The Bruce Springsteen CD Review

The Ties That Bind:The River Collection (2015)

	
Disc One
  1. The Ties That Bind
  2. Sherry Darling
  3. Jackson Cage
  4. Two Hearts
  5. Independence Day
  6. Hungry Heart
  7. Out in the Street
  8. Crush on You
  9. You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)
  10.I Wanna Marry You
  11.The River
  
Disc Two
  1. Point Blank
  2. Cadillac Ranch
  3. I'm a Rocker
  4. Fade Away
  5. Stolen Car
  6. Ramrod
  7. The Price You Pay
  8. Drive All Night
  9. Wreck on the Highway					

Disc Three
  1. The Ties That Bind
  2. Cindy
  3. Hungry Heart
  4. Stolen Car
  5. Be True
  6. The River
  7. You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)
  8. The Price You Pay
  9. I Wanna Marry You
  10.Loose Ends

Disc Four
  1. Meet Me in the City
  2. The Man Who Got Away
  3. Little White Lies
  4. The Time That Never Was
  5. Night Fire
  6. Whitetown
  7. Chain Lightning
  8. Party Lights
  9. Paradise By the "C"
  10.Stray Bullet
  11.Mr. Outside
  12.Roulette
  13.Restless Nights
  14.Where The Bands Are
  15.Dollhouse
  16.Living on the Edge of the World
  17.Take 'Em as they Come
  18.Ricky Wants a Man of Her Own
  19.I Wanna Be With You
  20.Mary Lou
  21.Held Up Without a Gun
  22.From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)

In the twilight of the traditional music industry—roughly the first decade of the twenty-first century—record companies began reissuing older, reliable catalog titles in elaborate packaging, a practice ostensibly aimed at reviving interest (and revenue) in the physical product. Typically, these sets featured the original album, a scattering of outtakes and alternate versions, and, if one was lucky, an unreleased track or two. Sometimes even a DVD was thrown in for good measure. Springsteen, no stranger to the vault approach, has participated in this trend before. The Ties That Bind is perhaps the most comprehensive—and revealing—of these efforts.

Though ostensibly a deluxe reissue of The River, the packaging opts for a different name—The Ties That Bind, reportedly the working title of the original release. This subtle shift in nomenclature signals something more ambitious than the usual repackaging exercise. In fact, what emerges is not just a remastered record with extras, but an archaeological reconstruction of what might have been.

To understand this set, one must return to its genesis: before The River became a sprawling double album, it was initially conceived as a more modest single LP. That version—complete with alternate takes, omitted tracks, and a different running order—is presented here in full for the first time. Many of the songs, of course, overlap with the final album, but Springsteen appears more interested in historical fidelity than in pruning for duplication. For the devoted listener, this single-disc iteration offers fascinating insight into the editorial process behind one of his most thematically expansive works.

Beyond the reconstructed album, the set also includes a trove of unreleased songs recorded during The River sessions—roughly a dozen, all bearing the unmistakable E Street imprimatur. None are revelatory in the career-defining sense, but all are finely crafted, filled with the familiar signifiers of early-'80s Springsteen: blue-collar yearning, romantic fatalism, and a certain sonic looseness that never feels undercooked. Their absence from the original release seems less an indictment of quality than a simple case of oversupply. Springsteen, famously prolific, had too many worthy songs to fit onto a single LP—and even a double one couldn't contain the lot.

Rounding out the collection are tracks that had already surfaced on Tracks or The Essential Bruce Springsteen, now brought into chronological and aesthetic alignment. These inclusions might strike some as repetitive, but for the completist, they function as connective tissue—a way of understanding how disparate releases can be reassembled into a more coherent narrative of Springsteen’s creative arc during this fertile period.

Finally, the set includes a concert DVD and a documentary film capturing tour rehearsals and performances from the era. While this reviewer has not seen the footage, its mere inclusion is notable. Springsteen’s live work from this period is widely acknowledged as some of the most kinetic and emotionally potent of his career, and there is little reason to suspect the contents here are anything short of extraordinary.

In total, The Ties That Bind is more than just a collector’s indulgence. It is, in essence, a reimagining of a pivotal moment in the Springsteen catalogue—a look not just at what The River was, but at what it might have been. That such an exercise yields not redundancy, but fresh appreciation, is a testament to both the depth of Springsteen’s archive and the enduring potency of the material within it.

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