Even though the Darkness on the Edge of Town box from last winter was as exhaustive as anyone could wish for a box set, there's a last trickle of material coming to DVD with a forthcoming standalone release of the accompanying documentary, The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town.
The documentary, directed by Grammy and Emmy winner Thom Zimny, chronicled the making of one of The Boss' most landmark albums through both new interviews with Bruce, The E Street Band and other principal associates and never-before-seen home movies of the album sessions. It was easily one of the many cherries on top of the sundae that was the Darkness box.
Now, it's coming out on DVD on its own May 3, with a pair of new bonus features. One is "Songs from The Promise," footage from Bruce's smashing Asbury Park concert in December, where songs from the Darkness box were performed for the first time. The other, "Conversation with His Fans," is an interview with Bruce conducted by Dave Marsh before an intimate audience. an intimate, 22-minute question-and-answer session featuring Springsteen discussing the album before a small audience of fans.
The disc is coming out May 3; read all about it here.
I'm disappointed with this...there's really no reason for people that already bought the box set to pick this up because it feels like a missed opportunity. Instead of including the full Carousel performance, we only get what was webcast. Kind of a bummer.
http://blogs.wickedlocal.com/springsteen/2011/03/09/new-springsteen-dvd-a-money-grab-you-make-the-call/
I don't know that this will be a necessary purchase for me..
Actually, this kind of sucks. Those of us that bought the box set thought we had THE definitive version. Now they add a couple of bonus features. Typical. Money hungry bastards.
No, the Definitive Version will have a vial of Bruce's pencil shavings, and recordings of demos in the shower. 😐
(Lest I get misunderstood and flamed, I'm not mocking the hardcore collectors, I'm mocking the labels who always seem to come up with something "new" to add after the fact...)
Sadly, I can't say I'm surprised, since they did something similar with the Born To Run set. The selfish part of me is just glad that I'm not interested in the bonus material in this case, so it's no skin off my nose, but I do feel bad for other fans. At least let us make an informed decision with all the content up-front. And I love that this stuff still happens, at the same time that they continue to complain about pirating. Umm, maybe try to not screw us over? Just a thought.
Very disappointing news, PR wise, not too far removed from the WalMart debacle. If it is not the full concert, will the balance of the show be released with a standalone remastered Darkness CD or with the Houston show. This rivals The Who.
Is this the Change?
Definitely another cash grab, and it's the fans who get screwed.
In other news, I wouldn't buy the standalone disc anyhow since I have no interest in seeing Dave Marsh's ugly mug on my TV.
One of the worst critics ever... According to him, everything Bruce does is perfect, and pretty much everyone else is crap.
He can't be any worse than David Wild.
Useless, cliched writing, and a painful, boot-licking level of self-deprecation in live interviews.
(Oh, and passive-aggressive to boot. Thought Lou Reed was gonna give him a smackdown once. If only.)