Folks, Bruce Springsteen doesn't kid around when it comes to keeping promises. The specs are in for The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story, and this monster box set due on November 16 is going to be a doozy, to put it mildly. Boasting three packed CDs and three DVDs or Blu-Rays, The Promise is a treasure chest for longtime Springsteen fans: 21 unreleased audio tracks on two CDs, four hours of concert footage (including 12 performances dating between 1976 and 1978, a whopping 26 tracks from Houston in 1978 and a complete 2009 New Jersey performance of Darkness in its entirety) and Thom Zimny's full-length documentary about the making of the seminal 1978 LP. Oh yeah, and the remastered original album, too! This is all housed in a package containing an 80-page book designed after one of Springsteen's notebooks. The notebook will reproduce alternate lyrics, song ideas, recording details and notes made by Springsteen, in addition to a new essay by Springsteen and rare photographs.
For fans not interested in the video content, The Promise will be available as a two-CD or four-LP set containing only the two discs' worth of unreleased studio material. The press release and a sneak-peek stream is available on Springsteen's own site, and fans can pre-order a package containing a T-shirt and poster here.
Hit the jump for the specs on the truly remarkable array of material being made available for the first time. It's all coming to you on November 16 from Columbia/Legacy.
Bruce Springsteen, The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story (Columbia/Legacy, 2010)
Disc 1: Darkness on the Edge of Town (Columbia LP 35318, 1978)
- Badlands
- Adam Raised a Cain
- Something in the Night
- Candy's Room
- Racing in the Street
- The Promised Land
- Factory
- Streets of Fire
- Prove It All Night
- Darkness on the Edge of Town
Disc 2: The Promise (Disc 1)
- Racing in the Street ('78)
- Gotta Get That Feeling
- Outside Looking In
- Someday (We'll Be Together)
- One Way Street
- Because the Night
- Wrong Side of the Street
- The Brokenhearted
- Rendezvous
- Candy's Boy
Disc 3: The Promise (Disc 2)
- Save My Love
- Ain't Good Enough for You
- Fire
- Spanish Eyes
- It's a Shame
- Come On (Let's Go Tonight)
- Talk to Me
- The Little Things (My Baby Does)
- Breakaway
- The Promise
- City of Night
DVD 1: The Promise: The Making of "Darkness on the Edge of Town"
DVD 2:
"Darkness on the Edge of Town" (Paramount Theater, Asbury Park, 2009)
- Badlands
- Adam Raised a Cain
- Something in the Night
- Candy's Room
- Racing in the Street
- The Promised Land
- Factory
- Streets of Fire
- Prove It All Night
- Darkness on the Edge of Town
"Thrill Hill Vault" (1976-1978)
- Save My Love (Holmdel, NJ, 1976)
- Candy's Boy (Holmdel, NJ, 1976)
- Something in the Night (Red Bank, NJ, 1976)
- Don't Look Back (NYC, 1978)
- Ain't Good Enough for You (NYC, 1978)
- The Promise (NYC, 1978)
- Candy's Room (Demo) (NYC, 1978)
- Badlands (Phoenix, AZ, 1978)
- The Promised Land (Phoenix, AZ, 1978)
- Prove It All Night (Phoenix, AZ, 1978)
- Born to Run (Phoenix, AZ, 1978)
- Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) (Phoenix, AZ, 1978)
DVD 3: "Houston '78 Bootleg: House Cut"
- Badlands
- Streets of Fire
- It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City
- Darkness on the Edge of Town
- Spirit in the Night
- Independence Day
- The Promised Land
- Prove It All Night
- Racing in the Street
- Thunder Road
- Jungleland
- The Ties That Bind
- Santa Claus is Coming to Town
- The Fever
- Fire
- Candy's Room
- Because the Night
- Point Blank
- She's the One
- Backstreets
- Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
- Born to Run
- Detroit Medley
- Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
- You Can't Sit Down
- Quarter to Three
Jacob says
Looks amazing, I can't wait for the studio version of "Because the Night".
Mark Bumgardner says
Fortunately, I receive my longevity check each November. I'm especially excited about the DVD of the Houston show. The Darkness tour was my first, and still favorite Bruce show.
Mark says
Overdue but greater than ever expected is this box set. The documentary was probably done in 2007-2008 for the proposed 30th anniversary release which never happened. That would explain the late Danny Federici's interviews. I wonder why we've seen no announcement of a stand-alone remastered DARKNESS CD. Wonder if it will available in MP3 or other format.
Shaun says
Wow... Even though I expressed doubts awhile back (regarding Little Steven's talk that some of the old outtakes might be tinkered with a bit) this is above and beyond anything I expected!
The only question now is the cost. This comes out three days before my birthday, so it'll be on my wish list for either the b-day or Xmas.
The Houston concert should be amazing to see... I just hope the "Rosalita" video from Phoenix (the same one MTV used to play 25 years ago) is the complete video and not the butchered version that was used on my old VHS copy of the Video Anthology.
Shaun says
$115 on Springsteen's website... Let's hope Amazon, or someone, sells it for less.
Jacob says
Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't believe there is a single disc remaster of Born to Run, so I doubt there will be one for Darkness.