Amazon.com essential recording: Despite the acclaim accorded Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town, this is the album that broke Springsteen into the big leagues, thanks to "Hungry Heart," then his most pointedly commercial song; it had new fans swooning but some old ones grumbling for the "poetic" Springsteen of days gone by. Not to worry--though more economical lyrically, The River had something to offer nearly everyone: There's old-time frat rock ("Sherry Darling"), empathetic character studies ("The River," "Stolen Car," "Independence Day"), passionate rockers ("Out in the Street"), dramatic ballads ("Point Blank"), and even a couple of good-natured goofs ("Cadillac Ranch," "Crush on You," "Ramrod"). A sprawling double-disc set, The River offers proof that Springsteen could do it all and could do it better than virtually anyone else. --Daniel Durchholz
Best double album Bruce's first top 10 hit was the song "Hungry Heart" the 2nd single was Fade Away, that only made it to no.20. There are a lot good tracks on here. Ramrod, I'm A Rocker, Out in the Street, Cadillac Ranch.[You can look,but better not touch] and Crush On You are rockin out tunes. Fade Away, I Wanna Mary You and Point Blank are slower songs on it. The Ties That Bind was origanlly supposed to be the lead single off The River. The title track "The River" was never released as a single in the U.S.A, but in got a lot of radio time on the rock charts. There are just different forms of rock on this record, it it a must have for any true ROCK fan
Too many mindless rockers detract. Let's talk about double albums for a moment. The most popular comment from fans and critics alike is that a magnificent single album could have been created by the careful culling of the weaker tracks. Now, this is, of course, true of nearly all doubles. There will be the weaker half and then there will be the remaining "better" tunes. Naturally, unless all songs are necessary to the whole - Tommy, The Wall - the resulting and shorter album would be superior. This is only logical, isn't it? The problem is that you may think less of a track that I find particularly strong! Thus, in most cases, discussion of whether or not a double could have been a stronger single leads us nowhere.
I bought The River as soon as it was released. I must admit that although I have always had positive thoughts about the album I really haven't played it very often. As I listen to it a today I have the answer to the puzzle - there are a number of songs that don't appeal to me at all. They are the straight ahead rockers like Two Hearts, Sherry Darling, and Crush on You (yech) and You Can Look. For me these are not up to Springsteen's unusually high standards. I find them boring and uninspired. They interfere with the flow horribly. We have a couple of typically first rate Springsteen songs such as Independence Day and Hungary Heart followed by dreck. One reviewer noted that he recognized in this album the music that influenced Bon Jovi. This says it all! Brucie was heading down a commercial road and I wasn't aboard the bus.
So how do you evaluate such a piece of work? I could certainly create what would be for me a great single LP from the two discs. In fact, I could produce a pretty long (50 to 60 minutes) high quality single cd. Without doubt this would be a five star effort. Throw in the rockers and I guess that I have to deduct one star.
That East Coast 80s Sound I stood in line at midnight to buy this record in 1980. As time went on, I played it less and less often. After seeing the band's Indianapolis show in March, I decided to buy the CD version. Definitely a trip down memory lane. It's a great album, but not necessarily Bruce or the E Street Band's best. It's a somewhat disappointing follow-up to Darkness on the Edge of Town and a hint of Born in the USA-type things to come. It also shows you how that other Jersey band (Bon Jovi) developed their sound. I'm not saying they copped it from Bruce and the band. I think it was the sound that was floating around the Atlantic coast at the time and The River wraps that sound up very nicely in two albums. The River is a fun rock-n-roll archeological dig.
Superb As I'm a fan of The Boss I Have one désire that He will come once in Switzerland. And its available for all the CD or DVD with bruce Sprinsteen I have or will purchased.
Drive All Night The Boss at his peak. Surely, 'The River' has endured the test of time...I like it more now than I did when it was first released so many years ago. Like the work of artists he's always wanted to be like at least spiritually, Dylan and Van Morrison, 'The River' has never been easily digestible. All great work generally falls into that category...it takes repeated listening and sometimes years to grasp what the artist is presenting. And to risk the wrath of Bruce fans everywhere, I have to say that I think "Drive All Night" is the greatest song he's ever done. make yourself a Bruce mix tape or CDR and end it with "Born To Run", "Racing In The Street" and "Drive All Night". It does NOT get any better...
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