Too often in Wisconsin, April is the cruelest month. While all
\nacross the nation most people get to enjoy the start of spring,
\nhere in Packer-Land spring starts in July, summer lasts about a
\nweek, then we skip right into winter. This year however has proved
\nto be different; the sun has been shining and if I wanted to I
\ncould actually get a tan outside. With the gorgeous weather,
\ndriving around requires albums that rock, flat out and simple,
\nalbums that make you want to roll down your window and just belt
\nout the lyrics at the top of your voice. If this is for you, I
\noffer up
\nBorn To Run<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Bruce Springsteen’s first two albums were decent efforts, that
\nprovided glimpses into the future for The Boss and the E Street
\nBand. With
\nBorn To Run<\/i>, Springsteen for the first time realized his
\npotential, and crafted a no-holds barred, loud, sound that would
\ndefine the rest of his career.<\/p>\n
Jon Landau was the producer for
\nBorn To Run<\/i>, but damn if it doesn’t sound like Phil Spector
\nwas working the knobs. The “wall of sound” Spector utilized to
\ngreat effect throughout his career is present here. Each tracks
\nsounds as if the band just holed themselves up in a room and
\nplayed. Springsteen’s live shows are legendary, and while no record
\ncan perfectly encapsulate what the man can do onstage, Born To Run
\nis as close to a “live studio” recording as you can get.<\/p>\n
The two songs everyone knows, “Thunder Road” and “Born To Run”
\nnever fail to excite me. Both are filled with so much energy, and
\nyet they are carried out with just enough restraint things don’t
\nget messy. “Born To Run” perfectly matches its lyrics to the music.
\nSpringsteen uses larger-than-life imagery to great effect, and
\nbacks it up with sound jam-packed with keyboards, guitars, horns,
\nstrings, you name it. The former track, “Thunder Road,” goes with a
\ndifferent approach, beginning quite softly before gaining more and
\nmore momentum as the songs goes along. One would think it is ironic
\nthat an album of this nature starts out with the simple sounds of a
\npiano and harmonica, however interesting of note is that
\nBorn To Run<\/i> prominently features a keyboard sound, i.e.
\n“Thunder Road,” “Backstreets,” “Meeting Across The River” and
\n“Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out.”<\/p>\n
Of course, there is much more to this album than the two hits.
\nThe massive epic “Jungleland” ventures off into jazz expressions,
\nas does “Meeting Across The River.” Horns add some punch to “Tenth
\nAvenue Freeze-Out.” “Night” and “Backstreets” follow in the vein of
\nthe title track. These tracks are all gold, however “She’s The One”
\nshould take its place alongside “Thunder Road” and “Born To Run.”
\nIt’s not often Springsteen uses synthesizers, yet here they are
\nused to great effect in the background. More importantly, they
\nnever overpower the rest of the song, which goes through multiple
\ntempo changes itself. Springsteen himself delivers some excellent
\nguitar work, and Clarence Clemons’ soulful sax solo (when didn’t
\nthis man churn out some amazing work?) and Max Weinberg’s massive
\nbeat only help to seal the deal.<\/p>\n
The Boss has always been a story teller, yet to be honest
\nBorn To Run<\/i> doesn’t even feature some of his best
\ncharacters. Look to
\nNebraska<\/i> and
\nThe Ghost Of Tom Joad<\/i> for that. However, what
\nBorn To Run<\/i> needed was not specifics. Instead, The Boss
\ndelivered wide, sweeping lyrics that give meaning to the sound he
\nand the band crafted. When you listen to
\nBorn To Run<\/i>, you don’t want to think, you want to feel. Rock
\ndoesn’t have to be smart, it should just make you feel
\nsomething.<\/p>\n
That something is truly the measure of a great album. On one
\nlevel this is just a great rock album. On the other, it is a
\nbrilliant expression of a sound that not many besides Bruce have
\nbeen able to pull off. This is what rock is supposed to be —
\nlouder than hell, and in no way pretentious. The true rock musician
\ndoesn’t have to spell out what he’s saying, people will either just
\nget it or they won’t. Do you get
\nBorn To Run<\/i>?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":27002,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5832],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-38321","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-bruce-springsteen","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38321"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38321"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}