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Springsteen film keeps promise
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
In the mid- to late 70s, Bruce Springsteen was in a holding pattern.
The Jersey rocker had been elevated to rock savior after the release of his previous album, 1975’s “Born to Run.” But his legal battle with former manager-producer Mike Appel prevented him from releasing a follow-up — that, and his uncompromising desire to capture the mood and the sound that he was seeking.
This critical time period (1976-78) is the setting for the much-anticipated documentary “The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town.”
“Darkness” was the stark and powerful album Springsteen was working on at the time.
In the 90-minute documentary, filmmaker Thom Zimny uses never-before-seen black-and-white footage of rehearsals and recording sessions that show the creative process at work.
The film, which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival last month, gets its television premiere at 9 tonight on HBO.
Though the film focuses on just those few years, it reveals all you need to know about the New Jersey rocker. The footage demonstrates the unyielding perfectionism of a young Springsteen in crafting the album that became a life-changer for many.
The film is interspersed with clips of present-day interviews with the Boss, Clarence Clemons, Steve Van Zandt and other E-Street Band members, which shed even more light on those heady days.
For “Darkness,” Springsteen was going for a stripped-down sound and a desperate feel that reflected the lives of many Americans at the time.
He composed dozens and dozens of songs before whittling down the few that would comprise the album. Many of the songs were good but just didn’t fit in (a few wound up on the next release, the lighter “The River”).
Springsteen would declare a song ready only after a great deal of rewriting. He would mix and match snippets of lyrics, or a verse, or a guitar riff, until he had put it together just right — likening the process to swapping parts from one car to another.
“The Promise” will undoubtedly enthrall Springsteen fans with its behind-the-scenes footage as it reveals the story behind one of rock’s seminal albums.