Bruce Springsteen – The River (1980/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 83:43 minutes | 939 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Artwork: Front cover | Source: HDTracks | @ Columbia
A blowout double-album split evenly between huge house-party numbers (and a wealth of live staples) and darker, real-world tales in the vein of the title track, The River represented a Springsteen out to explore the emerging dualities of his music. The record features titles “Hungry Heart”, “Fade Away” and “Sherry Darling”.
Imbedded within the double-disc running time of The River is a single-disc album that follows up on the themes and sound of Darkness on the Edge of Town — wide-screen, midtempo rock and stories of the disillusionment of working-class life and the conflicts within families. In these songs, which include the title track, “Independence Day,” and “Point Blank,” Bruce Springsteen’s world-view is just as dire as it had become on Darkness, but less judgmental. “Independence Day,” for example, is a father-and-son ballad that has little of the anger of its hard rock counterpart on Darkness, “Adam Raised a Cain.” Springsteen’s heroes again seek to overcome their crushing troubles through defiance and by driving around, and though “The River” repeats the soured love theme of “Racing in the Street,” he also posits romance as a possible escape, sometimes combining it with one of the other solutions, as on the eight-plus-minute “Drive All Night.” But there is also another album lurking within The River, and it is a more lighthearted pop/rock collection of short, sometimes humorous songs like “Sherry Darling” and “I’m a Rocker.” At times Springsteen combines elements of the two, as on “Out in the Street,” perhaps the album’s quintessential song, a catchy, uptempo number that sounds like something from the early ’60s and echoes the theme of the Vogues’ 1966 hit “Five O’Clock World.” “Hungry Heart,” which became Springsteen’s first Top Ten hit, combines a rollicking musical track with a more sober lyrical theme that emphasizes longing over disappointment. But a better guide to Springsteen’s development are the songs “Stolen Car” and the album-closing “Wreck on the Highway,” gentle, moody ballads imbued with a sense of hopelessness that anticipate his next record, Nebraska.
Tracklist:
01 – The Ties That Bind
02 – Sherry Darling
03 – Jackson Cage
04 – Two Hearts
05 – Independence Day
06 – Hungry Heart
07 – Out in the Street
08 – Crush on You
09 – You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)
10 – I Wanna Marry You
11 – The River
12 – Point Blank
13 – Cadillac Ranch
14 – I’m a Rocker
15 – Fade Away
16 – Stolen Car
17 – Ramrod
18 – The Price You Pay
19 – Drive All Night
20 – Wreck on the Highway
Personnel:
Bruce Springsteen – lead vocals, electric & acoustic guitars, 12-string electric guitar, harmonica, percussion, piano
Roy Bittan – piano, organ on “I’m a Rocker” and “Drive All Night”, background vocals
Clarence Clemons – tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, percussion, background vocals
Danny Federici – organ, glockenspiel
Garry Tallent – bass
Steven Van Zandt – rhythm electric guitar, acoustic guitar, lead guitar, harmony vocals, background vocals
Max Weinberg – drums, percussion
Flo & Eddie – harmony vocals
Howard Kaylan – harmony vocals
Mark Volman – harmony vocals
Production:
Producers: Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau and Steven Van Zandt
Recording engineers: Neil Dorfsman and Dana Bisbee (assistant)
Mixing engineers: Bob Clearmountain, Chuck Plotkin and Toby Scott
Recorded between March 1979 – August 1980 at The Power Station in New York.
This remastered version was remastered by acclaimed engineer Bob Ludwig, working directly with Springsteen and longtime engineer Toby Scott, newly transferred from the original analogue masters using the Plangent Process playback system.
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