After rejecting it for two decades, Bruce finally accomodated Sony's request for a "Greatest Hits" album in 1995. Bruce wanted to record some new tracks and with only 72 hours notice he assembled the entire "E-Street Band" in the Hit Factory studios in NY.
The entire band had not been together in the studio since 1983 and Nils Lofgren had never recorded with Bruce and the band together. The January 9-January 12 recording sessions were recorded on video and would later be released as an 80-minute documentary called "Blood Brothers".
Besides the usual Bruce Springsteen hits, "Greatest Hits" also contained four new previously unreleased tracks which had been recorded during the January sessions. These tracks are "This Hard Land", "Secret Garden", "Murder Incorporated" and "Blood Brothers". The inclusion of "Murder Incorporated" was attributed, by Springsteen, to an unknown fan.
"For years, there's this guy who's been following me around with a "Murder Incorporated" sign. I see him in the audience, like, every five shows. I have never played the song, ever, in concert, and would have no intent to do so, and yet this guy follows me around with this sign and flashes it during the entire show. So it was he who I had in mind when we put the song on the album. We said, "Let's put his on for that guy, whoever he is!"
With the release as the song "Blood Brothers" we see Springsteen once again, wondering "where" he is at and "what" he has accomplished. His words of doubt could be directed at his fans, his band or anyone important to him. His message in "Blood Brothers" however remains the same. There is a need for connection.
"I guess I wrote it ("Blood Brothers") the night before I went into the studio with the band, and I was trying to sort out what I was doing and what those relationships meant to me now and what they mean to you as you move through your life. Basically, I guess I always felt that the friendships, the loyalties, and the relationships, those are the bonds that keep you from slipping into the abyss of self-destructiveness. And without those things, that abyss feels a lot closer."
Though Bruce's more cynical fans argued over the inclusion (and exclusion) of certain tracks, the release was popular and sold well debuting at number one on the Billboard Charts and the UK charts and remaining number one for two weeks.
|
