Born to Run was Bruce Springsteen's third studio album, and the first unarguably successful commercial album. While he had previously achieved critical success with many industry insiders comparing him with Bob Dylan, his two prior albums had been more of a regional hit. With Born to Run, Springsteen had both time and money to make the album, and went for a “wall of sound” approach. Wikipedia mentions that he wanted it to sound like “Roy Orbison singing Bob Dylan, produced by Phil Spector.” With regar...
Born to Run was Bruce Springsteen's third studio album, and the first unarguably successful commercial album. While he had previously achieved critical success with many industry insiders comparing him with Bob Dylan, his two prior albums had been more of a regional hit. With Born to Run, Springsteen had both time and money to make the album, and went for a “wall of sound” approach. Wikipedia mentions that he wanted it to sound like “Roy Orbison singing Bob Dylan, produced by Phil Spector.” With regard to the lyrics, Springsteen said this album was “the album where I left behind my adolescent definitions of love and freedom - it was the dividing line.”
To call this commercially and critically successful is an understatement. Born to Run is a giant of an album. It produced two singles, "Tenth Avenue Freeze-out" and "Born to Run," and these are timeless rock classics. But almost the entire album can be heard on classic rock stations regularly.
The songs were all composed on piano instead of guitar, and the songs tend to reflect this in their introductory instrumentation. Each album side starts with a song about escape (Thunder Road, Born to Run), and ends with a song about defeat (Backstreets, Jungleland). And of course you get not only the monster sounds and lyrics of Springsteen, but also the instrumental virtuosity of the E. Street Band. This is another example of an album that should be heard from cover to cover to get the full experience of it.
Alright, folks, it's time to run with The Boss!
Jungleland
This isn't really a song, but more of an opera or an epic tragedy. This track closes out the album and tells the tale of Magic Rat and the barefoot girl. It's got scenes of life on the streets and in the gangs in New Jersey in the city they call Jungleland. It was 19 months from the first rehearsal of this song until it's completion. Saxophonist Clarence Clemons' solo supposedly took 16 hours alone to record, and takes up 3 minutes of this 9+ minute song. That length is why we're only profiling three songs from the album this week.
She's the One
This is a deeper cut with a Bo Didley Beat. It is the B-side of "Tenth Avenue Freeze-out" and got a bit of air play on rock stations as a consequence. "There's this angel in her eyes that tells such desperate lies and all you want to do is believe her."
Thunder Road
Bruce (the one profiling this album, not the songwriter) thinks this may be the song with the finest lyrics top-to-bottom that Springsteen ever wrote. It tells of a visit to Mary's house, and uses automobile and motorcycle imagery to describe a plea from the suitor for Mary to run off with him “if you're ready to take that long walk from your front porch to my front seat. The door's open, but the ride ain't free.”
ENTERTAINMENT TRACK:
The Time Warp (from the motion picture “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”)
Yes, that timeless classic from the midnight movies had its origin this summer. It's just a jump to the left, and then a step to the right!
STAFF PICKS:
Man on the Silver Mountain by Rainbow
Wayne features the distinctive guitar riff of Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio's vocals from Rainbow, Blackmore's group after leaving Deep Purple. The original vinyl release was a gated gold sleeve, but the record company reduced it to a single sleeve.
Por Amor Viviremos by The Captain and Tennille
Rob brings us the Spanish version of "Love Will Keep Us Together." The Captain and Tennille had both the English language and Spanish language versions on the charts this month. "Love Will Keep Us Together" was originally done by Neil Sedaka in 1973, but this cover became identified with The Captain and Tennille.
I'm Not In Love by 10cc
Brian's staff pick incorporates the backing of a wordless choir, with 256 voices overdubbed. The song itself is about expressing love without saying "I love you." The song was almost discarded, but when they heard the secretary and window cleaner singing it they decided to keep it. The whispered voice was from the secretary at Strawberry Studios.
How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) by James Taylor
Bruce finishes on a lighter note with this cover of Marvin Gaye's original 1965 hit. Taylor would take this one to number 1, and it would be the most successful remake of the song (the original went to number 3). Taylor's then-wife Carly Simon is on harmony vocals, and David Sanborn joins on saxophone.
LAUGH TRACK:
I Like Beer by Tom T. Hall
We finish off this week with a cold one in a polka genre.
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