Bruce Springsteen - The Ties That Bind: The River Collection (Album Review)
Monday, 07 December 2015
Written by Simon Ramsay
Following buffed up re-releases of 'Born to Run' and 'Darkness on the Edge of Town', it's time for Bruce Springsteen's 1980 double album 'The River' to get the full bells and whistles treatment. This almighty package may feature enough unreleased material to send die hard fans giddy with joy, but it also reveals that when it came to crafting the record the Boss certainly wasn't infallible.
The exhaustive set begins with a tasty remaster of 'The River' itself. Clarence Clemons' sorrowful solo on Independence Day, the pounding roadhouse riffage of Crush on You and lonesome harmonica of the title track are given extra vibrancy thanks to a sprinkling of sonic fairy dust that enhances the crystal clear mix.
Next up, there's the original single disc version of the album that was almost released in 1979 under 'The Ties That Bind' moniker. Undoubtedly one for hardcore fans, it's an interesting window into Springsteen's creative mind and shows how the smallest tweaks can make a big difference.
Hungry Heart is in a lower key and slightly slower, while we also see You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch) before it morphed from rockabilly Elvis number into a full-throttle charge that blended better with the rock n' roll aesthetic of ‘The River’. Stolen Car, although fleshed out with lush, superior instrumentation, is bereft of the integral narrative hopelessness that coloured the final version.
Its sole unreleased track - Cindy – is an absolute peach and would have bolstered a final album that, for all its strengths, contains some fillers and a weaker second disc. Which brings us nicely to the 11 unreleased cuts from that creatively fertile period.
Chain Lightning is a stunner. Sounding like the bastard offspring of Pink Cadillac and Murder Incorporated, it prowls along on a ‘70s cop show riff with haunting slashes of Link Wray guitar and chilling organ whistles. Little White Lies is equally impressive, with an Exorcist-style piano intro and pumping verses leading to a twisting lyrical hook. Stray Bullet, meanwhile, seethes with an ambient, hypnotic sense of desperation.
Some of these high calibre leftovers were possibly omitted because Springsteen - wanting to capture a wide variety of paradoxical emotions and styles while focussing primarily on men, women and relationships - didn't want to skew the album's focus too heavily towards the down and out characters of ‘Darkness…’.
Rock ‘n' soul stormer Meet Me In The City and a tension-fuelled The Man Who Got Away are both scintillating crime and consequence tales, but Party Lights and The Time That Never Was would have been thematically perfect, with the former a painful requiem for lost glory days and the latter finding Bruce's booming baritone mourning the road left untravelled.
Dedicated fans will be familiar with a final disc that's been collated from songs that featured on the 'Tracks' box set along with Held Up Without A Gun and From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come), which appeared on the 'Essential Bruce Springsteen' compilation. Brought together so all the material from the era is one place, they avoid the wagging finger of exploitation by being remastered and, quite frankly, bloody marvellous.
The powder keg punk of Roulette formed the blueprint for the Gaslight Anthem's entire career, but was maybe too furious to make 'The River'. In contrast, the sweltering sadness of Restless Nights, unbridled slacker devotion of I Wanna Be With You and another track that could have been penned for the Ramones, Living On The Edge Of The World, should have made the cut.
In addition to that audio content there's an hour long documentary on the record directed by Thom Zimny, a 160 minute concert shot in Tempe, Arizona and a book that, among other things, contains 200 rarely-seen photos.
The price of this package certainly makes it one for the devout, but its depth of content and quality justify the cost. In particular, it’s worth it for the sublime outtakes that, had they replaced weaker moments like I'm A Rocker, Fade Away and Drive All Night, could have seen 'The River' up there alongside 'Exile On Main Street' and 'Physical Graffiti' as one of the greatest double albums of all time.
Bruce Springsteen Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Sat January 16 2016 - PITTSBURGH Pennsylvania - Consol Energy Center (USA)
Tue January 19 2016 - CHICAGO Illinois - United Center (USA)
Sun January 24 2016 - NEW YORK New York - Madison Square Garden (USA)
Wed January 27 2016 - NEW YORK New York - Madison Square Garden (USA)
Fri January 29 2016 - WASHINGTON District of Columbia - Verizon Center (USA)
Sun January 31 2016 - NEWARK New Jersey - Prudential Center (USA)
Tue February 02 2016 - TORONTO ON - Air Canada Centre (Canada)
Thu February 04 2016 - BOSTON Massachusetts - TD Garden (USA)
Mon February 08 2016 - ALBANY New York - Times Union Center NY (USA)
Wed February 10 2016 - HARTFORD Connecticut - XL Center (USA)
Fri February 12 2016 - PHILADELPHIA Pennsylvania - Wells Fargo Center-PA (USA)
Tue February 16 2016 - FORT LAUDERDALE Florida - BB&T Center (USA)
Thu February 18 2016 - ATLANTA Georgia - Philips Arena (USA)
Sun February 21 2016 - LOUISVILLE Kentucky - KFC Yum Center (USA)
Tue February 23 2016 - CLEVELAND Ohio - Quicken Loans Arena (USA)
Thu February 25 2016 - BUFFALO New York - First Niagara Center (USA)
Sat February 27 2016 - ROCHESTER New York - Blue Cross Arena (USA)
Mon February 29 2016 - SAINT PAUL Minnesota - Xcel Energy Center (USA)
Thu March 03 2016 - MILWAUKEE Wisconsin - BMO Harris Bradley Center (USA)
Sun March 06 2016 - ST LOUIS Missouri - Chaifetz Arena (USA)
Thu March 10 2016 - PHOENIX Arizona - Talking Stick Resort Arena (USA)
Sun March 13 2016 - OAKLAND California - Oracle Arena (USA)
Tue March 15 2016 - LOS ANGELES California - Los Angeles Sports Arena (USA)
Thu March 17 2016 - LOS ANGELES California - Los Angeles Sports Arena (USA)
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