The Promise: The Darkness On the Edge of Town Story

This is one impressive collection. Darkness On the Edge of Town was Bruce Springsteen’s fourth album, the follow-up to Born to Run, and, in many ways, it surpassed that classic with a stripped-down intensity that few, if any, in rock ‘n’ roll have been able to meet. This “Story” includes a re-mastered version of the album where every instrument finds its place in the mix. The classics: “Badlands,” “Adam Raised a Cain,” “Candy’s Room,” “The Promised Land,” “Prove It All Night” and “Darkness On the Edge of Town” never sounded more brilliant. However, it only starts there. There are 22 studio outtakes (one, “The Way,” is hidden as a bonus track after “City of Night”), including the completed version of “The Promise,” Springsteen’s most legendary unreleased track. There’s a video documentary of the making of the album that goes deep into the artistic process. There is the “Thrill Hill Vault” that includes band rehearsals at the farm in Holmdel, studio footage, and some brilliant live footage from Red Bank, NJ, 1976 and Phoenix in 1978. Finally, there’s the Houston concert from 1978 that shows exactly why Springsteen is considered to be one of the greatest live performers of all time.