Yeah, I get it, who buys music anymore? I thought about calling this series a Listener’s Guide instead. But I grew up accumulating music and solidifying my fandom by saving my pennies, spending money that should probably have gone somewhere else on records, and taking a chance on albums I had no way to hear without buying them. It was exciting in a way streaming-at-will isn’t, a commitment to the thrill of music discovery. So, I’m going back to the good old days, ranking an artists’ catalog like your budget depends on it. Studio albums and live albums are both in the running, but I’ll only include a greatest hits collection or box set if there's a good reason.
Springsteen’s catalog, with and without the E Street Band, is a fine place to start this series because it’s an interesting study in contrast. His best albums are essential listening for every rock fan, his worst should be avoided at all costs. I admire his creative restlessness, when he's on he's terrific, but not everything he’s tried has hit the bullseye.
OPEN YOUR WALLET RIGHT NOW:
• The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle (1973) – The full flowering of the early, gritty, romantic street-poet version of Springsteen. Before he set his sights on mansions of glory he threw the mother of all New Jersey street parties.
• Born to Run (1975) – Bruce got it in his head that perfection in the recording studio was possible if he obsessed over the details enough. Damned if he wasn’t right. An opera out on the turnpike, indeed.
• The River (1980) – The songs were flowing like a torrent, the band was firing on all cylinders, killing it live, and Bruce had learned how to make the records he wanted in the studio without driving everybody around him crazy. Two LPs of the Boss and E Street at an unstoppable peak.
• Nebraska (1982) – The first, and by a country mile the best, of his occasional solo acoustic records. The Ghost of Tom Joad and Devils & Dust are missing the compelling get-under-your-skin spookiness of this one. And the strong melodies.
• Magic (2007) – After the painfully dry, mostly solo, Devils & Dust, and the off-putting novelty of We Shall Overcome, Bruce gets the band back together and makes his best record since the early 80s. A surprising, if temporary, comeback.
• Letter to You (2020) – The pandemic record. Bruce and the band hunkered down at his horse ranch in New Jersey for four days to record some new songs and breathe new life into a few leftovers from the Boss' pre-record contract days. All recorded live, the sound of the E Street Band jamming. The new songs make Letter to You a very good Springsteen record, the re-tooled old ones make it essential.
• The Legendary 1979 No Nukes Concerts (2021) - Until this release, the E Street Band’s legendary live shows between 1977 and 1981 had only been officially documented in bits and pieces. Even this is a shortened set, played for a charity event, but it’s the closest we’ve gotten, and it has all the fireworks.
SAVE UP TO BUY IT SOON:
• Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. (1973) – Overwritten, oversung, and underplayed, but somehow the Bruce magic shines through on his debut.
• Tunnel Of Love (1987) – A bit of a stylistic retreat after the massiveness of Born in the USA. Smaller, closer to home, and not a single weak track.
• Chimes of Freedom EP (1988) – I know from the bootlegs the Tunnel of Love tour was a great one. This snippet is the only officially released proof.
• Hammersmith Odeon London ’75 (2006) – U.S. fans went all in on Born to Run. Columbia thought Europe would, too, so Bruce and the band were sent over to show ‘em what they could do onstage. It worked, BTR went on to platinum sales in the U.K.
• Western Stars (2019) – Bruce swapped his street-poet, east coast roots for earnest Midwest populism years ago, of course, but in 2019 he moved further west. An album with a heavy dose of country-influenced orchestration, the good kind. Cinematic, southwestern pop music. There’s no reason for this to work as splendidly as it does. Great songs are just great songs; however they’re dressed up.
PICK IT UP LATER IF YOU’RE A FAN:
• Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) – Lotta pressure on Bruce and the guys to follow up Born to Run. There are some fantastic songs here, “Racing in the Street” might be my favorite song he’s ever recorded, but the overwrought, tuneless melodrama of “Adam Raised a Cain” and “Streets of Fire” drags it down for me every time.
• Born in the USA (1984) – The superstar move. Huge sound, hit MTV videos, international fame, the whole package. To my ears, the rock ‘n’ roll excitement the E Street Band created on The River is over-produced down to a simulacrum here. A curiously cold-sounding record, compared to his best stuff.
• Live/1975-85 (1986) – Ten years of Bruce’s heart-stopping live shows are chopped up and reassembled beyond recognition in this unwieldy box set. There are some dynamite performances, for sure, but it fails to recreate what drove the crowd crazy on any given night.
• Lucky Town (1992) – The better of the two albums he recorded with a new band and released on the same day in ’92. The difference is song quality.
• The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995) – The second of his mostly solo acoustic albums. You have to be willing to dive deep to unearth the treasures, the record feels a little claustrophobic, but the treasures are there.
• Live in New York City (2001) – After Lucky Town and Human Touch, after The Ghost of Tom Joad, Bruce finally got the old band together and hit the road. Two Madison Square Garden shows were filmed for HBO, and the resulting album is lots of fun, if not essential.
• The Rising (2002) – His 9/11 response album. The E Street Band was back with Bruce in the studio after 18 years apart. The songs are very-good-to-great, B+ Bruce, I'd say, with a vague sense of patriotism that people responded to by sending it to the top of the charts.
• Devils and Dust (2005) – Probably the least interesting of Bruce’s trio of solo albums. It’s somber and dense, lacking a bit in melody, but worth at least a couple listens if you’re a fan.
• The Ties That Bind: The River Collection (2015) – I’d argue that this box set isn’t essential Springsteen. Most outtake collections don’t measure up to the artist’s official releases. But this set does include the first release of The Ties That Bind, the single LP that eventually became The River double because Bruce couldn’t stop writing great songs. I had a bootleg cassette copy for many years that I pretty much wore out.
• Springsteen on Broadway (2018) – There are some pretty compelling songs and stories here, pulled from Bruce’s sold-out one-man Broadway hit show. I can’t see it being for anybody other than the diehards, though.
LEAVE IT ON THE SHELF:
• Human Touch (1992) - The worse of the two albums he recorded with a new band and released on the same day in ’92. The difference is song quality.
• In Concert/MTV Plugged (1993) – The new Lucky Town/Human Touch band live on MTV. Too many Lucky Town/Human Touch songs to be a necessary listen.
• We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (2006) – I truly dislike this record. I think I’ve only made it all the way through once. None of his own songs, just old folk tunes that the brilliant Pete Seeger made famous. Reportedly egged on by his 10-year-old daughter after he played a few around the house, it’s his biggest career misstep.
• Live in Dublin (2007) – Bruce’s second biggest career misstep was taking the We Shall Overcome band and songs on the road. His third biggest was releasing this live album from the tour.
• Working on a Dream (2009) – After Magic got critics and fans solidly back in his corner, Bruce tried to make the same album again, something he had never done previously. Unfortunately, the songs and arrangements are far less impressive, and the production is dodgy. “Outlaw Pete” is as cringe-worthy as anything on We Shall Overcome.
• Wrecking Ball (2012) – A rarity in the Springsteen catalog – an album with no memorable songs, good or bad. Bruce has never shied away from the political with his songwriting, but nothing here hits home. I listened to Wrecking Ball at least a half dozen times, and I couldn’t hum a chorus from it to save my life.
• High Hopes (2014) – The sound of Springsteen foundering. No new songs, just covers and reworkings of some older stuff. I would, however, strongly recommend listening to a stream of “Just Like Fire Would.” Even more strongly, I’d recommend streaming the Saints’ far superior original version.
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