Bruce Springsteen
The River
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Bruce Springsteen
The River
Columbia, 1980
RiYL: The Beatles' White Album, The Clash's Sandinista |
To the casual observer, it may seem odd then that The River wouldn't be included in this short list. It was after all released smack dab in the middle of this 10-year creative peak and even included songs leftover from the Darkness era. But as it turned out The River was a victim of Springsteen's excessive creativity rather than a beneficiary. The issue is not the quality of the material he put forth during this period but the quantity. He simply wrote too much.
During the four-year span between the release of Darkness in June 1978 and the recording of Nebraska in January 1982, Bruce was characteristically prolific. There are 20 songs on The River. There's another 12 on the outtakes compilation Tracks that were written during this period and at least 10 more full-realized numbers that still haven't seen official release. Undoubtedly Bruce and his advisors had difficulty figuring out how to mold a single album out of all the available material (he faced the same problem again with the 60+ songs he recorded for Born In The USA). The result is this double album, a mishmash of the era's highlights that inexplicably doesn't match the brilliance of the records that came directly before and after its release.
Again, the problem isn't the quality of the songs. You can find 10 songs here that are better than the 10 songs on Darkness or Nebraska. "Wreck On The Highway" and "Stolen Car" are among his best automotive-themed songs. Likewise "Independence Day" is probably the best of his father tributes. "Ramrod" and "Two Hearts" are timeless rocker on the level of his best Born In The USA tunes and the title track is easily in the top 10 best songs Bruce has ever written. The problem is that they range dramatically in style and tone. Bruce once said that he wanted to create music for Saturday night and Sunday morning (and every other time of the week). But this philosophy looks better on paper than it sounds on vinyl. As a result, The River is unfocused and indigestible, a one man version of The White Album.
Like The White Album, The River begs to be dissected and put back together in one-album form. But that seems almost un-ambitious considering all the songs from this era not featured on the record. Rather than trying to put together a single album using the available material, I would like to put forth this alternative career path -- one that ignores the market demand for Bruce albums -- with the purely artistic goal of releasing three single albums that match the quality of the great foursome. Let's see how this works.
First of all, let us assume in this alternate scenario that Bruce would put out an album called The River. It would possess the serious, narrative-driven nature of its title song and serve as a logical follow-up to Darkness On The Edge Of Town. As Bruce like to say, the kids of "Thunder Road" hit the road in search of a romantic dream on Born To Run, got five miles out of town on Darkness and headed back to start a real life. The River catches up with these characters a few years later, after they'ves settled in to adult life in the city.
The first side of The River is nearly flawless, but I propose we get rid of "Sherry Darling," a party song, and end it with "The Price You Pay," which has the Rickenbacker-tinged sound of "Ties That Bind," and the folky heaviness of "The River." Then for the second side, let's include two Tracks songs that match the first side's straightforward style: "Restless Nights" and "Loose Ends." For texture, we add in "Point Blank" and close it with the great title song. The resulting album -- not weighed down by Elvis-inflected rockers and ballads -- is arguably better than the original:
The River (October 10, 1980)
Side A:
"Ties That Bind"
"Jackson Cage"
"Two Hearts"
"Independence Day"
"The Price You Pay"
Side B:
"Point Blank"
"Loose Ends" (7/18/79)
"Restless Nights" (4/11/80)
"The River"
Of course, there's nothing wrong with Elvis-influenced songs. It was in this era that Bruce really started to want to get his hick on, and he recorded tons of songs that work together well to create a more traditional rock and roll record. Let's call this one Ramrod, named after the four-minute, two-chord barnburner that opens The River's fourth side. Its lesser River counterparts are easy to spot: "Cadillac Ranch," "You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)," and "Crush On You."
To counteract these, we need a couple of slow ballads that match the simple, countrified sound of the heavy hitters. "Fire" is a logical choice, as is "I Wanna Marry You." The Tracks version of "Stolen Car" and the album cut of "Wreck On The Highway" would fit in and also build on the obvious automotive theme. To round out the track list, let's start the whole thing off with "Chain Lighting," an unreleased roadhouse tune that would perfectly set the mood. Here's what we get:
Ramrod (April 1981):
Side A:
"Chain Lightning"
"Cadillac Ranch"
"Fire"
"I Wanna Marry You"
Side B:
"Ramrod"
"Stolen Car" (Tracks Version)
"You Can Look"
"Crush On You"
"Wreck On The Highway"
I'm not sure that's better than The River, but it does take Bruce's extensive mid-career uber-fascination with cars and distills it into one heart-pounding experience. Put that baby out at the start of a summer and let it rip.
A third album is where the real challenge comes in. We've left out a lot of great songs here, including Springsteen's first top 10 hit, "Hungry Heart," and the would-be top 10 Tracks song "I Wanna Be With You." I propose you release them both as singles, the first just before Ramrod's release and the second, just after:
"Hungry Heart" single (March 1981)
"Hungry Heart"
B-Side: "Roulette" (4/3/79)
"I Wanna Be With You" single (September 1981)
"I Wanna Be With You"
B-Side: "Stolen Car" (album version)
Truthfully, it's hard to complete a third quality album, unless one looks three months after Nebraska's recording. In mid-May Bruce and the band recorded a series of songs that still had the general vibe of the early '80s River stuff but also hinted at the stadium rock to come. Those songs included "A Good Man Is Hard To Find (Pittsburgh)," "Wages Of Sin," "My Love Will Not Let You Down," "Frankie" and "This Hard Land," all featured on Tracks. Paired with odds and sods from the Darkness and The River recording sessions, you can create this:
Take Em As They Come (Spring 1982)
Side A:
"Out In The Street"
"Take Em As They Come" (4/10/80)
"I'm A Rocker"
"Sherry Darling"
"Fade Away"
Side B:
"My Love Will Not Let You Down" (5/5/82)
"This Hard Land" (5/11/82)
"Wages Of Sin" (5/10/82)
"Be True"
"Frankie" (5/14/82)
This album actually looks a lot like The River in that it features a bunch of good songs tossed together haphazardly. The only difference is that there are only 10 songs here and most of them hold the potential for mainstream appeal. This hypothetical album would have given Bruce a vehicle for exploiting MTV. I mean, that video for "Atlantic City" just didn't cut it with the teeny crowd. I imagine "My Love" and "I'm A Rocker" might have ended up on Martha Quinn's 1983 year-end top 20. He could have even done the exact same video he did for "Dancing In The Dark" for "Sherry Darling," pulling a young Courteney Cox up on stage to dance with him.
Of course, this whole exercise really only works in the hypothetical. If Bruce had released Take Em As They Come, his fourth album in as many years, and shot a hugely successful video featuring a young Courteney Cox, we might have never gotten a "Dancing In The Dark," or even Born In The USA as it exists today. While that doesn't particularly scare me, I know it would hurt others. And this is why Scott Bakula's character on "Quantum Leap" had to be oh-so-very-careful when messing with the past.
I hope this review presents a fun challenge for other Bruce diehards who have no doubt found themselves re-arranging his songs on iPod playlists. Hopefully Bruce will one day get his opportunity to play The River game, once he and John Landau see it fit to release a career-spanning box set. If they choose to go chronologically (which makes the most sense), it will be interesting to see how they shuffle and order the 78-83 material.
BEN FRENCH | Ben founded NATN in the winter of 1998-1999 with fellow IU alums Troy Carpenter and Jonathan Cohen. During the day time, he's working for Nielsen Business Media, publisher of Billboard. Ben's favorite acts include Bruce Springsteen, The Clash, Sonic Youth, Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, Rolling Stones, and the Beach Boys.