Greatest Hits (Bruce Springsteen album) explained

Greatest Hits
Type:greatest
Artist:Bruce Springsteen
Cover:Bruce Springsteen - Greatest Hits.png
Released:February 27, 1995
Recorded:1974–1995
Genre:Rock
Length:76:35
Label:Columbia
Prev Title:In Concert/MTV Plugged
Prev Year:1993
Next Title:The Ghost of Tom Joad
Next Year:1995

Greatest Hits is the first compilation album by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released February 27, 1995, on Columbia Records. It is a collection of some of Springsteen's hit singles and popular album tracks through the years along with four new songs at the end, mostly recorded with the E Street Band in 1995. The latter constituted Springsteen's first (albeit very partial) release with his backing band since the late 1980s. Some of the songs are shorter versions of the original album releases.

The incorporation of the "new" tracks was portrayed in the 1996 documentary Blood Brothers. "Murder Incorporated" and "This Hard Land" were, in fact, unused 1982 songs from the Born in the U.S.A. sessions, with the latter being re-recorded here more than a decade later, and both subsequently became Springsteen concert staples.[1] [2] [3] "Blood Brothers", on the other hand, was played only as the final closing song of both the 1999–2000 Reunion Tour and 2002–2003 Rising Tour, both times with an extra verse added. "Secret Garden" achieved notoriety via the soundtrack of the 1996 film Jerry Maguire. Alternate versions of several of these new tracks were released on the 1996 Blood Brothers EP.

The compilation was commercially successful, hitting number one on the Billboard 200 and UK Albums Chart, and sold six million copies in the U.S.[4]

Critical reception

The reception by music critics of Greatest Hits was rather negative upon the album's release, as are more contemporary reviews. David Browne of Entertainment Weekly felt that the album was released when it was because the Grammy Awards were coming up and "Streets of Philadelphia" was up for five awards and that the songs on the album were selected because of charting success, which means that several important songs were overlooked. He also felt that "Murder Incorporated" (in reference to the 1930s Murder, Inc.) was the only good new song on the album and that overall the album felt as if Bruce did not believe in himself any more.

The Rolling Stone review of the album by Parke Puterbaugh is rather unfavorable. Parke felt that the songs on the collection belonged on their original LP releases, that songs from before Born to Run should have been included and that the new songs weren't that good.

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 the week of March 18, 1995, with more than 250,000 copies sold, it remained on the chart for 43 weeks.[5] [6] As of March, 2009 it has sold over 4,092,000 copies in the United States according to Nielsen SoundScan. It was certified six times platinum by the RIAA on May 25, 2022, for shipments of 6,000,000.

In the United Kingdom the album entered at number one on March 11, 1995, and topped the chart for two non consecutive weeks.[7] It was present on the chart for 134 weeks. It was certified four times platinum by the BPI on March 21, 2014, denoting shipments of 1,200,000 units.[8]

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the liner notes of Greatest Hits.[9]

Charts

Weekly charts

Weekly chart performance for Greatest Hits! Chart (1995)! Peak
position
Danish Albums (Nielsen Marketing Research)[10] 2
European Albums (Music & Media)[11] 1
Finnish Albums (Seura)[12] 1
French Compilations (SNEP)[13] 1
Hungarian Albums Chart[14] 7
Irish Albums (IFPI)[15] 1
Italian Albums (FIMI)[16] 1
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[17] 1
Spanish Albums (AFYVE)[18] 1

Year-end charts

Chart (1995)!scope="col"
Position
German Albums Chart[20] 10
Chart (2019)!scope="col"
Position
Irish Albums (IRMA)[21] 49
Chart (2020)!scope="col"
Position
Irish Albums (IRMA)[22] 30
Chart (2021)!scope="col"
Position
Irish Albums (IRMA)[23] 25

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Bruce Springsteen to re-release landmark box set of rare material – Uncut. August 12, 2013. October 18, 2018. October 19, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181019041102/https://www.uncut.co.uk/news/bruce-springsteen-to-re-release-landmark-box-set-of-rare-material-19691. live.
  2. 10 Amazing Songs Springsteen Cut From 'Born in the U.S.A.'. Ben. Spiegel. Rolling Stone. August 15, 2014. October 18, 2018. October 24, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161024130118/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/10-amazing-songs-bruce-springsteen-cut-from-born-in-the-u-s-a-20140815/murder-inc-20140815. live.
  3. Web site: Springstreet staples . Collins . Roger . Iomusic . December 9, 2008 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090204065341/http://iomusic.com/Bands_and_Artists/S/Springsteen__Bruce/ . February 4, 2009 .
  4. Grein, Paul. "Week Ending Oct. 19, 2008: Battle Of The Hat Acts" . Yahoo! Music. October 22, 2008.
  5. Top 200 Albums. March 18, 1995. Billboard. October 22, 2017. February 19, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180219203725/https://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200/1995-03-18. live.
  6. Between The Bullets. March 18, 1995. Geoff. Mayfield. Billboard. 107. 12. 88. 0006-2510. October 2, 2020. March 5, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240305111459/https://books.google.com/books?id=2wsEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA88#v=onepage&q&f=false. live.
  7. Web site: Bruce Springsteen full Official Chart History Official Charts Company. www.officialcharts.com. en. 2017-10-22. October 15, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171015061022/http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/26627/bruce-springsteen/. live.
  8. Web site: British album certifications – Bruce Springsteen – Greatest Hits. March 21, 2014. British Phonographic Industry. October 22, 2017. July 16, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210716121108/https://www.bpi.co.uk/award/2649-3358-2. live.
  9. Greatest Hits. Bruce Springsteen. 1995. Columbia Records. liner notes.
  10. April 8, 1995 . Hits of the World – Ireland . . 107 . 14 . 61 . 0006-2510.
  11. April 15, 1995 . Hits of the World – Eurochart . . 107 . 15 . 61 . 0006-2510 . October 11, 2012 .
  12. April 15, 1995 . Hits of the World – Finland . . 107 . 15 . 61 . 0006-2510 . October 11, 2012 .
  13. Web site: Les "Charts Runs" de chaque Album Classé . InfoDisc . fr . PHP . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100218105703/http://www.infodisc.fr/Albums_ChartRun.php . February 18, 2010 . mdy-all . Search for "Bruce SPRINGSTEEN" on the drop-down menu to see results.
  14. Web site: Archivum: Top 40 Album . . hu . July 20, 2011 . July 18, 2012 . https://archive.today/20120718105414/http://mahasz.hu/?menu=slagerlistak&menu2=archivum&lista=top40&ev=1995&het=12&submit_=Keres%C3%A9s . live .
  15. April 15, 1995 . Hits of the World – Ireland . . 107 . 15 . 61 . 0006-2510 . October 11, 2012 .
  16. Web site: History. it. FIMI. May 31, 2022. May 5, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190505063351/https://www.fimi.it/top-of-the-music/history.kl#/history. live. Search "Bruce Springsteen" as a "Artista" then click "Classifiche".
  17. March 25, 1995. Top 10 Sales in Europe. Music & Media. 17. May 1, 2021. May 1, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210501083553/https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-UK/Music/Archive-Music-Media-IDX/IDX/90s/95/MM-1995-03-25-OCR-Page-0017.pdf. live.
  18. April 8, 1995 . Hits of the World – Portugal . . 107 . 14 . 60 . 0006-2510 . October 11, 2012 . March 5, 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240305111512/https://books.google.com/books?id=6AsEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA60#v=onepage&q&f=false . live .
  19. Top 200 Albums – Billboard 200 chart. Billboard. October 18, 2018. October 19, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181019003117/https://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200/2018-05-05. live.
  20. Web site: Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts. de. GfK Entertainment. August 13, 2018. May 9, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150509161524/https://www.offiziellecharts.de/charts/album-jahr/for-date-1995. live.
  21. Web site: Ireland's Official Top 50 biggest albums of 2019. Official Charts Company. White. Jack. January 9, 2020. January 11, 2020. January 11, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200111011636/https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/irelands-official-top-50-biggest-albums-of-2019__28107/. live.
  22. Web site: Ireland's Official Top 50 biggest albums of 2020. Official Charts Company. White. Jack. January 10, 2021. January 12, 2021. January 12, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210112000710/https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/irelands-official-top-50-biggest-albums-of-2020__29420/. live.
  23. Web site: Ireland's official biggest albums of 2021. Official Charts Company. Griffiths. George. January 9, 2022. January 9, 2022. January 9, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220109080448/https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/irelands-official-biggest-singles-of-2021-revealed__34917/. live.

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