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Darkness on the Edge of Town

 
Album Review: Darkness on the Edge of Town
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Darkness on the Edge of Town

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  • Artist: Bruce Springsteen
  • Rating: StarStarStarStarHalf Star
  • Release Date: June 02, 1978
  • Total Time: 44:57
  • Type: Lyrics are included with the album
  • Genre: Rock

Review

Coming three years, and one extended court battle, after the commercial breakthrough of Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town was highly anticipated. Some attributed the album's embattled tone to Springsteen's legal troubles, but it carried on from Born to Run, in which Springsteen had first begun to view his colorful cast of characters as "losers." On Darkness, he began to see them as the working class. One song was called "Factory," and in another, "Badlands," "you" work "'neath the wheel / Till you get your facts learned." Those "facts" are that "Poor man wanna be rich / Rich man wanna be king / And a king ain't satisfied / Till he rules everything." But Springsteen's characters, some of whom he inhabited and sang for in the first person, had little and were in danger of losing even that. Their only hope for redemption lay in working harder -- "You gotta live it everyday," he sang in "Badlands," but you also, as another song noted, have to "Prove It All Night." And their only escape lay in driving. Springsteen presented these hard truths in hard rock settings, the tracks paced by powerful drumming and searing guitar solos. Though not as heavily produced as Born to Run, Darkness was given a full-bodied sound, with prominent keyboards and double-tracked vocals. Springsteen's stories were becoming less heroic, but his musical style remained grand. Yet the sound, and the conviction in his singing, added weight to songs like "Racing in the Street" and the title track, transforming the pathetic into the tragic. But despite the rock & roll fervor, Darkness was no easy listen, and it served notice that Springsteen was already willing to risk his popularity for his principles. Indeed, Darkness was not as big a seller as Born to Run. And it presaged even starker efforts, such as Nebraska and The Ghost of Tom Joad. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track TitleComposersPerformersTime
Badlands Bruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen (4:04)
Adam Raised a Cain Bruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen (4:34)
Something in the Night Bruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen (5:14)
Candy's Room Bruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen (2:48)
Racing in the Streets Bruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen (6:54)
The Promised Land Bruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen (4:29)
Factory Bruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen (2:19)
Streets of Fire Bruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen (4:03)
Prove It All Night Bruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen (4:01)
Darkness on the Edge of Town Bruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen (4:29)

Credits

Chuck Plotkin (Mixing), Steven Van Zandt (Guitar), Clarence Clemons (Percussion), Danny Federici (Organ), Roy Bittan (Piano), Jon Landau (Producer), Clarence Clemons (Saxophone), Bruce Springsteen (Producer), Bruce Springsteen (Vocals), The E Street Band (Group), Jimmy Iovine (Mixing), Clarence Clemons (Vocals), Jimmy Iovine (Engineer), Steven Van Zandt (Assistant Producer), Bruce Springsteen (Bass), Danny Federici (Keyboards), Bruce Springsteen (Guitar), Steve VanZandt (Guitar), Steve VanZandt (Production Assistant), Garry Tallent (Bass), Max Weinberg (Drums), Danny Federici (Vocals), Frank Stefanko (Photography), Mike Reese (Mastering), Steven Van Zandt (Vocals), Roy Bittan (Keyboards), Bruce Springsteen (Harmonica), Thom Panunzio (Assistant Engineer)
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Darkness on the Edge of Town
Studio album by Bruce Springsteen
Released June 2, 1978
Recorded October 12, 1977–March 19, 1978
Record Plant Studios
(New York, New York)
Genre Rock, heartland rock
Length 42:55
Label Columbia
Producer Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau, Steven Van Zandt
Professional reviews
Bruce Springsteen chronology
Born to Run
(1975)		 Darkness on the Edge of Town
(1978)		 The River
(1980)

Darkness on the Edge of Town is the fourth album by Bruce Springsteen, released in 1978 (see 1978 in music).

Contents

History

Recovering from legal troubles and the stress of the breakthrough success of Born to Run, Springsteen released a somewhat less commercial album, Darkness on the Edge of Town.

In terms of the original LP's sequencing, Springsteen continued his "four corners" approach from Born to Run, 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 Born to Run, the songs were recorded by the full band all at once, frequently soon after Springsteen had written them.[1] When Springsteen sings: "Summer's here and the time is right for racing in the street," on the track "Racing in the Street," he is taking-off Martha & the Vandellas' Dancing in the Street. [2] Steven Van Zandt received a credit for production assistance for helping Springsteen tighten the arrangements from Born to Run's epic sound.[1]

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 even doing that well. Regardless, many[who?] consider this to be one of Springsteen's best albums.

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.[3] The same year, the TV network VH1 named Darkness on the Edge of Town 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.

A 30th anniversary reissue had been planned for 2008, but by the end of 2008, the project was shelved indefinitely, presumably due to Springsteen's numerous other 2008 projects.[4] 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."[5]

Track listing

All songs written by Bruce Springsteen

Side one

  1. "Badlands" – 4:01
  2. "Adam Raised a Cain" – 4:32
  3. "Something in the Night" – 5:11
  4. "Candy's Room" – 2:51
  5. "Racing in the Street" – 6:53

Side two

  1. "The Promised Land" – 4:33
  2. "Factory" – 2:17
  3. "Streets of Fire" – 4:09
  4. "Prove It All Night" – 3:56
  5. "Darkness on the Edge of Town" – 4:30

Unused material

During the Darkness sessions, Springsteen wrote or recorded many songs that he ended up not using on the album. This was to keep the album's thematic feel intact, even at the expense of not having hits on it.[6] Some of the unused material became hits for other artists, such as "Because the Night" for Patti Smith, "Fire" for Robert Gordon and The Pointer Sisters, "Rendezvous" for Greg Kihn, "This Little Girl" for Gary U.S. Bonds, and several tracks for Southside Johnny (including much of the Asbury Jukes' Hearts of Stone album). Other songs such as "Independence Day", "Point Blank", "The Ties That Bind", and "Sherry Darling" would turn up on Springsteen's next album, The River, while still others became bootleg classics until surfacing on Springsteen's late 1990s collections Tracks and 18 Tracks. Some of these Darkness outtakes were performed by Springsteen in concert during his 1978 tour and later.

Personnel

The E Street Band

Production

Chart positions

Album

Year Chart Position
1978 U.S. Billboard Pop Albums 5
1985 U.S. Billboard 200 167

Singles

Year Single Chart Position
1978 "Prove It All Night" U.S. Billboard Pop Singles 33
1978 "Badlands" U.S. Billboard Pop Singles 42

References

  1. ^ a b Fricke, David (2009-01-21). "The Band on Bruce: Their Springsteen". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/25556603/the_band_on_bruce_their_springsteen/print. Retrieved 2009-02-07. 
  2. ^ Racing In The Street Songfacts
  3. ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6598981/151_darkness_on_the_edge_of_town
  4. ^ http://www.backstreets.com/newsarchive28.html
  5. ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/bruce-springsteen-prepping-darkness-reissue-1003933970.story
  6. ^ Darkness on the Edge of Town

External links

v • d • e
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Studio albums

Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. (1973) · The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle (1973) · Born to Run (1975) · Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) · The River (1980) · Nebraska (1982) · Born in the U.S.A. (1984) · Tunnel of Love (1987) · Human Touch (1992) · Lucky Town (1992) · The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995) · The Rising (2002) · Devils & Dust (2005) · We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (2006) · Magic (2007) · Working on a Dream (2009)
Live albums
Other albums

Greatest Hits (1995) · Blood Brothers (EP) (1996) · Tracks (1998) · 18 Tracks (1999) · The Essential Bruce Springsteen (2003) · Greatest Hits (2009)
Singles

"Blinded by the Light" (1973) · "Spirit in the Night" (1973) · "Born to Run" (1975) · "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" (1976) · "Prove It All Night" (1978) · "Badlands" (1978) · "The Promised Land" (1978) · "Hungry Heart" (1980) · "Fade Away" (1981) · "Sherry Darling" (1981) · "The River" (1981) · "Cadillac Ranch" (1981) · "Atlantic City" (1982) · "Open All Night" (1982) · "Dancing in the Dark" (1984) · "Cover Me" (1984) · "Born in the U.S.A." (1984) · "I'm on Fire" (1985) · "Glory Days" (1985) · "I'm Goin' Down" (1985) · "My Hometown" (1985) · "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" (1985) · "War" (1986)  · "Fire" (1987) · "Born to Run" (live) (1988) · "Brilliant Disguise" (1987) · "Tunnel of Love" (1987) · "One Step Up" (1988) · "Tougher Than the Rest" (1988) · "Spare Parts" (1988) · "Human Touch" (1992) · "57 Channels (And Nothin' on)" (1992) · "Better Days" (1992) · "Leap of Faith" (1992) · "Lucky Town" (1993) · "Streets of Philadelphia" (1993) · "Murder Incorporated" (1995) · "Hungry Heart" (re-issue) (1995) · "The Ghost of Tom Joad" (1996) · "Secret Garden" (1997) · "Sad Eyes" (1998) · "The Rising" (2002) · "Lonesome Day" (2002) · "Waitin' on a Sunny Day" (2003) · "Devils & Dust" (2005) · "All the Way Home" (2005) · "Radio Nowhere" (2007) · "Girls in Their Summer Clothes" (2007) · "Working on a Dream" (2008) · "My Lucky Day" (2008) · "The Wrestler" (2009)
Video releases
Tours

Born to Run tours (1974-77) · Darkness Tour (1978) · River Tour (1980-81) · Born in the U.S.A. Tour (1984-85) · Tunnel of Love Express (1988) · Human Rights Now! (1988) · "Other Band" Tour (1992-93) · Ghost of Tom Joad Tour (1995-97) · Reunion Tour (1999-2000) · Rising Tour (2002-03) · Vote for Change (2004) · Devils & Dust Tour (2005) · Seeger Sessions Band Tour (2006) · Magic Tour (2007-08) · Working on a Dream Tour (2009)
Related articles

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