Bruce Springsteen Darkness on the Edge of Town 1978 Orig. Vinyl LP w/Inserts

$

30

Welcome to Classic Cadillac Records!  My goal is to provide each and every customer with the best possible buying experience, no matter the size of the order.  Unlike most sellers, I advertise all my items clearly and in as much detail as possible, without shouting at you in all caps.  I take multiple high quality pictures and never use stock photos, so you know exactly what you're buying.  I take great pride in my work and go the extra mile, which can clearly be seen in my listings compared to other sellers that put minimal effort into theirs.  I visually grade all my records as accurately as possible and will never grade anything above Near Mint unless it's still sealed.  Please note that a visual grade can differ from a play grade, and am happy to spot check a record upon request.   All orders are shipped within 1 business day (usually sooner) and packed with extra care to ensure fast, safe arrival.  I combine shipping on multiple orders to save you money and gladly ship worldwide.  Please look closely at all pictures, read all relevant details and ask any questions you may have before buying.  I offer a full 30-day return policy on everything I sell, so buy with confidence!  And most importantly, thanks for looking! Darkness on the Edge of Town Studio album by  Bruce Springsteen Released June 2, 1978 Recorded June 1, 1977 – March 15, 1978[1] Studio Atlantic Studios and The Record Plant, New York, NY Genre Hard rock, rock, heartland rock Length 42:55 Label Columbia Producer Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau, Steven Van Zandt (assistant) Bruce Springsteen chronology Born to Run
(1975) Darkness on the Edge of Town
(1978) The River
(1980) Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band chronology Born to Run
(1975) Darkness on the Edge of Town
(1978) The River
(1980) Singles from Darkness on the Edge of Town

1. "Prove It All Night"
   Released: May 23, 1978
2. "Badlands"
   Released: August 1978
3. "The Promised Land"
   Released: October 1978

Darkness on the Edge of Town is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released on June 2, 1978. The album marked the end of a three-year gap between albums brought on by contractual obligations and legal battling with former manager Mike Appel.

Reviews for Darkness on the Edge of Town were overwhelmingly positive. Critics praised the maturity of the album's themes and lyrics. It remains one of Springsteen's most highly regarded records by both fans and critics and several of its songs have become staples of Springsteen's live performances. In 2020, it ranked at No. 91 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Recording and production

Recovering from legal troubles and the stress of the breakthrough success of Born to Run, Springsteen recorded a somewhat less commercial album in Darkness on the Edge of Town. As with the original LP's sequencing, Springsteen continued his "four corners" approach from Born to Run, as the songs beginning each side ("Badlands" and "The Promised Land") were martial rallying cries to overcome circumstances, while the songs ending each side ("Racing in the Street", "Darkness on the Edge of Town") were sad dirges of circumstances overcoming all hope. Unlike Born to Run, the songs were recorded by the full band at once, frequently soon after Springsteen had written them. Steven Van Zandt received a credit for production assistance for helping Springsteen tighten the arrangements.

During the Darkness sessions, Springsteen wrote or recorded many songs that he ended up not using on the album. Keeping the album's thematic feel was very important to him, and the songs piled up because the sessions continued for almost a year. An album concept named "Badlands" was prepared in October 1977, complete with album covers, but was rejected at the last minute by Springsteen, because he was not comfortable with the release, and wanted to continue recording. Sessions finally concluded in January, but mixing continued three additional months. According to Jimmy Iovine, Springsteen wrote at least 70 songs during this period, and 52 of those songs recorded were complete, with 18 not fully completed. Some of the unused material became hits for other artists such as "Because the Night" for Patti Smith; "Fire" for Robert Gordon and The Pointer Sisters; "Rendezvous" for Greg Kihn; and two tracks for Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, "Hearts of Stone" and "Talk to Me". Other songs such as "Independence Day", "Drive All Night", "Ramrod", and "Sherry Darling" would turn up on Springsteen's next album, The River, while still others became bootleg classics until surfacing on Springsteen's compilations titled Tracks and The Promise.

Packaging

The cover shot and inner sleeve photo were taken by photographer Frank Stefanko inside his Haddonfield, New Jersey home. Springsteen said, "When I saw the picture I said, 'That's the guy in the songs.' I wanted the part of me that's still that guy to be on the cover. Frank stripped away all your celebrity and left you with your essence. That's what that record was about."

Release and reception

Darkness on the Edge of Town was released on June 2, 1978. According to pop culture scholar Gillian G. Gaar, the album "wasn't quite the smash that Born to Run had been, but it fared well enough on the charts, reaching No. 5 [on the Billboard 200] and selling more than three million copies. The album's singles were only modest hits ('Prove It All Night' reached the Top 40, peaking at No. 33, and 'Badlands' climbed to No. 42)." The album remained on the charts for 97 weeks and was certified triple Platinum by the RIAA.

Reviewing in 1978 for Rolling Stone, Dave Marsh viewed Darkness on the Edge of Town as a landmark record in rock and roll because of the clarity of its production, Springsteen's unique guitar playing, and the programming, which he said connected the characters and themes in a subtle yet cohesive manner. Marsh remarked that the subject matter of the songs fulfilled the hype that previously surrounded Springsteen: "What they've always said was that someday Bruce Springsteen would make rock & roll that would shake men's souls and make them question the direction of their lives. That would do, in short, all the marvelous things rock had always promised to do." Robert Christgau was less enthusiastic in The Village Voice. He found Springsteen's narratives versatile and the characters remarkable on "Badlands", "Adam Raised a Cain", and "Promised Land", writing that they showcased "how a limited genre can illuminate a mature, full-bodied philosophical insight". He deemed other songs, particularly "Streets of Fire" and "Something in the Night", more impressionistic and overblown, revealing Springsteen to be either "an important minor artist or a very flawed and inconsistent major one". In the UK, the album was ranked at No. 1 among the "Albums of the Year" for 1978 by NME.

Reappraisal and legacy

In retrospective appraisals, Darkness on the Edge of Town has been noted for exploring "hard truths in hard rock settings". According to an essay by Springsteen scholars Kenneth Womack and Eileen Chapman revisiting the album, "Springsteen drives away from the beach and boardwalk and into the ethos of the American heartland" while influenced by punk rock and country music. AllMusic's William Ruhlmann said that Springsteen began to fully realize his characters as working class on Darkness on the Edge of Town, whose "hard truths in hard rock settings" made for a less accessible work than Born to Run. According to music journalist Joe Marchese, "Darkness showed that one could marry hard rock with piano and saxophone", while writer Rob Kirkpatrick regarded it as "the album in which Springsteen leaves R&B behind and plants himself firmly in the world of hard rock, seventies style." For Steven Hyden, it is "the first, best example of Springsteen juxtaposing rousing rock music with miniaturist, miserablist, Middle American storytelling".

According to Trevor J. Levin and Edward M. Litwin of The Harvard Crimson, Darkness on the Edge of Town "perfected the heartland rock genre" that Born to Run had created—"a genre meant to embrace working class American life through its depiction of such a life as joyless and cursed." In regards to "Candy's Room", Michael Hann from The Quietus said, "in the subject of the narrator's affections – a prostitute – there's punk's dalliance with transgression brought into heartland rock, but with a tenderness and adoration that punk would have struggled with".

Darkness on the Edge of Town has frequently appeared on rankings of the greatest albums of all-time. According to Acclaimed Music, it is the 118th most frequently ranked record on critics' all-time lists. In the opinion of Pitchfork's Mark Richardson, it "ranks with rock's classic albums". In 1987, a panel of rock critics and music broadcasters were polled for Paul Gambaccini's The Top 100 Rock 'n' Roll Albums of All Time, voting Darkness the 59th best rock album. In 2003, it was ranked at number 151 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, re-ranked number 150 in a 2012 revised list, while rising to number 91 in a further revision in 2020. An accompanying essay said it is the E Street Band's best performance, "colored by the raw sound happening at the time". Ten years later, the album was ranked 109th on a similar list by NME.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Bruce Springsteen.