I was playing with iTunes yesterday, particularly with the new Ping feature which incorporates Twitter-like social networking directly into the application.  I noticed when playing a particular song, the iTunes Ping sidebar indicated that a certain someone named Bruce Springsteen also likes that particular artist.  “Cool,” I thought, “let me click on this guy and see what else he’s about” and as it turns out it really is The Boss himself (or at least someone in his employ) posting “pings” on iTunes.  His ping from September 10th indicates that there is a new release coming out on November 16th:  The Promise: The Darkness On The Edge Of Town Story which includes a 90 minute documentary The Promise: The Making of Darkness On The Edge Of Town and an additional 21 previously unreleased songs from the Darkness sessions.

Extra cool!  The complete package is pricey – $125 – but it is as good as purchased already.  It was on September 19, 1978 (yes, twenty years later the date would serve as Edith and my wedding day) that I recorded Bruce’s live radio concert from the Capital Theater in Passaic, NJ, while on the Darkness tour.  The show stands out as a masterpiece (or, as it was later titled on the bootleg release, a Piece de Resistance.)  I remember bouncing off my bedroom walls listening to the show, which included unreleased songs (Independence Day, Fire, Because the Night, and an alternate version of Point Blank) as well as the ultimate absolutely flat out hardest rocking guitar screaming best live recording you will ever hear of Prove It All Night, plus gems such as Not Fade Away seguing into She’s The One, and shades of Drive All Night hidden inside of Backstreets.  With the release of The Promise also comes a live recording from Houston from the Darkness tour, and the set list looks like a real challenger to the Passaic show:

  1. Badlands
  2. Streets Of Fire
  3. It’s Hard To Be A Saint In The City
  4. Darkness On The Edge Of Town
  5. Spirit In The Night
  6. Independence Day
  7. The Promised Land
  8. Prove It All Night
  9. Racing In The Street
  10. Thunder Road
  11. Jungleland
  12. The Ties That Bind
  13. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
  14. The Fever
  15. Fire
  16. Candy’s Room
  17. Because The Night
  18. Point Blank
  19. She’s The One
  20. Backstreets
  21. Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
  22. Born To Run
  23. Detroit Medley
  24. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
  25. You Can’t Sit Down
  26. Quarter To Three

Anyway, if you can’t tell, I’m excited about this release!