracks in that Nebraska isolation begin to show on Unsatisfied Heart, and by the end of LA Garage Sessions ‘83, listeners have a new understanding of Springsteen in the 1980s. This is not just a historical note, an archival release for the benefit of those interested in accessing history, but a powerful album which holds its own alongside the very best of Springsteen’s discography. LA Garage Sessions ‘83 is the brilliant link between two all-time great albums many have been waiting decades for.