Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run (1975)

It's interesting that sometimes, even though I'm writing this blog with albums in alphabetical order, I sometimes get the same artist's two albums right next to each other. Usually it's because they have two volumes of the album with a same name, but in this case I just don't happen to own any albums that are between Born in the U.S.A. and Born to Run in the alphabet. It's interesting that two most well-known Bruce Springsteen albums start with the word 'Born'. Where Born in the U.S.A. made Springsteen a superstar filling huge stadiums, Born to Run brought Springsteen in the mainstream. Born to Run is pretty much always thought of as the best Springsteen album ever made and I certainly have to agree with that. It's a timeless classic filled with amazingly skilful musicians, great songwriting and cool sounds.



Born to run was the first Springsteen vinyl I owned. I bought it at a Helsinki-based record store with beautiful gatefold covers. Before this album, I only owned a compilation CD of Springsteen's greatest hits. By listening to that compilation, it became clear quite soon, that this was the period in Springsteen's career that I liked the most. The instruments on this album sound organic and you can easily appreciate all the talent in the E-Street band. Most striking feature from today's perspective is the use of real piano sounds. Real piano is very rarely used in proper rock music anymore these days. Synths and organs just aren't the same thing. Also, there's lots of amazing saxophone on this album. Saxophone can be a bit cheesy in popular music sometimes, but definitely not on this album.

Another thing that makes this album better than the later Springsteen albums is that the songs have been written with many different and varying parts. Especially the 80's albums have many songs that don't really change that much and they become boring quite soon, but with these masterpieces, there's always more stuff to discover.

The album starts with an amazingly groovy and soulful song Thunder Road. It grows beautifully from a lonely piano to full-on orchestra. The pianos are amazing in this one. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out is drawing influences from soul music of the day. The groove made by the bass and brass instruments is quite amazing. In Night, there are some amazingly fast bass lines. This song is a fine example of the massive proportions 70's rock could amount to. Backstreets shows the amazing raspy vocals of Springsteen probably better than any other song on this album. The title-track Born to Run is probably one of the greatest rock songs ever written. Every note in this song is masterfully played and it's full of interesting hooks and singalong parts. She's the One uses rock organs that kind of sound like some space-synthesiser bands of the day. Meeting Across the River is a great rock ballad with some jazzy qualities. The bass and saxophone in particular are like from a jazz song. The album ends with another massive, almost ten minute epic, Jungleland that has everything from slow and emotional parts to full-on rock n' roll.

This live video of Born to Run explains why Springsteen is as popular as he is. His shows are quite amazing. Unfortunately I've never had the pleasure of seeing him live, because his shows are always that expensive. Maybe if I still get a chance some time soon, I will have to bite the bullet and buy a ticket to his show before it's too late. Although, the best time to have seen him live would've been in the late 70's when he had just released his best albums.

It took me quite long to really get into Bruce Springsteen, because as a kid, I mostly had just heard Born in the U.S.A. by him and that's not a particularly interesting song. Later on, when I really found Born to Run as an album, I had to admit that the Boss is one of the greatest musicians of all times.

Listen to the album on Spotify.