Customer Reviews

Born To Run

5 star:		(155)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I think "Born to run" is a very over rated album. I own every Springsteen record and I believe "Born in the USA" together with "Tunnel of love" is his best work.

On this recording there's actually just two or three songs that are top class, namely "Thunder road", "Jungleland" and maybe "Born to run". The rest is not that exciting, at least not for me. Somehow, this album have achieved cult status, and almost no one question the actual quality - "you got to praise this one if you consider yourself a Springsteen fan". Please, listen and make up your own mind.

Here we have the album that put Springsteen on the musical map back in 1975. While it has some worthwhile music, in retrospect it's hard to see what the fuss was all about. "Tenth Avenue Freezeout" is quite a jazzy tune, one of the best of his early songs. "Thunder Road" and "Jungleland" have their moments, but both are ultimately too self-important for my taste. As for the title track "Born to Run," there might be a good song gasping for air beneath the screeching saxophones and faux-Spector production bombast, but it's hard to tell. Quite often Springsteen sings like a guy who is trying to get his bearings after being rousted out of bed at four o'clock in the morning. For example, "She's the One" has a compelling piano melody, but good luck trying to make sense of his mumbled words without reading the lyric sheet.

Oh yes, the lyrics. When pressed on the issue of his composing prowess, even some of Bruce's biggest defenders will concede that he rarely matched the melodicism of John Lennon & Paul McCartney or the go-for-the-throat riffs of Mick Jagger & Keith Richards. Springsteen is all about the lyrics, you see. The problem is that about 80 percent of his songs revolve around one theme. "I'm a beer-guzzling slob in a pickup truck/You're a below average-looking chick with hairy armpits/But baby we were born to run." Bob Dylan had a little more to say, and he said it with more humor and less melodrama. Of course these are high standards to measure anyone against, but these are the standards that the Springsteen hype machine always invokes.

Timing really is everything. When this album came out in '75, most of the people who had revolutionized rock in the 1960s and early '70s were either dead (Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison), in seclusion (John Lennon, Brian Wilson) or in a declining phase (the Rolling Stones). Meanwhile, Punk and New Wave were still a couple of years away on the horizon. The Bay City Rollers were probably Bruce's toughest competition. The contrast made this album look more innovative than it really was.

This is just an ok album. No more, no less. The bombastic production and atmosphere paint an impressive portrait of the joys of being young, reckless, and "on fire" in 1974 New Jersey, and Bruce does a good job of coming up with flowery lyrics to suit that portrait. Roy Bittan, his piano player, is a fantastic musician; he's the real star of the album. Other than that, Born to Run falls well short of the standard set by The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle, Bruce's previous album. The main problem is in the songwriting; there's little to no hook or catchiness in half the songs. Only "Born to Run" and "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" strike me as perfect pieces of pop music. "Backstreets" is an adequate rave-up, and "Jungleland" is a spectacular, theatrical album-ender, my pick for the best song on the album. Other than that, he's stuck in an musical rut, especially on the boring opener, "Thunder Road." Any of you who aren't familiar with Bruce yet, PLEASE hear The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle first before you pick up this one. Yes, I know, Born to Run was his breakthrough album, but that doesn't mean it's THAT incredible.

One of the only special things about Bruce Springsteen's 1975 album "Born To Run" is that it flung him from rock-n-roll rags to rock-n-roll stardom. Other than that, it is actually quite generic when it comes to the Boss's standards. Much of its prime theme--the hopes and struggles of small town folk--is merely an echo of the things Springsteen expressed in his first two exceptional but unnoticed albums ("Greetings From Asbury Park" & "The Wild, The Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle"). The bulk of "Born To Run" is standard Springsteen, again expressing small town frustrations, but without the grit or reality of "Darkness on the Edge of Town" or "Nebraska." The title track is energetic and legendary in its own right, but a lot of the album is less inspiring. Tracks that do their best to save any possible quality are possibly '10th Avenue Freeze-Out' and the generic but notable 'Thunder Road.'
Overall, "Born To Run" is exceptionally less inspired and surreal as the Boss's other works, especially those after it, but it should please those unfamiliar with his more reality-driven albums.

Time can be a cruel mistress, indeed. Lyrically, these cuts remain vital. I'm not sure the same can be said for "the wall of sound" music, however. "Best Rock Album of All Time"? In its day, perhaps, but that day has passed. Though not nearly as highly praised, Springsteen's "The Ghost of Tom Joad" will, I believe, provide a more lasting legacy of his undeniable talent.

Bruce Springsteen once realized that he would never play the guitar like Eric Clapton and some others, so his focus changed to writing songs.
Frankly I am glad he did, Springsteen rivals Bob Dylan in my mind.
This album is early Springsteen and is the beginning of some great songs.
I love the way he uses words like in the song Born to Run.
"Sprung from cages down highway nine, chrome wheel, fuel injected and steppin out over the line. This album in my mind is where he truly found himself.
This will always be his signature album (with the possible exception of Born in the USA)
10th Avenue freeze out and another masterpiece "Thunder Road also appear on this CD
If you want to hear Springsteen at his very best, you should start with this CD.

The lure of the open road on a pitch black night tempts and intrigues us. It's the romance of the highway, and the ghosts that call us out at night as we lay awake, beckoning, pleading, for us to leave the confines of our bedrooms to take a winding and lost drive. The fascination with the unexplored resonates in all of Springsteen's records, from the stark and minimalist Nebraska to the lush production of Darkness on the Edge of Town. The album Born to Run is brimming with bombast and sorrow, celebrating the plight and fortune of man, with a defiance rarely heard.

Springsteen drops bombs on the sonic landscape with punishing guitars and dizzying climatic saxophone solos that trigger vivid images of Springsteen's downtrodden characters. Mary in in Born to Run's opening track, "Thunder Road," bursts with brilliant life, an enigmatic woman that leaves an indellible image in every twentysomething hopeless romantic. She's introduced with a dancing piano piece and exits with a rousing arrangement of blistering saxophone work and crashing cymbals. At the end of "Thunder Road," Springsteen's voice exudes a genuine desperation and longing to escape with Mary, leaving us with sounds of engines roaring and the howling wind of the beach road he sings of.

"Tenth Avenue Freeze Out" rollicks joyfully and shakes our bodies in a myriad of blues infused guitar and boisterous trumpets that seem almost misplaced on such a "pure" rock and roll album. However, Springsteen pulls it off perfectly, paying homage to the wild R&B sounds of James Brown and jangle reminiscent of Chuck Berry. "Night" rips open with fantastic melody of a jarring piano clashing with smooth saxophone work , a song that captures the joy and tribulation of the working class. The characters run into the night, freeing themselves of any responsibility for a single and beautiful moment, only to return to the tiring routine of work the next day.

A heartbreaking and sobbing piano opens "Backstreets," the tale of a tumoltuous and broken friendship over the course of a summer. The listener knows what happens without trying to decipher the lyrics buried underneath Springsteen's unmistakable mumbling- the soaring guitar and suppressed organs instantly speak of Terry and her friend's fate. It's a story that's been told plenty of times before, but never with so much grandeur and life - the song breathes, its heart beats, the cold blood flows through its veins.

The title track fittingly embodies the entire album. "Born to Run" is an anthem, and quite simply the purest rock and roll song of the last thirty years. It celebrates escape and rebellion, and leaves us breathless as the blurred tailights of Harley Davidsons pass us by in a race, with hair dancing in the air and weathered leather jackets flapping. It opens with a bright saxophone and drum beat, only to cascade into a triumphant vocal acclamation that stuns us. When Springsteen tells you he's going to love Wendy with all the madness in his soul, you believe it. Why? Because you know Bruce believes it.
Springsteen sings of longing for a love in "She's The One" with an urgency startlingly unlike the defiancy found in the previous songs. The "she" frustrates, tempts, and flusters Bruce, who is taken by her cunning smile and piercing eyes. "Meeting Across the River" arrests us with its gloominess - a stripped tale of things to come between hustlers and friends.

The album closes with "Jungleland," a rock opera of gang warfare, populated with some of Springsteen's most colorful and dynamic personalities. Police chase after the fleeing, and gangs ravage the downtown Jungleland. Many believe the song is referencing the racial riots that enveloped the town of Asbury in the 60s, others believe it's simply Springsteen at his lyrical peak. Whatever the reasons, "Jungleland" is an epic closing to an epic album.

I have been amazed by Bruce Springsteen's popularity ever since I purchased this album amidst all of the hype that swirled around him. Let's critique Bruce and the E. Street band:
Has anyone ever heard Steve Van Zandt's guitar? I love him in the Soprano's and his cool radio gig, but he might as well not even plug in. The whole band sounds like Meat Loaf - Bat Out Of Hell. Overproduced, mini operas tied together by a piano. The big man plays the same solo over and over. Bruce's voice is not what I would call a pretty thing to listen to either. Very limited vocal range. He screams more than he sings. I must be in the minority, but this sounds to me like corporate rock at its worst, heck, I would much rather listen to Southside Johnny or even Bon Jovi over this stuff.

this album is everything that "bat out of hell" wasn't, ie, non-pretentious, gritty, gutsy & earthy.
the only connection is being a biker's rock opera, "born to run" is a glorious song of escaping/escapism.
personally, i love the opening track, the mouth organ and those first few words conjured up such a typical downhome america image
"the screen door slams, mary's dress waves, live a vision she dances..... roy orbison sings for the lonely...." i also love the lines "you can hide 'neath your covers & study your pain, make crosses for your lovers, throw roses in the rain, spend your summers praying in vain......" pure simplistic beauty.
"backstreets" i also love his howling vocals, his raw energy.
yes, of course i had a crush on bruce, he looks totally gorgeous on the cover!
"shes the one" is gorgeous too, passionate & romantic in bruce's own individual part-italian way, phew!

This album is fantastic because it brings back to life those wonderful heady, heavenly, tranquil sunny 1970's days.
It is a real masterpiece released in 1975, but still popular today, with sound that is both timeless and rooted in those wonderful 1970's days.
My personal favorites are the rock n roll' exploration of frustrated loneliness and desire for excitement and life - Thunder Road, the bluesy reminiscence of a summer romance that went wrong in Backstreets, the pumping American biker title track Born to Run and the heady Jungleland.

A fantastic tribute to great music and a time of real meaning.