BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN – THE RIVER – 2-LP – VINYL LP

Double heavyweight 180 gm vinyl LP repressing of this album from the rock superstar housed in a faithfully recreated LP sleeve containing all the elements of the original release. The River is the fifth studio album, and the first double album by Bruce Springsteen. The album was released on October 17, 1980. Rolling Stone ranked it at number 253 on their list of the greatest albums of all time. The sources of The River go back into earlier parts of Springsteen’s recording career. “Independence Day”, “Point Blank”, “The Ties That Bind”, “Ramrod”, and “Sherry Darling” were leftovers from his previous album, Darkness on the Edge of Town, and had been featured on that 1978 tour, as had parts of “Drive All Night” as a long interpolation within “Backstreets.” “The River” had premiered at the September 1979 Musicians United for Safe Energy concerts, gaining a featured spot in the subsequent documentary No Nukes. Originally, the album was to be a single set entitled The Ties That Bind and released in late 1979. Springsteen added darker material after he’d written the title track. Indeed, The River became noted for its mix of the frivolous next to the solemn. This was intentional, and in contrast to Darkness, for as Springsteen said during an interview, “Rock and roll has always been this joy, this certain happiness that is in its way the most beautiful thing in life. But rock is also about hardness and coldness and being alone… I finally got to the place where I realized life had paradoxes, a lot of them, and you’ve got to live with them.”

• • – Disc 1 –
• 1The Ties That Bind Recorded By – Bob Clearmountain 3:33
• 2Sherry Darling 4:02
• 3Jackson Cage 3:04
• 4Two Hearts 2:42
• 5Independence Day 4:46
  • – Disc 2 –
• 1Hungry Heart Backing Vocals – Flo & Eddie Mixed By – Bob Clearmountain 3:19
• 2Out in the Street 4:17
• 3Crush on You 3:10
• 4You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch) 2:36
• 5I Wanna Marry You 3:26
• 6The River 4:59
  • – Disc 3 –
• 1Point Blank 6:05
• 2Cadillac Ranch 3:02
• 3I’m a Rocker Organ – Roy Bittan 3:34
• 4Fade Away 4:40
• 5Stolen Car 3:53
  • – Disc 4 –
• 1Ramrod 4:04
• 2The Price You Pay 5:27
• 3Drive All Night Organ – Roy Bittan Piano – Bruce Springsteen Recorded By – Jimmy Iovine 8:26
• 4Wreck on the Highway 3:53