The River (album)
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| The River | ||
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| Studio album by Bruce Springsteen | ||
| Released | October 10, 1980 | |
| Recorded | April 1979 - August 1980 at The Power Station in New York | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Length | 82:58 | |
| Label | Columbia Records | |
| Producer(s) | Jon Landau, Bruce Springsteen, Steve Van Zandt | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bruce Springsteen chronology | ||
| Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) |
The River (1980) |
Nebraska (1982) |
The River is a double album by Bruce Springsteen released in 1980 (see 1980 in music).
Contents |
[edit] History
The sources of The River go back aways. "Independence Day", "Point Blank", "The Ties That Bind", "Ramrod", and "Sherry Darling" were leftovers from the previous Darkness album and had been featured on that 1978 tour, as had parts of "Drive All Night" as a long interpolation within "Backstreets". "The River" had been premiered at the 1979 No Nukes concert.
Originally, the album was going to be a single set entitled The Ties That Bind and released in late 1979; but Springsteen decided it was "too pop" and added darker material following composition of "The River". Indeed, The River became noted for its mix of the frivilous next to the solemn. This was intentional, and in contrast to Darkness, for as Springsteen said during an interview, "Rock & 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."
"Hungry Heart" was Springsteen's first U.S. pop singles chart top ten, reaching #5. (Ironically, Springsteen had not intended this song to be for himself, having initially written it for The Ramones; manager/producer Jon Landau conned Springsteen into keeping the song for himself.) The album hit number one on the U.S. pop albums chart, a first for Springsteen, and sold 1.6 million copies in the U.S. between its release and Christmas. Sales faltered when "Fade Away" was a disappointing follow-up single, only getting to #20; the decision to make it the second single has often been questioned.
The album was followed by a lengthy tour of North American and Western Europe during 1980 and 1981. Several of the album's up-tempo rockers became concert staples for decades to come, including "Two Hearts", "Cadillac Ranch", "Ramrod", and "Out in the Street" (the last of these was so idealistic that Springsteen almost kept it off the record).
"Stolen Car" and "Wreck on the Highway", the closing tracks on the original LP's sides three and four, bore unusually quiet, haunted arrangements that presaged much of the musical direction Springsteen would take in the future.
Since its release "The River" has been certified 5 x platinum by the RIAA in the U.S., making it one of Springsteen's best-selling albums. In 2003, the album was ranked number 250 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
"Drive All Night" and "Stolen Car" played a key role in setting the tone of the 1997 film Cop Land.
[edit] Track listing
[edit] Disc one
- "The Ties That Bind" – 3:34
- "Sherry Darling" – 4:03
- "Jackson Cage" – 3:04
- "Two Hearts" – 2:45
- "Independence Day" – 4:50
- "Hungry Heart" – 3:19
- Vocals – Howard Kaylan
- Vocals – Mark Volman
- "Out in the Street" – 4:17
- "Crush on You" – 3:10
- "You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)" – 2:37
- "I Wanna Marry You" – 3:30
- "The River" – 5:01
[edit] Disc two
- "Point Blank" – 6:06
- "Cadillac Ranch" – 3:03
- "I'm a Rocker" – 3:36
- "Fade Away" – 4:46
- "Stolen Car" – 3:54
- "Ramrod" – 4:05
- "The Price You Pay" – 5:29
- "Drive All Night" – 8:33
- "Wreck on the Highway" – 3:54
All songs written by Bruce Springsteen.
[edit] Personnel
[edit] The E Street Band
- Roy Bittan – piano, organ on "I'm a Rocker" and "Drive All Night", background vocals
- Clarence Clemons – saxophone, percussion, background vocals
- Danny Federici – organ
- Bruce Springsteen – vocals, electric guitar, harmonica, piano on "Drive All Night"
- Garry Tallent – bass guitar
- Steven Van Zandt – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, lead guitar on "Crush on You", harmony vocals, background vocals
- Max Weinberg – drums
[edit] Production
- Neil Dorfsman – engineer
- Bob Clearmountain – mixing
- Chuck Plotkin – mixing
- Toby Scott – mixing
