After going through "The Promise," and thinking about Springsteen's decision to leave so many songs on the cutting room floor and release "Darkness on the Edge of Town" as a single album, I got to thinking: what if he had done the same thing with "The River." If I could pick the songs for a single-album version of "The River," I would pick these:
Side one
The Ties that Bind
Two Hearts
Out in the Street
Independence Day
You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)
The River
Side two
Cadillac Ranch
Point Blank
Hungry Heart
Wreck on the Highway
The Price You Pay
For me, this exercise presents two interesting lessons. First, I like my single-album version better than the actual version, because I no longer have to waste my time on songs like "Crush on You." Second, even this single album is not as good as "Darkness on the Edge of Town."
Good observations.
ReplyDeleteFor a good, long while, The River was my favorite of his records. But that's probably the one that I haven't listened to in the longest time.
See, I find that although I really like "The River" in theory, in practice I don't listen to it because I don't want to sit through the five or six dead songs I don't like.
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