BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN “THE PROMISE” Review

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN “THE PROMISE”
By Richard Zeigler

When Bruce Springsteen was writing songs for his follow-up to Born To Run, he also found himself mired in a three-year legal battle that prevented him from recording. When all was resolved, Springsteen issued Darkness On The Edge Of Town. As its title suggests, the album was comprised almost totally of downcast, hard-bitten songs (“Racing In The Street,” “Factory,” the title song), or edgy, gritty tales full of anger and angst (“Candy’s Room,” “Adam Raised A Cain”).  Nowhere to be found were the soaring, upbeat, sixties-influenced major-key celebrations that formed much of the core of Born To Run (and of his two previous records). As Springsteen has long said, this was intentional, as he did not want to release an “up” record at this juncture of his career. This did not mean that Springsteen had stopped writing such songs. Indeed, he gave away a number of then-recently written tunes (“Fire” to the Pointer Sisters, “Because The Night” to Patti Smith, to name two) that fit this mold. The Promise now reveals just how many such tunes Springsteen had written during this time. Although these songs were never considered “lost,” and they were also never intended to be a stand-alone album, The Promise can, indeed, be considered a “great lost album,” as the songs flow together to make for a beautiful and rewarding listening experience. (Indeed, these songs are so strong that, if they had been substituted for many of the upbeat numbers on The River that were rather pedestrian (e.g., “Ramrod,” anyone?), that album would have been considered a stone-cold classic).  Appropriately enough, the album starts with a different version of Darkness’s “Racing In The Street” (herein called “Racing In The Street ’78”) that is much more positive and hopeful in tone than the well-known Darkness version. Subtle alterations of the lyrics, as well as the addition of stately piano and nice harmonica and violin flourishes, change the mood substantially. Yet, this version of the song is nearly as strong as the original (some may even prefer it). Similarly, “Candy’s Boy” is a “soft and sweet” version of “Candy’s Room,” one of Darkness’s most gut-wrenching songs. The vast majority of this double-disc, however, is not about re-writes of tunes that were released, but simply about great, classic-sounding rock songs. Clarence Clemon’s saxophone, Roy Bittan’s great piano parts, Danny Federici’s organ and glockenspiel, and Max Weinberg’s heavy drum beats, are all here and all in service to great, memorable songs that nearly anybody else would kill to have written. While Springsteen admits to adding certain parts here and there to the original masters, he swears that these are only the things he would have done to the songs if he had decided to release them at the time. Regardless, with tunes such as “Ain’t Good Enough For You,” “Rendezvous” (originally given to pop-rocker Greg Kihn), “Save My Love,” “Gotta Get That Feeling”, “Talk To Me” (originally given to Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Steven Van Zandt’s “other” band), or the Latin-tinged “Spanish Eyes,” among many others (21 songs in all),  The Promise is simply a great Springsteen album. The simultaneously released box set (simply called “Darkness On The Edge Of Town) also contains a remastered version of Darkness along with two concert DVDs (one from 2009, and a classic set from 1978) and a documentary. But it is The Promise that is a must-have for any Springsteen fan, and is a fine addition to his canon of work.

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