Compiling the leftovers of a truly great album is never not cause for celebration. The Promise is more of those Darkness on the Edge of Town sessions, the songs which did not quite fit. This is not an act of leftovers thrown together arrangement but a carefully condensed and fascinating collection of songs from the period. From a Patti Smith collaboration to a song made famous by The Pointer Sisters before Springsteen ever put an official release out, The Promise is a notable collection, an example, as Bob Dylan has previously provided, of great works left behind. Outtakes and extras are rarely worth waiting around for but the legends of the industry, those creatives we lap up whenever they send a new track out into the abyss, are always worth a shot.
Racing in the Street opens The Promise with a roar. Quality harmonica, a tender instrumental section underscoring it and a brutal lyrical push, of taking and hoping for more action to come. One of the finest Springsteen songs around, no question. Additional dubs made in 2010, just before the album was released, do relatively little to change the charm of the times, all they do is confirm the quality of Springsteen as a writer. Outside Looking In is a marvellous early selection from The Promise, a track which holds firm with those outsider tones which struck such a chord with Springsteen albums to follow Darkness on the Edge of Town. What remains crucial to The Promise is how, despite it being a compilation of deep cuts, it remains accessible. Where the Bob Dylan Bootleg Series may be a run-through of studio mistakes and slight variations for dedicated fans of the Mr. Tambourine Man songwriter, The Promise serves as a complete and cool collection of songs which, while finished, were simply not released.
This is not so much a compilation as it is a complete record, a theme carried through leftovers which stand as relevant and brilliant even when removed from the Darkness on the Edge of Town context. Songs of the broken hearted, the trodden on, and the beaten down, are strokes of brilliance from Springsteen. The Brokenhearted and Candy’s Boy are monumental examples of Springsteen appealing to the reminiscent and the heartbroken. Instrumental depths are the true strength here, lush and deep-sounding sections with The E Street Band at their very best. Where the thrill of the first side suggests songs which could easily fit onto a release from the times, tracks like Fire and Ain’t Good Enough for You, while instrumentally thrilling, are lyrically short-changed.
Punchy numbers like Talk to Me remain a staple of Springsteen’s sound and bring The Promise back from the brink after some relatively tame additional pieces before it. Ballad-like intensity on the title track is a welcome break. An honest powerhouse of drunken fights and the acceptance of losing a few battles. Harsh living and rough noise, paired with those wonderful piano additions make a return to Thunder Road bittersweet more than anything. The Promise is a collection of tracks which, while standing tall decades later, are understandably locked away around the time Darkness on the Edge of Town was released. Plenty of brilliant songs within, well worth a listen even for the passing Springsteen fan. Context is everything, and the flood of incredible works from those late 1970s recording sessions is remarkable.
