Bruce Springsteen The Promise

It's a bit frustrating as there remain many great songs from the period that still aren't out e.g. The Fever but stuff like Trapped Again, Roulette, Outside Looking In would stand muster on any album bar, ironically, the darker mood of Darkness. I was persuaded by the temptation that there is a hidden track I've had on bootleg for 25 years - The Way. Tbh it's worth the price of the CDs just for that.

The film is also superb. The live DVDs are worth it if you never saw him in that period, and possibly if you did. Overall, I'd say it's absolutely worth the money but it was The Way and The Promise that sealed it for me.

Mike,
I've got most of that stuff on bootlegs of varying quality and frankly when I occasionally dig them out I'm absolutely appalled at the quality I used to be happy to listen to. I saw him twice in the early 80s and will watch the dvds once and rip them to cd.

I've got the full monty set and the 2LP vinyl on order but they haven't reached yhis side of the world yet

I have bought the new 2 CD set which is nicely packaged. Some good tunes there and hearing different versions of Candy's Room, Racing and Factory is fascinating.

I can see why a lot of the tracks did not make Darkness - they did not fit the mood of the album but they are still good in their own right.

My local record store showed me the box set - it is really a scrap book of his notes from the time. It is expensive but they have done a nice job. I will pick up a copy later in the week.

Got my 3LP set today and have just completed a back to back listening session with "Darkness...".

It's great to hear how 'Racing...' and "Candy's Room' evolved as well as the originals of 'Because The Night' and 'Fire'; plus there are some great tracks i've never heard before, AND it sounds fantastic!

Hopefully working on this project will remind him how good records can sound....

I've been listening to this for the past few days. There are some amazing songs many people will never have heard before. The remastered Darkness sounds fantastic although I've not yet done any direct comparisons. So far I've only checked one dvd and it's fine. Nice to see slim Bruce, with hair, in his blue suit. It's almost three hours worth and sounds great. To be honest I couldn't care less about the packaging, done in the style of an apparently detailed facsimile of his notebook. I guess this added considerably to the price.