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Bruce Springsteen / Born in the USA – Japanese 4CD deluxe

Japan-only deluxe CD

By Paul Sinclair

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43

Bruce Springsteen / Born in the USA 40th anniversary 4CD in Japan

Sony Music in Japan are celebrating the 40th anniversary of Bruce Springsteen’s 1984 album Born in the USA as a special 4CD deluxe edition unavailable anywhere else!

The 4CD set features the original album on CD 1 (the 2014 remastering) and the a full live show at the Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey on 22 August 1985, on the three bonus CDs.

The classic Live 1975–85 album featured a couple of Born in the USA songs from 19 and 21 August 1985 Giants Stadium shows but none from 22 August, and while this whole show has technically been available as a download and on CD-R via the ‘Live Bruce Springsteen’ Official Live Archive Series, this is the first time it’s been released ‘properly’ on CD anywhere in the world.

The four CDs are actually ‘Blu-spec CD2’ discs but rest assured these are fully compatible with standard CD players. This release is presented as a deluxe seven-inch Features cardboard with a photo book and a booklet (see image above).

his Japan-only Born in the USA 40th anniversary 4CD set will be released on 25 September 2024 via Sony Music Japan.

Tracklisting

Bruce Springsteen / Born in the USA 40th anniversary 4CD in Japan

Born in the USA Bruce Springsteen / 40th anniversary Japanese 4CD set

    • CD 1
      1. BORN IN THE U.S.A.
      2. COVER ME
      3. DARLINGTON COUNTY
      4. WORKING ON THE HIGHWAY
      5. DOWNBOUND TRAIN
      6. I’M ON FIRE
      7. NO SURRENDER
      8. BOBBY JEAN
      9. I’M GOIN’ DOWN
      10. GLORY DAYS
      11. DANCING IN THE DARK
      12. MY HOMETOWN
    • CD 2
      1. BORN IN THE U.S.A. 6:38
      2. BADLANDS 5:17
      3. OUT IN THE STREET 6:46
      4. JOHNNY 99 4:28
      5. SEEDS 6:56
      6. ATLANTIC CITY 6:47
      7. THE RIVER 8:13
      8. I’M GOIN’ DOWN 4:22
      9. WORKING ON THE HIGHWAY 4:35
      10. TRAPPED 4.57
      11. GLORY DAYS 9:07
      12. THE PROMISED LAND 9.59
    • CD 3
      1. MY HOMETOWN 5.15
      2. THUNDER ROAD 7.21
      3. COVER ME 7:43
      4. DANCING IN THE DARK 6:23
      5. HUNGRY HEART 4:22
      6. CADILLAC RANCH 7:23
      7. DOWNBOUND TRAIN 4:13
      8. I’M ON FIRE 5:59
      9. PINK CADILLAC 11:15
      10. BOBBY JEAN 7:32
      11. THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND 2:50
    • CD 4
      1. BORN TO RUN 6:36
      2. TWO HEARTS 3:00
      3. RAMROD 6:28
      4. TWIST AND SHOUT – DO YOU LOVE ME 16:23
      5. JERSEY GIRL 5:42
      6. SHERRY DARLING 5.51

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43 Comments

43 thoughts on “Bruce Springsteen / Born in the USA – Japanese 4CD deluxe”

  1. Ordered last week and posted on Friday from CDJapan. Arrived in Ireland this morning in packaging that was the best I have seen. Maybe a little pricy but a lovely item (reminds me of that sunny day in Slane) … and now sold out it seems.

    Thanks, as always, for the heads-up on this site.

    1. Mine arrived in Ireland today along with U2 1993 EP with the extra track and the Macca SHM CDs. Born In The USA is a lovely looking set, the Japanese do those 7″ CD sets really well.

  2. Got my copy this week. Did you know you didn’t mention that there are two bonus tracks on CD 4 taken from the BRENDAN BYRNE ARENA, EAST RUTHERFORD, AUGUST 6TH 1984? These are RACING IN THE STREET and ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT). Almost like having an encore at the end.

  3. Well, I clicked on the link and it seems that the product must be sold out already! I saw nothing about a four CD edition of this album; only a two CD edition. Where am I going wrong here? Is it really gone already?

  5. Looks a nice set in terms of presentation with the 7” jacket. The Japanese certainly know how to market.
    I have the Floyd DSOTM and also AHM sets
    I also have the Japanese Best OF Bruce set and also the Live BITUSA nugs box set.
    Yes to U.K. it’s not cheap with DHL it’s £69
    I would have liked a Nebraska / BITUSA box set but this is next best thing.
    Carl

  6. The irony here is that a classic album with ‘USA’ in the title is not available directly in the USA. Still, with just a live show added, and no B-sides and outtakes, this is one I would pass on anyway.

    I did recently listen to the Tracks Box Set from 1998. So much good stuff on there, especially disc 2 and 3 where the bulk of those discs cover the years 1979-1984 (‘The River’ through ‘USA’)

  7. Is it just me, but I thought that this looked like a fantastic album, and it had one of the archive live shows I didn’t have. So I added it to the basket, clicked on the postage options and…the cheapest (to the UK) that was showing was £68.90. That’s a bit much – did anyone else have this problem?

    1. The cheapest for the Netherlands is 13 euros (uninsured) I noticed that when you pick the option the shipping price is listed in one collumn but in a somewhat confusing layout the item price including shipping is next to it, so i think 68 is for the box including shipping

  8. Whenever I want to listen to songs from this record I play the live boxset. The 80s production is so painful to listen to these days that I can not even think to search for those 80s dance mixes on youtube unless I want to get distracted from an impacted root canal on Friday night. Sorry, but no.

  9. The current blu spec cd Japanese Springsteen releases sound brilliant and this will be similar. I am in Australia and the postage from CD Japan is very reasonable and the packaging first class so no worries about arriving damaged.

  10. My moan is I’ve got the nugs of this concert and at the start of cd 2 there’s a 4 minute appeal for 2 food Banks that then leads into my home town and they’ve cued it as one track, so if you want to listen the song there’s that preamble ahead of it. Needs dividing into seperate tracks for the CDs. Although I’ll definitely stick with my nugs because I have the remaster and the price of Japanese blu-specs are notoriously expensive. On reflection all they’ve done is taken the 2014 remastered cd coupled it with the concert from nugs and put them in a box. there’s nothing new.

  11. The US Dollar is worth like a billion Yen now….but this is still expensive. Let me double check the exchange rate……….

  12. I was getting all uppity when I read the headline, but now I’m sort of “meh”. First of all, why Japan only? The greatest number of fans has to be in the US. This is the title folks want a deluxe set for. This is Bruce at the height of his popularity – when he was mentioned in the same breath as Michael Jackson, Prince, Madonna, and the Stones (ok maybe the Stones were a couple years removed from their Tattoo You stature by 1984-85, but I just saw them (1st time) last week in Chicago and I was blown away, so that is likely influencing their inclusion here). Anyway back to Bruce… The template is there thanks to the River and Darkness box sets

    • CDs with the full album, b-sides, demos, and remixes in this case (hey they were big in 84/85).
    • DVD/BluRays with a full concert video(s) and making of documentary.
    • A nice full color booklet.
    • Oh and hey it’s almost 10 years since your last deluxe set, so let’s throw in the music videos and the full album in ATMOS, 5.1, and a stereo instrumental mix.

    This has all been done before. There’s an audience waiting to give you the money for this product.
    (Also, after paying a reported $500 MILLION for Bruce’s catalog and publishing, you’d think SONY/BMG would like to see a bigger return on the investment)

    1. There is a vast collection of bootleg materials for this, and related, recording sessions, including a multi-CD set which contains a lot of not-very-interesting odds and sods, but there are some real gems on there, including one CD where different versions of Born In The USA are worked up, lots of interesting different versions of other finalised tracks and a CD containing the “original” album, which has a longer version of BITUSA (just over 8 minutes, with the extra bit being an instrumental coda in the same vein as the rest of the song), This Hard Land (apparently the title of that album), Frankie and Murder Incorporated on it. The album, as officially released, is of course far better but a set containing a careful, deep trawl through the vast amount of material available would be fantastic. For those of us who have had these bootlegs for ages an official set – given the history of this album that would also mean including recording around Nebraska, in my opinion – showcasing the scale and ambition of these sessions would be a wonderful thing indeed!

      And a studio recording of “Seeds” would be a real attraction (not that that Live 75-85 version isn’t already fantastic).

  13. I actually think this is a very nice looking set, and like it a lot. Unfortunately, it’s a Japan only release, and likely out of my price range. I’ll probably check back on the price, but right now it’s looking like a no.

  15. Add 1 cd of the extended and dub versions that were commercially available at the time and we have ourselves a true superdeluxe box set of an iconic album but no, don’t give the fans what they want. “Those 80’s mixes are so embarrassing, that doesn’t go with Bruce’s image.” If they were good enough to release in the 80’s, they need to be released now too. I know what’s embarrassing, not giving the fans what they are asking for even though it is readily available.

    1. He released quite a few mixes in that era plus b’sides and live tracks [b’sides]. I don’t think this is the real BITUSA box set we’re waiting for.

    2. After hearing the Tango in the Night 80s extended and dub versions, I really don’t need to hear them. I can imagine how bad they sound.

  17. Swing and a miss.

    The entire Born in the USA Tour is easy to find as bootleg and official recordings. I’d much rather see the tour represented as its own separate “best of” – although, to be fair, this is one of the best shows from the tour.

    Whether the Boss likes it or not, what we all want from a Born in the USA box set is the dozens of outtakes, B-sides, and remixes that remain unreleased and/or scattered across various projects over the years.

    If Sony wants to recoup its $500 million purchase of Springsteen’s catalog, it has a long way to go.

      1. I’ve no idea, but there are at least 100 studio recordings that could be used for a true Born in the USA-era Tracks box set, not even counting Nebraska and the legendary “Electric Nebraska.”

        The question Sony is likely wrestling with is how to package all of Springsteen’s non-album material: he probably comes closest to Prince in terms of his vault size and reluctance to look back at it all.

        1. Bruce still retains right of veto over whether any previously unreleased music comes out.
          In a Rolling Stone interview about 2 years ago he said that there was not enough material for a Born In The U.S.A. box which is ,to put it politely a “lie”.Concert films ,unreleased outtakes /alternates and multitracked tour shows they have held back from the Nugs program.Maybe he doesn’t like to revisit himself in that head band and muscle shirt?
          They are working on something with Nebraska to coincide with the release of the biopic based on the Warren Zanes book.Stars the lead actor in The Bear as Bruce which I can definitely see working if the script is good.I really like that show but now see Bruce every time I watch it.

      2. Sony has always got a cut from the Nugs sales.That amount went up considerably after Sony bought the catalogue and there was a corresponding rise in the price of Bruce’s Nugs releases along with the discontinuation of the sales they had 2-3 times a year.

  18. Thank you, Paul, for pointing me to the archives. I saved some money by purchasing just the concert, so now I don’t have to shell out for this set! Already have the 2014 remaster included in the Japanese albums box set.

  20. I guess, that since this is all previously released material, that Sony can do what they want. If Bruce’s sale of his recordings and song publishing includes the “revenue streams”(I.E. the royalties), Bruce has little reason to ever write or release any more songs or to consent to the release of archival materials.

  21. Very very disappointed with anniversary release globally
    I have the high res download of the show and the factory pressed CDs (not CD-R). the factory pressed ones were part of a Born In The USA live box set (box and discs separately as per Bowie’s Brilliant Live Adventures).

    Considering the amount of shows he did on that tour, the record company could have sourced an alternative unavailable show or even the full album set from a different tour (one from London was made available with one of his albums I have, but can’t recall).

  24. Nice to see some actual effort to commemorate the anniversary for such an important album for him, but still a bit wide of the mark. There’s remixes and other oddities that could have made an actual decent collection. oh well.

    1. Yeah, I saw this yesterday and was really hoping that a 4-CD set meant a proper SDE. Cool release but could have been much better.

  25. Paul, this concert was previously released last year in factory pressed CDs (i.e. not CD-Rs) as part of the Born In The USA Tour box, sold by nugs. I have it.
    Very disappointing release, but better than nothing, I guess. I’ll pass.

  26. There are a bunch of b-sides and 80s style remixes of these great songs. Why doesn’t Bruce put out a Super Deluxe Edition of this amazing album, complete with all the b-sides and remixes along with a complete show (like this edition is featuring) on CD as well as DVD/blu-ray. And I have to mention, with the right mix, um um paging Bob Clearmountain, an Atmos and/or 5.1 mix of this album would be AMAZING!!! All that being said, I will most likely be ordering this from Japan hahaha ;)

  27. Nothing new here. Hopefully a better box set will be released in North American and Europe for this album, to collect the b-sides, remixes, demos and previously unreleased tracks, in one package. They can skip live tracks for a proper box set, because the Bruce Springsteen Live web site has plenty of shows available.

  28. As they filmed the Giants Stadium shows (see the War video) and the clips in documentaries, there should be a better release of this with some added visuals.

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