1980 2LP With Custom Card Inner Sleeves And Glossy Insert. 5 Stars! “The River Was Springsteen's Most Ambitious Work To Date, Even As The Music Sounded Leaner And More Strongly Rooted In Rock & Roll Tradition Than Anything On Darkness Or Born To Run, And Though The Album Wasn't The Least Bit Short On Good Times, The Fun In Songs Like "Two Hearts," "Out In The Street," And "Cadillac Ranch" Is Rarely Without Some Weightier Subtext. As The Romantic Rush Of "Two Hearts" Fades Into The Final Break With Family On "Independence Day" And The Sentimentality Of "I Wanna Marry You" Is Followed By The Grim Truths Of The Title Tune, Nothing Is Easy Or Without Consequence In Springsteen's World, And The Album's Themes Of Youthful Ideals Buckling Under The Weight Of Crushing Reality Are Neatly Summed Up As Springsteen Asks The Essential Question Of His Career, "Is A Dream A Lie If It Don't Come True?" "Wreck On The Highway" Is Beautiful But Fails To Resolve The Album's Essential Themes. Springsteen Rises To His Own Challenges As A Songwriter, Penning A Set Of Tunes That Are Heartfelt And Literate But Unpretentious While Rocking Hard, And The E Street Band Were Never Used To Better Advantage, Capturing The Taut, Swaggering Force Of Their Live Shows In The Studio With Superb Accuracy (And If The Very '80s Snare Crack Dates This Album, Neil Dorfsman's Engineering Makes This One Of Springsteen's Best-Sounding Works). The River Wasn't Springsteen's First Attempt To Make A Truly Adult Rock & Roll Album, But It's Certainly A Major Step Forward From Darkness On The Edge Of Town, And He Rarely Made An Album As Compelling As This, Or One That Rewards Repeat Listening As Well.” Mark Deming, AMG.