Bruce Springsteen Announces River Reissue, Documentary

Updated:

November 20, 2015 2:57 pm

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Bruce Springsteen has announced a multi-disc reissue of his 1980 album The River, which will include a documentary about the project’s creation.

The audio portion of The Ties That Bind: The River Collection features 52 tracks across four CDs, including the original double album and two discs of outtakes and rarities. One of the outtakes discs is comprised of 10 tens tracks known as The River: Single Album. This is the original project Springsteen recorded as a follow-up to 1978’s Darkness on the Edge of Town, but ultimately went unreleased. He thought this initial project wasn’t cohesive enough for a proper album, so he reworked some of the material, with seven of those tracks eventually making their way onto The River.

“The songs lacked the kind of unity and conceptual intensity I liked my music to have. So we went back in the studio,” Springsteen wrote in his 1998 photo/lyric book Songs.

Bruce Springsteen's 'The Ties That Bind: The River Collection' (Shore Fire Media) — Bruce Springsteen’s ‘The Ties That Bind: The River Collection’ (Shore Fire Media)

The video portion of the reissue includes the 60-minute documentary The Ties That Bind. The doc features an in-depth interview with Springsteen on The River‘s writing and recording process, acoustic performances of songs from the release, and rare concert footage and photographs from the era.

The reissue will also feature the two-disc DVD Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band: The River Tour, Tempe 1980, a live concert film recorded on November 5, 1980 at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. It will also include rehearsal footage of the group arranging live renditions of material from The River.

The Ties That Bind: The River Collection will be released on Dec. 4 and is now available for pre-order. See the release’s full track list, and listen to the previously unreleased track “Meet Me In The City” below.

CD1

The River – Disc One

The Ties That Bind
Sherry Darling
Jackson Cage
Two Hearts
Independence Day
Hungry Heart
Out In The Street
Crush On You
You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)
I Wanna Marry You
The River

CD2

The River – Disc Two

Point Blank
Cadillac Ranch
I’m A Rocker
Fade Away
Stolen Car
Ramrod
The Price You Pay
Drive All Night
Wreck On The Highway

CD3

The River: Single Album

The Ties That Bind
Cindy
Hungry Heart
Stolen Car (Vs.1)
Be True
The River
You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch) (Vs.1)
The Price You Pay
I Wanna Marry You
Loose End

CD4

The River: Outtakes

Record One

Meet Me In The City
The Man Who Got Away
Little White Lies
The Time That Never Was
Night Fire
Whitetown
Chain Lightning
Party Lights
Paradise By The “C”
Stray Bullet
Mr. Outside

Record Two

Roulette
Restless Nights
Where The Bands Are
Dollhouse
Living On The Edge Of The World
Take ’em As They Come
Ricky Wants A Man Of Her Own
I Wanna Be With You
Mary Lou
Held Up Without A Gun
From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)

DVD 1

The Ties That Bind (Documentary)

DVD 2

The River Tour, Tempe 1980

Concert – Part 1

Born To Run
Prove It All Night
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
Jackson Cage
Two Hearts
The Promised Land
Out In The Street
The River
Badlands
Thunder Road
No Money Down
Cadillac Ranch
Hungry Heart
Fire
Sherry Darling
I Wanna Marry You
Crush On You
Ramrod
You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)