AMG Review of Greatest Hits

William Ruhlmann
All Music Guide

Springsteen has adopted his own set of criteria for his first Greatest Hits album. He packs as much music onto a single disc as possible, even if that means editing songs. He is more interested in including his recent material than his older material. He has not felt bound to interpret the album's title to mean he must include his most successful singles: Top 40 hits are left off, while album tracks are included. He has opted to include a couple of new songs, a previously unreleased outtake ("Murder Incorporated"), and a new recording of a previously unreleased old song. All of which is to say that Greatest Hits is a hodgepodge. Nevertheless, some of Springsteen's best and best-known hit recordings are here.