Bruce Springsteen fans were ecstatic in 1994 when a British company announced plans to release Prodigal Son, an unauthorized solo album from 1972. Although Springsteen blocked its official distribution, bootlegs inevitably appeared, and the Boss' lawyers spent years fighting to ban other versions. Why did the Boss turn his back on his Prodigal Son? ''He's talked about the idea that his entire body of work tells a story, and this material seems to stand outside that,'' says Christopher Phillips, editor and publisher of the Springsteen fanzine Backstreets. The pre-E Street Band recordings represent a path not taken, back when Columbia Records was trying to mold Springsteen into a folkie. It's Bruce and his guitar before he really learned how to make it talk, toying with songs from his first two studio albums and unpolished gems, like the title song and ''Jesse,'' which never saw the light of day. Even though the Boss felt strongly enough to exclude most of these songs from his career retrospective, Tracks, they still provide a revealing portrait of a young artist searching for his voice.
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