Bruce Springsteen is re-releasing his 1980 double album The River with a slew of outtakes and rarities, because it’s the holiday season and hey, he is one of the few artists of the last two generations with enough good material to make you want to hear outtakes from an album with 20 songs to begin with.
Yesterday (Nov. 23), Springsteen’s camp shared a previously-unreleased song from the The Ties That Bind: The River Collection. It’s really, really good.
Okay, if you’re only a casual Springsteen fan (or a hater) you might shrug your shoulders at “Party Lights,” as it is, after all, none to different from a many other uplifting, peak era Springsteen rockers. But then you realize how Springsteen’s 21st best song from a particular album session compares to other artists’ best songs, and you start to realize why Bruce basically is a rock and roll superhero.
Bruce Springsteen to Release Long-Awaited ‘River’ Box Set This December
The 4CD, 3DVD box set drops Dec. 4 via Columbia. It features 55 tracks, including the previously-shared Bruce Springsteen rarity “Meet Me in the City.”
And if you still can’t get enough Bruce this holiday season, well, you’re in luck. A River HBO doc called The Ties That Bind premieres this Friday (Nov. 27) and on Dec. 19, Springsteen will serve as musical guest on Saturday Night Live.