#21 Bruce Springsteen, 'Born to Run' (1975)
Previously #18
Springsteen’s first two releases were commercial failures. Around this time, Rolling Stone journalist, Jon Landau saw Springsteen perform at Harvard Square Theatre, noting in the The Real Paper, “I saw rock and roll future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen. And on a night when I needed to feel young, he made me feel like I was hearing music for the very first time.” As a last-ditch effort to make Springsteen a commercially successful artist, Columbia gave him a massive budget to record the third album. These sessions would almost break Springsteen mentally, who struggled to convey the sounds he had in his head to the musicians in the studio. Springsteen, having seen his review, brought in Landau to help him, feeling he understood what he was trying to achieve. This was the start of a 47-year-and-counting relationship between the pair and Landau is Springsteen’s manager to this day. ‘Born To Run,’ would take more than 14 months to record with 6 months alone being dedicated to the title track. That song was released months ahead of the album’s completion creating massive anticipation. The opening drum fill was played by Ernest “Boom” Carter, a temporary drummer within the E Street Band. His successor and drummer on the rest of the album, Max Weinberg has said that Carter’s Jazz fusion playing on the song is one that Weinberg could never replicate live and eventually stopped trying.
The record opens with the poignant ‘Thunder Road,’ a song about a character named Mary and her boyfriend and their "one last chance to make it real," similar to Springsteen and this album. It opens with Roy Bittan’s delicate piano playing and namechecks Roy Orbison, a huge influence on Springsteen. Majority of the record was composed on piano, in fact. ‘Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,’ is about Bad Scooter, aka Bruce Springsteen himself and the formation of the E Street Band. In the third verse, Springsteen sings about when “the Big Man joined the band.” The Big Man was his nickname for his now-deceased saxophonist, Clarence Clemons and this part of the song is now used to pay tribute to him in concert, with Springsteen pausing to look at his image on screen before continuing. The LP takes a “four corners” approach with each side starting with upbeat songs to escape and adventure and ending with songs about loss and betrayal (‘Backstreets’ and ‘Jungleland’). The promotion of the record, buoyed by Landau’s now famous quote, created hype and intrigue and saw ‘Born To Run’ peak at #3 on the charts. It went on to sell in excess of 6 million copies and after two false starts, Springsteen had arrived with one of the greatest collection of works ever recorded. I once saw Springsteen perform this cover to cover live and it remains one of the best concert experiences of my life. I’ve listened to this one countless times in my life and no matter how many times I hear it, it makes me emotional and excited everytime. It’s a rollercoaster of stories by one of the best singer-songwriters of our time. I could stop this countdown right now and be satisfied. But I won’t. Onward to the Top 20!
#rs500albums