The curious case of a bootleg turned official release (and the mystery of why bother).
Tag: The Ties That Bind: The River Collection
“Ricky Wants a Man of Her Own” is a fun, poppy outtake from the River sessions–guaranteed to make you smile (unless you’re a parent to a teenage girl, in which case you’ll wince).
“Living on the Edge” is a glorious hot mess of a song. An unreleased outtake until 1998, it nevertheless spawned no less than three officially released Springsteen originals along the way.
Bruce originally included “Cindy” on The River back when it was only one disc, but he discarded it before finalizing the two-disc version. That’s too bad, because like “Hungry Heart,” its pop trappings combined with dark lyrics make for a perfect album fit.
When “Night Fire” finally saw the light of day,it turned out to be a lesser version of “Point Blank.” But what was it meant to be originally?
Bruce fakes us out with this River outtake that sounds more like a Working on a Dream outtake.
“Little White Lies” is a thematic analogue to “Stolen Car” and forerunner to “Brilliant Disguise” — a fascinating outtake from The River sessions.