#91 Bruce Springsteen, 'Darkness on the Edge of Town' (1978)
Previously #150
The fourth entry for the Boss and interestingly, this album’s previous spot was replaced by Springsteen’s ‘Nebraska.’ ‘Darkness On The Edge Of Town’ marked the end of a tumultuous three-year period for Springsteen. His 1975 released, ‘Born To Run,’ catapulted him to superstardom, which he struggled with. He was also in the midst of legal battles with previous manager, Mike Appel. With this record, he decided to take a somewhat less commercial approach and unlike ‘Born To Run,’ the band would record the songs pretty much as soon as Springsteen had written them. According to engineer and future mogul, Jimmy Iovine, Springsteen wrote 70 songs, and recorded 52 of them. 10 would make it to this release, with some the remaining being given to other artists to record, most notably, ‘Because The Night’ by Patti Smith. A handful also appeared on ‘The River.’
Springsteen had become jaded and he channelled his fury into this record; ‘Adam Raised A Cain,’ which happens to be one of my favourite Springsteen songs, is relentless. Springsteen plays guitar like a man possessed. It’s an album about Heartland America, the everyman’s struggle, fatherhood, depression and, of course, cars. It opens with ‘Badlands,’ which was the song Springsteen opened with the first time I photographed him. It will always invoke the feeling of nervous excitement I had, but it’s a song that’s quintessentially Springsteen. Coincidentally, it was also the song he was playing the last time I photographed him when I was pulled up on stage to get a shot of him with a rainbow that had formed. Amongst a catalogue of songs about cars, ‘Racing In The Street’ has got to be amongst his most beautiful. ‘Promised Land’ is a song about the road and one about starting over, and it features an incredible sax solo by the Big Man, Clarence Clemons; “Blow away the dreams that tear you apart/Blow away the dreams that break your heart/Blow away the lies that leave you nothing but lost and brokenhearted.” The title track has all of the themes rolled into one and it’s the perfect song to end the album. I had truly forgotten how excellent this album is and how much I love it. Thankfully, I’ve been reminded.
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