General Article name: River
Genre: Rock englischsprachig Product type: LP (Vinyl) Label: COL Number of tracks: 20 Duration: 82:55 Tracklist CD - 1 1. Bruce Springsteen - The Ties That Bind 3:30 2. Bruce Springsteen - Sherry Darling 4:02 3. Bruce Springsteen - Jackson Cage 3:04 4. Bruce Springsteen - Two Hearts 2:42 5. Bruce Springsteen - Independence Day 4:46 6. Bruce Springsteen - Hungry Heart 3:19 7. Bruce Springsteen - Out in the Street 4:17 8. Bruce Springsteen - Crush on You 3:10 9. Bruce Springsteen - You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch) 2:36 10. Bruce Springsteen - I Wanna Marry You 3:26 11. Bruce Springsteen - The River 4:59   Tracklist CD - 2 12. Bruce Springsteen - Point Blank 6:05 13. Bruce Springsteen - Cadillac Ranch 3:02 14. Bruce Springsteen - I'm a Rocker 3:34 15. Bruce Springsteen - Fade Away 4:40 16. Bruce Springsteen - Stolen Car 3:53 17. Bruce Springsteen - Ramrod 4:04 18. Bruce Springsteen - The Price You Pay 5:27 19. Bruce Springsteen - Drive All Night 8:26 20. Bruce Springsteen - Wreck on the Highway 3:53   Description Description

Imbedded within the double-disc running time of The River is a single-disc album that follows up on the themes and sound of Darkness on the Edge of Town -- wide-screen, midtempo rock and stories of the disillusionment of working-class life and the conflicts within families. In these songs, which include the title track, "Independence Day," and "Point Blank," Bruce Springsteen's world-view is just as dire as it had become on Darkness, but less judgmental. "Independence Day," for example, is a father-and-son ballad that has little of the anger of its hard rock counterpart on Darkness, "Adam Raised a Cain." Springsteen's heroes again seek to overcome their crushing troubles through defiance and by driving around, and though "The River" repeats the soured love theme of "Racing in the Street," he also posits romance as a possible escape, sometimes combining it with one of the other solutions, as on the eight-plus-minute "Drive All Night." But there is also another album lurking within The River, and it is a more lighthearted pop/rock collection of short, sometimes humorous songs like "Sherry Darling" and "I'm a Rocker." At times Springsteen combines elements of the two, as on "Out in the Street," perhaps the album's quintessential song, a catchy, uptempo number that sounds like something from the early '60s and echoes the theme of the Vogues' 1966 hit "Five O'Clock World." "Hungry Heart," which became Springsteen's first Top Ten hit, combines a rollicking musical track with a more sober lyrical theme that emphasizes longing over disappointment. But a better guide to Springsteen's development are the songs "Stolen Car" and the album-closing "Wreck on the Highway," gentle, moody ballads imbued with a sense of hopelessness that anticipate his next record, Nebraska. ~ William Ruhlmann

William Ruhlmann

Contributors Artist: Bruce Springsteen Record Label: Legacy Guest Artist: Mark Volman