Top Five Bruce Springsteen Albums

On March 6th, Bruce Springsteen will release his 17th studio album, Wrecking Ball.

It's The Boss' first record since Clarence Clemons passed away last June. "Land of Hope and Dreams" has been dedicated to Clemons who performs on the album. The rest of the E Street Band has also contributed to Wrecking Ball, which has been described as Springsteen's angriest record. 

Bruce Springsteen has been making music for forty years and has recorded so many transcendent albums. Wrecking Ball might become a classic one day, but here are five bonafide masterpieces from The Boss. 

Album: Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.

Year: 1973

Stand-out tracks: Blinded by the Light, Growin' Up, For You, & Spirit in the Night

Springsteen's debut album is in many ways an homage to one of his biggest influences, Bob Dylan: folk tunes, acoustic guitar, piano and organ, a unique voice, and an intricate lyricism that creates vivid imagery. While Dylan approaches his songwriting from a more cynical place, Springsteen's songs - at least on this particular record - are hopeful amidst tragedy and brimming with energy in a depleted world.

 

Album: Tunnel of Love

Year: 1987

Stand-out tracks: Brilliant Disguise, Tunnel of Love, One Step Up, & Spare Parts

Springsteen followed the most popular album of his career, Born in the U.S.A., with a stripped down, understated, autobiographical record about the dissolution of his marriage, Tunnel of Love. Jason Warburg, editor of the Daily Vault, calls Tunnel of Love "one of the clearest and frankest views an artist has ever offered of what a crumbling relationship looks like from the inside." In 1987, The Boss was definitely at a crossroads in his life and career, "learning to live with what [he couldn't] rise above."

Album: The River

Year: 1980

Stand-out tracks: Sherry Darling, Hungry Heart, Out in the Street, The River & I'm a Rocker

The River is a double album that feels like two disparate records. One album contains some of the same themes from Darkness on the Edge of Town - disillusionment of working-class life, familial conflicts, ordinary people trying to overcome their mundane lives, whereas the other album is lively, uptempo and rockin'. On "Hungry Heart" - Springsteen's first Top Ten hit - the songwriter blends elements of both albums by placing a somber lyric over energetic music.

 

Album: Darkness on the Edge of Town

Year: 1978

Stand-out tracks: Badlands, The Promise Land, Prove it All Night & Darkness on the Edge of Town

Darkness on the Edge of Town is, well, for lack of a better word "dark." Unlike Born to Run, Springsteen's cast of characters are less hopeful and have little chance at redemption. The stories are less romantic, less heroic, less hopeful, while Springsteen's angst is manifested in his furious guitar playing.

In the Rolling Stone review (July 27, 1978), journalist Dave Marsh wrote, "Occasionally, a record appears that changes fundamentally the way we hear rock & roll, the way it's recorded, the way it's played...I have no doubt that Bruce Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town will someday fit as naturally within that list as the Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" or Sly and the Family Stone's "Dance to the Music."

High praise indeed!

Album: Born to Run

Year: 1975

Stand-out tracks: Thunder Road, Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out, Badlands, Born to Run & Jungleland

Springsteen said that he wanted Born to Run to sound like "Roy Orbison singing Bob Dylan, produced by Phil Spector." I'm not sure if Bruce sings like Roy, but the album has a distinctly big sound that is complemented by plenty of big songs. The result? An album that catapulted Bruce's career.  

It was on Born to Run where Springsteen developed a "four corners" approach. The songs beginning each side ("Thunder Road"& "Born to Run") are uplifting, while the songs ending each side ("Backstreets"& "Jungleland") are tragic tales.

Comments

[Linda East Brady]

Good and timely post. Excited about the new Bruce record!

We have interesting differences on our top 5, which, of course, is just a matter of differeing tastes.

Mine would also include "Darkness" and "BTR," as yours do, but I cannot have a list of any favorite albums that does not include "The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle." It's completely original -- Van Morrison's "Astral Weeks," clearly an influence, comes closest to sounding like it. It doesn't sound even anything like Bruce's other albums. It's hot and hungry young Bruce and the E Street band, with Sancious' jazz inflections and arrangements, and just really incredible story songs -- character and landscape studies that capture that time and those places. It works real well as an album, especially the old-fashioned vinyl kind. There is a distinct side one and two (the three song movement of side two being the masterpiece). In fact, when people insist on makig me choose, I pick it as my all-time favorite album.

And I gotta put "Nebraska" on there -- not becaue I think it is so great -- thouhg it has realy grown on me since its release -- but becasue of when and why it came out in his career, one -- it's a transitional album (carrying on what started on "Darkness.") And so many young bands and songwriters I interview, from Jason Isbell to Sonya Leigh, point to it as a foundational album. It helped shape Americana today.

I think "The River" could have stood for some editing. I think it would have been a great single album with pruning.

[richie]

As I said earlier to someone who disagreed with my top five albums, on any other day "Wild and Innocent" could be in my top five; however, I've really been into "Greetings From Asbury Park," so that's why "Wild and Innocent" is number six.

Like you, I'm not the biggest fan of "Nebraska," but I can certainly appreciate the direction Bruce took at that time. It's a lot like "Tunnel of Love," where The Boss followed his heart and artistic pursuits and didn't give a damn what anybody else thought.

And like you, I too think that "The River" could be trimmed down into one great album. I find myself skipping around that record, but what I listen to I really like.

Thanks for supporting the blog, Linda. It means a great deal to me.

[Linda East Brady]

Glad to support such a tasty, well-written blog about music as yours! Always something here to make me think (or at least listen!)