What does it sound like?:
As most readers will be aware by now, this box set comprises 4 cds and 3 dvds plus a lengthy book. Unfortunately the dvds and book weren’t available for review, so this article relates just to the cds.
The first two cds are a reissue of the original ‘The River’ double album from way back in 1980, always something of a mixed bag but presumably anyone interested has heard it long before now. For me the most interesting pieces were always the more introspective ones, Point Blank being a personal favourite, but it’s an album with something for everyone really – ballads and out and out rockers abound….take your pick!
The more interesting parts of this set come on cds 3 and 4. The first of these is the album usually referred to as ‘The Ties That Bind’ that was the original proposed follow up to ‘Darkness On The Edge Of Town’ in 1979. Of the ten songs on this single album, seven finally made it onto the eventual release of ‘The River’, although some appeared in slightly altered form, with different arrangements, extra verses etc. The album would still have been a good release as it stood, although perhaps not as strong overall as ‘Darkness’ was – that was a hard act to follow though! In that sense, Springsteen made the correct decision to take more time and expand the album to record the newer material he’d subsequently written.
It seems there was, as ever seems to be the case with The Boss, an abundance of such newer material to hand, as demonstrated by the 22 outtakes included on the fourth cd – and apparently yet more unreleased material from this era still remains in the vaults.
Some of these songs have already appeared in the ‘Tracks’ box set and on compilations such as ‘The Essential’, but there are still a dozen previously unreleased songs here, albeit some now having rerecorded vocals. They are something of a mixed bag, ranging from those that were still in their infancy to others that could quite easily have appeared on the finished album on another day. Certainly they demonstrate the full extent of Springsteen’s writing talents, and a number reflect the music scene at that time, with obvious influences of, for example, The Clash and more generally the ‘new wave’ bands around in The States at that time.
It’s particularly good to finally hear a studio version of the instrumental ‘Paradise By the C’, previously only available on the ‘Live 75-85’ box set, but there’s plenty of other gold to be found here.
What does it all *mean*?
Springsteen has to be one of the most prolific talents in the last 40 odd years surely – and presumably more archive releases of this type will follow, as well as the live shows being made available via his website.
Goes well with…
Still sounds as musically relevant today – you know what you’re going to get with Springsteen, and this doesn’t disappoint.
Release Date:
Might suit people who like…
Not really one for the casual fan, but Bruce afficionados will certainly want to have this in their collection alongside ‘The Promise’ .
Oh God. My long-dormant Bruceaholic obsession couldn’t have re-emerged at a worse time. Wibble. Nurse! Hide my wallet! Book me into The Priory immediately.
But, thanks to the generosity of either the record company, or our tax dodging friends, the ‘new’ tracks are not separately downloadable and you have to shell out for the whole package to get hold of them. How Christmas spirited of them.
Fear not, it’s all on that Spotify.
But don’t be tempted to look on that youtube, as the, shall we say, essential 4 “new” (or new studio) are all “provided” in HD by the record company. Just as well you can’t get apps that rip out the music and make mp3s, eh?
The 55 minute documentary and an hour of the live dvd from this set are on BBC4 the weekend after next. Skyplus box duly programmed (when it allows me to do so.)
On this coming weekend – 20th.
Yep, my mistake. On Sunday night for a change. Just stuck onto record. Love this kind of thing. Dug out the album for a listen a while back, really liked Independence Day, must add to my Bruce playlist. Crush on You is possibly the worst Bruce song i’ve heard so looking forward to hearing more about the making of the album.
*spolier alert* – during the documentary he suggests that “Crush on You” might have been a mistake and could/should have replaced by Roulette.
He’s right and wrong about that.
Roulette really doesn’t belong on The River. It’s thematically very different from everything else, dealing as it does with a more worldly, political topic than the rest of the record. Granted, there’s lots of fear, worry and paranoia to be found elsewhere on The River but it all comes from within the home or within the head of whoever is telling the story. Taking that fear out of the home or out of the relationship would break the spell that the record sets.
Saying that, Crush on You is an aberration and doesn’t belong on any record by anyone ever! He could’ve replaced it with pretty much any of those outtakes. For me, Loose End is the great River omission. But there’s plenty of others.
I’m not the first to say this but the documentary that comes with the box is a real ‘will this do?’ effort from Bruce Inc. It’s not even a documentary really – just Bruce in his back yard singing those sings acoustically and talking – from 35 years’ distance – about the making of the record and what he was trying to do. No other contributions from band or producers. And nothing about the River tour which is generally seen as critical in the development of the Band over the years that followed. But I’m sure it’ll sell well and Bruce will sleep soundly tonight so who cares what I think?!
Perhaps some Christmas Spirit afer all. Free MP£ download available of the remaining 10 tracks from the live set for which there was no video.
http://live.brucespringsteen.net/live-music/0,13637/Bruce-Springsteen—The-E-Street-Band-mp3-flac-download-11-5-1980-ASU-Activity-Center-Tempe-AZ.html