uReview: Bruce Springsteen “Greetings From Asbury Park”
[ratings]
So what of THE BOSS? Is this debut his finest moment? Second to its successor? Was the best of Bruce a ways to come? Is it even worth listening to?
“Blinded By The Light”
Original Vinyl | 1973 | Columbia | ebay ]
MP3 Album | download ]
Spotify link | listen ]
Written by Brendan | August 20th, 2009 | Comments (5)
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fun debut – tedious in parts – over written lyrically here and there – that kinda makes it fun – of course the next 4 albums are better (especially Wild/Innocent, and Darkness) – but worth listening to – which is more than I can say for the albums post-Nebraska – i’m not a fan of the 80s-present Boss…
The first 4 albums are the best in my opinion. Also I feel the Boss was at his best live in the 1970’s.
It’s an interesting record. Fun in spots & very good at capturing a certain wistfulness only accessible to young romantics. Definitely overshadowed by “The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle.” (I probably won’t make very many friends by saying this but I think after “The Wild, The Innocent…” it was all one long slow decline. And I like Springsteen.) The arrangements on “Greetings…” don’t come across as well as much of the earlier solo stuff (the Laurel Canyon Music demos) but the songs hold up well. “For You” is the first great really Springsteen track. I know people talk about the “machine gun” lyrics but I, for one, like it; especially considering that over time Springsteen’s songs have become so increasingly sparse it’s like listening to someone sing a Raymond Carver story. (And I like Raymond Carver.) There are more words on “Greetings…” than on the six most recent Springsteen records combined. What can I say – it’s my wife’s favorite album.
The last album I bought on cassette tapE. I was poor and in a borrowed car with no cd player and no tapes. Greetings was in a used bargain bin in boulder for a dollar. I listened to it through as I drove up the boulder creek canyon through the mountains towards Nederland. It was my first listen to the boss since I was 5 and born in the USA was battling Michale jackson for the billboard pinnacle. Sometimes the content of an album is just superseded by the context when it approaches the listener.
(Springsteen’s last great album was Tunnel of Love, and his folkie stuff, with the exception of Nebraska, almost always disappoints–that might tell you my perspective.)
With Greetings, Springsteen and band want to go in the Van Morrison-meets-Leonard Bernstein direction of E Street Shuffle, but the production is aimed more toward New Dylan, hence cutting off some of the songs just when they get going. Cf. live versions of “For You,” “Spirit,” etc.