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Bruce Springsteen readies best-of set for Wal-Mart
Just weeks away from the release of his new studio album, Bruce Springsteen has ironed out an exclusive deal with Wal-Mart to distribute his forthcoming best-of compilation.
Springsteen & the E Street Band's "Greatest Hits," featuring 12 tracks and omitting solo material recorded sans the E Street Band, will arrive on the giant retailer's shelves Jan. 13, just two weeks before the performer's latest set, "Working on a Dream," surfaces on Jan. 27.
"Dream," recorded with the E Street Band, features 12 new Springsteen compositions plus a bonus track. It marks Springsteen's 24th album and fourth collaboration with Brendan O'Brien, who produced and mixed the record. The forthcoming set follows last year's "Magic," which reached platinum status and scored two Grammy Awards.
"During the last weeks of mixing 'Magic,' we recorded a song called 'What Love Can Do,'"Springsteen said in a statement. "It was sort of a 'love in the time of Bush' meditation. It was a great track but felt more like a first song of new record rather than something that would fit on 'Magic.' So our producer Brendan O'Brien said, 'Hey, let's make another one right now!'
"I thought, no, I haven't done that since my first two records came out in the same year. And usually I don't write that quickly," he added. "But that night I went back to my hotel in Atlanta and over the next week, I wrote several songs that formed the beginnings of our new album. Excited by the sounds we made on 'Magic' I found there was more than enough fuel for the fire to keep going. Brendan and I demo'd these songs before we left the studio and agreed we'd somehow find time during the touring year to get this record made."
Springsteen previewed an acoustic version of the album's title track in October during a rally for President-Elect Barack Obama in Columbus, OH. Last month, the singer briefly offered up the track as a free download from his website and the iTunes store; a second single, "My Lucky Day," was made available for purchase on MySpace and Amazon for one week earlier in December. The video for the song can still be viewed at Springsteen's MySpace page.
The veteran rocker and his band made a triumphant return to the road last year to support "Magic." They wrapped the epic outing Aug. 30 after performing 100 shows for more than 2 million fans, according to Springsteen's website.
Here is the track-listing for "Working on a Dream":
1. Outlaw Pete
2. My Lucky Day
3. Working on a Dream
4. Queen of the Supermarket
5. What Love Can Do
6. This Life
7. Good Eye
8. Tomorrow Never Knows
9. Life Itself
10. Kingdom of Days
11. Surprise, Surprise
12. The Last Carnival
Bonus track:
The Wrestler
