How about this….totally different. The River.

1. Restless Nights (Tracks)
2. Roulette (Tracks)
3. Loose Ends (Tracks)
4. Take Em As They Come (Tracks)
5. Doll House (Tracks)
6. The River
7. Ties That Bind
8. Hungry Heart
9. Stolen Car
10. Two Hearts
11. Jackson Cage
12. Price You Pay

Mike, seen Bruce live, and I agree.

My River track list:

The Ties That Bind- Perfect opener establishing the themes.

Out in the Street- A Bruce definer

Independence Day- A Darkness outtake, but a great one

Cadillac Ranch- Get up and dance!

Stolen Car-Those background vocals!

The River- Centerpiece

Point Blank- Depressing but great

Ramrod- It’s gotta stay!

I’m Rocker- Generic my ass.

Two Hearts- All hail Stevie!

Roulette - I admit, a smart choice by RS

Wreck on the Highway- There is no other closer available. It hints at the bleak glory of Nebraska

I do like the part in “Rosalita” where he sings “someday we’ll look back on this and it will all seem funny.” But then he goes right back into blustering about Big Bones Billie, swamps of Jersey, Weak Knees Willie, Little Dynamite, Woolworths, Rocky Raccoon?, etc.

But those five, six seconds in the middle are ok.

Brian

C’mon guys, “Ramrod” needs to stay. Anyone who has seen Bruce play it live will agree with me.

As a Bruce loyalist, albeit one who reveres his work thru “Tunnel” moreso than the overmanufactured recent work (I mean, Greetings, Wild and Innocent, BTR, Darkness and Nebraska are ridiculously great), I would agree with some previous posters that Hungry Heart actually hurts this record….and feel that “Ties that Bind” and “Price You Pay” have to replace “HH” and “Point Blank.”

I used to agree w/Brian and Paco about Springsteen. Its only very recently that I started to see him as more than just a hodge-podge of American cliches. Too much exposure, I think, to ‘Born in the USA’ on the classic rock radio stations. I also think that, before, I just wasn’t old enough to get the Boss.

Now, tho, particularly with “Nebraska” and “Born to Run” I’ve come to see why he is so adored. Its not so much that he relies on cliche, more so that he plays with the classic archetypes (both literary and musical) of American history.

His well-defined character sketches of folks who missed out on the American dream are honest and critical and speak to all the reasons we like to cheer on the underdog. And his music, drawing on what are (arguably) the best aspects of rock and roll (Spector’s lush bombast, Dylan’s flood of words & images, the hard sway of Southern soul) create a sound that is once innovative and, yet, totally familiar.

Ties That Bind HAS to open this CD, otherwise the Rolling Stone edit is not bad.

This could be the first edit that makes near total sense. I can’t take “Crush on You” or the near-amateurish “I Wanna Marry You,” so bravo for leaving those off. Only argument: “Hungry Heart.” It may be a popular one and catchy, but that don’t make it great and album-opening worthy. I’d put The Ties That Bind there instead. Great opening verse about facing up to obligations instead of the awkard rhymes of “Hungry Heart” (”Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack” ???) I shudder.

And what about “Drive All Night” as a closer? Point Blank is fine, but it should’ve ended up on Darkness, which is when it was written.

Those small arguments aside, this was a smart edit, unlike the White Album.

I agree 100% with Paco. It’s an unpopular opinion, especially for an American, but I listen to Springsteen’s songs and wonder how anyone could be that simple and cliched. But obviously a lot of other people think differently

also “one of those verseS” in my previous post.

Brian

I disagree that “Blonde on Blonde” can’t be pruned. For starters, how about cutting “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” in half. Not every one of those verse is essential and Dylan is not God.

Brian

P.S. How about for your next list: Bob Dylan songs that are too damn long. Jeez, you tell a guy he’s the voice of a generation and he won’t shut up.

P.P.S. “Obviously 5 Believers”, “Pledging My Time”, etc. wouldn’t be missed.

Dav: Just about every track on Blonde on Blonde is top-notch, which is why I didn’t tackle it.

Everyone who posted their personal River mixes (Andy, Brian, Tom, Zach, Chris): Hey, cool! I hope you had as much fun putting them together as I did mine.

Everyone who sang the virtues of “The Price You Pay,” “The Ties That Bind,” and other songs that got cut: All fine choices, of course, but honestly, the one that was closest to being on the bubble for me was “Jackson Cage.” Where are the “Jackson Cage” partisans telling me I don’t know anything about music?

Everybody taking slaps at “Hungry Heart” as too poppy: I think you’re all ignoring just how bleak that song is. “I got a wife and kid in Baltimore, Jack / I went out for a ride and I never went back.”? The whole song is sung by a guy who walked out on his family, and for no good reason that we can tell, and is now just sitting around getting drunk all the time. It’s in Springsteen’s best tradition of matching some of his darkest lyrics with some of his most radio-friendly tunes (viz. “Born in the USA”) and so I think it makes a very fine album-opener indeed.

While i love the whole dang thang…Prince’s Sign O The Times should get the 1 disc treatment. Which is funny when you consider Prince actually wanted this to be a 3LP set called Crystal Ball.

Anyway…here’s my cut…total running time: 48:57

Side 1
1 - Sign O The Times
2 - Housequake
3 - Slow Love
4 - Hot Thing
5 - Ballad of Dorothy Parker

Side 2
1 - U Got The Look
2 - I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
3 - If I Was Your Girlfriend
4 - Adore
5 - Forever In My Life

Dear Gavin Edwards,
let’s get to the root of the problem. start stripping away at Blonde On Blonde, the very first double album (if i’m not mistaken).
what tracks on there are “filler?”

RS has finally proven that they know less about music than those jack-asses know about politics!

Hey RS! When you finally become relevant again you can start second-guessing great artists like Bruce, The Clash or Led Zep.

I like the river as is. Cut down lucky town and human touch and you’d have a kickass single disc.

IF I WERE STRANDED ON A ISLAND, THE RIVER WOULD BE ONE OF MY ALBUMS I WOULDNT WANT TO BE WITHOUT ! AND I WOULDNT CHANGE A THING!

How about Wilco’s “Being There”? Put that baby at 10-12 tracks and you’ve got one of the greatest records of the past twenty years. And here it is:

1 Misunderstood
2 Far, Far Away
3 Monday
4 Outtasite (Outta Mind)
5 Forget the Flowers
6 I Got You
7 What’s the World Got In Store
8 Say You Miss Me
9 Sunken Treasure
10 Someday Soon
11 The Lonely 1
12 Dreamer In My Dreams

YA I FELL FOR SOME GUY WHO IS TALL DARK AND HANDSOME!!!!!!

the river is one of the best albums of all time!!!!! i personally love i’m a rocker, and independence day!!!!!! rock on!!!! we love u bruce!

Can’t wait to see G N’ R Use Your Illusions tomorrow. Keep in mind that that is a quadruple album, not a double album. If it were released in the vinyl era, all 150 minutes would have to be spread over 4 LPs (YIKES!) I think Use Your Illusion and Sandinista are the two albums that people have the most fun trimming down. The RS editors will be doing Sandinista, right?

Man, you folks at RS continue to prove to be utterly clueless. I mean, this rag hasn’t had anything interesting to say music-wise in years, but here you take a nice idea, and just butcher it.

You didn’t include “The Ties That Bind” or “The Price You Pay”? But you did include “Hungry Heart” (Bruce’s worst song?) and “Cadillac Ranch”?

Here’s your ten song record:
1. The Ties That Bind
2. Sherry Darling
3. Independence Day
4. The River
5. Point Blank
6. Fade Away
7. Stolen Car
8. The Price You Pay
9. Drive All Night
10. Wreck on the Highway

Springsteen fans are used to hearing people say he’s over-rated. I had daily arguments about this with my Elvis Costello fan friends back in the day when we thought you couldn’t like both artists. To me what makes some people see him as overrated is what makes others love him: he’s of his time and of his place. Back in 1973- 1981ish it was normal to be direct and unironic. It was not a cliche to sing about working class people even though you were becoming a rich rock star. He was both pop and alternative; a wordsmith and a screamer; a crotch rocker and a poet. Yeah, his stuff can sound sentimental now if you’re listening for reasons to dislike him, but even though he was not the new Dylan, he kept the hope that rock could mean something alive. At least that’s my unsolicited opinion. I like this edit of the river, but I like the sprawling 2 LP version best. It’s the second best double album ever, after Double Nickels on the Dime.

Springsteen fans are used to hearing people say he’s over-rated. I had daily arguments about this with my Elvis Costello fan friends back in the day when we thought you couldn’t like both artists. To me what makes some people see him as underrated is what makes others love him: he’s of his time and of his place. Back in 1973- 1981ish it was normal to be direct and unironic. It was not a cliche to sing about working class people even though you were becoming a rich rock star. He was both pop and alternative; a wordsmith and a screamer; a crotch rocker and a poet. Yeah, his stuff can sound sentimental now if you’re listening for reasons to dislike him, but even though he was not the new Dylan, he kept the hope that rock could mean something alive. At least that’s my unsolicited opinion. I like this edit of the river, but I like the sprawling 2 LP version best. It’s the second best double album ever, after Double Nickels on the Dime.

Bruce Springsteen is perhaps the most overrated artist in rock and roll history. I just don’t get why someone who either constantly repeats the same formula ad naseum or who simply writes songs inferior to those that inspired him can be considered a genius.

Some groups can have success repeating the same formula (Ramones being the biggest/best) but even the Ramones sound samey and really don’t inspire past the first 2-3 albums. At least their sound was totally original.

Other artists have spent a career mimicking others, but have in some instances (Bowie, Byrds, Lou Reed, etc) been able to outshine those that they copy.

Bruce has done neither and yet because the time he was out he’s considered great.

I don’t know. I guess I missed the boat on him…..maybe he’s one of those “had to be there” guys.

That said, I would cut his whole career down to a good 2 disc greatest hits, and that wouldn’t be in my collection, but that’s what I feel he is due because of his popularity.

This is the correct listing From The Ties That Bind album (1979, unreleased)

The Ties That Bind, Bruce Springsteen 1979

Side 1:
1. The Ties That Bind
2. Cindy (unreleased)
3. Hungry Heart
4. Stolen Car
5. To Be true

Side 2:
1. The River
2. You Can Look (But you better not touch), boogie
3. The Price You Pay
4. I Wanna Mary You
5. Loose Ends (released on tracks)

As someone said, bruce did this in 79

The Ties That Bind, Bruce Springsteen 1979

1. The Ties That Bind
2. Cindy (unreleased)
3. Hungry Heart
4. Stolen Car
5. To Be true
6. The River

1. You Can Look (But you better not touch), unreleased boogie version
2. The Price You Pay
4. I Wanna Mary You
5. Loose Ends (released on tracks)

Stolen Car from the tracks set is such a deep searching version of the song. The first time I heard it I got chills. THAT is a definitive Springsteen song and should have been on the album. The musica and lyrics are different on the tracks version.

Jon:

Deal. I’ll go back and give Broadway a listen

As long as we’re adding tracks to this album, I make a case for “From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)”, an outtake on Disc 3 of “The Essential” set. That said, here’s an alternate single-disc for “The River”:

Side 1:
1 - From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)
2 - Two Hearts
3 - Independence Day
4 - Out In The Street
5 - Hungry Heart
6 - The River

Side 2:
1 - The Ties That Bind
2 - Cadillac Ranch
3 - Stolen Car
4 - Ramrod
5 - Drive All Night

First of all, you need to get Loose Ends from the Tracks box set on there.

2nd of all, the best song on the entire album is The Ties That Bind.

3rd of all, the most triumphant and hopeful song on the record is The Price You Pay, so you can’t leave that one out.

CB:

Always good to hear from a fellow Clash fan, but no “Broadway”?!?

Joe sounds awesome in this one, great lyrics. Probably my fav Clash song.

I’m gonna have to listen to “Sinner” again apparently…

Hey Lobsters. You’ve made your point, you don’t like Springsteen. Fine, that’s one less person in line for tickets. However, out of all the bands or artists discussed on this blog he’s the only one who hasn’t sold out and become a corporate sponsor. He’s a real artist.

Thematically, Roulette simply does not fit on this record, which I’m sure is why it was left off.

“Like Physical Graffiti, you have to leave The River alone.”

Obviously, not all of us agree with that, so can you whiners and spoilsports go read about Lance Bass coming out of the closet somewhere else, and just let us play our game in peace? I mean if you didn’t want to play football in the park, would you stand on the sidelines yelling “Stop playing that game, becasue I like soccer!”? (If you answer “yes,” you’lljust have to live with your own sorry self, becasue we can’t help you.)

PS to RS - good choice throwing in Roulette!

The very worst of The Clash is better than the best of Springsteen. “The River” is a truly wretched album - Corny songs, rote performances, and dull production. “Born In The USA” is slightly better and everything after is total garbage. Just listen to “Out In The Street” on “The River” and try denying that Bruce Springsteen is retarded. Oh, and “I Wanna Marry You” - Only The Ramones could get away with that.

Like Physical Graffiti, you have to leave The River alone. Perfect as is, the omissions offered are horrendous. How could you get rid of Jackson Cage and The Price You Pay?

However, I will jump into the Sandinista topic (people have been doing this edit on cassette and CDR for years because so much of the filler is excruciating to listen to). Organizing it into album sides is pointless in 2006 and this is a very enjoyable CDR :

Sandinista - Edited!

Magnificent Seven
Hitsville U.K
Junco Partner
Ivan Meets G.I. Joe
Leader
Somebody Got Murdered
One More Time
Lightning Strikes (Not Once But Twice)
Sound of Sinners
Police on My Back
Call Up
Washington Bullets
Charlie Don’t Surf

Bonus Tracks:

Torchlight (The excellent Ellen Foley / Mick Jones duet from her solo album from this period with The Clash as the backing band)
Lightning Strikes (Not Once But Twice) (Live from the box set)
Magnificent Seven (live from the box set)

Next week at Rolling Stone, we’re going to change the Mona Lisa to make her look more femanine!

Give up on this sorry played out crap.

Very strange to discuss cutting down the River to a single without mentioning or showing the track list for when Springsteen himself did it in 1979 when the album was submitted as a single LP called The Ties That Bind. It has been bootlegged to death in this form.

Jon:

Kudos for suggesting Sandinista — if ever there was an album that could have been edited down to greatness, that’s it. I like your list, but ya gotta give the people something good to read — keep “The Leader”, ditch “Ivan” (or, “Crooked Beat”).

Oh, I love “The Sound of Sinners.”
I once told Kurt Loder it was one of the best, funniest send-ups of misguided Christian proseyltizing
ever. “I was looking for that great jazz note that destroyed the walls of Jericho” or “the message on the tablets…was Valium?” Very rarely were the Clash clever like that. More often they were 100% sincere.

Brian

Hmm some good points. I do like “Rebel Waltz”, but no “Sinners” for me…not my fav.

I could lose “Hitsville”, but never “One More Time”! Great reggae tune…

“Ivan” is good for a disco laugh…

“Career Opportunities” sounds like a Christmas song to me…

I like this idea, it’s been a fun subject. I agree about Roulette, but when you start to consider outtakes that are on Tracks it gets too difficult. Be True? Where The Bands Are? I Wanna Be With You? I also agree that starting off the record with Hungry Heart like RS did would be a bad idea. I included under rated Price You Pay and left out Ramrod. I’ve heard Bruce play Ramrod in concert too many times. More than Thunder Road.

Side One
1. The Ties That Bind
2. Two Hearts
3. Independence Day
4. Sherry Darling
5. Cadillac Ranch
6. The River

Side Two
1. Point Blank
2. Hungry Heart
3. Out In The Street
4. Stolen Car
5. The Price You Pay

I’m not sure of the total time but it’s around 45 minutes.

Your second side is alright but I think there are a lot of weak songs on your first side. I’d definitely lose “Hitsville UK” and the dirge-like “One More Time.” And the less said about “Ivan Meets G.I. Joe” the better. However, you need the kid’s choir version of “Career Opportunities” to cleanse the palate. Open with that on the first side.

Brian

You left off “The Sound of Sinners” and “Rebel Waltz”?!?!?!

I don’t even know you anymore.

Brian

And as you can see, I didn’t bother with re-ordering the songs - just which tracks I’d keep and which I wouldnt…

Alright, I’m gonna try “Sandinista”…let me know what ya think:

Side 1

1)Maginificent Seven
2)Hitsville UK
3)Ivan Meets GI Joe
4)Something About England
5)Crooked Beat
6)Somebody Got Murdered
7)One More Time
8)Lightning Strikes
9)Up In Heavan
10)Corner Soul

Side 2

1)Police On My Back
2)The Call Up
3)Washington Bullers
4)Broadway (my fav clash song)
5)Charlie Don’t Surf
6)The Street Parade
7)Sheperds Delight

Dear Gavin,

While we admire your current project of ruthlessly editing down every double-album ever — and wish you luck with Blonde on Blonde — we beg to differ with your single-disc edit of The River. First of all, it’s cheating to use the outtake “Roulette.” Secondly, leaving off “The Ties That Bind”? Surely you jest. Also, beginning the album with “Hungry Heart” is a deranged move: Its poppy vibe and sped-up vocal sets entirely the wrong tone for the album.

We’re helpfully offering an alternative — and far superior — single-disc edit of “The River.”

1. The Ties That Bind
2. Sherry Darling
3. Ramrod
4. Independence Day
5. Two Hearts
6. Jackson Cage

7. The River
8. Out In the Street
9. Hungry Heart
10. Cadillac Ranch
11. Stolen Car
12. Wreck on the Highway

total running time 45 minutes, 49 seconds

I don’t know how you could leave off “Fade Away”. It’s one of the best songs on the album

Pretty good, but I would say:

The Ties that bind
Independence Day
Hungry Heart
Stolen Car (Tracks Version)
The River

Point Blank
Ramrod
The Price You Pay
Roulette
Wreck on the Highway

I agree that it would make a much stronger single album than double, but cutting out “Out in the Street” AND “The Ties That Bind”? No love for jangle? I’d cut “Ramrod” for either.

Now this one I do like…
Springsteen is my absolute faveorite and all of his albums are 4 or 5 star worthy, but the river definitely had too much filler. You left all his best songs, and, like you, i have no idea why he left roullette off. its great!! i guess he just wasn’t ready to be political back then. good list though.