BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN”Greatest Hits” Columbia* * * 1/2In...

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

“Greatest Hits”

Columbia

* * * 1/2

In the boxed-set age, a “greatest hits” single disc borders on the archaic. Such is the old-fashioned career summary Springsteen has chosen: the 14 most obvious singles, supplemented by four new E Street Band tunes tagged on for collector-friendliness. It’s frustratingly skimpy, but the path of least pretentiousness.

Among the new tracks, “Secret Garden” and “Blood Brothers” sound more like solo cuts, quiet and melodically on the thin side, though the former’s mystery-of-womanhood sentiment evokes more wonder than the latter’s overworked glory-days nostalgia.

Better are two up-tempo compositions written further back. “Murder Incorporated” (a new mix of the ’82 recording, heretofore Bruce’s most bootlegged outtake) is as tough as it sounds: Life, itself, is a Mob. The kindlier “This Hard Land” leans warmer, if dustier, in creating a bittersweet counterpart to “Badlands,” where life’s just parched.

Best to consider the new material dessert, not rating it against the preceding classics. And while fans might chafe at the very idea of a “singles” set, the Mitchum wanna-bes, Vietnam vets, laid-off dads and feisty losers in love represented within the narrow hits structure would do any singer-songwriter’s canon eclectically proud--never mind that for Springsteen it’s a singular Top 40 jukebox.

New albums are rated from one star (poor) to four (excellent).