Back in 1979, Bruce Springsteen was all set to release the
follow-up to the previous year’s 'Darkness on the Edge of Town'. After
legal problems made the wait between that album and its predecessor, the
breakthrough 'Born to Run', a long three years and an eternity in the ’70s, Bruce was more than ready to get back into the studio.
Bruce had written and recorded hundreds of songs for 'Darkness' and its follow-up, which was going to be called 'The Ties That Bind'. The single-record project, like the album before it, took on a somber
tone, as Bruce, approaching his 30s, explored grown-up themes like
marriage and responsibility. But something happened on the way to the
album’s release. Springsteen pulled the record and decided to revisit
the project with more upbeat songs, and ended up with the double-LP epic
'The River' in 1980 instead.
'The Ties That Bind: The River Collection' is a box
set of 52 songs from the sessions on four CDs, and tells the story
of how one of music’s most determined artists scrapped a great album
and replaced it with an even better one. Lengthening the 10-song The
Ties That Bind made the double-LP 'The River' a more expansive record, and
not just in physical size. By broadening his scope, Springsteen
guaranteed 'The River' wouldn’t be just Darkness on the Edge of Town Part
II.
The original Ties That Bind is collected here in its entirety and made up
of some songs that ended up on The River, some that didn’t and some
that did in different versions, scales back the breadth of the
two-record edition, tightening some of the loose ends and in some ways
laying a more solid foundation for the songs. But The River works better
as narrative and as the next step in Springsteen’s evolution as one of
rock’s most masterful songwriters.
For further proof as to just how prolific and consistent he was during
this period, check out the 22 outtakes from the album’s sessions. Several ended up as B-sides, bonus tracks and songs on 1998’s odds-and-ends box set 'Tracks', but they take on new perspective in this
light, not only revealing that Springsteen had enough material for a
four-LP set but also how differently The River might have sounded with
some alterations.
Like 2010s The Promise, which gathered a ton of 'Darkness on the Edge of
Town' leftovers, 'The Ties That Bind: The River Collection' is more
rewarding if you’re familiar with the original material. Songs like "Meet Me in the City," "Roulette," "Where the Bands Are," "Living on the
Edge of the World" and "Held Up Without a Gun" are great songs that fit
into The River‘s concept, but what would they replace? It’s tough to
say.
In the end, 'The River' was the album Springsteen needed to make at that
time.
For the freeload, tell us about the worst Boss you ever worked for.
On release, I saw The River as a confused step sideways, if not back, but over the decades it's revealed itself as a natural progression from Born To Run, with Darkness as possibly the side-step. Critically, Darkness will always get the vote (because it's mostly pretty downbeat, and critics will always conflate furrowed brows with authenticity), but The River is a blast from start to finish, and even the dunderheads Ramrod and I'm A Rocker end up being truly great dunderhead tracks, impossible to dislike. This was also the last album to feature the original swagger n' strut of the E Street Band before they became Bruce's backing band.
ReplyDeleteWorst boss was my last boss before I swore I'd never work for anyone else again, and started a series of businesses I owned. This boss would give you a directive that was clearly wrong, but no matter how many different ways you would try to let the person know that this was unworkable, you would be told in no uncertain terms that you were too stupid to see the genius in the plan. Of course, upon failure, it was also the execution at fault and never the plan. Pay was semi decent so people tolerated it for much longer than it should have been. When I left, she was adamant that I was making a huge mistake, and I responded that she should have expected that given how stupid I was to never see the genius in the management on display.
ReplyDeleteI think manager/co-producer Jon Landau suggested to Bruce that a second grim dark record in a row wasn't ideal and maybe to showcase his jersey shore bar band personality a bit more. Which no doubt pleased the E-Streeters who could let it rip more than on Bruce's dark serious stuff.
ReplyDeleteMe, I'm still of two minds about the album. I rarely put it on and occasionally skip the worst of the dumb stuff like "Ramrod". I've experimented with breaking the thing (with outtakes replacing some original 'River' tracks) into two albums, a dark serious and a party one, but results are inconclusive on that...
After the Indian GM didn't work out, my friend (who still owns the travel company) hired a French guy. At the time I was doing customer service of which I got more and more fed up with. The new GM was certainly smart, but not in running a tour company, and certainly not in managing staff. After a series of policy changes more and more staff started leaving, up to the point that every morning I was wondering who'd be gone that day... Personally I was ready to call it quits any time soon as well, the company was literally hemorrhaging staff!
ReplyDeleteLuckily he was fired on the spot a few days later, but a lot of damage had been done during his 'reign'...
Wrote a play for a producer who BEGGED me to write it, and then took all the credit, lied to her board of directors (who believed her lies and insulted me), and pocketed my paycheck. Not nice.
ReplyDeleteOne Managing Director used to call me “Doctor Babs” which in and of itself was fine, except that when he said, “Doctor” he pronounced it with a cynical tone to his voice, and simultaneously made air quotes with his fingers. Bear in mind, my official title was, “Global Director Of Quantitative Research”. Once, I asked him, “Do you not consider a PhD in Calculus a real degree?” He didn’t answer, but rolled his eyes and mumbled to himself, “It must be that time of the month”. Other times he called me “Little Lady” and “Little miss mathematical know it all”. At one point he made a series of decisions, that at the time were considered shrewd and insightful, and he smugly told me, “Half of wealth management is thirty percent instinct” [WTF? - Ed.]. Turned out he was part of an insider trading conspiracy, was incarcerated and ended up serving 36 months of a 5-year sentence.
ReplyDeleteSounds like it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy!
DeleteForgot about it until a few minutes ago, my daughter was young when she came up with the word "Bosshole".
DeleteOnce I worked for a narcissist, (& former chief of police that left that position suspiciously, I later learned) that realized I performed duties beyond expectations after hearing the basic outline of situations. He was amazed by how easy I made his job until he was just pissed off about it & foul all the time. As long as I was left alone to do the job, everything was fine for both of us. Things changed in 2008 with the market decline & we were both absorbed by another portion of the company, new digital business. New bosses promoted me so that we were essentially equals. Realizing that he was a bloviator & tried to take credit when it wasn't due and that the work was done by others (me) and made excuses about his own poor personal performance, (while, of course, blaming others) eventually they fired him. Thanks Babs
ReplyDeleteWorking on Wall Street and Bermuda most bosses were unpleasant to work with - that's why they call it work. Of course I was idolized by my own staff. But they were generally smart, productive and profitable workaholic types.
ReplyDeleteFor the worst, I have to go back to junior high school working on a dairy farm doing lots of physical labor.
Because of an agricultural exemption it paid below minimum wage. One payday the boss matriach explained to me with complete sincerity that becasue we teenagers were learning so much on the job that our parents should pay a fee to the farm. Shades of Dickens.
In the mid 1970s I had a boss who defined precisely the term martinet. At root, I suspect his strutting, demanding personality was the result of profound insecurity. That lack of self-confidence was well deserved; his ineptness was legendary even in a corporate culture riddled with backbenchers. One upside: A pal and I had become quite successful playing the nags at nearby Santa Anita and our boss wanted in on the action. So Mikey, as we privately referred to him, would not only look the other when we were off at the track, he'd even send his money along to be wagered. Over the months that ensued, each time one of our horses didn't come in, we'd look at each other and ask, "Mikey's money?" to which we would invariably nod yes.
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At one point I worked for a technology company in lower middle management and I started seeing one of my colleagues in another section. She too was the same grade. Unfortunately the head of department (those of you from the good ole USA think VP level) also had designs upon her and from that point on my advancement (pay rises, promotions etc) in the organisation, needing his approval, was blocked. To give you a better picture he was probably 25 years older than both myself and my partner.
ReplyDeleteI did speak to him as to what it was I needed to do to advance my position further (not daring to touch on the personal side of the matter) to which he gave me some BS answer and effectively left in my career in limbo but only for a short while.
Having made various inappropriate comments (about me, my partner and indeed as it transpired others too) after a time he went on some senior company event, had a couple of glasses of wine too many and made one too many indiscrete comments to the wrong person and senior office politics being what it was, he was soon clearing his office. What comes around goes around.
The company was sold by its US parent company to a German competitor who after a failed attempt at restructuring our side of the company in the UK, shipped the whole department over to Poland where staff costs were much lower but by that time both my partner and I had left the company.
As for the two of us, we eventually got married and come December we celebrate 25 years together (albeit we haven't been married for quite that long).
Phantom, congratulations to you both!
ReplyDeleteWorst? Leaving aside years spent in higher ed administration working for supervisors who had no business in that business at all, I'd say it was a brief stint doing web development & database work for a truck leasing company. I lasted exactly one staff meeting, when the chief topic was "how much can we charge without triggering usury laws?"
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