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From the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Born To Run

Bruce Springsteen

1975

Buy At Rough Trade
Born To Run
Album Summary

Born to Run is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released on August 25, 1975, by Columbia Records. As his effort to break into the mainstream, the album was a commercial success, peaking at number three on the Billboard 200 and eventually selling six million copies in the United States. Two singles were released from the album: "Born to Run" and "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"; the first helped Springsteen to reach mainstream popularity. The tracks "Thunder Road", "She's the One", and "Jungleland" became staples of album-oriented rock radio and Springsteen concert high points. Born to Run garnered widespread acclaim on release. It has since been considered by critics to be one of the greatest albums of all time. On November 14, 2005, a 30th Anniversary remaster of the album was released as a box set including two DVDs: a production diary film and a concert movie. The album was remastered again in 2014 by veteran mastering engineer Bob Ludwig, who has worked on much of Springsteen's audio output since 1982, for release as part of The Album Collection Vol. 1 1973–1984, a boxed set composed of remastered editions of his first seven albums. It was later released in remastered form as a single disc as well.

Wikipedia

Rating

3.61

Votes

12277
Genres
Rock
Singer Songwriter

Reviews

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Mon Apr 26 2021
5

“The screen door slams/Mary’s dress waves” This will always be a magic album for me. The way everything builds to the climax of Born to Run and then the denouement that follows is perfectly sequenced and a testament to Springsteen’s talent as a storyteller. It’s hard to pick a favourite, but this time around, “Backstreets” was the one that grabbed me the most.

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Wed Mar 24 2021
5

More expansive and cinematic than I was expecting, and I'm pretty familiar with the singles off this album. The saxophone is arguably the lead instrument here, and there are some jazzy moments where it and the keyboardist can really shine. Bruce's lyrics are excellent and invoke a "working class" urgency: inspirational-via-the-gallows, a bleak sort of joy.

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Sat Mar 06 2021
5

Where to begin..... I'm not insightful or smart enough to explain the deeper meanings of the album and why it resonates. My best attempt is to say that it manages to convey most, if not all, of the elements that get buzz my mind: the difficult marriage between hope & despair, the desire to belong to something and finding beauty in the ordinary. Favourite track: Jungleland

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Tue Jan 19 2021
3

Always been pretty indifferent about Springsteen. Never hated his music nor really got into his stuff either. I'd heard the hits from this album, but the stand out tracks for me were "Meeting Across the River" and "Jungleland." I feel like The Boss and the E-Street band aren't really exploring any new musical ideas composition wise, other than some bomb-ass sax. Its Springsteen's writing and storytelling that has made him such an American staple, and I felt those two tracks really let his writing shine. Being aligned so strongly with 'MURICA is kind of what kept me from getting into him, but his songs are very much proletariat anthems. I guess that's what you get for saying USA a bunch of times in a song. Overall a pretty enjoyable listen, but there's nothing calling me back.

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Sun Jan 17 2021
1

bruce sings like he has marbles in his mouth. this sucks. the piano sucks. lame. saxophone is lame. rock and roll for geriatrics

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Tue Jun 01 2021
3

Sounded like Meatloaf. Not as good.

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Wed Sep 15 2021
5

I love this album's big sound. It's simply one of the most passionate albums I've ever heard. I would say it was raw passion except that you can tell the album was very carefully crafted - channeling that passion into a thing of beauty - striking a near perfect balance. Springsteen displays more authentic passion on this album than many artists seem to be able to muster in their entire careers. I have tried, but can't seem to get into, Springsteen's first two albums, and I think alot of it has to do with the lyrics. On this album, while going for a bigger sound musically, he chose to go in a more refined direction lyrically, foregoing his more cryptic Dylanesque approach of the first two albums for something more direct and heartfelt than intellectual, and it makes all the difference. Though you definitely can hear the Dylan influence throughout, especially in songs like Jungleland, I think this is where Springsteen really comes into his own and becomes "The Boss." This is one for the ages. Coincidentally, I just listened to this on vinyl the other day with the family. It's in pretty regular rotation in our house and everyone enjoys it.

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Sat Apr 10 2021
3

Gotta hand it to the boss for being cool. This is a fun album but it does seem a bit long even at 40min, just cause every song is almost identical. It's a good song though. 3/5.

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Sun Jun 20 2021
5

- Thunder Road - greatest song of all time by a considerable distance - Tenth Avenue Freeze Out - an absolute bop - Night - one of the more forgettable tracks but would be the standout on most other records on this list - Backstreets - Up there with Thunder Road and Born To Run. 3rd best track on the album. Bruce at his very best. Born To Run - Lovely stuff She's The One - was never that arsed about this before but it's fucking class Meeting Across The River - skippable Jungleland - The bollocks

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Sat Jan 23 2021
5

Very chill, good bboomer vibes, listen to again

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Fri Jun 18 2021
5

Anyone who does not vote 5 stars on this masterpiece is a Communist and needs to be dealt with accordingly.

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Sat Mar 06 2021
5

Sometimes an artist is so fully flooded with inspiration that everything they touch turns to gold. Bob had it with Blonde on Blonde, Van with Astral Weeks, the Boss has it here.

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Mon Jun 27 2022
3

So saxy I mistook it for Meatloaf.

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Thu Apr 29 2021
2

I definitely get why it’s popular, but it honestly just doesn’t I much for me.

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Fri Feb 12 2021
5

Show a little faith there's magic in the night You ain't a beauty but hey you're alright Oh and that's alright with me. What a classic

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Tue Apr 06 2021
5

Where's the option for 6 stars?

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Sat Mar 06 2021
5

Quite simply one of the greatest albums of all-time with some of Springsteen's most evocative lyrics. Best track: Thunder Road

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Sat Mar 06 2021
5

🖤 Favourite Song: Thunder Road 🖤

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Tue Jun 08 2021
5

Never been a big follower of the boss, and I’m shocked never to have listened to this album end to end. He’s got a lot to say and does it well. Extremely good album across all tracks. Gonna buy this one on vinyl.

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Tue Jan 11 2022
5

Although, at times, Springsteen flirts with histrionic and melodramatic motifs in his music via a maximalist sound which risks drowning out any subtlety and poetry in the lyrics (and there is poetry here, but it's almost as if the smart kid in class has to hide it for fear of being laughed at) this is an American classic, chrome wheeled and fuel injected by a great band of talented musicians and Bruce's musings on growing up poor and hard in the city. The Great American Novel in musical form, Springsteen conjures up romantic images of highways, motorbikes, picking up your sweetheart to a Wall of Sound in homage to The Ronette's Be My Baby and the Shangri La's Leader of the Pack ('Look out! Look out! Look out! Look out!').

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Mon Nov 20 2023
5

Nr. 42/1001 Thunder Road 4/5 Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out 5/5 Night 4/5 Backstreets 5/5 Born to Run 5/5 She's the One 4/5 Meeting Across the River 5/5 Jungleland 5/5 Average: 4,5 Just a great rock album. Awesome song-building and use of classical instruments. This is now my best rated album and my first five star album taking over from 2112 - Rush (4,25)

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Tue May 24 2022
3

He isn't bad but to me was never the icon everyone considered him. A reliable rocker but never really had that swing. Could probably have profited from listening to Mink DeVille back in the day.

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Mon Aug 14 2023
3

I really can’t get over his voice which is wild cause it’s never this big an issue for me. Dude sounds like he’s taking the hardest shit of his life like 80% of the time. Otherwise the band and lyrics are solid (2.5/5)

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Thu Jan 18 2024
3

Solid album with the title track being a standout. Very anthemic at points with moments of gentle introspection. Springsteen is a master of championing the ‘everyday’ man. An enjoyable listen.

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Tue Sep 13 2022
2

there is a reason that there are only about 5 bruce songs that everyone knows - its because the rest of them are shit.

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Tue Jan 19 2021
5

So good. The title track is obviously a classic and the whole album is just fantastic

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Tue Jan 26 2021
5

One of favorites of all time. 5/5.

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Mon Mar 22 2021
5

Great songs by a great artist and great band

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Thu Jan 14 2021
5

Listened to it before. Great album. Favorite track: Meeting Across The River

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Fri Jan 29 2021
5

One of my all-time favorite albums!

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Wed Jan 20 2021
5

Piano sound on "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" gives it great energy. Very nice overall flow of the album. Always has the Bruce's way of saying words that are clear and somehow mush at the same time. Backstreets closes out side one perfectly.

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Wed Feb 24 2021
5

Great album and lots of known songs & didn't know it was this old. Came out in '75. 9/10.

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Mon Feb 01 2021
5

Just a brilliant album from start to finish. Classic rock and roll don't get much better than this.

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Mon Jan 18 2021
5

The Boss is my godfather's favorite artist so I tried to listen in high school and didnt really enjoy it much. Now on this re-listen with more mature ears, I really enjoy the sound. Thunder Road and Born to Run are obvious stars but 10th Ave Freeze Out was probably my favorite.

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Mon Apr 26 2021
5

Born To Run remains my favourite Springsteen record, and I always thought that was because it was my first. But listening again after all these years, I can safely report that every moment of this record is perfect. Springsteen's wails about breakin' out of the places that have always trapped him works as the perfect allegory for a suppressed working class that slowly realized that the American Dream was not meant for everyone. The sax work my Clarence, the drumming of Mad Dog/Weinberg, the keys provided Roy J. Bittan are absolute magic here. Heartbreaking to listen to, but still exhilarating after all these years. Fav Tracks: Thunder Road, Backstreets, Jungleland, Born To Run, et. al.

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Mon Apr 26 2021
5

What can you say about this album with its amazing storytelling combined with the Spectorish wall of sound. Rock and Roll at its height with a piano base. Tenth Avenue Freeze Out and Born to Run are favorites.

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Sun Mar 21 2021
5

Superb album, love every track

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Thu Mar 25 2021
5

Bem americano, muitos artistas que ouvi dos anos 80/90 tiveram uma grande influência desse estilo.

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Mon May 10 2021
5

Intricate storytelling about the American Dream and bombastic instrumentation. Gorgeous record from beginning to end and the title-track is a masterpiece.

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Mon May 17 2021
5

Great album no weak songs in the album great rock album from start to finish 5/5

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Sun Jul 04 2021
5

The album starts off incredibly strong with "Thunder Road" and keeps up the energy and strength as it moves, hitting a crescendo with "Born to Run" before coming down to prepare you for the end. I won't claim to know everything that Springsteen is trying to say, but his lyrics speak volumes and his voice just works with the words he sings, kind of like Dylan.

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Tue Jun 08 2021
5

I was looking forward to putting the needle down on “Thunder Road” all day long. The record that made The Boss a star, and deservedly so.

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Tue Jun 01 2021
5

One of my all time favorites. What a great way to begin this experience.

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Wed Aug 04 2021
5

This needs no comment. Top 10 album of all time, without question.

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Wed Aug 25 2021
5

Is this my favorite Springsteen album? I don’t know. That changes periodically. But this is definitely his best, most iconic, and the purest distillation of everything that he does great. Truly one of the best albums of all time. It sounds like the soundtrack to the greatest movie that doesn’t exist.

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Fri Aug 27 2021
5

A masterpiece. I love his storytelling, and the muscle of the band. The gradual build up of Thunder Road, the note-for-note perfection of the title track, then THAT saxophone solo in Jungleland. Loved it for years, and it's still astounding every time I hear it.

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Mon Sep 13 2021
5

way better than I thought it'd be. Incredibly impactful at the beginning and end

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Tue Sep 14 2021
5

September 13, 2021 I've rated several other albums five stars but this is one of my all-time favourites. So. Fucking. Good. I honestly would have a really hard time picking a favourite track because there are so many good ones. This time "Jungleland" did it for me.

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Tue Sep 21 2021
5

Захотелось куда нибудь поехать по шоссе

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Tue Sep 28 2021
5

Listened to the first bit of Thunder Road, closed Spotify and pulled up some bootlegs. Amazing record; songs meant to be heard live.

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Sat Oct 16 2021
5

Classic album that I haven't listened to in a long time. Long overdue re-familiarizing myself with this album no fewer than 5 or 6 absolutely brilliant songs that sound as fresh as ever. Though still not my favourite Springsteen album, that distinction goes to Darkness On The Edge of Town with it's harder edge, still a no-brainer 5 star pick

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Mon Oct 18 2021
5

What an album. So many great songs and each one paints a picture. Close your eyes and listen to the song and you could be there. Absolutely brilliant

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Wed Oct 20 2021
5

We're all Springsteen fans right? We all know his hits. We all know how amazing he is. But have we ever listened to one of his albums? I hadn't. But chose a cold, windy dog walk to listen, and it hit all the right spots. Amazeballs.

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Fri Oct 22 2021
5

One of his finest albums. A great entry point for anyone who wants to hear The Boss

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Tue Nov 02 2021
5

What else is there to say about this beast of an album. Starts off with a bang with the rocky track "Thunder Road" Gives this dusty, electromagnetic vibe that the album is notorious for. That edge in Springstreen's voice is so smokey and deep that it sounds captivating for the ears. That combination of trumpets, guitar and piano make this album what it is! "Jungleland" is an out of control track, that changes theme every minute. It's brilliant yet exciting, since you have zero idea where the song is going next. Of course "Born To Run" is a household name. Being a jazzy/ flashy dance segment to an intense series of verses at the end. Have a listen! Excellent lyrics as well, meaningful and thrilling

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Mon Nov 08 2021
5

Well what can I say? It's a masterpiece. I think this album is the perfect all round Bruce album which I'd suggest to anyone who doesn't know him. Thunder Road is the quintessential Bruce song in my opinion, if you don't get that song, you just don't get Bruce. I've heard that song countless times but I still find it completely mesmerising. I'll prattling on, FIVE STARS

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Thu Dec 02 2021
5

I was so excited to get this album, as it's definitely one of my top all time favourites. I'll be the first to admit the The Boss doesn't exactly re-invent the wheel with his sound, but he does what what he does brilliantly. This album is no different, and it's equally an ode to the saxophone and to the American working class. I wish I could give it six stars! It's so hard to have a top pick, but it's gotta be 'Thunder Road', with honourable mentions to 'She's The One, 'Jungleland' and of course the title track.

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Thu Dec 09 2021
5

Fruitful and hearty sound signature capturing the rock and roll spirit. Bruce Springsteen delivers sonically elaborate arrangements and structure, complete with hummable melodies. At its core, it can be considered one of the best Springsteen albums due to its charm.

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Sat Dec 11 2021
5

This album seems familiar to me though I'm not sure if i've heard it prior to today. it feels very danceable while trying to express his curiosity within the neighborhood his singing about.

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Tue Dec 14 2021
5

Parto con aspettative molto alte, anche se non sono un perfetto conoscitore del Boss. 'Thunder Road' si apre subito con l'armonica e la voce talmente calda, che basta per farti emozionare, che carica poi sul finale! 'Tenth Avenue Freeze-out' continua invece su una nota più allegra, che aiuta a rilasciare la tensione e l'emozione della precedente. Anche in 'Night' sono presenti degli accordi che, pur non essendo al livello delle precedenti, richiamano a qualcosa di epico e emozionante. Ecco ascoltando 'Backstreets', forse ho capito cosa mi succede in questo ascolto: le canzoni hanno un qualcosa delle power ballad tipiche dell'Hard Rock, ma senza esasperarne i tratti, sono emozionanti senza essere struggenti, sono vivaci senza essere "potenti" e sono belle. (Ho paura di mettermi a piangere a leggere i testi, quindi lo farò in un secondo ascolto) Tutte queste canzoni portano al climax: 'Born to run', un classico. E inoltre anche la stessa canzone è tutta indirizzata al ritornello, come un piano inclinato. 'She's the One' è più tranquilla e con 'Meeting along the River' aiuta a rilassare. 'Jungleland' è la giusta conclusione: emozionante, ma su un tono più tranquillo. 6/5

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Tue Dec 21 2021
5

When I first heard Born to Run on the radio, it didn’t make me want to run out and by the album, even though there was a lot of buzz about it. I think I gave in when I saw Bruce on the cover of Time Magazine. Thunder Road and Jungleland have a real epic feel to them, with the big production, the piano intros and the signature sax solos to close out. I like the jumbled, lyric-heavy feel, the way he doesn’t follow traditional song structures – unusual for a rock n’ roll guy. He jumps from rockers to ballads to soul: stylistically Tenth Avenue freeze Out and Night are miles apart (except for his energy) but they sound perfect back-to-back. There’s really no filler on this LP and I there are probably at least a dozen tracks that didn’t make the cut.

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Tue Dec 21 2021
5

I hadn't heard of Bruce until the Born to Run LP. I saw Bruce and the E street band twice but I saw him play Thunder Road, my favourite Springsteen song, only once. The die hard Springsteen fans will say this isn't possible since T-Road has a permanent spot on the playlist. Read it and weep. I moved to Toronto in 1985 and lived in a high-rise apartment building that overlooked Ryerson Theater. On the day I moved a few people started to hang around the Ryerson entrance and by the next morning those folks were joined by a 100 more.  I went and asked what they were doing and found out that two days later Springsteen tickets were going on sale. So if you had the time and inclination to stand in line for two days, you could get a seat in the first 10 rows. I called a couple of friends from Sudbury and asked if I should get a few tickets. They were ecstatic so I got the tickets and a month or so later we went to see Bruce. The crowd went crazy  when he started to play Thunder Road and it was amazing how many people knew all the words. This song is a long one and it doesn’t have a chorus. Every line is unique. When Bruce was a few lines into the song, around “Roy Orbison singing for the lonely'', the crowd was signing louder than Bruce was. By the time the second verse started, Bruce tapped out and just let the audience sing alone from the line “Don’t run back inside” until the line “You ain’t a beauty but hey you’re alright”. Bruce had to cut back in with a long and loud “Oh” since there is an unusually long pause before “that’s alright with me” and the audience would have sung it too early and fucked up the musicians’ timing. Even with Bruce singing again, you could hear the crowd sing the rest of the words. To be sure, the crowd singing this song isn’t like the crowd singing the chorus to “I want to rock n roll all night” at a fucking Kiss concert.  There were a lot of words to know and the crowd knew them all. I was impressed by the die hard Bruce fans.  Fast forward to 2013 and I am in Rio for business the week that Rock in Rio is on. A local who is a good friend says I should stay an extra day as he has concert tickets. I say "shut up and dance" even before he tells me The Boss is headlining. There must be 500,000 at this gig. I knew Bruce would play Thunder Road at some point and was ready to howl every word. It was around 300AM, he had been playing for around 2 hrs and he just finished playing the full Born in the USA LP. He finally starts to play some stuff from Born to Run. Great news! Or not.  My friend's new girlfriend says she is tired and wants to leave. Fothermucker. I couldn’t believe we had to leave before he played Thunder Road but I couldn’t be unhappy. She was a typical Brazilian woman- you know  a complete smokeshow. If someone who looked like her asked me to take her home then,  I would have pulled a Houdini in about 10 seconds. C'est la vie.  

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Wed Jan 19 2022
5

I've never listened to this album all the way through, though I have probably listened to every track. Thunder Road is brilliant - it's gift (beyond the great lyrics and sense of yearning) it that it isn't allowed to do the same thing for more than a couple of bars at a time. It's constantly shifting and changing. Born to Run itself, is of course one of the greatest songs ever. Not sure what else there is to say there. The rest of the album has great intros, so much good saxophone it stole all the good sax breaks, resulting in all 80s songs (except Careless Whisper) featuring sax being terrible, and beautifully desperate lyrics. It's so piano led too. The pianoiest album that rocks ever? Soz Billy Joel. I'm still only giving it four stars, because a few songs (She's The One and Backstreets) outstay their welcome. Yet Jungleland at just shy of 10 minutes could be even longer and I'd still love it. I'll see how I feel in the morning, cos my judgement feels harsh! Update - like Kanye, this is an amazing album which I have very minor gripes about. I can't not give it 5

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Thu Jan 27 2022
5

He’s the boss for a reason

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Thu Jan 27 2022
5

Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce The Boss’ best album. One of the best albums of all time. Tramps like us, baby we were born to run

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Thu Jan 27 2022
5

I’m not one of those cult fans of Bruce Springstein, but I am a fan of America, so I will inflate his rating to 5 instead of 4.

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Wed Feb 09 2022
5

I love this album, there is an unowned nostalgia to these songs. It takes be back to a time I never lived. Fantastic imagery and musicality.

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Thu Feb 10 2022
5

Born To Run: The breakthrough album. Actually prefer its predecessor The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle and also Darkness on the Edge of Town, above Born To Run. The songs on Born To Run are perhaps a bit less special. And also: the way the band is playing on WIESS is great - the songs go on for much longer and have this live feel. On Born To Run, songs are shorter and Jungle Land is for me the best song of the album (of course, the title song is iconic). Nevertheless, Born To Run is great too and a 5-star album of course.

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Sat Feb 12 2022
5

Every minute of this album oozes craft and greatness - from starting with Thunder Road to the title track Born to Run - the guitars drive - the saxophone blares and the piano thoughtfully sets the mood for this all American blue collar carnival - but it’s Bruce’s masterstroke that pulls it all off with his ridiculous car metaphors and blue jeans gung-ho storytelling. On paper all this sounds like my nightmare but it’s so much more than the sum of its parts

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Tue Feb 15 2022
5

A great album by the boss. Probably his best songwriting and my second favorite album. So many good songs on this and born to run is arguably his best. Not much wrong with this one. 8.8/10

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Mon Feb 21 2022
5

One of the best albums of all time in my opinion. Thunder road opening and jungleland closing is an incredible way to bookend a piece of art.

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Wed Feb 23 2022
5

Fabulous. What more can I say? Excellent from start to finish. Five stars

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Mon Feb 28 2022
5

I'm not really a Springsteen fan but I can't deny that this is a strong and well crafted album.

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Sun Mar 06 2022
5

It's not the biggest-selling Bruce album, or the best. But it made him a superstar, and it contains three all-time classics in BTR, Jungleland and Thunder Road. A relisten reveals how much it's about Roy Bittan's piano and Clarence Clemons' sax. Possibly the most 'E Street' record of them all. Favourite bit ' the 1-2-3-4 count in during the middle 8 of BTR.

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Thu Mar 10 2022
5

third album i’ve gone through from this generator; first one where springsteen really clicked for me.

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Thu Mar 17 2022
5

Pros: A+ songwriting / storytelling A+ instrumentation. Took rock and made it even cooler with Spector-esque wall of sound production and made saxophone a rock and roll instrument Cons: Misc: - Somehow I did not grow up with Bruce and didn't get into him until college and probably because of Jake Ehrlich. My metal friends all made fun of his voice and thought he was too storyteller-y; that he couldn't write a song unless it met a criteria of mentioning A. the road he lived on when he was a kid, B. every car on that road, and C. workin' hard. I've of course since come to the realization that those same friends who would make fun of that would listen to bands that couldn't write music unless it mentioned something like "trampling people with tanks" and had lyrics like "why should the fire be shared by so few, let bombs explode- cause that's what they do. Nuke Mecca, New York, the Vatican too- give me a bomb, I'll drop it on you!" So to that I really say to each their own. Bruce is a true king and no one captures that very specific idea of growing up, leaving your hometown and doing your own thing better than him. And Born to Run probably does it best. Part of the magic of him for me is that his sound is inherently tied to a time period. I'll speculate that it's a reason why people our parents age like him so much; because 5 of his best albums (this, darkness, the river, nebraska, born in the usa) all came out when my mom was between her early teens and late 20s. Of course those are really formative years and he's there singing about New Jersey and growing up and getting out of the town. Hard to not resonate with that. Many of his lyrics are specific to those lived years and that helps that idea of gluing the listener to the songs. Unfortunately I think that it would be hard for future generations to appreciate the artistry in the storytelling due to this deep set tie-in to the time periods, but I am hopeful and optimistic that the music itself would stand the test of time. Part of what made it work for people our age is that a lot of us grew up listening to Bruce on the radio on car rides. For me it looked like this scenario: school ends for the year and it's in late June, it's 90 something degrees out, you're on your way to the Jersey shore, you just spotted the first girl in a bikini of the summer, and Bruce is on the radio. Magic.

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Thu Mar 17 2022
5

Short and sweet album with some absolutely CLASSIC hits! I love the full band feel, and the overall storytelling vibe that The Boss brings to his lyrics. Obviously, the NJ connection makes this one a bit more personal. The fact that this came out in ‘75 makes the occasional cheesiness more acceptable.

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Thu Mar 17 2022
5

Bruce’s best? (Talk to me on a hot summer afternoon and I’ll tell you it’s “Born in the U.S.A.”) This is certainly the album where he perfected his signature sound. How do you even describe the E Street Band’s style here? Heartland rock spiked with jazz and doo-wop? Listening to the album again, I wondered: What is it about this music that makes it so timeless? Is it that saxophone wail? The twinkle of the piano? The way Bruce distills a wide variety of influences and makes them his own? (On “Backstreets,” he croons like Elvis and screams like John Lennon.) Or maybe it’s just the sheer drama of it all. Few songwriters can take small moments like driving with the windows down or going out for drinks after a long day of work and make them feel like the huge, existential things they are when you’re in them. And who else can write preposterous lines like “The highway’s jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive” and get away with it? (The answer is probably Meat Loaf but he got it from Bruce.) A classic album and a thrill to listen to.

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Tue Mar 22 2022
5

Just a great album from beginning to end.

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Sat Apr 02 2022
5

I resisted listening to Bruce Springsteen for years. I had long suspected that I would eventually become a fan, but I came to believe it to be the final step away from youth and into middle age. The day I turned 35, I went out and bought vinyl copies of Born To Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town and Nebraska. Oddly enough, a dear friend also fell for the Boss aged around 35, having been given tickets to a gig and swept away in the joy felt by both the Boss and the audience. It would appear that Springsteen is nowadays both the condolence a man gives himself when he gets his first grey hair and the reassurance he gives himself that he isn't impotent just yet. But anyway, Born To Run was Springsteen's breakthrough after his first two (fine) albums sank commercially, an all-or-nothing, budget-breaking last chance that thankfully paid off. And a colossal attempt such as this warrants a colossal sound, with Springsteen fulfilling his ambition of cutting a record that sounded like Roy Orbison singing Bob Dylan, produced by Phil Spector. The album seeks to, and manages to, resurrect Spector's Wall of Sound aesthetic, basking in utter bombast. However, the album establishes the now-defining Springsteen message of the emptiness of dreams, of how a life spent pursuing a fantasy is only likely to end abjectly. Of course, the album is astute enough to realise the power of reverie; just listen to the title track. But though he and Wendy may be born to run, the album ruefully considers that they have to run somewhere, that the real world is always there. Also, the photo on the cover, of Springsteen chummily leaning on Clarence Clemons, is one of the most charming, uplifting images in rock. By the by, I have not had a grey hair yet, and my penis still works.

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