Saturday, August 28, 2010

Springsteen Still Epic: The Promise & Darkness on the Edge of Town


When I was a kid, Bruce Springsteen was a guy I didn't know how to fit into my limited worldview. I was raised on Kiss and Cheap Trick and the Star Wars soundtrack (courtesy older brother) and some Beatles, Johnny Cash, Elvis, and a random 10CC record (courtesy my dad). Brucesongs always seemed so epic, or at least the ones I heard on the radio. I didn't own any Bruce when I was really young, though my brother successfully conned me into paying for half of The River, an unsuccessful trip because the record store was sold out when I got there. I didn't mind the popular Bruce staples that came out of tinny little radios, but I especially liked Candy's Room. Eventually I started to get it when a kid traded me Nebraska for some cassette I had no use for at the time (Ozzy, maybe?). Now my Springsteen collection is probably the wrong records for some people's tastes - Tunnel of Love, Lucky Town, Human Touch, Nebraska and The Ghost of Tom Joad might not be the top records to own, but there it is. Maybe I'll get lucky and someone will buy me the monster below.



Now a remastered, re-jigged edition of Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town is coming out in a deluxe package - the guy's still epic after all of these years. Here's the skinny straight from brucespringsteen.net:

"Columbia Records will release Bruce Springsteen's 'The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story' on Nov 16. The Deluxe Package comprises over six hours of film and more than two hours of audio across 3 CDs and 3 DVDs. The media contents are packaged within an 80-page notebook containing facsimiles from Springsteen's original notebooks from the recording sessions, which include alternate lyrics, song ideas, recording details, and personal notes in addition to a new essay by Springsteen and never-before-seen photographs. Containing a wealth of previously unreleased material, 'The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story' offers an unprecedented look into Springsteen's creative process during a defining moment in his career. 'The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story' will additionally be released as a 3CD/3 Blu Ray disc set.

The set will be available as 'The Promise,' an edition which consists of only the unheard complete songs on two CDs or four LPs, along with lyrics and the new essay by Springsteen."

Now you will be able to get 21 unreleased tracks from the Darkness sessions, and you can stream one of the unreleased tunes, Save My Love, here, just after the video, which features Little Steven crackin' me up but still chiming in with fine back-ups.

Bruce Springsteen - "The Promise: The Making of 'Darkness on the Edge of Town'" Sneak Peek from Columbia Records on Vimeo.

2 comments:

Albert Bannatyne said...

There's something about the instrumentation and performance of 10th Avenue Freeze Out that makes it so exciting. I don't know that
it would be anyone's "best Springsteen song ever" and I don't understand 75% of the lyrics but it really moves.

"Raised on Kiss and Cheap Trick and Star Wars soundtrack"... what about the Blues Brothers, and Steve Martin's King Tut? Or Pat Travers and Cheech and Chong's "Earache My Eye"?

chris yak said...

I don't remember you owning Pat Travers or Cheech and Chong...and I don't think I played the Blues Brothers over and over again. But I'm sure there's stuff I didn't list for brevity's sake, and more stuff I've forgotten that you remember.