Amazon.co.uk Review
Few albums are as fuelled by hope, possibility and the lure of the open road as
Born to Run, a virtual concept album about small-town New Jerseyites in search of a better life via hot-rodding out on the turnpike, scoring some small-time hustle or blowing out of town altogether, either across the river to New York City or west for parts unknown. Songs such as "Jungleland", "Thunder Road", "Backstreets" and the title track are epic productions, both sonically and lyrically, borrowing from
Phil Spector,
Bob Dylan,
Elvis Presley and
West Side Story. When
Born to Run was released in 1975, it earned the then-unknown Springsteen the rare honour of simultaneous covers on both
Time and
Newsweek in the US. The attention was warranted then, and it still is now.
--Daniel Durchholz, Amazon.com
Description
BORN TO RUN is the album that turned Springsteen from a phenomenon into a superstar. His first couple of releases foundBruce working out his fascination with Dylan and Van Morrison on earthy, wordy, folk-rock-R&B tunes full of soul and punch. On BORN TO RUN, Springsteen became even more ambitious,synthesising Spectorian production with Orbison-esque dramaand Duane Eddy-influenced guitar work, creating something grand enough to be called rock opera but too proletarian to ever claim that title. BORN TO RUN was also the first album where the Boss began to crystallise his recurring theme of working class America's doomed-but-passionate rage against itscircumstances. With the earnestness and emotion that burstsforth from Springsteen's street poems, the album is never less than exhilarating, and songs like "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" (a tongue-in-cheek history of the E Street Band) providehumor. "She's The One" puts the Bo Diddley beat to its mosteffective post-'50s use, and the title track is Springsteen's quintessential underdog epic.