The River

THE RIVER alternates between rockers like "Cadillac Ranch," "I'm A Rocker," and "Out In The Street," songs that sing of carefree summer teen years that sound like they're blasting from the windows of somebody's Camero along the boardwalk, and a big set of tunes that address the real world problems that tug at your heals behind those idyllic scenes.

The real heart of THE RIVER are Springsteen's characters struggles with love and relationships. They're all searching for somebody, finding somebody...but then what? So many of them run into brick walls, finding out all too quickly that the happy ever after ends before it starts. Haunting tunes like "Stolen Car" are hard to get past:

"She asked if I remembered the letters I wrote when our love was young and bold. She said last night she read those letters, and they made her feel one hundred years old."

But for all the hard times these characters come up against--losing love, driving girlfriends and their mothers to the unemployment office, struggling to keep a job--the final moment of THE RIVER is one of hope. After consoling a dying man at the scene of a horrific car crash, Springsteen sings of climbing in bed and watching his girl as she sleeps:

"I just lay there awake in the middle of the night, thinking about the wreck on the highway."

The road, which had been a vehicle of hope and escape on all of Springsteen's previous records, has been transformed into a black line between life and death; it is his love and home and security that suddenly seem comforting, instead of smothering.

But the next Springsteen LP, NEBRASKA, wouldn't stay at home...it follows those characters who chose to cross that black line and follow the road.


This is why he's called the Boss.   August 25, 1999
17 out of 17 found this review helpful

The day this album came out I was scheduled to go to a Yes concert with a bunch of my friends. It was my day off from my job, and at about 3:30 in the afternoon my boss called and begged me to come in. So not only was my day off blown, but I missed the concert and since my friends couldn't find a replacement, had to eat the 20 bucks I spent on the ticket. But while I was working, I found out that Bruce Springsteen's new album had just come out, so I called my mom and begged her to go buy it. That night when I came home, it was waiting for me, already on the stereo, and my mom (who had already listened to it) said "It's great" Well, mom was right. That was a long time ago, but I have never for one moment forgotten that day, or regretted the fact that I missed the Yes concert. To me The River came out of no-where. Two albums of great music. From full-blown dramas (Point Blank, Stolen Car) rock and roll rave ups (I'm a Rocker, Ramrod, Crush on You) and heartfelt ballads (Little Girl I Wanna Marry You, Fade Away) In fact, The River has two of Bruce's most personal and beloved songs, Independence Day and the title track. Two songs that his fans connect with almost as strongly as the singer himself. Now, every double album has it's share of filler. Even classics like The White Album, Songs in the Key of Life, The Wall and London Calling have one or two songs that could or should have been left in the vaults. I'm sure the River has it's share. (My vote would be Jackson Cage, the third song in what is an otherwise fantastic blast of rock and roll that kicks this album off ---The Ties That Bind, Sherry Darling and Two Hearts) but one song out of 20 ain't bad odds. This album changed Springsteen's career. With Hungry Heart it broke him into the mainstream, and with two albums worth of full blown rockers to choose from, it meant he no longer needed to depend upon up-tempo cover songs to flesh out his four hour, myth-making live shows. With the release of TRACKS, Springsteen revealed how much work and thought went into each and every album he released. There was a story he was trying to tell, and each album was another chapter in this musical novel. From Darkness to Born in the USA, Bruce was writing tons of songs, and recording them over and over. A song that didn't make it on Darkness was probably considered for The River or re-recorded for Nebraska and finally released on the B-Side of a Born In The USA hit. Springsteen has always been an artist that can create a mood in one instant, and blow it away in the next. In concert, he conveys a series of emotions, an air of gloom or sadness can fill the stage as he sings of lost souls and hoplessness, and then, in a moment, he can shine a light, like a preacher, lifting the entire audience to it's feet in a joyous rebirth. The River is the closest Springsteen has gotten to capturing that moment on tape. Darkness may have the sound of a Springsteen concert, and Born in The USA may have the thrill, but The River has the mood, the emotion, the range. For me, Bruce is like the Beatles or Dylan or The Stones or a handful other artist; it's almost impossible to say which album is his best. My choice would be Tunnel of Love, but if I had to choose one album that defined the man, that summed up to everything he stood for, that captured all of his hopes and beliefs, this would be the one. Springsteen is a great storyteller, and The River could be his most powerful tale.


Most overrated Springsteen Album   May 25, 2004
Joe Roberts
12 out of 18 found this review helpful

In the 70's Bruce released 3 masterpieces, all completely different from one another. The Wild The Innocent, Born To Run, Darkness On The Edge Of Town. 3 practically flawless, mature paintings - everything you could want in an album. I was convinced Bruce could do no wrong. And then this thing came out. There are quite a few good songs on The River, maybe even a couple great ones. But what makes this album a real clunker is the sheer number of half-baked, mind-numbing, happy-crappy pop songs. The man who gave us Incident On 57th St, Thunder Road and Darkness on The Edge of Town now presents us with Crush On You, I Wanna Marry You, I'm A Rocker, Ramrod, and a few others which I thankfully can't remember now. This stuff is bad for you. bad. bad. Listen to Blood On The Tracks twice and call me in the morning.


My favorite Springsteen album   January 13, 2001
Thomas Aquinas (Worcester, MA)
10 out of 12 found this review helpful

This is a very poigniant album and one of the best albums by any artist. Springsteen is very expansive on this album, touching on many different facets of life with a minimum of pretention.

My favorite songs are "Point Blank" and "Stolen Car." Anyone who's lived through a failed relationship should be touched by these songs.

Parts of the album continue the ode to blue collar life begun in "Darkness on the Edge of Town" including rockers like "You Can Look but you Better Not Touch," "Sherry Darling," and "Out in the Streets." Then there is the heartfelt blue collar ballad, "The River," as well as the other great ballads "Fade Away" and "Independence Day."

Then you have a bunch of his best good-time, flat out fun, rocking numbers like "Ramrod," "Cadillac Ranch," "I'm a Rocker," and "Crush on You." And don't forget the top ten "Hungry Heart." Despite a variety of styles the album is a very unified whole.

This is Bruce at his best, which is to say, rock at its best. An essential CD.