03/12/02 'Born to Run' - Bruce Springsteen

Once I used to be an almost obsessive Bruce Springsteen fan. I got interested around the time 'Born In The USA' was released and gradually built up a collection of tapes, books, and today, CDs. Unsurprisingly my initial impression of Bruce was one of fiery rock songs and iconic anthems coupled with electrifying live performances. The cover of 'Born In The USA' reinforced the blue-collar ethos that he successfully brought with him which was a not inconsiderable feat given his millionaire rock-god status.

Part of the reason he achieved this is his ability to show genuine, heartfelt emotion in his downbeat numbers that gave his work and his status as an singer a depth that has allowed him to remain a highly regarded and bankable artist. Think of singles like Streets of Philadelphia, One Step Up and I'm on Fire. They are certainly at odds with the accepted worldview of the Boss as that gravel-voiced rocker, nose over his microphone, sweating buckets in concert, the veins throbbing in his neck.

I remember the remarkable way he re-interpreted Born to Run, a storming, romantic anthem, at a gig at Wembley stadium I attended in 1989. He stripped down the song and played it acoustically with no backing. It at once became a humble, hopeful, prayer of longing and hope. When he hits these buttons he becomes accessible to a wider audience. I remember getting teased for my Springsteen fixation at college but when friends heard tracks from Nebraska, they heard someone in touch with deep musical roots and whose talent shone through unfiltered and with a clearly focused intent.


Listen to a clip of 'Thunder Road' by Bruce Springsteen

For these reasons I have long felt that Springsteen's best work was before 1985's 'Born In The USA' and in particular 1975's 'Born to Run'. By 1985 he was literally a different man – his workout regime had rendered him a muscular, forceful presence but in 1975 he cut a slight, far more vulnerable figure and I remember a journalist noting that he had something of the wonderful, mysterious qualities of an Al Pacino. His performances were stunning and the surrounding hype reached ludicrous levels. His first two albums ('Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J' and 'The Wild, The Innocent & The E-Street Shuffle') had set expectations of greatness. They are certainly among my favourites because we saw the subtleties Springsteen could bring to his voice and in the stories and characters he could weave.  Musically they were far funkier with jazz/blues elements that he has since shed. In this age, Clarence Clemmons' sax did not stand out in the way it does today. David Sancious' keyboard work was a key part of this but as Bruce evolved into more traditional areas of rock, Sancious would not feature in his work beyond the seventies.

So why not showcase one of these relatively obscure albums? Well the fact is that Born to Run is still one of the truly great rock albums. It could easily, with the passing of the years, have become a relic but in fact it is rendered as timeless and great rock music as you could hope to hear, if only because no one has since come close to emulating it's mix of all out rock (the title track), Thunder Road's optimism, Tenth Avenue Freeze-out's good-natured sense of fun or the intensity of darkly realised emotions elsewhere. And has anyone closed an album with a sprawling prog-rock track like Jungleland before without losing their nerve?

I think the answer is that Springsteen knows how fake rock and roll can get – all acts try to perform as though this is the last time ever – but he performs with an understanding of the clichés while never becoming a part of them. Some may not like his expressions of blue-collar earnestness but it's underpinned by sincerity. He's also a great songwriter – as I write this I am listening to New York City Serenade off 'The Wild....' album. It's one of his most beautiful songs. But listen to Thunder Road, which is one of the best opening tracks I have ever heard, and you hope against hope that what follows will be great. In the space of only eight tracks he delivers the goods and far, far more.