Bruce Springsteen's Born To Run was a breakthrough. Before Born To Run, Springsteen was a regional star with some national following. He was a vibrant stage performer and his band was honing considerable rapport and skill. His first 2 albums had met with decent critical but limited commercial success. The story is, that this was Springsteen's last shot with the record company and without a real hit album, he could be back at the Jersey shore working the bar scene for his loyal local following. Well... as it turns out, this one was Springsteen's version of Kirk Gibson's World Series home run, Michael Jordan's "The Shot", or the 80 U.S. Hockey team's "Miracle on Ice" (sorry about the sports comparisons in a music blog).
As a 21 year old in 1975, my favorite radio station (WMMS Cleveland) would play the title song every Friday at 6:00pm to kick off the weekend. At that time, Springsteen's most faithful fans outside of his Jersey home base may have been in Cleveland and the record company helped the cause by getting an early pressing to WMMS. Springsteen had me hooked from the opening chords of this great song.
But the Album Listening Experience is about the album, not just the song and make no mistake about it, this entire album is great. The songwriting became more accessible melodically. The lyrics told stories that was/is identifiable by the average listener. The E-Street Band showed itself to be just about the best band in the business, and the production, channeling Phil Spector's Wall of Sound technique made the tone powerful.
The album opens with Thunder Road. In my opinion, this is Springsteens best song ever. With an instantly recognizable harmonica and piano intro, followed by lyrics that are bursting with imagery, the song builds in intesity both in instrumentation and tempo til the saxophone/piano coda. This song is often (and deservedly) ranked very high on the list of greatest rock songs of all time. 10th Avenue Freeze Out loosely tells the story of Bruce and the formation of the E-Street Band. It features upbeat horns and highlight's Clarence Clemon's saxophone. The Night is a fine song who's theme is a popular one in Bruce Springsteen's catalogue. A hard working man who's labors during the day enable him to pursue his dreams of fast cars and the love of a good woman. Backstreets is a stately, powerful song about relationships. It represents further maturity in Springsteens songwriting and is an excellent closing song for side one.
Side 2 starts with Born To Run. As stated before, this one was the great song Springsteen needed to catapult his career and it delivered beyond even his lofty expectations. Once again, the imagery included motor vehicles and his desire of companionship and love with a partner who could share his vision. She's the One is a another favorite of mine (well...they're all great on the album...). This one carries a driving Bo Diddley beat throughout and once again hits the mark. Meeting Across the River is a stark depiction of the desperation of a drug deal. Once again, the imagery puts you close to the scene. With the featured instrumentation of the trumpet and piano, the musical theme mirrors the starkness of the lyrics. The album closes with the epic Jungleland. The scene is the street with music, gang life and love and desperation again as themes for the song. At 10 minutes, this is the longest song on the album and once again shows a maturity in Bruce's songwriting.
The cover of the album is also a classic and one of the most recognizable covers of all time. Featuring a black-and-white photo of Springsteen with his trusty Fender Telecaster leaning on his bandmate and friend Clarence Clemons, the cover is inviting the listener in to participate in the rock and roll inside the album. The cover is book style with Springsteen on the front and Clemons on the back. The back cover features the song list with musician credits listed for each song. The inside cover features a picture (B&W) of a smiling but tired-looking Springsteen...no doubt exhausted from the effort in creating this masterwork. The rest of the inside cover is the printed lyrics of each song. This is a cover designed for the Album Listening Experience...following along with the lyrics while listening and associating the musician with their performance.
I understand that Born To Run is not some hidden gem that few people know about. This is one of the great albums in rock and roll history. What I'm encouraging is to listen to the whole album. Hear the power in the music and lyrics of the songs that you may not know...the ones that classic rock radio doesn't play. This album brings you an artist meeting his moment. This is the career point where Springsteen became important to the medium and actually rose above it. Visit this album when there is the leisure time to listen undistracted. It is truly music of substance
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