The River is the fifth studio album by American singer Bruce Springsteen. It was released on 17 October, 1980 through Columbia Records. It went to number 1 in Canada and the United States, number 2 in the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden and the United Kingdom, number 3 in France, number 5 in Spain and number 8 in Australia.
In 2015, Bruce Springsteen re-recorded The River for its 35th anniversary edition on 4 December, 2015 as a boxed set containing 52 tracks on four CDs along with four hours on video on three DVDs or two Blu-ray discs.
Springsteen wrote a large amount of music during album sessions, and even with the 2015 box set, many songs still remain unreleased. Songs such as "Held Up Without a Gun", "Be True", and "Roulette" were featured as B-sides, the first two on the album's singles and the last on a Tunnel of Love single. "Loose Ends", “Roulette”, "Restless Nights", "Where the Bands Are", "Dollhouse", "Living on the Edge of the World", "Take 'em as They Come", "Ricky Wants a Man of Her Own", "I Wanna Be with You", "Mary Lou" were released on the Tracks box set, while "From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)" was released on The Essential Bruce Springsteen collection in 2003. An alternate version of "Stolen Car" was released on Tracks.[11][12] During The River sessions, Springsteen also recorded demos of "Jole Blon", "Dedication", "Your Love", and "This Little Girl", in preparation for summer recording sessions he was co-producing for Gary U.S. Bonds. "Jeannie Needs a Shooter" was also given to Warren Zevon, which he re-worked and recorded. None of the demos recorded at Telegraph Hill Studios in Holmdel (the converted barn on Springsteen's property) in 1979 have ever been released, probably because of quality issues ("Night Fire" and "Meet Me In the City", on the outtakes disc, both featured 1979 Power Station backing and 2015 re-recorded vocals). Most can be found on the Lost Masters bootleg collection, released in the 1990s.[13]