Bruce Springsteen is going down to The River on December 4 when Columbia Records releases The Ties That Bind: The River Collection.  This 4-CD/3-DVD or 4-CD/2-BD set promises a treasure trove of previously unreleased material across its 53 audio tracks plus four hours of never-before-seen video footage.

Springsteen's fifth album, The River was released on October 17, 1980.  The sprawling double album reached the top of the Billboard 200 chart and No. 2 in the U.K., and yielded the hit single "Hungry Heart" as well as other significant Springsteen compositions including the title track, "The Ties That Bind" and "Out in the Street."

The box set's four CDs include the original The River album and two discs of previously unreleased material.  The first, The Ties That Bind, is the 10-track album that Springsteen recorded in 1979 as a follow up to 1978's Darkness on the Edge of Town but never released. "The songs lacked the kind of unity and conceptual intensity I liked my music to have. So we went back in the studio," he revealed in his lyrics book Songs.  This disc includes early versions of songs that eventually ended up in revised form on The River plus outtakes such as "Cindy" and a rockabilly version of "You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)."

The fourth CD in the box set is The River: Outtakes, culling material from the 1979-1980 sessions that yielded the final album.  Eleven of its 22 tracks are previously unreleased, with the remainder previously issued on Tracks as well as various singles (including  the original single version of "Held Up Without a Gun") and compilations.   The press release promises that "for the most part [these] are completely unheard and unknown even to fans, who have long considered Springsteen's outtakes to be treasured secrets."

On the DVD/BD front, The Ties That Bind is a brand new 60-minute documentary produced and directed by longtime Springsteen collaborator Thom Zimny that features an intimate interview with Springsteen as he reflects on The River.  Zimny's film transitions between Springsteen telling the stories behind the music -- and offering solo acoustic guitar performances -- interspersed with period concert footage and rare photographs.

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band: The River Tour, Tempe 1980 is featured on the final two DVDs (one BD).  This new film has been produced from footage professionally filmed in 1980 using four cameras and recorded in multitrack audio. It features 24 songs (with a running time of 2 hours, 40 minutes) from Springsteen's November 5, 1980 concert at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. Also included is 20 minutes of footage from the late September, 1980 River Tour rehearsals held in Lititz, Pennsylvania, showing Springsteen and The E Street Band working through live arrangements of music from their upcoming release.

The Ties That Bind: The River Collection is housed in a 10" x 12" box with a hardcover 148-page coffee table book containing 200 studio and live photographs -- most of which have never been seen before -- plus reproductions of pages from Springsteen's notebooks, single covers, images and outtakes from the original album package, and memorabilia documenting the album.  Mikal Gilmore writes a new essay.

The Ties That Bind: The River Collection is due from Columbia Records on December 4 and can be pre-ordered at the links below!  (Note that Amazon U.K. links are currently placeholders.)

Bruce Springsteen, The Ties That Bind: The River Collection (Columbia 88875 16467-2, 2015)

4-CD/3-DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
4-CD/2-BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

CDs 1-2: The River (Columbia PC2 36854, 1980)

1. The Ties That Bind
2. Sherry Darling
3. Jackson Cage
4. Two Hearts
5. Independence Day
6. Hungry Heart
7. Out In The Street
8. Crush On You
9. You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)
10. I Wanna Marry You
11. The River

1. Point Blank
2. Cadillac Ranch
3. I'm A Rocker
4. Fade Away
5. Stolen Car
6. Ramrod
7. The Price You Pay
8. Drive All Night
9. Wreck On The Highway

CD 3: The Ties That Bind (single LP intended for release in 1979)

1. The Ties That Bind
2. Cindy
3. Hungry Heart
4. Stolen Car (Version 1)
5. Be True
6. The River
7. You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)
8. The Price You Pay
9. I Wanna Marry You
10. Loose End

CD 4: Outtakes

1. Meet Me In The City
2. The Man Who Got Away
3. Little White Lies
4. The Time That Never Was
5. Night Fire
6. Whitetown
7. Chain Lightning
8. Party Lights
9. Paradise By The C
10. Stray Bullet
11. Outside
12. Roulette
13. Restless Nights
14. Where The Bands Are
15. Dollhouse
16. Living On The Edge Of The World
17. Take 'Em As They Come
18. Ricky Wants A Man Of Her Own
19. I Wanna Be With You
20. Mary Lou
21. Held Up Without A Gun
22. From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)

Track 12 from "One Step Up" single - Columbia 38-07726, 1987
Tracks 13-20 from Tracks - Columbia CXK 69475, 1998
Track 21 from "Hungry Heart" single - Columbia 11-11391, 1980
Track 22 from The Essential Bruce Springsteen - Columbia C2K 90773, 2003

3 DVDs/2 BDs

1. The Ties That Bind documentary
2. Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band: The River Tour - ASU Activity Center, Tempe, AZ - 11/5/1980

Concert - Part 1

1. "Born to Run"
2. "Prove It All Night"
3. "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"
4. "Jackson Cage"
5. "Two Hearts"
6. "The Promised Land"
7. "Out in the Street"
8. "The River"
9. "Badlands"
10. "Thunder Road"
11. "No Money Down"
12. "Cadillac Ranch"
13. "Hungry Heart"
14. "Fire"
15. "Sherry Darling"
16. "I Wanna Marry You"
17. "Crush on You"
18. "Ramrod"
19. "You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)"

Concert - Part 2

1. "Drive All Night"
2. "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)"
3. "I'm A Rocker"
4. "Jungleland"
5. "Detroit Medley"
6. "Where The Bands Are (Credits)"

BONUS: The River Tour Rehearsals

1. Ramrod
2. Cadillac Ranch
3. Fire
4. Crush on You
5. Sherry Darling