Bruce Hornsby – Spirit Trail 25th Anniversary Edition (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Bruce Hornsby laid out details of Spirit Trail 25th Anniversary Edition, a reissue of his famed 1998 double album set to arrive via Zappo Productions/Thirty Tigers on October 27.

Spirit Trail 25th Anniversary Edition is coming digitally and as 3-CD and 3-LP releases. The 3-CD set brings together a freshly remastered copy of the original double album along with four previously unreleased songs and 10 never-before-heard live tracks. The set will be accompanied by a 36-page book containing new liner notes penned by Hornsby, lyrics and Danny Clinch’s photography all housed in a clamshell box.

As for the 3-LP set, it will consist of the original double album and four previously unreleased songs laid in a tri-fold package complete with an insert featuring lyrics and notes from Bruce. Bob Ludwig was tapped to master the original album and bonus material while Chris Muth cut lacquers for the LP set.

Spirit Trail was Bruce Hornsby’s sixth studio album and first given the anniversary reissue treatment. Hornsby was asked why he decided to reissue the album during a conversation with journalist Parke Puterbaugh. Bruce explained the multiple reasons, telling Puterbaugh:

“Probably two or three things. One, it’s come to my attention over the years that for my true fans – devotees who’ve followed me through this crazy and stylistically peripatetic journey I’ve taken – this record is their favorite. Two, it’s the record from my more distant past that personally holds up best for me. It’s the first record where I thought the singing has aged well, and I’m still very proud of the songwriting on it. So third, we’re trying to get the word out again, shine a light now on something we thought was pretty special.”

“Living In The Sunshine” and the three other previously unreleased studio tracks were supposed to land on what Hornsby devotees note as his “lost album” that Bruce decided to pass over and instead issued the more “modern sounding” Big Swing Face in 2002. “These were not just demos with a drum machine or solo piano demos. They featured my band playing. There was mostly piano, bass and drums on a lot of them but there was also guitar on a couple, and I’d thrown some organ on one of them. So I felt it was fairly far along,” Bruce Hornsby said of the collection dubbed Lost And Found On The Spirit Trail.

“These were rough mixes but they were fairly close, at least in conception, to me. I’m glad these songs are coming out because they’re fun to play and I think a certain fan of mine will go, ‘Why doesn’t he do this more?’” Hornsby added. The live “Swan Song” is one of 10 Spirit Trail songs played live included in the forthcoming reissue. “Sunflower Cat (Some Dour Cat) (Down With That)” includes elements of the Grateful Dead’s “China Cat Sunflower” and is a live favorite.

Tracklist:
1-01. Bruce Hornsby – King of the Hill (2023 Remaster) (06:18)
1-02. Bruce Hornsby – Resting Place (2023 Remaster) (04:45)
1-03. Bruce Hornsby – Preacher in the Ring, Pt. I (2023 Remaster) (05:01)
1-04. Bruce Hornsby – Preacher in the Ring, Pt. II (2023 Remaster) (04:48)
1-05. Bruce Hornsby – Song C (2023 Remaster) (02:47)
1-06. Bruce Hornsby – Sad Moon (2023 Remaster) (06:33)
1-07. Bruce Hornsby – Pete & Manny (2023 Remaster) (03:15)
1-08. Bruce Hornsby – Fortunate Son (2023 Remaster) (04:16)
1-09. Bruce Hornsby – Sneaking Up On Boo Radley (2023 Remaster) (05:15)
1-10. Bruce Hornsby – Great Divide (2023 Remaster) (05:01)
2-01. Bruce Hornsby – Line in the Dust (2023 Remaster) (04:42)
2-02. Bruce Hornsby – See The Same Way (2023 Remaster) (05:36)
2-03. Bruce Hornsby – Shadow Hand (2023 Remaster) (04:17)
2-04. Bruce Hornsby – Sunlight Moon (2023 Remaster) (04:20)
2-05. Bruce Hornsby – Listen to the Silence (2023 Remaster) (04:34)
2-06. Bruce Hornsby – Funhouse (2023 Remaster) (04:22)
2-07. Bruce Hornsby – Sunflower Cat (Some Dour Cat) (Down With That) (2023 Remaster) (03:55)
2-08. Bruce Hornsby – Song D (2023 Remaster) (02:02)
2-09. Bruce Hornsby – Swan Song (2023 Remaster) (04:57)
2-10. Bruce Hornsby – Variations On Swan Song & Song D (2023 Remaster) (03:54)
3-01. Bruce Hornsby – Living in the Sunshine (Lost and Found on the Spirit Trail) (06:03)
3-02. Bruce Hornsby – Groove Infatuation (Lost and Found on the Spirit Trail) (03:48)
3-03. Bruce Hornsby – Evening Sun (Lost and Found on the Spirit Trail) (04:36)
3-04. Bruce Hornsby – Clown’s Tambourine (Lost and Found on the Spirit Trail) (06:16)
4-01. Bruce Hornsby – King of the Hill (Live Trail) (06:42)
4-02. Bruce Hornsby – Resting Place (Live Trail) (11:21)
4-03. Bruce Hornsby – Preacher in the Ring (Pt. I) / Variation II (Webern) / Caténaires (Carter) (Live Trail) (08:11)
4-04. Bruce Hornsby – Fortunate Son (Live Trail) (05:14)
4-05. Bruce Hornsby – Sneaking Up On Boo Radley (Live Trail) (05:38)
4-06. Bruce Hornsby – See The Same Way (Live Trail) (06:49)
4-07. Bruce Hornsby – Shadow Hand (Live Trail) (04:55)
4-08. Bruce Hornsby – Funhouse (Live Trail) (07:39)
4-09. Bruce Hornsby – Sunflower Cat (Some Dour Cat) (Down With That) (Live Trail) (07:49)
4-10. Bruce Hornsby – Swan Song (Live Trail) (06:12)