Expanded Bruce Springsteen "Darkness" reissue packs in extras

Columbia Records' expanded edition of Bruce Springsteen's "Darkness on the Edge of Town" will include six hours of film and more than two hours of audio on three CDs and three DVDs. It will be released Nov. 16, along with a two-CD set of previously unreleased songs titled "The Promise."

Besides the digitally remastered version of the album, the box set will include 21 previously unreleased songs, studio and concert footage, an 80-page notebook, and the documentary, also titled "The Promise." The documentary will debut at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 14 and be aired Oct. 7 on HBO.

The notebook will contain facsimiles from Springsteen's original notebooks from the recording sessions, as well as a new essay by Springsteen and photographs. "The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story" will also be released as a three-CD/three Blu-Ray disc set.

In his essay, Springsteen writes, "'Darkness' was my 'samurai' record, stripped to the frame and ready to rumble.... But the music that got left behind was substantial." Included in the box set are the rock version of "Racing in the Street," the original recordings of "Because the Night" "Fire" and "Rendezvous," plus the never-released "Someday (We'll Be Together)," "Ain't Good Enough for You," "The Brokenhearted," "Breakaway" and "The Promise."

In addition to the documentary, the DVDs will feature Springsteen and the E Street Band's 2009 performance of the album at the Paramount Theater in Asbury Park, N.J.; a collection of performances from various cities in 1976 and '78; and the complete 22-song show from Houston on July 15, 1978. It's widely believed that it was the last time Springsteen played "The Promise" until reviving it on the 1999 reunion tour.

The two-CD "The Promise" set will also be released on four LPs.