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BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
(4 reviews sent in so far)

BORN TO RUN
by Darius Henry
Novembr 22, 2007
Rating: 10.0

Born to Run is one of the best albums that I ever listen to. I got this for my birthday just like 3 months ago. I seriously love the stories on this album. But when I listen to this album, most of these songs seem familiar to me, as if I had heard this album before. But man, you can’t deny how fantastic this album really is.

This album starts off with fan-favorite, “Thunder Road.” Sometimes, I like this song, other I don’t. I guess it’s depends on what mood I’m in. But still, you gotta love the lyrics on this one. It’s a good way, if not great, to start this classic album. The next track, “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,” is an excellent proto-Disco tune. Clearance Clemson’s sax playing in this tune says it all, plus I like how the Boss sang on this one. “Night” is another good, if not great, song. I like the beginning of the song when the sax is playing. In fact, the beginning of the song seems familiar to me. “Backstreet” is one of my favorites on this album. It’s a 6 minutes and a half of greatness. Bruce did a really great job in this song. Plus I love the ending of it, “Hiding on the Backstreet, Hiding on the Backstreet.” Great song.

The title track is the best song on here. It’s pretty the same stories, Bruce and his girl getting the hell out of New Jersey. Great story. And you gotta love the sax, hell you gotta love the whole music. And yet, it sounds familiar to me, especially the sax part. The next song, “She’s the One,” is another great song that sounds familiar to me, especially the great piano part in the beginning. After the piano part, it went to full rocker with a Bo Diddley beat. It’s a great song to dance to. “Meeting Across the River” is another nice piece by the Boss. It’s a great story about a low-life criminal on his last chance to succeed. The last song, “Jungleland,” is an epic 9 and a half minutes finale. It tells a story about gang violence, long before Gangsta Rap. First it starts off with a violin, than a great piano playing, than slowly became a full rocker with a great guitar solo. But the best part came when Clarence Clemson plays one of the best saxes solo of all times. But this song seems so familiar to me, especially the sax solo. Than the song slow down with just the piano and the violin playing. At the end of the song, the piano plays crazy while the Boss just humming at the end.

Well, that’s it for this fantastic album. But again, I don’t know why, but I keep having a feeling that I’ve had heard it somewhere else (where the hell have I heard this). But still, it’s a great album and you should buy this album.

BORN TO RUN    
By JT Curtis
October 17, 2003
Rating: 10.0

This is one of the greatest albums of all time. There are a lot of great Bruce Springsteen albums: Greeting from Ausbery Park, The River,  Born in the USA. But Born to Run is such an amazing album, you completely forget about all other albums the Boss has made.

"Thunder Road" is one of my favorite tunes ever written. The dynamics to this song just go everywhere. From the beginning interplay between the folky harmonica and piano to the rocking climax with the whole band playing together, this song is incredible. Also listen to the lyrics, very imaginative and the way he sings them are absolutely inspirational. "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out" is a great R&B song with its great horn lines. "Night" rocks really well getting you to dance on your feet and headed by Clarence Clemons' wonderful saxophone work. Max Weinberg plays some great drum fills on this one. "Backstreets" is a really beautiful ballad again headed by dynamics. Bruce sings amazingly and plays a damn good solo. The ending of this song really gets to me, I love it. B-side of this landmark record gets even better! "Born to Run" a great guitar line, cool keyboards by David Sancious, a wonderful saxophone solo by Clarence, great lyrics about being free and in love, great rhythm work by bassist Gary Talent and Max Weinberg, great hits, and above all just a great song, Its no wonder why "Born to Run" has been considered one of the greatest rock 'n roll songs in the world. "She's the One" is a great upbeat tune with a cool Bo-Diddely Beat. It gets you up wanting to dance. I don't think its the worst here, but then again I don't know what's the worst here, I like them all. "Meeting Across the River" Oh!!!!!! Beautiful. So simple with beautiful piano by Roy Bittan, sparkling trumpet fills, and great singing by Bruce. I love this song.

Okay, we got us a great rock 'n roll album here, how are we going to finish it? "Jungleland!" My favorite on the album. A simple string and piano start followed by Bruce's wonderful singing soon blows into a hot rocker where everyone in the band is rocking the house down. In the meantime, Bruce's lyrics give such amazing imagery as if this song is a story, and it is. The Boss comes in for a brief solo which is soon followed by a guitar harmony and the whole band. After a short bridge, Clarence brings it down and starts a wonderfully beautiful sax solo with the band following. The beat has slowed down, but its still intense. The strings come back in and let the piano play. Bruce soon follows and gives an inspirational finish which is just inspirational! What an ending in over 9 minutes, I wouldn't shave a second off! Here's my conclusion: GET THIS ALBUM!!!! You won't regret it!

To listen to some sound clips from BORN TO RUN or to buy it click on: Born to Run

BORN TO RUN
By Johnny B. Goode
July 27, 2000
Rating: 10.0

One of the top 5 albums of all time, along with Hotel California, Highway 61 Revisited, Sticky Fingers, and Who's Next. The Boss's masterpiece. His two most famous songs, "Thunder Road," and the title track, are here. And as great as those two are, the album has so much more to it. "Jungleland" is just as epic as "You Can't Always Get What You Want" or even, dare I say, "Sympathy for The Devil"." Tenth Avenue Freeze Out" is a real good upbeat rocker. "Meeting Across the River" really gets you to understand the situation the 2 men are in and it is a deeply moving song. "Night" rocks and "Backstreets" is another great story within-a-song. "She's The One" is worst here but it has grown on me since I first bought the album. Each song is an absolute gem.

To listen to some sound clips from BORN TO RUN or to buy it click on: Born to Run

Darkness on the Edge of Town
By Zack Taylor
Jamuary 24, 2005
Rating: 10.0

Truth to tell, I’ve never been a huge Springsteen fan.  To me, his claim that “Born to Run” was his “shot at the title” of greatest rock song ever is damned presumptuous, the “Big Man” can play exactly one sax solo, and that hammer-drumming style of Max Weinberg just grates.  That a New Jersey bar I once had the misfortune of being dragged into was packed with Bruce clones in tight jeans and t-shirts, boots, and bandanas in their pockets nauseated me in no small measure.   Predictably, a fight broke out at end of the night.

Married readers no doubt hear me when I say there are two kinds of music; that which you like, and that which you can play with the wife in the room. Bruce being an acceptable choice over cocktails in my house eventually led me to Darkness on the Edge of Town and a very pleasant surprise. This album is an extremely thoughtful, powerful meditation on the anger and frustration inherent in the working class life – very well executed and performed by the Boss and his minions.

All the Springsteen familiars are accounted for: cars, chicks, and more importantly, the tormenting notion that something better in life is out there, but there’s no easy way to get to it. For all the great metaphors and allusions spread across the songs, this is articulated better than any words by the wordless cries that occur twice in “Something in the Night” documenting the search for “a moment when the world seems right.”

The album’s protagonists are always moving, searching for that elusive happiness down in their souls.Back home, Daddy’s life is ruled by the factory. In the morning, his mind walks through “mansions of fear/mansions of pain . . . through the factory gates in the rain”; he leaves in the evening with “death in [his] eyes . . . and you better believe boy/Somebody’s gonna get hurt tonight.”  Whoa. . . . That’s intense.

So it goes all through the album.  The radio tracks “Badlands” and “Prove it All Night” are among the best in the whole Springsteen catalog, great listens apart from the album’s dark theme. Springsteen had tasted monster success his previous Born To Run but legal wrangles delayed this follow up for three years. That he eschewed a commercial encore and instead looked back at the life his new-found fame and money had just delivered him from underscores the integrity and indeed, class, of Bruce Springsteen. I tried to think of why I should delete a star or two from this album, but could not. Ten out of ten.

To listen to some sound clips from Darkness on the Edge of Town or to buy it click on: Darkness

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