Photo: Danny Clinch

Bruce Springsteen has turned in the latest single from Tracks II: The Lost Albums, a collection of seven divergent full-length albums recorded between 1983 and 2018, now pulled off the shelf and slated for release on June 27 via Sony Music. His latest advance offering, “Sunday Love,” previews Twilight Hours, a 12-track experiment with classic orchestral pop and a loving ode to the timeless sound of the Great American Songbook.

“Sunday Love” is a Springsteen original heavily inspired by the heartful, intimate songwriting of ‘50s and ‘60s symphonic pop, with vocal cues drawn from foundational giants like Frank Sinatra and Andy Williams storytelling rooted in the foundational American greats Flannery O’Connor and James M. Cain. He wrote the broader record–which he describes as “romantic, lost-in-the-city songs”–in tandem with 2019’s Western Stars over the course of a decade, then tracked it with accompaniment from Max Weinberg, Patti Scialfa and Soozie Tyrell of The E Street Band, as well as storied producer Ron Aniello and Western Stars contributors Kaveh Rastegar and Scott Tibbs.

“At one time it was either a double record [with Western Stars] or they were part of the same record,” explained Springsteen. “I love Burt Bacharach and I love those kinds of songs and those kinds of songwriters. I took a swing at it because the chordal structures and everything are much more complicated, which was fun for me to pull off. All this stuff could have come right off of those sixties albums.”

“Sunday Love” is the sixth single from Tracks II, following a recent trio of diverse Western-influenced entries “Adelita” from Inyo, “Repo Man” from Somewhere North of Nashville and “Faithless,” a dusty, contemplative spiritual wandering from an unreleased film soundtrack of the same name. Before that, the boss shared “Blind Spot,” a stormy, loop-based reflection on doubt and betrayal from the Streets of Philadelphia Sessions, and “Rain In The River,” which previewed Perfect World, “the one thing on this that wasn’t initially conceived as an album.” The only record from the wealth of music on Tracks II not yet sampled with a single is LA Garage Sessions ’83, the coveted missing link between Nebraska and Born in the U.S.A. that’s been one of the most widely bootlegged projects from Springsteen’s discography in recent years.

Springsteen first opened up his archives in 1998 with Tracks, a celebrated four-disc collection of 66 unheard recordings from throughout his career. While he’s followed up on that impulse since with expanded reissues of Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River and more, he’s also kept stirring the pot for a follow-up to the revealing compilation–which he seems to have been just as eager to share as the fans have been to hear it.

“The Lost Albums were full records, some of them even to the point of being mixed and not released,” Springsteen said. “I’ve played this music to myself and often close friends for years now. I’m glad you’ll get a chance to finally hear them. I hope you enjoy them.”

Tracks II: The Lost Albums will be released on all digital platforms and as deluxe 9-LP and 7-CD packages. Pre-order the record here, and listen to “Sunday Love” below. Learn more about Springsteen’s busy year ahead at brucespringsteen.net.

Read on for the collection’s full tracklist.

Tracks II: The Lost Albums – Bruce Springsteen:
LA Garage Sessions ’83:
1. Follow That Dream
2. Don’t Back Down On Our Love
3. Little Girl Like You
4. Johnny Bye Bye
5. Sugarland
6. Seven Tears
7. Fugitive’s Dream
8. Black Mountain Ballad
9. Jim Deer
10. County Fair
11. My Hometown
12. One Love
13. Don’t Back Down
14. Richfield Whistle
15. The Klansman
16. Unsatisfied Heart
17. Shut Out The Light
18. Fugitive’s Dream (Ballad)
Streets of Philadelphia Sessions:
1. Blind Spot
2. Maybe I Don’t Know You
3. Something In The Well
4. Waiting On The End Of The World
5. The Little Things
6. We Fell Down
7. One Beautiful Morning
8. Between Heaven and Earth
9. Secret Garden
10. The Farewell Party
Faithless:
1. The Desert (Instrumental)
2. Where You Goin’, Where You From
3. Faithless
4. All God’s Children
5. A Prayer By The River (Instrumental)
6. God Sent You
7. Goin’ To California
8. The Western Sea (Instrumental)
9. My Master’s Hand
10. Let Me Ride
11. My Master’s Hand (Theme)
Somewhere North of Nashville:
1. Repo Man
2. Tiger Rose
3. Poor Side of Town
4. Delivery Man
5. Under A Big Sky
6. Detail Man
7. Silver Mountain
8. Janey Don’t You Lose Heart
9. You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone
10. Stand On It
11. Blue Highway
12. Somewhere North of Nashville
Inyo:
1. Inyo
2. Indian Town
3. Adelita
4. The Aztec Dance
5. The Lost Charro
6. Our Lady of Monroe
7. El Jardinero (Upon the Death of Ramona)
8. One False Move
9. Ciudad Juarez
10. When I Build My Beautiful House
Twilight Hours:
1. Sunday Love
2. Late in the Evening
3. Two of Us
4. Lonely Town
5. September Kisses
6. Twilight Hours
7. I’ll Stand By You
8. High Sierra
9. Sunliner
10. Another You
11. Dinner at Eight
12. Follow The Sun
Perfect World:
1. I’m Not Sleeping
2. Idiot’s Delight
3. Another Thin Line
4. The Great Depression
5. Blind Man
6. Rain In The River
7. If I Could Only Be Your Lover
8. Cutting Knife
9. You Lifted Me Up
10. Perfect World