Sparks fly on E Street

[Kensterberg]

Yeah, but Seger's no Bryan Adams, if ya know what I mean.

[JACkory]

Not only one of the best albums in Bruce's very high quality repertoire, but one of the greatest albums in the history of rock music. That's no lie. From start to finish it never ceases to amaze and to stir the soul with visceral power.
Yeah, I confess it's been a long, long time since I last played Born to Run. It was one of those albums that was etched in my memory to the point where I didn't think I needed to hear it again to appreciate it (I'm the same way with the Beatles...I just know everything they did back and forth). And indeed I found myself singing along to the majority of it, remembering lyrics that most people would have forgotten had they waited so long to listen again. But I've got to say that with the passage of time and advancing of years, I came away from today's listening with a new-found respect for it.
It is as close to a flawless record as you can get and still be considered a rock album. And it is a rock record, there is no doubt about it. From the obsession with cars to the burning desire to run away from a stagnant existence, from the Bo Diddley drum pounding in "She's the One" to the wall-of-sound in "Night" and the title track, from the bonding and then betrayal in "Backstreets" to the Stax/Volt horn section in "10th Avenue Freeze-Out"...and let's not forget that reference to Roy Orbison that kicks off "Thunder Road".
Speaking of which, have you ever heard an end-piece section of a song that conjures the road and freedom like the one here? Clarence Clemons finally shows his stuff and it's only a foretaste of the grand, majestic solo he lays down in "Jungleland".
Bruce lets out his now famous wordless moan, towards the end of "Backstreets", and it brings out the goosebumps, like he's already said all that needs be said, that the repetition of "Hiding in the backstreets" has reached a saturation point and all he can do is howl at the moon, devastated by the anguish of losing a very close friend. It was at that point that I turned my stereo up to wall-shaking levels, which turned out to be quite appropriate as the beginning strains of "Born To Run" rattled my speakers.
I have to confess that initially I was going to choose "Night" as one of my four favorite tracks on the album. I think "Night" is one of the overlooked gems here. Definitely as worthy of being a single as "Born To Run" was. But when I heard that glockenspiel and that Telecaster guitar and the driving rhythm section, then Bruce's voice (of which I cannot find a proper accolade), I knew I had to include this masterpiece.
But seriously, "Night" is a helluva song, musically and lyrically (it's also another one on which the Big Man really shines).
I liked "Meeting Across the River" a lot more than I used to. When I was young I had no idea that this was about the anticipation of a major drug deal and how the narrator is deluded into thinking that what comes of it will change his life and the lives of those in his close circle of friends. Call me naive, I was just never into that scene in those days. Now that I'm a bit more aware I can hear the subtle nuances of the lyrics and the vocal performance. Nice arrangement, too, quite unlike anything else on the album.
Anyhoo, I could go on jabbering about this album all day. I'm gonna let someone else sing it's praises now.

5 Stars
Favorite Tracks: "Thunder Road", "Backstreets", "Born To Run", "Jungleland"
Least Favorite Track: "She's The One"

[JACkory]

fuzznuts said:

Meh, he's no Seger, though.

Man, I've been trying to come up with a funny, clever retort to that, but I just can't do it right now. Don't know why...so all I guess I can say is, yeah, he's no Seger...if he were he wouldn't have his own board.
Heh heh.

[JACkory]

I'm sure you all missed it before I changed it, but I had a typo in my Favorite Songs section and one of the tracks was "Born to Rub".
Just thought that might bring a chuckle...I know I laughed.

[Kensterberg]

jackory said:

I'm sure you all missed it before I changed it, but I had a typo in my Favorite Songs section and one of the tracks was "Born to Rub".
Just thought that might bring a chuckle...I know I laughed.

LOL. There's a porn flick in that title, JAC. But I completely missed it when I read your review myself.

[JACkory]

Yeah, porno for sure!
You probably got to the review after I'd already changed it, as I was very quick to get it modified.

I was thinking, I've given 5 stars to Springsteen's 2nd & 3rd album, and I'm sure Darkness On The Edge of Town is gonna pull down 5 from me. I hope folks don't think I'm TOO generous. But hey, it's just a fact: I think those three are definately 5 stars (in my book if in noone else's). I can pretty much guarantee that The River will NOT garner 5 of 'em. "Ramrod" and "Cadillac Ranch" are gonna drag it down.
I'll say no more until I get there.

[Kensterberg]

OK, I can understand not loving Ramrod (though it's grown on me, and on Bruce as well, apparently), but Cadillac Ranch? That's one of my favorites!

Of course, that might have something to do with the fact that I'm about as car-obsessed as the dudes that Bruce sings about.

I intentionally docked half a star from The E Street Shuffle b/c I wanted to differentiate it a touch from the bash of brilliance that follows. I know that I'm gonna award the full five stars not just to Born to Run and Darkness, but also to The River and Nebraska, and later to Tunnel of Love as well. We'll see what I've got to say about Born in the U.S.A. when we get there, and I'm actually quite curious to revisit Bruce's nineties output, not having listened to those three studio albums since, well, the nineties!

[Galactus]

Born To Run - 5

Born To Run, like JAC said is not only the greatest album Springsteen's made but also one of the top albums in history. We're talking top three.

Thunder Road
We got one last chance to make it real
To trade in these wings on some wheels
Climb in back
Heaven's waiting on down the tracks

Tenth Ave. Freeze-out -
No, Bruce doesn't know what a tenth Ave. freeze-out is either but it sure sounds good. Like E Street Shuffle, it's not a story about a band. It's a story about the band.
Well everybody better move over, that's all

Night-
Works a drag. Your car, your woman and the night shall set you free.
The circuits lined and jammed with chromed invaders
And she's so pretty that you're lost in the stars

Backstreets -
Remember all the movies, Terry, we'd go see
Trying to learn how to walk like heroes we thought we had to be

Born To Run -
Bruce has, obviously, played this every time I've seen him. I hope he plays every time I see him in the future too. The lights come up and the audience drowns out the band. It's beautiful.
The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive
Everybody's out on the run tonight
but there's no place left to hide

She's The One -
Not Fade Away but creepy. If there is a weak track on this album this is it. It just doesn't reach the heights of anything else on the album in either writing or execution. Still it's a good song and it works in the context of the album.
But there's this angel in her eyes
That tells such desperate lies
And all you want to do is believe her

Meeting Across The River -
I know it's not exactly but this should always be played as the intro to Jungleland. It's perfect.
And tonight's gonna be everything that I said
And when I walk through that door
I'm just gonna throw that money on the bed
She'll see this time I wasn't just talking
Then I'm gonna go out walking

Jungleland -
Outside the street's on fire in a real death waltz
Between flesh and what's fantasy and the poets down here
Don't write nothing at all, they just stand back and let it all be

[JACkory]

Nice overview, ded. I think you're right about "Meeting Across The River" being the perfect intro to "Jungleland". Anticipation of the perfect deal and then the resolution turns into tragedy ("In the tunnels uptown the Rat's own dream guns him down as shots echo down them hallways in the night"). Springsteen takes the character in "Meeting..." and seamlessly weaves him into the world of "Jungleland", a place that very well could be the dwelling of each and every character on this album.

Aw come on, Ken...even car enthusiasts should be able to discern the weakness of "Cadillac Ranch".

[JACkory]

I listened to Darkness On The Edge Of Town earlier today. Whoo-wee, that's a killer great album.
I'll post my thoughts about it on Monday.
I do have a Least Favorite Track, but let me tell you it was a hard, hard decision to make. Even harder than picking one from Born To Run.

Se you all on Monday...and keep this board alive, peoples.

[Galactus]

Um...I guess Something In The Night or Candy's Room would be my least favorite. I never really listen to them if I'm not listening to the album straight through.

[Galactus]

Btw...listening to Human Touch/Lucky Town era stuff lately. I actually like Cross My Heart...not sure which song I was confusing it with.

[Kensterberg]

I'm pretty sure that "Something in the Night" is my least favorite song on Darkness. I actually like "Candy's Room" a lot: I love the contrasts in Max's drumming, and the way Bruce's guitar lets loose from the solo on. That final howl of guitar as he sings "tonight" to close the song evokes squealing tires, arguments (both within and without), and the rush of freedom that comes with pursuing something you want so badly.

For that matter, the wordless moan that permeates "Something in the Night" perfectly conjures up the ache of a permanently broken heart. Darkness is indeed one hell of an album. I'll put my formal thoughts about it up on Monday, too, but you already know the crux of my feelings.

[Galactus]

So since I think we all agree that three CDs (Human Touch, Lucky Town and disc 4 of Tracks - nearly 40 songs all total) of 1990-1992 is too much from that period. I've distilled my picks for a single disc Humantown/ Lucky Touch...

1. Human Touch
2. Cross My Heart
3. I Wish I Were Blind
4. With Every Wish
5. Real World
6. Sad Eyes
7. Pony Boy
8. Gave It A Name
9. Better Days
10. Lucky Town
11. Living Proof
12. If I Should Fall Behind
13. Leap Of Faith
14. Book Of Dreams
15. Souls Of The Departed
16. Trouble River
17. My Beautiful Reward

[Kensterberg]

Born to Run. In my personal rock and roll canon, this is near the very pinnacle, up there in the rarified air with London Calling, Abbey Road, and Blonde on Blonde/Highway 61 Revisited. This is the record that made Springsteen into a major player on the rock and roll stage in every respect, the album that sums up all his early promise, and the record that set his course for the next major phase of his career. In every respect, this record is the fundamental touchstone in Springsteen's career, the album to which all others must be compared.

The screen door slams, Mary's dress waves.
Like a vision she dances as the radio plays
Roy Orbison singing "For the Lonely" -- hey that's me and I want you to hold me.

The first words of "Thunder Road" vividly set the scene for the acts which follow. A guy pulls up to pick up his girl for a night that holds the promise of salvation, damnation, or both. Springsteen sketches out his character over a running piano accompaniment, which picks up support from drums, guitars and bass as the tune continues. Our hero doesn't have much, his car and guitar and "one last chance to make it real" are the only things he can offer his date as pleads "baby climb in, it's a town full of losers and I'm pulling out of here to win." With that, the music decisively breaks, and Clarence lets loose with a gigantic uplifting, and utterly triumphant riff, which is echoed in piano and guitars. There is no chorus to "Thunder Road" to speak of, but there are no shortage of hooks here. From Bittan's piano runs during the opening section to Bruce and Miami Steve's shared crooning of "oooh oh Thunder Road," climaxing with the massive instrumental section, the whole song is the chorus, much like the Clash's later "White Man in Hammersmith Palais."

From here, it's a whirlwind tale of how the band came together in "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out," though even Springsteen admits that he has no idea what this phrase means. But the song is incredibly catchy, Steve Van Zandt's horn charts are perfect, and it also makes for one of the best live numbers in rock. In "Night," Springsteen's sense of urgency and the need to escape a dreary working class life transform what could have been a by-the-numbers rocker to something much, much more. Side one ends with the epic, bitter grandure of "Backstreets." I don't know what I can say about this song that hasn't already been said, but I personally love the fact that Bruce is more upset b/c he's lost his friend Terry than he is that she's with another guy. It was the companionship, that special shared bond between two people who see life from the same perspective that he morns here, not the loss of romantic or physical love. If there was ever any doubt that Springsteen is a Romantic with a capital R, it ends here.

Side two kicks off with the title track, which is quite possibly the definitive Springsteen song, and IMHO in the very short list of songs which can be credibly called "the best in rock." As Bruce noted years later, this song sort of opens up and expands all the rest of his catalog. The production is absolute perfection throughout, and hits a particular peak on this track. Bittan's piano once again pushes the cut along, as a wall of guitars smash into a riff as long and mean as the hood of a big-block Camaro looking for someone to race on a Saturday night.

After the explosion of "Born to Run," Springsteen's simple guitar and a Bo Diddley beat anchor the tale of lust and a particularly nasty lover in "She's the One." IMO this is probably the slightest song on the album, and it's still a great rocker. Muted trumpet opens "Meeting Across the River," a song which was originally titled "The Heist," and which in its bare lyrics points towards the tact that Bruce would increasingly take for telling his stories over the rest of his career. From there, the soaring, operatic "Jungleland" brings down the curtain on this album, with a story which fits snugly with the young lovers on side two of The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle, but told in a more focussed and precise manner. Where previous epics meandered to their conclusions, "Jungleland" races towards its climax, with the musical elements punching up the narrative, highlighted particularly by Clarence Clemon's performance of one of the most effective (and most carefully concieved and crafted) sax solos in rock.

I really cannot put into words how much this album has affected me over the last 27 or so years. I remember the first time I ever dropped the needle on "Thunder Road" actually, and scanned the lyric sheet to keep up with the story Bruce was unraveling. I've roared down highways and back roads with the words "we gotta get out while we're young, 'cause tramps like us baby we were born to run" echoing in my ears. I've known that girl who, with just one kiss can fill your summer nights with her tenderness, and known the exhaustion of time spent "hiding on the backstreets" with a partner who leaves you for the promise of an easier existence. At several points in my life, I've taken this record for granted -- almost dismissed it as a marker of my misspent youth -- only to pop it in at some point, take that incredible ride from "Thunder Road" to "Jungleland" and rediscover its power.

If all the rest of Springsteen's catalog was sub-Bryan Adams schlock-rock, that still wouldn't diminish the power of Born to Run one iota. The fact that he went on to make a heap of other great records (at least a couple of which are every bit as good) only makes it sweeter. With the release of this album, Bruce fulfilled every promise his art had made to this point, but it made a bunch more. And he kept them, IMO. But that's the subject of the next set of reviews, now isn't it.

(I told you guys I was gonna rave about Born to Run. Congrats to anyone who made it through that whole thing).