Bruce Springsteen - Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) {CBS/Sony Japan} 24-bit/96kHz Vinyl Rip plus Redbook CD Version

is the fourth album by Bruce Springsteen, released in the late spring of 1978. The album marked the end of a three year period of forced hiatus from recording brought on by contractual obligations and legal battling with former manager Mike Appel. Although the album did not produce high charting singles it nevertheless remained on the charts for 97 weeks. In September 2010 a documentary film chronicling the making of Darkness was first shown at the Toronto International Film Festival. Quoting Springsteen as saying “More than rich, more than famous, more than happy – I wanted to be great”, reviewer Stephen Whitty of the Newark Star-Ledger commented: "For many fans, that long journey pulled onto the Turnpike here." Recovering from legal troubles and the stress of the breakthrough success of , Springsteen released a somewhat less commercial album, . In terms of the original LP's sequencing, Springsteen continued his "four corners" approach from , as the songs beginning each side ("Badlands" and "The Promised Land") were martial rallying cries to overcome circumstances, while the songs ending each side ("Racing in the Street", "Darkness on the Edge of Town") were sad dirges of circumstances overcoming all hope. Unlike , the songs were recorded by the full band all at once, frequently soon after Springsteen had written them. Steven Van Zandt received a credit for production assistance for helping Springsteen tighten the arrangements from Born to Run's epic sound. This collection of songs, each of which Springsteen sang in the first person, was given unity by several recurring themes. The words “darkness” / “dark” appear in six of the tracks, while nine of them feature the “night” / “tonight”. “They” are mentioned in eight songs, with a general suggestion of nameless people who exert a negative influence. “Work” / “worked” / “working” form part of six songs, and so do the words “dream” / “dreams”. Six is also the number of songs in which Bruce and his characters are found “driving” / “racing” / “riding”, or mentioning the names of cars. There are references to “blood”, "born", "love" / "loved" in four of the tracks. In the song "Racing in the Street," Springsteen alludes to Martha & the Vandellas' Dancing in the Street with the lyric "Summer's here and the time is right for racing in the street," which is similar to the Rolling Stones similar appropriation of the lyric in the song "Street Fightin' Man". The album failed to generate any hit singles, with "Prove It All Night" barely making the Top 40 in the U.S. and follow-up "Badlands" not charting in the top 40. At the time, Darkness claimed the number one slot on NME album of the year ranking. In 2003, the album was ranked number 151 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The same year, the TV network VH1 named the 68th greatest album of all time. The cover shot and inner sleeve photo were taken by photographer Frank Stefanko inside Stefanko's Haddonfield, New Jersey home. Springsteen says, "...when I saw the picture I said, 'That's the guy in the songs.' I wanted the part of me that's still that guy to be on the cover. Frank stripped away all your celebrity and left you with your essence. That's what that record was about." A reissue box set was released in November 2010. This had initially been planned for 2008, to mark the 30th anniversary of the original album's release, but was delayed presumably due to Springsteen's numerous other 2008 projects. By January 2009, Springsteen's manager, Jon Landau, was saying the project was still in the works: "When we can find six weeks to sit down and finish it I'm sure we will." A documentary entitled "The Promise: the Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town" has been produced for the box set. The documentary premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in the fall of 2010 and aired on HBO on October 7, 2010. allmusic 4.5/5 stars Rolling Stone 5/5 stars Robert Christgau B+

LP track listing
All songs written by Bruce Springsteen

Side One

1. "Badlands" – 4:02
2. "Adam Raised a Cain" – 4:32
3. "Something in the Night" – 5:13
4. "Candy's Room" – 2:46
5. "Racing in the Street" – 6:53

Side Two

6. "The Promised Land" – 4:28
7. "Factory" – 2:19
8. "Streets of Fire" – 4:04
9. "Prove It All Night" – 3:58
10. "Darkness on the Edge of Town" – 4:29


Released: June 2, 1978
Recorded: October 12, 1977 - March 19, 1978
Genre: Rock
Length: 42:44
Label: CBS/Sony
Producers: Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau, Steven Van Zandt

Personnel

* Bruce Springsteen - guitar, harmonica, vocals
* Roy Bittan - piano, vocals
* Clarence Clemons - saxophone, vocals
* Danny Federici - organ, glockenspiel
* Garry Tallent - bass
* Steve Van Zandt - guitar, vocals
* Max Weinberg - drums