Bruce Springsteen fans who didn't pick up the deluxe The Promise set when it was released in late-2010 will soon be able to get a copy of the documentary The Promise: The Making of Darkness On The Edge of Town.
Columbia Records will release Springsteen's documentary on DVD and Blu-Ray on May 2. The award-winning film will be accompanied by the bonus features Songs From the Promise, a five-song concert event filmed in Asbury Park, NJ, and A Conversation With His Fans, an intimate Q&A session.
The Promise: The Making of Darkness On The Edge of Town was directed by Grammy- and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Thom Zimny. The film received a rapturous critical response around the world, including as an official selection, Toronto International Film Festival, The BFI London Film Festival and The International Rome Film Festival.
The 90 minute documentary combines never-before-seen footage of Springsteen and the E Street Band shot between 1976 and 1978, including home rehearsals and studio sessions, with new interviews with Springsteen, E Street Band members, manager Jon Landau, former-manager Mike Appel, and others closely involved in the making of the record.
Songs From The Promise was filmed late last year before an audience of approximately 60 fans at the historic Carousel House in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Springsteen and members of the E Street Band (Clarence Clemons, Stevie Van Zandt, Max Weinberg, Roy Bittan, and Gary Tallent) were joined by keyboardist Charles Giordano, a full horn section (Ed Manion, Barry Danielian, Curt Ramm, Clark Gayton and Stan Harrison) and special guest David Lindley, who played violin during the original recording sessions. Directed and edited by Zimny and mixed by Emmy-winner Bob Clearmountain, the concert features the only live E Street Band performances of four tracks from The Promise plus Blue Christmas.
"Songs From The Promise" Track listing:
Racing in the Street ('78)
Gotta Get That Feeling
Ain't Good Enough For You
The Promise
Blue Christmas
Hosted by music critic and Springsteen biographer Dave Marsh, A Conversation With His Fans is an intimate, 22-minute Q&A session featuring Springsteen at his most candid. Before a small audience in the studios of Sirius XM's E Street Radio channel, Springsteen discusses the writing and recording of Darkness on the Edge of Town and the decision to release the extensive collection of songs that didn't make the record. "We worked hard on the music that we didn't put out," Springsteen tells one fan. "The nice thing about it is it's still there, it hasn't gone anywhere and I think we're at a point where it's nice to have the stuff sufficiently see the light of day." Questions are intercut with highlights from the The Promise box set, including the Paramount Theater concert and rare archival footage from 1978.
The DVD and Blu-Ray are available for pre-order at Amazon.com and Brucespringsteen.net
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