Despite having a new album and a Super Bowl halftime show just around the corner, the recently Oscar-snubbed Bruce Springsteen is apparently prepping a new reissue. A deluxe redux of his 1978 album Darkness on the Edge of Town is reportedly in the works and close to completion, the Boss's boss, manager Jon Landau, recently revealed.
While speaking to Billboard, Landau said the upcoming Darkness package would follow a similar path to Columbia's 2005 box set redo of Born to Run and "would involve remastering that record, doing the kind of super-creative reconstruction and documentary of how it all came about and finding usable live footage from that point in time."
He also added: "That's a big one, and not that far from completion, and when we can find six weeks to sit down and finish it I'm sure we will."
And while Landau didn't give any firm release date for the Darkness reissue, he did weigh in on the bit of heat that Springsteen has received due to the songwriter's recently released Greatest Hits album being a Wal-Mart exclusive in the U.S.
"I know these discussions happen online and elsewhere, and I don't want to get bogged down in them, but let's start with the premise that Bruce is already in Wal-Mart," Landau said. "Wal-Mart has been 15 percent of our sales in recent years. It's not a question of going into Wal-Mart; we're there. They, and other retailers, are all looking for some way to differentiate themselves, and we try to accommodate each one.
"We're not doing any advertising for Wal-Mart. We haven't endorsed Wal-Mart or anybody else. We're letting Sony do its job making sure the record is well-presented in as many places as possible."
As previously reported, the new full-length by Springsteen and the E Street Band, Working on a Dream, is due out on January 27 via Columbia and don't worry, it's not a Wal-Mart exclusive. But then again, Canada isn't all that keen on retail exclusives anyway.
Bruce Springsteen "Darkness on the Edge of Town"
While speaking to Billboard, Landau said the upcoming Darkness package would follow a similar path to Columbia's 2005 box set redo of Born to Run and "would involve remastering that record, doing the kind of super-creative reconstruction and documentary of how it all came about and finding usable live footage from that point in time."
He also added: "That's a big one, and not that far from completion, and when we can find six weeks to sit down and finish it I'm sure we will."
And while Landau didn't give any firm release date for the Darkness reissue, he did weigh in on the bit of heat that Springsteen has received due to the songwriter's recently released Greatest Hits album being a Wal-Mart exclusive in the U.S.
"I know these discussions happen online and elsewhere, and I don't want to get bogged down in them, but let's start with the premise that Bruce is already in Wal-Mart," Landau said. "Wal-Mart has been 15 percent of our sales in recent years. It's not a question of going into Wal-Mart; we're there. They, and other retailers, are all looking for some way to differentiate themselves, and we try to accommodate each one.
"We're not doing any advertising for Wal-Mart. We haven't endorsed Wal-Mart or anybody else. We're letting Sony do its job making sure the record is well-presented in as many places as possible."
As previously reported, the new full-length by Springsteen and the E Street Band, Working on a Dream, is due out on January 27 via Columbia and don't worry, it's not a Wal-Mart exclusive. But then again, Canada isn't all that keen on retail exclusives anyway.
Bruce Springsteen "Darkness on the Edge of Town"