Christmas Comes Early For Springsteen Fans

Two separate packages drop Nov. 16. For starters there’s The Promise, a two-CD set featuring a remastered of 1978’s Darkness On The Edge Of Town plus songs recorded during the Darkness sessions, but never made the final cut.

As many Bruce Springsteen fans can tell you, these are not outtakes. Although many of the recordings have been available for years on unauthorized bootlegs, the songs are complete recordings with some depicting Springsteen’s classic songs from the late ‘70s in their earlier forms.

For example, the set includes “Candy’s Boy,” a country music-like ballad that eventually evolved into the Darkness rocker “Candy’s Room.” Other tracks include studio versions of “Fire,” and “Because The Night” as well as a souped-up “Racing In The Streets.”

But the two-CD package is more of a tease for the bigger package also dropping Nov. 16 – the six-disc deluxe box set called The Promise: The Darkness On The Edge Of Town Story. While containing everything available in the two-CD package, the deluxe set also contains the film doc that aired on HBO depicting the making of the album, plus video of Springsteen and the E Street Band performing the complete Darkness album live at Asbury Park’s Paramount Theatre in 2009.

But the Paramount show is only one of two live videos included in the box. The other is what many fans have been lusting for ever since the album was released – video of a 1978 Darkness tour stop.

Called “Houston ’78 Bootleg: House Cut,” the DVD containing what appeared on video screens during the show, takes you back to the days when Springsteen was cementing his rep as one of the best live acts around. Along with songs from Darkness and his previous albums, the concert footage also contains numbers that weren’t released until The River came out two years later, such as “Independence Day” and “Point Blank.”

There’s a lot to like in both the two-CD and six-disc sets landing in stores Nov. 16. Meanwhile, we’ve been biding our time watching this video featuring Springsteen reminiscing about the Darkness sessions. That and trying to convince our boss that we really need Nov. 16 off. And maybe even the rest of that week to, you know, give it a proper listening and viewing.

For more information, click here for Bruce Springsteen.net.