Bruce Springsteen - The Ties That Bind (1979)

When Bruce Springsteen started to think about recording his next album in 1979, following the success of 'Darkness On The Edge Of Town', he originally envisioned it as a single album, entitled 'The Ties That Bind'. He'd been working with the E Street Band at his home studio, Telegraph Hill Studios, which was actually a barn at his Holmdel, New Jersey property, and by early August there was an initial cut of 10 songs, with Columbia beginning to believe they might have a new Springsteen record in time for Christmas. A track sequence was prepared, and in September, Bob Clearmountain was brought in to mix twelve tracks. Springsteen signed off on 'The Ties That Bind', and the tapes were sent off for mastering on October 15, but when they came back he suddenly cancelled the release, and went back to recording more songs. He later said that he felt the songs lacked the kind of unity and conceptual intensity that he liked his music to have, and his manager and co-producer, Jon Landau, suggested that maybe this record needed to be a double album, in order to encompass everything Springsteen was trying to achieve. After another seven months at the Power Station, the sessions came to an end, and 'The River' was released on October 17, 1980, including 20 of the 50 songs that had been recorded. Springsteen added darker material after he'd written the title track, and the album became noted for its mix of the frivolous next to the solemn, but he confirmed during an interview that this was intentional, as a deliberate contrast to his previous record. Bootlegs have long circulated of 'The Ties That Bind', generally in excellent quality, as the album was mastered ready for release, but a major upgrade was carried out on the original tapes in 2011, making them sound even better. What was remarkable in 2011 is that most tracks on this 'temporary assembly' of the album remained unreleased, with 'Cindy' being the one major 'River' outtakes that Springsteen was still sitting on, and the alternate verse in 'The Price You Pay' remains lost, while the rockabilly 'You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)' and the double-tracked vocal take of 'To Be True' had never seen the light of day. 'Stolen Car' is a different take to the one on 'Tracks' and even 'The Ties That Bind', 'The River' and 'I Wanna Marry You' are alternate takes or mixes from the released versions. The 1979 single album was eventually released as one of the discs in the 2015 box set release 'The Ties That Bind: The River Collection', but to my ears this bootleg just has the edge over that version, so give it a listen and see if you agree. 

Track listing

01 The Ties That Bind
02 Cindy
03 Hungry Heart
04 Stolen Car
05 To Be True
06 The River
07 You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)
08 The Price You Pay
09 I Wanna Marry You
10 Loose Ends