Springsteen "The River" single album

It should have been a triple album, imo fwiw. The backlog of material from '76-78 (even from '72-'74) was already overwhelming, by 1979-80, and at least another LP from The River sessions should have been unleashed at that time, in 'real time' imo. In retrospect, the 2 LP set seems thin compared to the amount and quality of material available from '77-'80 alone.

Playing along...

Side One (22:15)
The Ties That Bind 3:34
Sherry Darling 4:03
Jackson Cage 3:04
Cadillac Ranch 3:03
Two Hearts 2:45
You Can Look 2:27
Hungry Heart 3:19

Side Two (21:26)
The Price You Pay 5:29
Independence Day 4:50
Point Blank 6:06
The River 5:01

 

Interestingly, after The River was released, I actually thought it was “bloated”.
(I’d admit that at the time I was just spoiled by Springsteen’s prior albums - All of those tracks are classics to me.)
It was after hearing him revisit many of the songs on a recent tour that I truly began to appreciate and reassess many of The River tunes.

 

As released, I think The River is a better album than Darkness On The Edge of Town or Born In the U.S.A. Among Springsteen albums, I'd say that only Born to Run, Nebraska, and Tunnel of Love surpass it, and even then we're splitting hairs. As others have said, there's a better argument to be made for expanding the original double LP into a triple LP than there is for cutting it back to a single record, given the strength of the material Bruce had recorded in 1979-80 (without even considering the voluminous group of leftovers from the 1977 Darkness sessions).

For me, the critical songs on The River are "The Ties That Bind", "The River", "Stolen Car", and "The Price You Pay". Those are the four "tentpoles" of the album and would have to be included on any single LP version. They are also four of Bruce's greatest ever songs. So, starting with this, I'd probably go with the following tracklist:

Side One
The Ties That Bind
Out In The Street
Two Hearts
Hungry Heart
The River

Side Two
Cadillac Ranch
Fade Away
Stolen Car
The Price You Pay
Wreck On The Highway

It's tough to leave off "Independence Day", as great as the song is, but it doesn't quite fit with the themes of the 10 songs I selected and seems to be more of a piece with the Darkness material (with which it was originally written and recorded) than the newer songs Bruce wrote after the conclusion of the Darkness sessions. Interestingly, none of the 10 songs I chose are Darkness retreads, whereas four of the songs on The River were re-dos of Darkness outtakes ("Sherry Darling", "Independence Day", "Ramrod", and "Drive All Night").

 

I think the single album holds together well as released, and sounds great with the Bob C. production. But I think Bruce made the right call pulling it back. Not sure it would have been as big a move forward from Darkness as the double album was.

In terms of instruments, there are 2 things he did on The River that made it sound much brighter than Darkness,
1) The introduction of the use of 12 string guitars, both acoustic and electric and 2) the use of the Farfisa organ. Bruce must have been listening to a lot of Elvis Costello at the time, 'cause the Farfisa is all over the record. From what I can tell, Danny played Farfisa on the following tracks..

Jackson Cage (a classic EC organ riff)
Two Hearts
You Can Look
I Wanna Marry You
Cadillac Ranch
I'm A Rocker
Stolen Car (outtro)
Ramrod

(and on a bunch of the outtakes)

And, of course, the high ceilings of the Power Station, which made the record sound like it was recorded in a roller rink (in a good way).

 

THE RIVER - 1980 - I love love love The Ties That Bind order. It flows way better for me. I added one song though . Bruce could have released a follow up the next year.

THE RIVER
1. The Ties That Bind
2. Cindy
3. Hungry Heart
4. Out In The Street
5. Stolen Car
6. Be True

SIDE 2
1. The River
2. Look But You Better Not Touch
3. The Price You Pay
4. I Wanna Marry You
5. Loose End

RESTLESS NIGHTS - 1981
1. Restless Nights
2. Roulette
3. Independence Day
4. Jackson Cage
5. Two Hearts
6. Stray Bullet

SIDE 2
1. Point Blank
2. Take em As They Come
3. Fade Away
4. Party Lights or Out in The Streets
5. Drive All Night
6. Wreck On The Highway