The River (Bruce Springsteen album)

The River is the fifth studio album by American singer Bruce Springsteen. It was released on 17 October, 1980 through Columbia Records. It went to number 1 in Canada and the United States, number 2 in the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden and the United Kingdom, number 3 in France, number 5 in Spain and number 8 in Australia.

The River
Studio album by Bruce Springsteen
Released	October 17, 1980 (1980-10-17)
Recorded	April 3, 1979 – May 9, 1980[1]
Studio	Power Station, New York
Genre	Heartland rock, rock and roll
Length	82:58
Label	Columbia
Producer	Bruce Springsteen Jon Landau Steven Van Zandt
Bruce Springsteen chronology
Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) The River (1980) Nebraska (1982)
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band chronology
Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) The River (1980) Born in the U.S.A. (1984)
Singles from The River
"Hungry Heart" Released: October 21, 1980 "Fade Away" Released: January 22, 1981 "I Wanna Marry You" Released: 1981 (Japan only) "Sherry Darling" Released: Feb 20, 1981 "The River"/"Independence Day" Released: April 18, 1981 (UK only) "Cadillac Ranch" Released: Sept 4, 1981 (UK only) "Point Blank" Released: 1981 (UK only)

Track listing

All tracks are written by Bruce Springsteen.^[2]

Side one
No.	Title	Length
1.	"The Ties That Bind"	3:33
2.	"Sherry Darling"	4:02
3.	"Jackson Cage"	3:04
4.	"Two Hearts"	2:42
5.	"Independence Day"	4:46
Total length:		18:07

Side two
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Hungry Heart"	3:19
2.	"Out in the Street"	4:17
3.	"Crush on You"	3:10
4.	"You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)"	2:36
5.	"I Wanna Marry You"	3:26
6.	"The River"	4:59
Total length:		21:47

Side three
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Point Blank"	6:05
2.	"Cadillac Ranch"	3:02
3.	"I'm a Rocker"	3:34
4.	"Fade Away"	4:40
5.	"Stolen Car"	3:53
Total length:		21:14

Side four
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Ramrod"	4:04
2.	"The Price You Pay"	5:27
3.	"Drive All Night"	8:26
4.	"Wreck on the Highway"	3:53
Total length:		21:50 82:58

The Ties That Bind: The River Collection

The Ties That Bind: The River Collection
Box set by Bruce Springsteen
Released	December 4, 2015 (2015-12-04)
Recorded	1979–80, 2015
Studio	Power Station, NY (1979–80) and Stone Hill Studio, NJ (2015)
Genre	Rock, heartland rock
Label	Columbia
Producer	Various
Bruce Springsteen chronology
The Album Collection Vol. 1 1973–1984 (2014) The Ties That Bind: The River Collection (2015) Chapter and Verse (2016)
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band chronology
The Album Collection Vol. 1 1973–1984 (2014) The Ties That Bind: The River Collection (2015) Chapter and Verse (2016)
Singles from The Ties That Bind: The River Collection
"Meet Me in the City" Released: October 16, 2015 "Party Lights" Released: November 23, 2015

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	91/100[3]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
Pitchfork	8.7/10[5]
Rolling Stone	[6]
Consequence of Sound	A-[7]
Exclaim!	[8]
The Independent	[9]

In 2015, Bruce Springsteen re-recorded The River for its 35th anniversary edition on 4 December, 2015 as a boxed set containing 52 tracks on four CDs along with four hours on video on three DVDs or two Blu-ray discs.

Track listing

All songs are written by Bruce Springsteen, except where noted.^[10]

CD 1. The River – Record One
No.	Title	Length
1.	"The Ties That Bind"	3:33
2.	"Sherry Darling"	4:02
3.	"Jackson Cage"	3:04
4.	"Two Hearts"	2:42
5.	"Independence Day"	4:46
6.	"Hungry Heart"	3:19
7.	"Out in the Street"	4:17
8.	"Crush on You"	3:10
9.	"You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)"	2:36
10.	"I Wanna Marry You"	3:26
11.	"The River"	4:59
Total length:		39:54

CD 2. The River – Record Two
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Point Blank"	6:05
2.	"Cadillac Ranch"	3:02
3.	"I'm a Rocker"	3:34
4.	"Fade Away"	4:40
5.	"Stolen Car"	3:53
6.	"Ramrod"	4:04
7.	"The Price You Pay"	5:27
8.	"Drive All Night"	8:26
9.	"Wreck on the Highway"	3:53
Total length:		43:04

CD 3. The River: Single Album
No.	Title	Length
1.	"The Ties That Bind"	3:36
2.	"Cindy"	2:26
3.	"Hungry Heart"	3:28
4.	"Stolen Car (Vs. 1)"	4:31
5.	"Be True"	3:54
6.	"The River"	4:56
7.	"You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch) (Vs. 1)"	2:09
8.	"The Price You Pay"	5:51
9.	"I Wanna Marry You"	3:28
10.	"Loose Ends"	4:07
Total length:		38:26

CD 4. The River: Outtakes
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Meet Me in the City"	3:36
2.	"The Man Who Got Away"	3:31
3.	"Little White Lies"	2:29
4.	"The Time That Never Was"	3:39
5.	"Night Fire"	4:44
6.	"Whitetown"	3:23
7.	"Chain Lightning"	2:50
8.	"Party Lights"	3:10
9.	"Paradise By The "C""	3:11
10.	"Stray Bullet"	6:10
11.	"Mr. Outside"	2:16
12.	"Roulette"	3:54
13.	"Restless Nights"	3:46
14.	"Where the Bands Are"	3:46
15.	"Dollhouse"	3:33
16.	"Living on the Edge of the World"	4:19
17.	"Take'em as They Come"	4:31
18.	"Ricky Wants a Man of Her Own"	2:47
19.	"I Wanna Be with You"	3:24
20.	"Mary Lou"	3:23
21.	"Held Up Without a Gun"	1:19
22.	"From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)"	2:42
Total length:		76:23

DVD 1. The Ties That Bind (Documentary)
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Creative Life"
2.	"Lost Boys"
3.	"The River"
4.	"Noisy Records"
5.	"Searching for Something"
6.	"The River Tour"
7.	"Songs of Breadth and Depth"
8.	"Personal Conversation"
9.	"Credits"
Total length:		56 min

DVD 2. Thrill Hill Vault. The River Tour, Tempe 1980 Concert – Part 1
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Born to Run"
2.	"Prove It All Night"
3.	"Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"
4.	"Jackson Cage"
5.	"Two Hearts"
6.	"The Promised Land"
7.	"Out in the Street"
8.	"The River"
9.	"Badlands"
10.	"Thunder Road"
11.	"No Money Down"
12.	"Cadillac Ranch"
13.	"Hungry Heart"
14.	"Fire"
15.	"Sherry Darling"
16.	"I Wanna Marry You"
17.	"Crush on You"
18.	"Ramrod"
19.	"You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)"
Total length:		101min

DVD 3. Thrill Hill Vault. The River Tour, Tempe 1980 Concert – Part 2
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Drive All Night"
2.	"Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)"
3.	"I'm a Rocker"
4.	"Jungleland"
5.	"Detroit Medley"
6.	"Where the Bands Are (Credits)"

Bonus: The River Tour Rehearsals
No.	Title	Length
7.	"Ramrod"
8.	"Cadillac Ranch"
9.	"Fire"
10.	"Crush on You"
11.	"Sherry Darling"
Total length:		57 min

Unreleased outtakes

Springsteen wrote a large amount of music during album sessions, and even with the 2015 box set, many songs still remain unreleased. Songs such as "Held Up Without a Gun", "Be True", and "Roulette" were featured as B-sides, the first two on the album's singles and the last on a Tunnel of Love single. "Loose Ends", “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" were released on the Tracks box set, while "From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)" was released on The Essential Bruce Springsteen collection in 2003. An alternate version of "Stolen Car" was released on Tracks.^[11][12] During The River sessions, Springsteen also recorded demos of "Jole Blon", "Dedication", "Your Love", and "This Little Girl", in preparation for summer recording sessions he was co-producing for Gary U.S. Bonds. "Jeannie Needs a Shooter" was also given to Warren Zevon, which he re-worked and recorded. None of the demos recorded at Telegraph Hill Studios in Holmdel (the converted barn on Springsteen's property) in 1979 have ever been released, probably because of quality issues ("Night Fire" and "Meet Me In the City", on the outtakes disc, both featured 1979 Power Station backing and 2015 re-recorded vocals). Most can be found on the Lost Masters bootleg collection, released in the 1990s.^[13]

• "Jeannie Needs a Shooter"
• "Find It Where You Can"
• "Break My Heart"
• "Out on the Run (Looking for Love)"
• "Under the Gun"
• "I Don't Wanna Be"
• "Chevrolet Deluxe"
• "I Will Be the One (aka Slow Fade)"
• "Jole Blon"
• "Angelyne"
• "It's Okay"
• "A Thousand Tears (William Davis)"
• "Arnie
• "Tonight"
• "I'm Gonna Treat You Right"
• "Dedication"
• "Your Love"
• "This Little Girl"

References

1. Heylin, Clinton (2012). Springsteen Song by Song A Critical Look. New York, NY: Penguin Group (USA) Inc. pp. 42–46. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
2. The River (liner notes). Bruce Springsteen. Columbia Records. 1980. 5113022000.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
3. mc
4. almusic
5. pitchfork
6. rs
7. cos
8. exclaim
9. independent
10. The Ties That Bind: The River Collection (box set booklet). Bruce Springsteen. Sony Music Entertainment. 2015. 88875164672.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
11. Greene, Andy (August 16, 2013). "15 Insanely Great Bruce Springsteen Songs You've Never Heard". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on March 29, 2016. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
12. WorkingClassBoss (September 29, 2009). "Bruce Springsteen – You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch) (Rockabilly Version)". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-12. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
13. "The River Studio Sessions". Brucebase. Brucebase. Retrieved 22 August 2019.