I am currently reading and enjoying Born to Run the Bruce Springsteen autobiography which was a Christmas present to myself.
A well written and interesting read following his life and career in chronological order.
It has had me reaching for some of his earlier stuff which has not had an airing for a while.
His 1973 debut album Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. for instance.
The original version was returned by Clive Davies at Columbia Records as it didn't contain a hit single.
Undeterred Brucie quickly rattled off Blinded by the Light and Spirit in the Night in jig time as you do. However, neither charted.
Manfred Mann clearly had an eye for a song as he picked these up and they were both subsequently hits for his Earth Band a few years later
Bruce Springsteen - Blinded By The Light
Bruce Springsteen - Spirit In The Night
I got his first record after buying his second one The Wild, The Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle. Both records were earthed, rough, full of ideas and great lyrics describing NYC at this time. I lost my concern for him after Born To Run his first overproduced record. Found back to him with his later works.
ReplyDeleteStill to read it but have been slightly obsessed with Darkness At The Edge of Town for the past couple of weeks especially Racing In The Street
ReplyDeleteKind of funny to see the Boss on this site -- although not surprised to find that all kinds of good music gets appreciated all over the world. For New Yorkers, Bruce is ingrained into our soundtracks. I was a pretty passionate Bruce fan all the way through The River. Thought Born in the USA was crap and haven't really been into much that he's done since (even after he married my downstairs neighbor Patti!), but "Greetings" through "River" is more than enough for me. And he's still unstoppable live. Hope you enjoy the autobio -- raised a lot of interesting discussions about depression.
ReplyDeleteJohnny.
DeleteI am a fan and have most of his stuff with the exception of Born in the USA
Given my Americana leanings it won't come as a surprise that Nebraska is my favourite
There. Are some good songs on BITU, but the production and the Reagan thing get in the way. I'm Goin' Down and My Hometown are favourites. I also love Devils and Dust and The Ghost of Tom Joad from this Century.
ReplyDeleteBruce delighted me with 'Girls In Their Summer Clothes', a great song off his 2007 LP Magic. I took my then 13 year old son to see the Boss on that tour, and was lucky that Federici and the Big Man were still around. Bruce has been such a consistently upstanding guy and so good to his fans that I don't mind that he only squeaks out a good song every 5 years or so.
ReplyDeleteStill making my way through the book, trying not to rush it. BITUSA was my first Springsteen album, so though I appreciate it was "Bruce as pop star" (which he states in the book is what he was after) and therefore not as respectable as many of his more serious records, I still love every track. It's just one of those albums which always makes me happy, despite the darkness hidden behind the pop sheen on many of the tracks. It's not my favourite Bruce album - that alternates between BTR, Nebraska and Tunnel Of Love (the first one I bought when it came out) depending on my mood, but it's the one that makes me most nostalgic for the log hot summers of my youth... which never existed. But that's kind of what a lot of the album - particularly Glory Days and Bobby Jean - is all about.
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