The Promise

A few years ago I started listening to Bruce Springsteen. Unlike most people, I just didn't get the whole "Born to Run" thing. I do now, but it took a few years. The sound of the album was just too big. The album that hooked me and remains my favorite is "Darkness on the Edge of Town", the topic of this post.

I listened to that album three times in a row on the day I first heard it. I remember it very well. The sound is very different from "Born to Run". It's toned down a lot. Comparable to Neil Young's "Tonight's the Night" album. As usual, the lyrics is what got me. The whole album is basically saying "I tried my best, I failed and even though it looks impossible to win I'm going to give it another go". There's a whole lot more going on in it, but thats the part that spoke to me.

Last week Springsteen released a huge box set revolving around the album. I went for it. The remastered version is great on a surround sound system. It sounds like the band is in the room. There's also another two CDs of songs from the period which didnt make it onto the album. They're pretty good actually. Some of are earlier versions of songs that did make it onto the album. The most noticeable is the opener "Racing in the Streets ('78)". There is also some early versions of songs which would later be released on "The River" and "Born in the U.S.A.". Overall the similarities between the songs on "The Promise" and those found on later albums are pretty small. A lot of the songs are good but would not have fit the mood of "Darkness on the Edge of Town". A lot of them are actually quite upbeat.

Along with the 3 CDs are 3 DVDs. The first is a making of Darkness on the Edge of town. This documentary was on HBO and got a limited release in theatres, including the Toronto International Film Festival. It's not bad. Gives a lot of the back story behind the songs and you get to see the evolution they went through. The next DVD is Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band playing the whole album live to an empty theatre. The performance was filmed in October 2009, so you're seeing how they do it now as compared to 1978. And it was a great performance. I've watched it twice. Also on that disk are some rarities from concerts on the Darkness tour. The third DVD is a full concert filmed in Houston in 1978. Its nearly three hours in length and awesome. Apparently it was the only concert from the tour to escape bootleggers which is how it was chosen for release. The picture quality isn't the best, but one must keep in mind they weren't planning on releasing it when it was filmed. By watching them play those songs in 1978 and 2009 you can see a difference for sure, but they still got it.

I bought the box set largely because I love the album and wanted to know more about it. It's nearly $100 so you'd have to be a big Bruce Springsteen fan, or someone like me who just really loves the album. If you haven't heard the album yet you should. It's great for those days, or periods of life when everything seems to be going wrong.

Here's the last verse of the last song on the album which in my opinion was a great way to end it.

"Tonight I'll be on that hill/cause I can't stop/I'll be on that hill with everything I've got/Lives on the line where dreams are found and lost/I'll be there on top and I'll pay the cost/For want of things that can only be found/In the darkness on the edge of town